This masterpiece is not for everyone. First of all, I came here after I’ve backed their product on Kickstarter. I have been following this company since their early times. They had their ups and downs, but they have always provided quality content. When they announced a Daggerheart project, I thought it was strange and out of their league since they always write dark content. Hopelessness is their main theme. When I saw Demonheart, it was even stranger because I couldn’t brought a game of torment in Hell and Daggerheart together in my mind. Reading through their demos, I’ve noticed that the writers haven’t changed a bit when they have changed the system. This demo touches so many deep points in your emotional world that you can’t even keep reading at some points, let alone experiencing them as a player. This adventure is not (won’t be) an easy one to GM. This demo gives that promise. Life has been so hard lately that I didn’t even want to keep reading after the Succubus section. Truth is, the mechanical writing can be improved, but it is understandable thinking that this is a demo, and it will probably go through an editing process. Also, the narrative covers for it. As a long time fan, it had always been like that. 1-1 sections are awesome. I just stole this idea for my other campaigns. What else can I say? Hell awaits…

Wow... First of all, this was intense and harsh. I’m sure it won’t be for everyone, but I can honestly say this is the first piece of content I’ve recently seen that truly lives up to the content warnings it provides and I love it. The first part of the adventure deals with some very heavy themes, and it never really becomes lighthearted afterward. Especially the part where you cannot say your final goodbyes to a loved one. That scene genuinely hit me hard and left me in subtle tears, which I really was not expecting from simply reading a TTRPG adventure. I can’t say it would have the same effect on everyone, though, as part of it was probably personal since I recently went through something similar in my own life. The part with the succubi also feels like it would be incredibly enjoyable to play through, though I’ll definitely need to pressure my GM into properly setting the mood and atmosphere for it.

I read through the demo, and have tried to put together thoughts here: - The writing is very nice. The scenarios are for the most part compelling, the prologues have weight to them. Should I ever run something thematic, I'm stealing much of the format presented here. - That said... a baffling choice for a Demo. The adventure begins with multi-act solo adventures for 4 different characters, setting up their path to Hell (for three of them...). It is only on page 35 out of 50+ that the party exists in the same space for the first time, and while some of it is mechanical and promotional babble, it doesn't account for 30+ pages. - I say three, because 3/4 characters get oppressive, personal, in-depth backstories for how they end up in hell. The fourth gets a combat trial, with no backstory or lore. - It is already on page 44 that the adventure becomes 1:1s again. There has been one combat encounter against a single enemy for the party to face against together. - There is a mention of 'rolling initiative' at one part, which famously is not a part of this system. I know for a fact this put some people off. - Extremely on the rails. The most agency a character gets is usually a choice between three different ways of landing into a bad outcome, which would be fine for the prologues of a campaign, but an extremely strange thing to choose as the thing to preview as an example of your campaign, especially for this system. - Speaking of which, no room left for player input, not even Drakkenheim's "Survivor, what did you use to do here?" - The party's first interaction together is still very individualist, and the GM should assign a deadly sin that best applies for each character. You would think this would be given in the prologues. This is not. - Episode 1 gives you a damage output for failure to stay on the lava path (which, if sin offerings are refused, is likely, given the 17-to-20 Difficulty), but does not tell you what happens next, or in case of death. - SA tw: In one of the prologues, there is off-screen rape. The only ways to prevent it from happening is to kill the would-be victim, or do nothing which leads to her escaping almost immediately and committing a suicide on-screen. Trying to help leads to the PC being knocked out, implying that the spy is then raped by the PC's military superiors while the PC is out. - This makes the humping imp's existence in the same demo significantly worse. All in all, the product feels very 5E by its spirit, which might be something some people want. However, with the lack of care and such an odd start to show off the product with, I will be skipping the Kickstarter. I am leaving this review so that people can make their own decisions on the matter before backing.