Frankly, the Devil Jam demo at Steam Next Fest was a big disappointment. This roguelite survivor-like action game promises beat-driven combat, a unique 12-slot inventory, and a darkly humorous story, all set in a heavy metal underworld. The biggest problem, though, is that the demo feels empty. It lacks content and becomes repetitive after just two playthroughs.
Here’s the deal: you’re on a hellish adventure as a washed-up musician, fighting demons to become a legend. Your character attacks on the beat, so music is a huge part of this game. This means you can control when your weapon hits with upgrades, which is a really cool idea. But, listening to what felt like the same song for 10 minutes just to reach a boss doesn’t quite hook you in. The beat system unfortunately doesn’t do the game justice. While attacks and abilities are supposed to sync with the beat, that satisfying feeling isn’t there; the beat itself isn’t very noticeable, and its presence doesn’t add any real impact.
Great ideas, but underwhelming gameplay
On the other hand, the unique inventory system is a good idea. It lets you equip up to 12 items – weapons, abilities, or buffs in a grid. The demo shows off a few items, like arrow attacks or crowd-control abilities. However, the big problem is that every attack feels useless. Even with critical hit and damage upgrades, enemies quickly gain so much HP that leveling and upgrading become a slow grind. If you want a truly strong build, your best bet is a healing setup combined with an attack that throws massive bombs; only then can you somewhat manage to reach the boss.
I haven’t seen anything quite like the slot inventory system shown in this game. But, it feels lackluster. We also have skills that boost other skills and passive abilities, but none of them feel balanced or truly impactful. What’s worse, there are only a few skills to pick from, which forces you into repetitive sequences. While you can bind with several demons for their unique skills, these always end up feeling the same. There’s just not enough variety to force experimentation.
This is a game where you face endless waves of enemies, like groups of them and tougher demonic foes. It gradually improves the more you play, much like Vampire Survivors. Enemies do get stronger and more varied, from simple bats to fast-moving coffins and even slimes. However, it quickly becomes repetitive; by minute 10, you’ve likely seen everything. There’s no different character to choose from, and while mini-bosses (just larger versions of regular enemies) sometimes appear, and various landmarks offer bonuses (like XP, HP, or temporary speed buffs), these aren’t enough to break the monotony.
Hopes for the future
Sadly, the enemies are also underwhelming. Green slimes just chase you if you get close, imps shoot nearly invisible projectiles, and you’ll constantly see the same massive waves of bats flying at you. Some enemies are simply too hard to kill, and even when you fully upgrade an ability to mythic status, it doesn’t feel like it makes a real difference.
My biggest issue is the pacing. There isn’t enough content to fill a 10-minute run, and then everything goes wild. The early parts are great and satisfying; you have enough time to complete your build with rerolls. But after about 5 minutes, things get chaotic. Enemies suddenly become incredibly tough, like trucks. Once your build is set, the rest of the game is just about upgrading everything.
While Devil Jam has some really great ideas, it’s a bit too short, doesn’t offer proper experiemntation and it’s content is bogged down to the same type of enemies for 10 minutes unitl you reach a boss that’s also impossible to kill, talk about having 1000 projectiles thrown at you which are so hard to see. I sersiouyl hopped for much more skills and attacks to use, but it was never the feeling oh I should try to pick these, instead I know these work very well.
English (UK) 
Hrvatski