DEEMO -Reborn-

Now i can cry in HD

Deemo is an incredible experience and one of my favorite games of all time. Rayark always creates well made games and Deemo Reborn is probably the best game in their entire catalog of A+ grade titles. I've already played through the entire game on PS4 but purchased it again because they deserve the money.
Hopefully we can also get Deemo 2 on Steam when it comes out along with a PC port of some of their other games such as Implosion, Sdorica, and Soul of Eden.
EDIT 9/14/20: I have created a mod/tool for the game that adds support for Ultrawide/4K, soft key rebinds, global song BGM/Key sound adjustments, and easy save backups which can be seen here:

I love Deemo so fucking much, you have literally no idea. Every time I launch into Deemo Reborn on Steam, the gentle piano that greets me will never cease to calm my spirit. Timing the home screen sound effects correctly to the background music gives me a shiver unparalleled by any medium. Walking around the castle as a little girl was never my dream growing up, but I can tell you it is now - the trickling water in the original Piano Room sets up an ambience that makes me rock hard for playing a melodic instrument. The difficulty levels in this game are balanced so well that I can rub one off while listening to the best music ever produced on this holy landscape, the gentle notes of M2U, Nicode, Mili, and many others tingling the very most primal parts of my being. I swear I've seen heaven at every slider note. If you get tired of rocking out at max speed 9 on Myosotis (as if you could ever), you can always explore the castle and solve a variety of charming puzzles, all which complement the game lore excellently. Speaking of, this game HITS, man. Slowly discovering the sad tale this game weaves as you grow the tree, explore, and play piano, leaves you with a sad aftertaste that makes you want to play the game ever so increasingly. For months on end, ever since the game's release, I've returned home after my laborious work to be privileged by the glorious presence that is Deemo Reborn. Nothing has ever brought me to tears as this game has, and nothing has ever made me appreciate life more than this game has. I love Deemo, so, damn much.

Deemo is near and dear to my heart as one of the games, along with Cytus, that introduced me to the rhythm genre on my tablet computer. This title brought me to tears with its touching story and then lifted my spirit to the sky with the soulful music. The only thing about it that I truly disliked is the huge amount of paid DLCs – literally 70% of whole music collection is locked behind the pay wall, and this is really sad as many of these songs are absolutely stellar! But also understandable because composers must be paid for their great work. It is not their problem that I am a poor teacher…
Now, what about the Steam version? Does it have the same pros and cons as its mobile equivalent? Welp, that is an interesting question for sure!
What has changed and what stayed the same?
Visual part
To begin with, the artwork is really different now. In the mobile game, it was hand-drawn and extremely cute. And I am not just talking about the covers for various books – Deemo, the little girl, the masked lady, all backgrounds and rooms, everything was painted with soft colors and tender brush strokes. The Steam version, on the other hand, opted for 3D graphics. Was it a good choice? Well, it definitely refreshed the visuals and brought more dimensions to the scenes. And they will most probably look really great in VR – but this is just a guess as I do not have the necessary equipment to test it. However, personally, I like the hand-drawn artwork way more than the 3D one. It just feels…warmer, I guess? But this is just the matter of my taste. I think many players will enjoy the upgraded graphics no less than the old ones. Character designs are still lovely, too.
Speaking of the visual part, Rayark has definitely improved presentation of the music library. Pictures are as wonderful as before and even partially animated now (!); the selection menu looks like real books with colorful pages. This was a great design choice, if you ask me! It is more vivid, more fleshed out and more interesting to look at in general.
Piano tiles also got a new style. There are more details in the background and they are more three dimensional compared to their flatter version in the mobile app. Colors are still the same, of course, but there are new visual effects to boost your good and perfect tapping.
Audio part
The second thing that I noticed (after the updated graphics) is that the girl now has her own – and very cute – voice. If my memory does not deceive me, she was completely soundless in the original game.
As for the music itself…well, do I even have to say anything about it? It is wonderful, beautiful, touching, inspiring, magical. And many-many other positive adjectives that I am too lazy tired to think of. But for the paid DLCs – which is a controversial topic that people like to disagree about, - there is literally nothing to dislike. New ambient sounds are also marvelous and create an absolutely unique atmosphere.
Gameplay
A small warning here: high difficulty was already insane on the mobile (at least in some songs), so computer equivalent should be even more so. Get ready to kill your fingers :)
As expected, the rhythm aspect is still the same. If you have ever tried not only the original DEEMO, but also Cytus, Lanota, Lost in Harmony or VOEZ, for example, you should know the drill by heart. However, the general feeling is completely new. There is a huge difference between tapping notes on your mobile screen and trying to do the same thing with your keyboard. It took me some time to get used to it, and I still have troubles pressing the middle sections, for some reason. Just the problem with my reflexes, I think. Also, you cannot remap keys as of now, which might be a drawback for some players.
In addition to the usual part of rhythm games, DEEMO also has other gameplay features. The main character can go to and inspect various rooms after unlocking them, find notes with new songs, interact with some objects and add them to her inventory. And she can even solve puzzles hidden in different places!
I noticed that many people are complaining about using Space button for *hold* actions. To be honest, I do not see it as an issue at all. I also cannot imagine how else developers could have introduced this feature – Space is the closest option to the current mapped keys, and it should be easy to press it even during hard songs. Again, it is just my opinion, of course, so take it with a grain of salt. I am a casual player and high difficulty is usually not my cup of tea, so I welcome any changes to the gameplay that make it a bit easier.
I also saw that some reviewers had technical issues with the game, but I have not experienced any so far. No freezing, no lagging, no bugs, nothing, thankfully.
Price
While the base version of mobile DEEMO is completely free, it has lots, lots of extra music packages. I have just checked the game, and it currently boasts 6 extra song collections (bookshelves), almost $30 each if you buy it without a discount (which can be up to 50% off). Compared to the current price in Steam, we get a good deal for the PC version, at least it seems so for now – while the base game is about $25, each pack comes at $5.
But the most important question is whether we get a full version of the game with all currently released songs or not. To answer it, let us take a closer look at collections. Story-wise, yes, with just the base game we receive all necessary content required to see the ending. As far as extra music is concerned, mobile version has 9 chapters in each of six shelves, which makes it 54 in total – the number of songs in them vary (most have 5-7; so, approximately 270-380 across all shelves). Computer version has currently released 3 DLCs with extra 46 tracks. Unfortunately, it is difficult for me to say which specific songs have not been released yet because I never purchased all extra packs on mobile.
All this sounds extremely vague, I know... But! I can give you one specific example. Steam’s Prime Pack III contains 15 songs – on mobile version, these are books Knight Iris (tracks from 6 to 10) and Knight Rosabell (tracks from 1 to 5), two of the nine chapters from the second bookshef, plus five extra songs. So, one pack here is like three books on Android. Which is…not that much; but way cheaper than extra content in the original game ($30 compared to possible $15); unless we consider the discount, of course. The developers are quite secretive about any upcoming DLCs, so I cannot say for sure what could be added or changed in the future, whether it will be done at all and if Steam gets any platform-specific songs that you will not be able to find anywhere else. We can only wait and see.
Is the PC adaptation any good?
In my opinion, DEEMO offers enough content for the current price. It does have some small issues such as key mapping, reduced difficulty in part of some actions (which is more a matter of opinion than anything), optional DLCs (you do not have to buy them to see the full story, though) that are very common for games like this, and maybe some performance setbacks depending on what kind of device you use. But overall, the quality of music and artwork comes first and wins the cake easily. Not to mention the touching story that comes along with them and various secrets and puzzles. I am definitely enjoying the new version of my favorite game and will recommend it to my friends and readers. Cheers!
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The jump from mobile to PC isn't an easy one. And while I haven't spent a ton of time on this game yet you can see the potential. The controls take some getting used to, but the "new" world the devs have made is awesome. I literally yelled when I saw the worlds were now 3D, and I'm really enjoying the puzzle aspect which wasn't too present in mobile. The only thing I wish the game had was the ability to set custom bindings as my fingers tend to drift one key to the left. Congrats Rayark, this is a solid game.

i came to piano plin plin not cry

Deemo is a very special game for me. I played it when I was a kid, it was my first rhythm game ever. I sucked at it then and I suck at it now, cause I have problems with rhythm games in general. Nevertheless, this game took a special place in my heart. So, I was excited when the 3D remake was announced. It was interesting to see Deemo from a new perspective. Now the game's finally landed on Steam. So, is it good?
I think it is. It added lots of interesting puzzles and good voice acting. It was fun to explore the castle, trying to find a solution to the new puzzle. As for the piano part, you can play either on keyboard or controller or even use VR. Song covers are not static, like in the OG, but animated. Songs are unlocked after you complete a puzzle. There are also golden sheets that require more thinking to be unlocked. Also, you need to do a specific thing in every room in order to unlock some secrets.
There are still some things some fans won't like:
- Fluquor is replaced by another song.
- Some might not like the presence of VA.
- Slide notes become really easy to play - you just need to hold Space button. Still if you play with the gamepad, it's a bit harder.
- Sometimes in order for the tree to grow up you have to solve puzzles or no matter how good you play you'll be stuck on the same height position.
- The ending is not so gut-punching as in the OG.
- It doesn't have forgotten hourglass and/or after story.
- Some of the songs from the OG is absent here (notably V.K.'s songs, because Rayark cut ant ties with him).
- There are not so many songs - but maybe some will be added later.
Despite all of this, I still think it's a really good port. I enjoyed it and now I visit the game from time to time to practice. So, if you like Deemo you should definitely check it out.
P.S. The whole package with all DLC is much cheaper than one music pack from OG.