Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Review: Hell of a Good Time

When you’ve been playing games as long as I have, some series have an unfortunate tendency to disappear. There was a period of time when I was convinced there would never be a new Mega Man game, and Castlevania has been long dead for years (it turns out, Dracula won). Yet thanks to Inti Creates, both of those series have gotten new life in imaginative new forms. In place of Mega Man, Inti brought us Azure Striker Gunvolt; and instead of Castlevania, we got both Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon games, as well as Gal Guardians: Demon Purge.

I admit to not being all that familiar with the games that inspired Gal Guardians, notably the Gal*Gun series. I knew they revolved around girls driven crazy with unnatural lust and shooting special bullets to calm them down. Not to mention there’s a recurring demonic trickster named Kurona. But that was about it. At first, I didn’t see the connection to Gal*Gun, other than the presence of demon-slaying sisters Shinobu and Maya. However, after playing for about 9 hours, not only do I see how Gal Guardians is connected to the source material, but I appreciate better how they play with gamer expectations. Though it’s safe to say this game is the unofficial sequel to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, it’s also very much its own game.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…

The chaos starts after a mischievous Kurona discovers a strange mirror in her lair. Suddenly, the school that Shinobu and Maya attend shifts and twists, and gets overlaid with a demonic castle. Somehow, Kurona was able to fuse her demonic dimension with the human world. The sisters may not know what’s up, but they set out to investigate, while thoroughly thrashing any monsters that get in their way.

Gal Guardians: Demon Purge does an excellent job of showing you the ropes and letting you choose how challenging you want the experience to be. As a fan of Castlevania, I went with Veteran instead of the Casual difficulty, which includes fun features like knockback from enemy attacks and limited lives. Though this did make some areas more of a hassle, I never felt it made the game overwhelming. A big reason for that is the CPR mechanic. Basically, if you die while playing as either Shinobu or Maya, your sister will need to be resuscitated. Walk over to them, press a button quickly, and voila! They’re back with half health. On the negative side, if you take damage while doing this, you’ll have to start all over. Not to mention that if either character dies while their sister is downed, you’ll have to spend a life to try again from the nearest checkpoint.

Double the Sisters, Double the Fun

You’re able to switch between the sisters at any point during combat, just so long as you’re touching solid ground. Each sister has a totally different combat style. Shinobu wields a machine gun, sniping foes from a distance, while Maya attacks up close and personal with a katana. Their sub-weapons (each obtained after beating a boss) are utterly unique as well. Shinbou generally gets heavy armament, such as a grenade, land mine, and the like. Maya gets the weird stuff. She can summon a penguin that freezes anything it touches, create platforms out of giant paper cranes, and even swipe foes with a scythe.

Each sister also gets a sub-weapon that opens up exploration options. As an added bonus, these don’t cost any Weapon Points to use. For example, Maya can hover utilizing an umbrella, while Shinobu gets a grappling hook that lets her hang from walls. And each weapon has alternate uses as well. The umbrella can block debris from hitting Maya, while the grappling hook can drag foes into pits of lava. There’s a lot of great complexity to all of the sub-weapons, and it’s not too hard to refill your meter by smashing things to pick up more Weapon Points. If that’s not enough, you’ll also find gated areas that can only be accessed by using the right Sub Weapon to break through them. There are, frankly, tons of hidden paths that can be opened up this way, even though the progression is pretty linear. Thankfully, at the beginning of each stage, you can use a curious pillar to warp back to any beaten location and explore.

That’s not all for combat. There’s a Purge gauge that gradually fills up as you play, which you can speed up by collecting Pride items. Once your gauge is full, you can unleash a devastating Secret Arte attack. The sisters team up and fire a mega bullet that is so powerful it rips a tear in reality, showing the normal high school as you demolish everything in your path. It’s a really cool visual touch, though I didn’t find this attack all that helpful in the game’s challenging boss battles. It was more useful dealing with larger enemies that blocked my path.

Save The Schoolgirls!

While Gal Guardians was pretty straightforward for the first two hours, it really opened up about five bosses in. Suddenly most of the side paths I kept noticing were accessible, which led to lots of little secrets. One are lost students that go to Shinobu and Maya’s school. Finding them will heal your sisters a bit, as well as help you with the game’s many achievements. There are also some truly crafty hidden areas that lead to amazing items. You can get a nudge in the right direction using your compass to find items, though there’s no mini-map. One example are bullets that increase the amount of ammo Shinobu can fire, another boosted the base health of both sisters a little. I honestly wandered a bit more than I needed to, and still am not close to having found all the goodies lying in wait in this demonic castle.

Delightful Gothic Horrors

The true highlight of the game is the boss fights. Which isn’t a surprise for any fan of Inti Creates, but it’s still nice to see they keep up with fan expectations. Bosses will test your knowledge of each sister’s strengths and weaknesses and will reward you for acting accordingly. Rapid-fire reflexes are also a must, especially on Veteran. I lost more than a few times, getting knocked into bottomless pits in some boss battles. Each and every boss will require you to get their patterns down, which will probably cost you a few lives. Thankfully the CPR mechanic makes this manageable. There’s a great variety of bosses, too, some of which are clearly inspired by Castlevania, such as a giant bat composed of a swarm of tiny bats. One of my favorites is a clockwork angel, though there’s no boring boss. They each look fantastic and have wicked attack patterns.

Secrets Behind Every Shadow

At first, I thought that Gal Guardians: Demon Purge was an incredibly short experience. But, luckily, you’ll get a big reveal a few hours in that reminded me fondly of Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, putting the whole story in a new perspective. Suffice it to say, you’ll be going through this demonic castle more than once, and there are some paths that will only open up the second time around. Plus, the bosses learn some nasty new tricks when you have to face them again. So even though I beat the game in about 9 hours, there’s plenty more to do in the game, including several different possible endings.

I’m sure many Gal*Gun fans are worried about the tone of Gal Guardians, but rest assured – there’s plenty of humor in this game. A lot of it only happens during the second run, but it’s well worth the wait. Shinobu and Maya are great at giving each other crap, and there are some other characters I won’t mention that put a smile on my face. Combined with some excellent voice acting and tons of language options, this makes the entire experience that much better.

Demon Slaying Dream Team

Visually, this is another stunning entry from Inti Creates. They do fantastic work with pixel art, not to mention the hand-drawn portraits that bring further life to all of their characters. Each section of the castle is visually distinct, from Gothic hallways to drowning caves to my personal favorite, a horrifying garden full of blood sprinklers and irate plant life. As I said earlier, the bosses are amazing too, and some even evoke some classic moments in gaming (no, I won’t spoil them). Musically, Gal Guardians definitely leans Gothic, but that’s hardly a complaint. I especially like the use of classical instruments to really amp up the action. Visually and acoustically, this is a pristine experience.

Though I have very few complaints about the experience, there are a few issues that kept Gal Guardians from a perfect score. Generally speaking, the game runs at a brisk clip, but on my second playthrough, the game started chugging along in the Library area. Specifically in a sewer section of the game with spouts of green slime that poured out of pipes. I also had some bad slowdown fighting the boss of that level, though it eventually went away. Also, though I mostly feel the game is well-balanced, it says something that it defaults to giving you tips on how to beat bosses if you keep losing. That happened to me with a couple of bosses, and I found it a little frustrating.

New Blood Runs Thick

Despite some small nitpicks, I still very much recommend Gal Guardians: Demon Purge. It not only showcases Inti Creates’ skill at breathing new life into old series, but it does so with panache. The combat is varied and complex, and the challenge, though sometimes frustrating, nevertheless kept me invested during the entirety of my playthrough. Not to mention you’ll unlock a new mode and difficulty after beating the game once. Plus, if you have a friend close by, you can both play a sister in local co-op. If you enjoy platformers and are hankering for a new Castlevania-inspired adventure, look no further.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: Switch (reviewed), PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S; Publisher: Inti Creates; Developer: Inti Creates; Players: 1-2; Released: February 23, 2020; ESRB: T for Teen – Blood and Gore, Violence, Suggestive Themes; MSRP: $24.99

Editor’s note: The publisher provided a review copy to Hey Poor Player.