Resolution Games released one of the best VR games of all time back in 2021. I am talking about a tabletop-themed survival role-playing video game called Demeo. As someone that had no interest in VR at all, Resolution Games and Demeo completely changed my mind. With the PVP version of the game called Demeo Battles coming soon, I wanted to talk about the adventures. And what I am going to go over is how Resolution Games ranks them based on difficulty. So let’s get into it!
Beginner Difficulty – 1 Star
Now to kick off the easiest adventure in Demeo we have Book One, The Black Sarcophagus. In the Black Sarcophagus, you traverse through the Elven Necropolis which is infested by an evil malice called the Alfaragh. This blighted place has a plethora of evil beings including the main boss known as the Elven Queen. You must defeat her to obtain the keystone to rescue the elven spirits and unravel this curse. Even though this is ranked as the easiest adventure must beware of Giant Spiders and Cave Trolls. Not only that but there are undead creatures that love to make the Elven Queen invulnerable with their spells.
I agree with the team that this is the easiest Demeo adventure. I get stuck playing with randoms a lot and even when I play with newer people we don’t tend to have any issues. Even when mistakes are made and we get swarmed this is the easiest one to fight your way through. Definitely, a good place to start. This will allow newer players to get their adventuring feet wet.
Intermediate Difficulty – 2 Star
When it comes to the next level of difficulty Resolution Games ranks Book 3 The Roots of Evil and Book 4 Curse of the Serpent Lord. I also agree with these Demeo adventures being ranked as intermediate. Both have more powerful and unique monsters than the beginner adventure. In Roots of Evil, you venture through a doomed place known as the Drych Forest. The elven spirits want you to find the tomb of Elven Rebel Leader Rálma to free her mighty spirit. That way she can help you in the fight against Rackarn and Alfaragh. If you reach the final area you will face double trouble as you battle the Root Lord and Mother Cy. The biggest difficulty here is being trapped by the multiple roots that keep forming.
With a good strategy though, it should pose no issues. Sometimes I like to get a little crazy with my Sorcerer here and Vortex myself to enemies or them to certain areas. I might be considered Chaotic Neutral while playing. Having a couple of ranged characters and beaters is very useful here to kill the bosses as quickly as possible.
Curse of the Serpent Lord…
Demeo’s Book 4 Curse of the Serpent Lord we actually had some early access to before release. This adventure added a bunch of new things from area merchant’s stands, potion stands, and some new enemies. The new enemies in the desert here included shockwave-summing Brutes, turret-constructing followers of Iztir, the rare Jeweled Scarabs which can be traded into the merchant after killing them, to even burrowing Ronth Scorpions. This was the first dungeon we had some minor issues with as we got to the Hydras and the High Priest Umbal. After playing this a few times though you learn some new tricks. There’s a strategy where you can bring Umbal to half-health before he becomes visible.
This prevents a complete hydra fight and does make things easier. Not sure if it’s a glitch or just part of the adventure, but it is a strategy. Most of the random experienced players I have come across do it that way. Having the Warlock release with this adventure does help out quite a bit as well. But this desert adventure can still get intense at times and I agree with these adventure difficulty ratings here too.
Advanced Difficulty – 3 Star
In the final tier of difficulty, we have Book 2 Realm of the Rat King, and the final chapter of the saga, Reign of Madness. These 2 adventures are where many people disagree. Many I have talked to think Rat King is the hardest, but then you have others that believe Reign of Madness is the most challenging. I’m in the camp that Reign of Madness is the most difficult. Both adventures have different scenarios that can go down and just make for a miserable time if you aren’t with a good group or aren’t careful.
In Demeo’s Realm of the Rat King, you get to experience the darkness that hinders your line of sight without a light source provided by a Torch, which was introduced in this adventure. You fight against Gorgons, experience Spore Fungus, and the random rat nests. These nests if they arent dealt with can continually spawn rats over and over. They arent strong, but once there is a lot it can be a big annoyance. Then when you make it to fight the Rat King, he can continually heal himself over and over when rats are killed. So you can tell where situations can get really hairy.
Reign of Madness…
Book 5 The Reign of Madness is the most recently released Demeo adventure. If the corruption isn’t causing you to attack your allies, you are having to worry about the Elven Summoner, In my experience, people are split between trying to ignore him, collect gold, and escape to the next areas or fight him. I like to fight him and get him out of there, so my allies and I can relax and coast. Corruption and the Elven Summoner have been the bane of so many runs, even with some experienced adventurers. The barbarian does help out when traversing the map and even helping allies out of tight spots. You do have to worry about the final boss Rackarn dropping in multiple mini-bosses on you.
Then you have to worry about his hands on the map that bolt across or smash down to cause massive damage. Then after so much damage to Rackarn, he goes back to his chair and you have to wait for him to come back down. There are useful things to fight him, especially the Ralma’s Reckoning card which you can get from trading an item in. The hands can be used against the enemies here as well because they don’t distinguish friend from foe. Even with a great party sometimes strategies can fall apart.
Wrap-Up
Resolution Games have done an amazing job with Demeo. They have provided continued updates and content throughout the life cycle and they aren’t done yet. We got their 2nd game Demeo Battles coming at some point, which is the PVP variant of Demeo. I agree with all these rankings with The Black Sarcophagus being the easiest and Rein of Madness being the most difficult. A great thing this game offers is that you can even crossplay on platforms that it’s available on. Definitely excited for the future of the only game that could get me to purchase a Quest 2. Stay tuned for future Demeo character guides!
