Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked Switch 2 Review
Summary: Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked for Switch 2 is a wonderful experience that is addicting in all the right ways.
4.4
Charming
I’m ashamed to say that I had to Google the ‘Demeo’ part of Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, as upon picking this game up, it was a word that was entirely foreign to me. Developed by Resolution Games and released in 2021, it’s a game that completely passed me by.
Demeo is a turn-based RPG that simulates a tabletop adventure game, complete with dice rolls and digital figurines to represent its characters. Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked (is a very silly name) is the next logical step from this, introducing the rich Dungeons & Dragons world to the formula built half a decade ago.
I’ve never been overly into D&D as a hobby outside of the many games that take its license; I do, however, have a fondness for tabletop games in general, and have spent untold hours creating characters and their models, building terrain and scenery just for the joy of it, even if it never ended up being used all that much. Battlemarked (I’m not writing out its full name every time) feels like it was made with people like me in mind.
On the surface, it’s a tactical, turn-based RPG in a similar vein to that of games like XCOM and any one of the myriad of games with ‘Tactics’ attached to the end of their name. Players control their party one by one, spending action points to move around the area, engage with the enemy, and perform dozens of other actions such as healing, buffing, and interacting with the environment.
Battlemarked mixes things up a little with the use of cards to determine what actions can be performed every turn. Each of the different character classes has unique cards that govern what they can and cannot do. Paladins, for example, are tanky characters, having cards that facilitate defending party members, healing, and getting an enemy to focus on them; whereas a Sorcerer, as you’d expect, is heavily magic focused, tossing out spells to damage foes and cause chaos on the battlefield.
There are six classes in total, with four being active at any one time. Each feels and performs differently to the next, for a diverse list of playstyles and allowing every encounter to be different on repeat playthroughs.
Where Battlemarked really shines is in its presentation. Following on from Demeo, each character, be it a friendly party member, NPC in a tavern, or enemy, is represented as a static figure, complete with a round base for it to stand on. Animation is minimal, mostly just tilting and rotating the model to convey actions. Despite this, it’s incredibly effective and very charming. Each model looks fantastic and would easily be right at home on any tabletop.
The presentation is further enhanced by the maps themselves. Each one is rendered to look like a board on a tabletop. Arenas themselves are relatively small, traversable from one end to another in a small number of moves. This goes a long way to help the pacing of every battle, however. A party member is never particularly far from an enemy or objective, and it removes any kind of ‘commute’ that is occasionally present in games of this type that feature larger maps. This is a double-edged sword, though. As close as you are to enemies, they are to you.
Even dice rolls that govern most of the game’s actions are shown by a physical dice rolling on screen, bouncing between objects as it goes.
Combat can quickly get out of hand if you’re not careful; it can be easy to make a wrong move and get overwhelmed. With that said, whenever it happened, it was never unsalvageable. It does share a somewhat annoying trait with XCOM, in that a 95% chance to hit (or a 1/20 odds dice roll in this case) can miss far more often than you’d think; I got six misses in a row in an early mission, which was both frustrating and incredibly unlucky.
As it stands, there are two campaigns available as well as four standalone dungeons to get through, with each of the campaigns having dozens of side quests to tackle. The developers have stated that DLC campaigns will be coming at some point, too.
Graphically, Battlemarked looks good on Switch 2. The image isn’t the sharpest in either handheld or docked mode, but it’s acceptable. The somewhat World of Warcraft-like art-style goes a long way in making the game look good, despite the lower resolution. Both modes see the game running at 60fps, and I struggled to notice any dips at all during my playtime. It’s possible that they were there, but the very nature of the game means that they’re often unnoticeable if present at all.
Final Thoughts
Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had from a game in recent memory. The combination of tabletop gaming and a tactical RPG, while it isn’t necessarily the deepest RPG system I’ve ever seen, is plenty enough for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Investment in Dungeons & Dragons as a property isn’t necessary to enjoy the game, as it stands well enough on its own. The short, snacky nature of the missions, the charming aesthetics, and addicting gameplay loop are more than enough to make this one easy to recommend.
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