Demon Gaze is a new RPG for the PSVita. It is a relatively simple game to play, but provides a pretty good story and many hours of fun.

In the story, your main character will always be referred to as male, but you can use a female character if you wish. There are 45 characters to choose from total, about half male and half female. They cover pretty much the entire spectrum of looks, from barely dressed to covered in armor. They also have a wide range of weapons. Some are elfish, some look mostly human, and others are dwarf-like. Granted, you cannot change around the clothes and the looks and the weapons, but I’ll bet that you can find a character that appeals to you. Once you do, you’ll need to choose their voice. There are 30 male and 30 female voices available. When you get to the point that you create other characters to fight with you, you’ll be able to change their race and class as well.

The NPCs speak out loud and it is actually in English. They don’t always say all of the words though, so make sure you read everything. The background music is quite fun. It’s upbeat and lively and really seems to fit the pace of the game perfectly.

You have to respect a game that starts out "Once upon a time…" as if it is a fairy tale. The story continues on to tell you that there was a man found in an "abandoned monster-infested town." You are playing as that man. You wake up to find yourself in a dungeon, which it turns out is the basement of an inn, The Dragon Princess Inn. The inn is the only safe place left in the area. Everywhere else has been over-run by demons. Fran Pendoll is the manager, but most just call her Manager. Lancelorna is the first person you meet when you make it out of the basement, Lorna for short. She is the one who’s going to train you. You have been to the inn before, according to her, but apparently your character has a bit of amnesia. You’ll have a room in the inn, but you’re going to have to pay for it and work off your previous tab. From your room in the inn you can do a lot, such as change your party, arrange your room, save, load, and more.

There are other people in the inn that you will deal with, other than generic mercenaries. The weapon shop on the third floor is run by Cassel Glondike, a normal human. Lezerem Rantile, an Elf, runs the item shop. Pinay, a Ney, is the maid, cook, and generic servant. Kukure, a migmy, is the hair-dresser. You can change your character’s appearance, even from male to female or vice-versa, at his shop. Prometh is the mortician who sleeps in a casket. She will revive you when you are "near-death," which really means when you have died in battle. You have to keep at least one party member alive to get you back home though! Otherwise, you will have to load from a previous save. Prometh’s services come with a small fee. There is a story in-between the dungeons. When you get back to the inn, start checking around and talking to people. You’ll trigger new conversations that give you more information about everyone and what’s going on.

Demon Gaze is a turn-based dungeon crawler. To go into the dungeon areas, simply go to the entrance of the hotel and choose where you want to go. There’s only one option at first, but you’ll unlock more quickly. You will have the main missions for the major characters in the story, but you can also take on side missions from the bulletin board in the hall. You can take as many side missions at once as you want, so I see no reason not to take them all and you’ll complete them as you go. While you’re killing demons, you will pick up the items they leave behind. Make sure to use them to your advantage as some are quite useful. Others you just need to sell for the money. Some demons drop gems of various types. Collect gems and set them on any circles you find to lure out demons with special items. After you beat a major demon, you capture their soul. You can only do this because your eyes hold the "Demon Gaze." Once you turn the demons into Fran, they turn into a key that you can keep and use to control the demon. Between the demons and your companions that you hire, you’ll figure it all out, eventually.

There are four different difficulty levels available in Demon Gaze: Cold, Cool, Warm, and Hot. By default, Demon Gaze starts you on Cool. You can change the difficulty of the game in the basement. Please note that not only do the enemies get harder with the difficulty, but the rent on your room gets higher. Each time you return to the inn you have to pay rent, so be mindful of your money. Your HP and MP heal to full when you return to the inn. I guess that is what you get for paying rent.

New character’s default stats will depend on their race. You can choose from Human (balanced), Elf (more intelligent), Dwarf (stronger and more vital), Migmy (mystic, agile, and lucky), or Ney (very agile but not very magical). You then choose their class, which will decide their fighting skills. You can choose from Fighter, Paladin, Samurai, Ranger, Assassin, Wizard, or Healer. Each has their advantages and disadvantages.

Your demon’s skills can come in quite handy but you have to fill up the demon gauge first. You can also have your demons simply attack with you. You have to be very careful though. Leaving the demons "open" uses your demon gauge too. If you don’t close the demon before it is empty, they will go into a rage and attack you. Demons will close automatically at the end of an encounter if you haven’t chosen to close them before then. The more that you use a demon, the stronger it gets and the more loyal it gets to you, so make sure to use them! You will also find that demons will just come out on their own sometimes. You will also have to look for hidden things. Comet can see a lot of them when you are using her demon powers, but you will have to search on your own for some. Since the map is made as you walk places, you will need to explore, which isn’t always easy. Sometimes you just have to walk over fire or through poison to get where you need to be, but not often. Usually you can find a better way around if you look.

The controls in Demon Gaze are pretty easy to get used to. Since it is turn-based, things are basically menu-driven and (X) selects. (Triangle) is quite handy as it lets you repeat the previous turn’s actions. If you have more than one character set to attack the same enemy and a previous one kills that enemy, the characters will move on to attack another enemy so their turn isn’t wasted as it is in some games, which is nice. Of course, your demon will still do whatever it wants if it is open. You don’t actually control the demon’s actions. The game does a good job of explaining how to play as you go.

Make sure you consult your map often. It is very handy once you have it made. You can use the map to auto-move if you want. This is nice for going back to some place that you have been before. You can’t use it to get anywhere that you haven’t been as the map only discovers area after you step on it. You will also find treasure maps with coordinates on them from time to time. You can’t usually use them right away, as you need various items to get to them, but make sure to go back and use them as soon as you can! One other nice thing to know is that you can save your game at gates, whether or not you have captured them. Since you can easily find gates on the map after you have discovered them, you have save points handy at any time.

Demon Gaze surprised me with the amount of story that you get, along with the fighting. There is quite a bit of humor in it, plus some intriguing mysteries. If you’re looking for an RPG that you can take anywhere, check out Demon Gaze.