Book of Demons: Tablet Edition review
Book of Demons: Tablet Edition is basically Diablo, but rebuilt completely to be super convenient and streamlined in almost every possible way. This is a big part of what makes it a fantastic mobile experience. If you have an iPad, make sure you pick this game up.
Tap and slash
Book of Demons is an action rpg that follows almost directly in the footsteps of the game that popularized the genre. Just like Diablo, players take control of a hero tasked with routing the evil creatures that lurk in a dungeon near a small town. As you venture deeper into the dungeon, your hero gains experience and collects loot, which helps you fight the increasingly difficult enemies that you find deeper down in the dungeon.
Combat in Book of Demons happens automatically, but there's a lot you can do to direct your hero more effectively. By tapping and holding on an enemy, your character will attack faster on the enemy specified. Some enemies also have shields that you have to tap and hold on to break before being able to damage them. As you collect more gear, you will also have access to a bunch of skills and spells (that appear as cards) you can cast by tapping icons at the bottom of the screen.
Devilish design
As you fight in the dungeon, players collect gold and other loot, which they can manage back in town. You can upgrade your cards, buy more equipment slots, and even "identify" unknown loot cards that you can then equip. The loot here doesn't drop in the abundance that it may in other action rpgs, but it provides enough variety where you can find some satisfying card combos that can tear even the most outrageous hordes of enemies to shreds.
In my playthrough of Book of Demons, for example, I played a mage that could set entire armies ablaze with all sorts of fire spells, including a book of flames that increased all my flame damage and some boots that allowed me to walk over flames completely unharmed. Finding combos like this and watching them beat huge groups of enemies is super satisfying, and it's the primary thing that kept me pushing through the game.
Convenient cards
Another reason why Book of Demons is so easy to fall into is just how perfect it feels for mobile play. This game is packed with tons of little convenience features that make playing it a breeze, all without compromising the game's difficulty.
By doing things like making characters move along a set path and leave footprints behind, you always where you've been and where you should go. Similarly, Book of Demons notifies you when you've seen everything a dungeon floor has to offer and allows you to teleport right to the exit. My personal favorite feature in Book of Demons is its Superhot mode, which practically pauses the action whenever you aren't touching the screen. There are a million other little touches like this in the game, and they make playing Book of Demons an absolute delight.
Although a lot of these features sound like they'd suck the challenge out of the game, Book of Demons hardly ever feels unchallenging or overly simplistic. Particularly in the later stages of the game, dungeons get flooded with enemies in a way that would be impossible to manage without having a such a streamlined design.
The bottom line
I can't think of an action rpg that feels better tuned to mobile than Book of Demons: Tablet Edition. It is definitely imitating Diablo, but it does so in such a caring and creative way that it imparts its own unique identity and flavor to the base formula. It also has enough customizability and play options that you can play and replay Book of Demons for a good long time without getting bored of it.
