Home » Lady Death Demonicron (Review)

Lady Death Demonicron is a side-scrolling 2D beat ‘em up based on the popular comic book series. The game shows plenty of potential but needs more polish to deliver a satisfying experience.

Hell Awaits

Lady Death first appeared in 1991 and gained her own comic series in 1994. Growing in popularity over the years, Lady Death surprisingly didn’t receive a video game adaptation until 2026 in Lady Death Demonicron thanks to its successful funding through Kickstarter. The game’s story also involves Brian Pulido, the original creator of Lady Death.

The story goes right into how Lady Death was created, from once being human to when she was transported to hell. The story then follows up with her awakening as Lady Death, and her romance partner Ravenheart wakes up beside her, also transformed, as they are suddenly ambushed by hordes of demons and other Hell-employed figures. Right afterwards, the game begins playing. It feels like there’s more to the story and not enough explained through your adventure. Between some levels, there are comic-book-styled scenes that explore Lady Death’s adventure, but they provide small pieces of story depth.

However, these scenes feature a fun animation style reminiscent of comic books, including dialogue boxes that pop up and voice-overs, although some of the voice-over dialogues could be improved for smoother delivery. Fully animated cutscenes are fun to watch as you see Lady Death wipe out the enemies around her in a pretty gruesome way.

The illustrations carry a substantial amount of character and personality that resembles the original comic quite well. Each level gives some variety of visuals that represent the depths of hell and some scenery that feels more like sci-fi. Overall, it’s a visually outstanding design.

To Hell and Back

While it’s purrtastic to see the comic book character receive her dues, the antiheroine could use more love in her debut game. First, players are only given the choice in Story mode and must complete it if they want to play Arcade or Outlast modes. Arcade mode is your standard pick-up and play freely, and Outlast is basically a survival mode where you take on hoards of enemies coming after you. It’s a two-player local co-op where players can play either as Lady Death or Ravenheart. Like any beat-em-up, arcade-styled game, you’ll travel left to right in segments, beating up enemies in the area before continuing on. The visuals are stunning, but the animations do showcase some stiff movements, and while enemy designs look appealing, there are only a few enemy types. When it comes to the game’s soundtrack, its heavy metal scores fit well with its dark fantasy theme and its high-energy battles. The game gives off a ’90s vibe as you wipe out your enemies.

You have plenty of room to move, but it can be difficult to see where your attacks land relative to the enemy and your y-axis position. It’s a common issue with arcade-style beat-em-up games. However, that’s the least thing to worry about, as attacks feel limited and lack customization. During gameplay, the game offers you to view the mechanics but doesn’t explain everything, creating a disconnect for players. Yes, there is a shortcut in the pause menu to see commands, but it’s not nearly enough information, and either you need to look it up online or go through the game’s menu screen. This means that you must exit the game if you cannot look up information online.

You really have to learn the controls because most of your actions are combo dependent. To be able to perform a special move you have to hit down, forward, then a dedicated action button for the special attack. Additionally, the spit and stomp moves require two separate combo inputs that don’t feel consistent when trying to initiate them. With hordes of enemies attacking while trying to execute the combos, either the combos fail to initiate correctly, or the enemies interrupt the combo before it finishes. At this point, you’re constantly throwing regular punches and kicks to get through these enemies. Ideally, the ability to customize your button layout feels necessary to make it as smooth as possible for players.

Special attacks deal significant damage to enemies on the screen, and while witnessing these characters perform their moves feels like a special show, the visuals do not reflect that. Instead they just show regular blood splatter and remove your stamina bar. Stamina can be replenished by opening chests scattered throughout levels or defeating enemies. Using these moves feels like a chore because of the confusing combat mechanics, and you may find yourself smashing buttons to execute it.

Some enemies are so low to the ground, you have to execute specific moves to get to them. For example, punches are too high, and you can’t crouch down to land a blow, so stomping is a combo move to try and execute. This mechanic also brings back the combo situation explained earlier. Occasionally, multiple kick commands can be effective, or you can perform a kick-dive from the air to defeat the enemy in one hit.

Then there’s a horde of enemies approaching, indicated by a prominent symbol that the game initiates. Dodging the enemies is difficult, but blocking their attacks appears to be more effective. However, your rear remains vulnerable. The enemy hit areas do not always feel properly aligned in boss battles, as if the game is trying to adjust the depth of field on the battlefield, which is most noticeable during those encounters. Bosses have a tendency to jump off the battlefield if a certain amount of health is depleted and come back with some replenishment, which makes already lengthy battles even more frustrating. Initiating combos and heavier attacks seems to help speed up the time.

Weapon choices are forced. Your first playthrough is a sword, and finding a new one requires players to find one while adventuring through each level. Once you find one and pick it up, it replaces what you have. If you start a new game, you can choose different weapons if found during your previous play. In beat-em-up games, such as games like Streets of Rage, it is normal to see a weapon dropped and is picked up temporarily. Ideally, the game could offer a weapon-swapping mechanic to make battles more enticing since you’re collecting them anyways.

The game doesn’t offer any character improvement in stats and is treated as a straightforward playthrough that could have added potential to enjoying the game further and longer since beat-em-up games are known to have short gameplay lengths. Lady Death Demonicron can be completed in under four hours, but adding more features to keep players engaged would be beneficial and feel rewarding.

Despite its limitations, the game does provide some enjoyment when defeating enemies, especially when attacks successfully land, when enemies stay down, and when bloody visuals splatter on the screen. Making it a bloody good time. Further improvements to its combat mechanics and animation smoothness could help it become a more compelling beat-em-up. There’s some untapped potential brewing here, but for a price tag of $39 USD, it’s a difficult pill to swallow for how much the game offers, even if you are a Lady Death fan.

The Final Blow

Lady Death Demonicron brings the popular comic book antiheroine to life in her first video game adaptation. It looks and sounds the part, but its gameplay doesn’t deliver the same level of quality, leaving plenty of untapped potential and room for polish.

A Steam code was provided by the publisher Art of Play Games for this review. Lady Death Demonicron is available now for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Fans can visit the game’s official website for more information. Additional questions regarding the game or with Art of Play Games can be contacted for more information. Physical editions for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 ship starting in November 2026.