Lady Death: Demonicron – Trip Through Hell That Ends Far Too Quickly

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• DEVELOPER: Art Of Play Interactive
• PUBLISHER: Art Of Play Interactive
• PLATFORMS: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
• GENRE: Side-scrolling / Beat ’em up / Hack and Slash
• RELEASE DATE: August 31, 2026 (Nintendo Switch: September 11, 2026)
• STARTING PRICE: €33.99
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

There is nothing wrong with making a straightforward beat ’em up. Sometimes all I want is to walk from left to right, beat demons into the ground and face an oversized boss at the end. Unfortunately, Lady Death: Demonicron struggles with the most important part of that formula. Its combat is clunky, its ideas are painfully familiar, and its entire campaign took me only around 90 minutes to finish.

Developed and published by Art of Play Interactive, Lady Death: Demonicron is a 15-level side-scrolling hack-and-slash game inspired by arcade beat ’em ups from the 1990s. It can be played solo or through local co-op, with Lady Death and Ravenheart fighting their way through hordes of demonic enemies.

That description makes the game sound like a bloody combination of Golden Axe and Mortal Kombat. Visually, it occasionally manages to capture that promise. Once combat begins, however, Demonicron reveals itself as an extremely basic brawler carrying a recognizable comic-book licence.

Combat constantly works against itself

Lady Death has simple sword attacks, magic and the familiar selection of moves expected from an arcade beat ’em up. The controls are easy to learn, and general movement feels decent enough. The problem is that attacking enemies rarely feels as smooth or satisfying as it should.

Enemies are constantly being knocked or thrown around the screen. Instead of allowing me to continue a satisfying combination, the game regularly forced me to wait for opponents to land and stand back up before I could attack them again. Properly lining up attacks can also be surprisingly awkward, making encounters feel clumsy rather than chaotic in an enjoyable way.

The sound effects give individual strikes a reasonable amount of impact, while the generous blood and gore fit Lady Death perfectly. Unfortunately, those presentational strengths cannot hide the mechanical limitations. There is little rhythm to combat, and the game never finds the satisfying flow that keeps the best beat ’em ups enjoyable even when their basic structure becomes repetitive.

It also fails to introduce anything genuinely new to the genre. There are no interesting mechanics capable of separating Demonicron from decades of similar games. Without the Lady Death name and visual identity, this would be an exceptionally ordinary beat ’em up, and not a particularly polished one.

Fifteen levels without meaningful progression

The campaign moves through 15 completely linear stages, but that number sounds more substantial than it is. I completed everything in approximately an hour and a half, with each level essentially sending me through another series of enemy encounters until I reached the boss.

There is no meaningful progression system holding the campaign together. I was not developing Lady Death through an interesting upgrade tree, assembling a build or unlocking abilities that substantially changed how I approached combat. I simply moved from one linear level to another while fighting many of the same opponents.

Enemy repetition becomes particularly noticeable because combat already has so little depth. New encounters rarely require a different strategy, so the campaign quickly becomes predictable. The bosses are acceptable and provide some variation, but none of them were memorable enough to compensate for everything surrounding them. They feel like obligatory endpoints rather than encounters I would want to replay.

Local co-op could make the repetition easier to tolerate, especially with another Lady Death fan beside you. However, that is potential value rather than something that improves the solo campaign I reviewed. Even with co-op, the limited mechanics and short runtime remain fundamental problems.

Lady Death deserved a better game

The presentation is easily Demonicron’s greatest strength. Its comic-book artwork looks excellent, and Lady Death herself has been represented well. Her design, supernatural abilities and exaggerated violence all feel appropriate for the character.

The industrial-metal soundtrack is another good fit. It complements the demonic environments and excessive action without feeling disconnected from the material. Alongside the impactful sound effects and plentiful gore, it gives the game a stronger personality than its mechanics deserve.

Unfortunately, the characters receive very little meaningful development. The story is forgettable, while the weak voice acting makes it even harder to care about what is happening. Existing fans will probably appreciate seeing Lady Death properly represented, but the campaign does little to make its cast interesting for anyone unfamiliar with the comics.

At least the PC version remained technically stable throughout my playthrough. I did not encounter performance problems that made an already disappointing experience worse. This is a functional game, but stable performance cannot rescue shallow design.

Over before it truly begins

Finishing an entire game in 90 minutes is not automatically a problem. Short arcade experiences can offer enormous replay value through mechanical depth, alternative characters, scoring systems, higher difficulties or meaningful unlocks. Demonicron simply did not give me a compelling reason to return after the credits.

Its combat was already becoming repetitive during that initial playthrough, and the absence of meaningful progression made every level feel disposable. Local co-op and the Lady Death licence offer limited replay appeal, but neither justifies the full asking price.

Dedicated Lady Death fans may still get some pleasure from the faithful artwork, fitting soundtrack and unapologetic violence. Even for that audience, I would strongly recommend waiting for a substantial discount. Everyone else can find far better beat ’em ups with deeper combat, longer campaigns and significantly more replayability.

Review copy provided by the publisher