by Danreb VictorioJust take one look at Disgaea Mayhem, and you already know what you’re getting.
I didn’t make very many AAA appointments (there weren’t many publishers there to begin with) when I went to PAX East a couple months ago, so I really looked forward to the two I had with NIS America. Their booth featured the likes of Brigandine: Abyss, which I published a preview and interview for yesterday, and Disgaea Mayhem. NIS is marketing the game as an action spinoff to their marquee, prinny-filled SRPG, but it’s obviously a musou.
My experience with the Disgaea series is spotty at best. It doesn’t take a gaming genius to understand a musou, so I did pretty well with the time I had.
The build featured three stages to wreak havoc on, along with three weapons to vary gameplay. Because this was technically an appointment and not just me playing as an attendee in line, I nonchalantly played on all three stages and used all the weapons available to me. The best thing about this demo was the fact that it was all about making your selections and jumping into the action. There were no cutscenes or anything of the sort, which is really ideal for a convention atmosphere.
Despite the lack of pizazz in the presentation, I came away quite satisfied with the game’s visuals. Disgaea has always been known for its 2D art, so seeing the prinnies as well as the cute enemies and bosses in 3D was quite pleasant, and nothing about the art style felt out of place. Whether it be evil prinnies in the green plains or the angry skeleton-like knights in the lava area, it all looked like pure Disgaea despite the 3D style not being a series staple. Visuals aside, the demo was all about getting a feel for the action, and to say the least, what I played felt great. Attacking, dodging, and jumping all worked the way I wanted them to.
The weapons I was able to use included a sword for hack-and-slash action, a spear to get stabby with, and a magic staff to unleash some projectile mayhem. All of them were a cinch to figure out on the battlefield, and the special abilities your character has when holding down the shoulder button were all cool to see, too. Again, if you’re used to musou games like Hyrule Warriors, everything here should be standard fare. You’re dropped in a map, rid the area of enemies, and repeat that process until you reach the boss and bring out your biggest guns. It was a little disappointing to see the lack of variety in mission types, but hopefully that’s something they add to the final game.
Disgaea Mayhem has the fun part down, but musous are a hard sell at anything over $50 just because we’ve seen basically everything they’re capable of. Still, we’re sure devs have something cool up their sleeves. The game is currently slated for release on July 23 for the Switch 2, Switch, PS5, and PC. For more Disgaea, keep it locked to SmashPad.
