Waiting for Purgatory.
Lady Death was originally created in 1991 alongside Evil Ernie, two characters both created by Brian Pulido. Her first appearance was in Evil Ernie #1, but it would take three years for her to finally have her own title. Still, her appearance turned her into an overnight hit. Since then, she’s appeared in countless comics, her own animated movie, and now, her own videogame. However, her road here was anything but smooth.
When Chaos! Comics went bankrupt in 2002, Lady Death was purchased by CrossGen Entertainment, only for them to also file for bankruptcy in 2004. And while Avatar Press would later take ownership and start her series again with a whole new origin, Pulido would eventually secure the rights back to her with Coffin Comics, and present one last reboot to bring her home.
So, it's only fitting that Lady Death: Demonicron is co-written by her creator, as Brian Pulido serves as one of three writers on the project. And, given Pulido being part of this project, the story is considered canonical, making it the first non-comic medium to be considered canon to the character.
The game opens with a brief origin as Lady Death, known as Hope at the time, is being burned at the stake, and in a desperate plea for help, she renounces her humanity and is cast into the depths of hell. Broken bones and the bodies of the dead cushion her fall, covering her body in white and resurrecting her now as Lady Death.
However, in a somewhat confusing state, she and her beloved, Ravenheart, who can join Lady Death as her Player Two, are suddenly ambushed by the demons of hell. This quick turn around of her origin to this established version of Lady Death is quite puzzling as there isn't much set up to this sudden opening.
In fact, while the official story summary states: “Lady Death is trying to grieve at a cemetery when a throng of demonic scum storms the gates through an opened portal.”. This actually doesn't happen anywhere in the game, its opening, or even the game's initial animated cutscene. Her and Ravenheart just find themselves unaware of where they are and then take the demons to task. It's like a whole story chunk is just missing.
It's a shame there wasn't more set up here, especially as you have Brian Pulido here in a writing capacity. This brisk opener prevents Demonicron from having any story elements whatsoever. It also would have filled out the run time to be a bit more than just an hour, but we will get to that choice later. Hell, even when I beat the final boss, I was actually shocked the credits suddenly rolled. It never felt like what a final stage should feel like, and to say I was treated to any sort of resolution would be an understatement.
I also want to point out that since this takes place in the new canon through Coffin Comics, that popular characters like Purgatori, Chasity, and Evil Ernie, are not possible due to Pulido losing the rights to them. So, any chance of DLC with them is highly unlikely.
That said, Dynamite and Coffin Comics have entered into a co-publishing agreement, to reunite this cast, but this was only announced earlier this year, and even then, most of the collaboration seems to be reprints rather than brand new content.
Lady Death: Demonicron is a local co-op beat’em-up (yup, no online play…) takes place across 15 levels, with bosses breaking up most chapters. These threats were created for the game and are not part of the comic series currently published by Coffin Comics. Stages take place in the pits of Hell, a volcano, a prison, a demonic rock concert, an industrial zone, and a few moving stages aboard an elevator, a train and a blimp. However, to call those last two stages would be overreaching.
However, during the development of the game and its Kickstarter origins, there were shots of Lady Death on a horse. This was present in screenshots, YouTube thumbnails, and even a behind the scenes shot of the artist drawing said horse. Unless this is part of a secret level, the horse is nowhere present in this game.
What is immediately captivating; however, is the art style. Everything is fully hand drawn and has impeccable detail. Animations are fine, but certain attacks and movement could have benefitted from additional frames or more fluid transitions. Regardless, from the levels and demons to Lady Death herself, this is a very visually pleasing beat’em up. Hell, she even flashes the crowd during the rock concert. Oh, to be in the audience.
Art of Play games have labeled Demonicron as a combination of Mortal Kombat and Golden Axe, and I certainly see it. Special attacks and weapon moves are handled via combo attacks like pressing the directional pad and the attack button in different combinations, similar to MK’s fatalities. However, learning those moves is only present during the main menu and not while playing the game, for some reasons. This caused me to be unaware of 80% of the moves that could be performed as the in-game menu is only a small sampling of what Lady Death can do.
Attacks vary from combo strings, sliding kicks, back kicks, charged sword strikes, to stomps and variations of throwing out a scythe, the latter being a move I actually didn't know existed until after finishing the game. While my initial impression was that the combat lacked depth, it's actually that the depth isn't visible or shown to the player while playing the game. The lack of any actual instruction while in-game does the combat a huge disservice.
As you explore each location, you'll collect items, such as clown masks, coffins, and swords. At first, I assume the devs added in a “Bent over” button as a bit of fan service, but this button is for actually collecting those items as well as collecting the health potions that the odd broken chest or box will offer. You do collect orbs from overkills and various strikes, but apart from adding to a pointless score, I'm not sure of their actual purpose.
The swords you collect actually provide replay value as they each have unique special attacks. From a zipping back and forth volley of sword strikes, to executing a wave of lighting strikes, It makes me wish there were actually more weapons past the half dozen that are available or that you could swap them mid-game. While you will rarely be able to distinguish between the swords visually, given they are not immediately visible, their function as a special attack is largely unique from one to the other.
If I had to fault the combat system, it would be the controls not always registering my input. I would constantly kick when I went to stomp, and the sword attacks would require that I be almost motionless to consistently pull off, which isn't the best when you are surrounded. I do feel a bit more polish or a better controller layout would be ideal. Also, no throw move in a beat’em up?
Animations are fine, but don't always look great. However, I was often so impressed with the visual look of the game that it didn't always bother me. Enemies have somewhat limited attacks, but given we are supposed to kill them immediately, I didn't feel this was a huge oversight. Lady Death has a decent arrangement of animations, but some can be a bit stilted or stiff, and it isn't always intuitive about quickly switching to attack in one direction to the next. And while something of a nit-pick, when the riot shield enemies are coming at you from the other direction, “Security” is simply mirrored, not redrawn on the shield, making the wording backwards.
I did find that most enemies and especially bosses could be easily defeated with just a series of drop kicks and a few punch and kick combos and then backing off and performing a drop kick. I didn't find that the bosses changed up how I played, even despite their assortment of attacks. Also, bosses have three phases and block incoming damage after a certain threshold has been met, even if you are still hitting them. They will retreat, gain back all their health, and then you repeat the fight and clean up any mobs.
Lady Death has three meters, a health meter, a stamina meter, and her sword meter. Health is refilled through potions, stamina through killing enemies, and the sword meter fills up naturally, or at least that is what I've experienced. Stamina is used for a variety of moves, with her hover kill taking the whole meter. Still, I often did the X+Y spin attack constantly and it would occasionally not consume the bar. Glitch? Feature? Eh, I'm not complaining. Also, the hellhounds use so little of the bar that you can clear screens with them in no time.
When I got to what would be the final level, I was actually surprised at how little story was conveyed to make me feel like this was the final confrontation. The fight itself was fine enough, with a character that simply made me want Purgatori to be in her place, but it was the ending of the game that just didn't sit right with me. I'm expecting a sequel to clear up this cliffhanger, but in an era of underperforming games, I won't hold my breath if we don’t see one.
If Lady Death has any extremely strong attribute, it would be the music. The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic, and you instantly know what you're getting even just off the main menu. It doesn't need to go that hard, but I'm glad it does. The heavy metal tunes here easily elevate this game’s basic combat and turn it into a riot of destruction.
Now, the story mode can be beaten in just over an hour, with my first playthrough taking one hour and fifteen minutes. There is an arcade mode and a wave-based mode where healing is extremely limited. Lastly, there is an armory where you can view the swords and collectibles, but oddly enough, the descriptions of the swords don't describe or mention their special attacks.
Beat’ems are generally short experiences, but this was always a product of being arcade games fixated on swallowing up quarters through harsh difficulty. So, when I wrapped credits at just over an hour, I was actually surprised, especially given the $40 USD/$50 CAD price point. This is absolutely too high and I can see people being frustrated at such a high price for such a short experience. Hell, checking Steam right now, where it sits about “Mixed”, many of the comments are talking about how expensive it is.
If there had been unlockable characters, a boss rush mode, or a deeper story mode, then I could easily recommend the title. For now, I would wait for a price drop, as it just doesn't have the value to warrant the price, especially when something like Marvel Cosmic Invasion is $30 and features full four-player modes and vastly better replay value with a ton of characters.
Lady Death is a character I've always wanted to see make her videogame debut, but Demonicron is just a sliver of the potential it could have been. The combat is fairly decent, but does lack some impact, especially as enemies rarely test you with knowing the entire arsenal to best them. With Brian Pulido being part of this to pen the story, I was really expecting more to come from this. However, with a barely-there story, and a generic path through thoughtless encounters, this game, like Lady Death herself, needs a resurrection to have been worth the wait.
Developer - Art of Play Interactive, Publisher - Art of Play Interactive. Released - August 31st, 2026 / Switch - Sept 11th, 2026. Available On - PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated - (M) Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes. Platform Reviewed - PC - Steam. Review Access - A review code for Lady Death: Demonicron was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.