Proposed by a Demon Lord Review: Say I Do

Life can be surprising, like randomly finding money in your pocket, or getting that last parking spot on the weekend, or when you wake up fully refreshed but realize you still have three hours before your alarm is supposed to go off. Of course, then there's that classic scenario when you manage to catch the last train home only to realize you've been transported to another dimension where eight eligible demon lords propose to you. What...? Is this just me?

This is the premise behind developer Day7's otome adventure Proposed by a Demon Lord. If you're unfamiliar with the term “otome,” it roughly translates to “maiden game.” These stories usually target women and deal with romancing a male figure. If you're into interactive romance stories or dating sims, it's a similar concept, with the player generally taking on a female role to romance multiple love interests in different contexts. The main narrative behind Proposed by a Demon Lord follows suit. After catching the last train home, you're transported to a new world where you soon learn that you're a legendary hero. Because of your lineage, the Demon King wants you to marry, mate, and produce offspring with one of eight eligible demon lords. Failure to do so means death! Romantic, right? 

With so many demon lords vying for my affection, I didn't know where to start. Each lord is the respective warden of a territory. Kind of like Game of Thrones, you have your lord of the north, south, east, and west. Each lord comes with his apprentice, which adds to the total list of eight eligible demon bachelors. Additionally, each lord comes with his own personality traits, colors, talents, likes, and dislikes. Ideally, the idea is to match someone with a personality similar to your own, but since we're talking about gettin' hitched, I wanted to play the field and date as many demons as possible!

I started with Penn, the “cranky demon lord of the east.” I've often found that harder exteriors protect sensitive and delicate interiors. Plus, he was dressed in a fashionable red, so why not? This is where the central aspect of gameplay and monetization is introduced in Proposed by a Demon Lord. You have three options after choosing your bachelor: main story, side story, or illustration. Each date is an episode within the main story and is about a five-minute read. I downloaded two versions of this game, premium and free. You can only play the first four episodes for each demon lord in the free version before being asked to pay.

In the premium, all episodes are unlocked immediately. Essentially it's a choice between paying as you go or unlocking everything at once. Each demon lord has ninety-plus episodes plus bonus endings, so if you're in this game for the long haul, it's worth buying the premium option. Additionally, you can’t unlock illustrations without playing the episodes, so it's beneficial to go premium.

But with over seven hundred episodes at your disposal, the gamification element of Proposed by a Demon Lord is lost. I could immediately choose any demon, episode, or ending, and I found myself missing the linear sense of chapter completion. What's worse is that the game itself kept track of some episodes I'd completed and not others. If I were to put the story down for a week, it would have been natural for me to completely not remember where I was, especially since I was playing the field with several demons at once.

Although the demon lords were beautifully illustrated and all offered unique personalities and dialogue, I wish Proposed by a Demon Lord brought that same agency to the player. It would have been nice to choose something other than my character name. Hair, skin color, or even an outfit are typical selections in similar games. I would have liked to see more of it while playing. Additionally, the story is pretty much all reading. The demons gave quirky answers and said things worth responding to, but I wasn’t even provided with courtesy prompts that wouldn’t affect the actual outcome.

If there’s one important element of Proposed by a Demon Lord worth praising, though, it’s that the text was clever and funny at times—and for an experience that’s essentially all reading, that matters! I liked the interactions between the demon lords, especially when it came to the “playboy demon lord of the North,” Vernius, who all the other demons were quite hilariously convinced that I shouldn't date. The characters also dropped pop culture references with lines like, "May the force be with you." It begs the question: is Star Wars a thing in the underworld of the Proposed by a Demon Lord universe?

Despite the fun, brisk writing, frequent translation errors made the dialogue seem off. Even the game’s title seems peculiar. Shouldn't it be "A Demon Lord's Proposal" or "Proposed to by a Demon Lord?" Oddities like this are found throughout this game, but they never made the narrative unclear.

Proposed by a Demon Lord is a simple game with a straightforward premise; you know what you’re getting into when you play it, and you probably had a good idea of if it’s your thing by the time you read the title or looked at some screenshots. Fans of otome should enjoy the variety in love interests combined with the fun artwork and upbeat music. Although it has plenty of flaws, the game offers hours of content and different paths for players to choose from. If you don't go in expecting the world, you might be surprised just how much fun you have reading along to something so silly.

SCORE: 3 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Obey Me, Mystic Messenger, and other otome games. If you enjoy the otome style of lightly interactive romance stories, then Proposed by a Demon Lord might be just for you.

• Choose-your-own-adventure stories. Proposed by a Demon Lord contains elements where you decide the outcome. If you like this style of storytelling, give this game a try.