Demons Roots is an indie H-Game created in RPG Maker by Akai Mato and released in 2021. It's a prequel to King Exit. Kagura Games released English and Chinese translations in 2023, including a censored Steam versión.
A thousand years ago, demons used to rule the Continent. Humanity defeated the Demon Lord and forced the remaining demonkind to flee to the Dark Realm. They manage to survive until now, but the Dark Realm is about to collapse and cause their extinction. Demons make an effort and start a plan to invade the Continent again in order to get a place to live, starting with Bohelos Kingdom. The six remmnants and Deathpolca, the most humanoid of them, lead the charge. Soon, they find that mankind has been divided into many kingdoms, oppressed by the Empire and a cruel slavery system. Upon this situation, Deathpolca becomes an unexpected ally for the defeated humans and slaves…
Demons Roots contains examples of the following:
- Actually a Doombot: In Ophe, Deathpolca's party defeats the Emperor, killing him in just one hit. But then, the corpse trigges transportation magic that sends Ange, Kalinka and Sarasa to outside the watchtower, where the Emperor is alive and presiding another Human Sacrifice ceremony. It turns out he employed an impostor wearing his royal garb to lure in the party.
- Adjustable Censorship: In the uncensored releases, there's an option to toggle the skipping of H-scenes.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different:
- When first booting up the game, you take control of the red-haired and blonde daughters of the Knight Commander of Bohelos. The girls wander around during 100 Year Anniversary Festival and the segment ends with the demon invasion beginning.
- Immediately after that, you play as Radademon and recruit Deathpolca, the actual protagonist, in the Dark Realm.
- When Deathpolca has finished conquering Tortas Kingdom, the POV switches from her to Ange, who is helping out the old folks in the farmlands of Bohelos. Not long after, Deathpolca calls Ange to come to the estate and you regain control of the former.
- Chapter 3 starts with the POV of Diana. She's a FBI agent who reincarnated in the Continent as a brainwashed soldier working at Mark 6.
- Anti-Villain: Deathpolca's goal isn't mere world domination, but the abolition of the slavery system in a way both defeated humans and demonkind can coexist. She knows demons have to use any means necessary, including having to break into countries and brainwashing their loyal families.
- Attack of the Town Festival: The prologue starts during Bohelos' festival for the 100th Aniversary since the kingdom's foundation. That day, many demons burst from underneath the nation, starting their invasion of the human world. The catch is that from then on, you play as one of the demons most involved in the attack.
- Ax-Crazy: Lily Killer is a Serial Killer who enjoys maiming young women, checking out their internal organs and leaving crime scenes drenched with blood. Her crimes have sent multiple countries into a panic.
- Back Stab: When you approach an overworld enemy's back, you can trigger a "back attack" on them. It causes them to either get confused and attack themselves or to lose a turn. On rare occasions, the back attack can instantly kill the oponents.
- Bittersweet Ending: Following the defeat of the Emperor, Deathpolca and Lily are gravely wounded in an attempted assassination and have to regenerate in Lily's crystals for centuries. While they sleep, not only do all of their friends die of old age, but humans and demons end up fighting once again, and the humans eradicate the demons as seen in King Exit. However, Deathpolca and Lily wake up to a world where peace between the human nations and the tiny remaining demon nation is finally a reality.
- Captain Obvious: Deathpolca accidentally says the obvious about someone named Lily Killer in this exchange:Lily Killer: What a terrible thing to say. I've only done a little bit of killing.Deathpolca: That "little" went way too far! You're a serial killer!Lily Killer: Is that right? I'm a serial killer… Thanks for informing me.Deathpolca: You're welcome. Argh! Getting pulled into your rhythm is going to drive me up a Wall!
- Cardboard Prison: Deathpolca is sent to the underground dungeon of Tortas for throwing up on the King. She has no problem escaping because she can break the doors and there are no guards. The special cell for Lily Killer is locked by a simple door with a key hidden in a nearby pot. As it turns out, no security measures are needed when all prisoners are slaves with zero willpower.
- Career-Ending Injury: During the Bohelos invasion, Radademon and Gilhound fight alongside Deathpolca. Both of them put their bodies on the line to protect Deathpolca from being attacked by Bohelos soldiers. Radademon and Gilhound barely survive and have to rest on the hospital room, unable to fight again.
- Chainmail Bikini: Ange's default outfit is shameful because she wears armoring on her shoulders, legs and belly, but her sensitive places are only covered up by a bikini top and bottom.
- Crapsack World: The world of Demons Roots is truly a horrible place to live. Enormous monsters called Ultra Beasts terrorize the land, and the majority of the human population are slaves. Do Re Mi Fuckingdom is the only truly safe place in the entire world.
- Cyclops: Remnant Mebius's head only has one eye and one horn. He has no visible mouth, ears or nose.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Sarasa arrives one minute late to her class in Magical Barrier Rooklook because she had to take care of Deathpolca's party intruding in the country. The teacher tells Sarasa off about having to prioritize the rules over oneself and makes her climb on top of the class platform. He whips Sarasa several times in front of everyone and makes her say "thanks".
- Dumb Muscle: Kalinka is a gladiator whose punching attacks can hit hard and who killed countless opponents in the deathmatches of Plana's Coliseum. She hasn't received any education and her vocabulary is very lacking, causing her to have troubles following conversations.
- Dung Fu: At the beginning of the prologue, a kids story about demons is told. In it, a demon tries to attack a girl who is using the bathroom. The girl throws her poop at them and the demon cries and falls down to pieces.
- Draw Aggro:
- With Ange's skill "Slave Knight's shield", she protects her allies and attracts all enemy attacks to herself during the turn. It synergizes well with higher defense and evasion rates. "Wind God Shield" and "Aegis Storm" are upgraded variants of "Slave Knight's Shield".
- In Orphe, Diana drives the rest of the party in an old car she found while Kalinka is playing the gong in other to get the Ultra Beasts to follow them. It's a long chase and the others have to defend from the Beasts' attacks, but they manage to arrive at Maximus and have the Ultra Beasts tear a hole in the magical walls of the country.
- Fantastic Racism: The Empire has always sent the message that demons must be annihilated. Their propaganda system also tends to blame demonkind for any severe incident happening in the Continent. As a result, most of the population thinks of demons as bad guys.
- Girl in the Tower: The former Queen of Lace is being enslaved by the King of Tolkia and locked up in his private room atop a castle tower. Deathpolca produces a vine ladder to rescue the Queen.
- Gladiator Games: Quite a few slaves are sent to Plana's Coliseum, where they are trained to be gladiators and fight each other. These games boost the amusement of the audience and the profits of the King and the salesmen. Every four years. the King holds a special event for the gladiators in which the one to reach the top can have a chance to fight him and earn the kingdom of Plana as a reward. However, the King always wins with cheats.
- Global Currency Exception: Iru is the common currency accepted across the Continent that is earned from defeating monsters and bosses. However, the shops of the quirky DoReMi Fuckingdom only accept Fuckoins instead of Iru. The only way to earn Fuckoins is to spend Spirit Stones and send your party members to perverted attractions.
- Green Thumb: As a plant demon, all of Deathpolca's skills are based on growing vegetation that can buff allies or whose parts can hit enemies. Outside combat, she has produced vine ladders and thorny shrub barricades.
- Human Sacrifice: Ophe, the Land of Sacrifice, is the final destination for slaves who are no longer able to work or were born with disabilities. During the rite, the slaves are tied up to crosses and an official sounds a gong to attract Ultra Beasts that slaughter them. The shock shatters the bedrock, creating huge holes that reveal minerals underneath.
- It's a Wonderful Failure: When the party gets wiped out in battle and the game over screen pops up, there is an option of "Bad End Mode". Selecting it shows that after a few months, the Empire has managed to enslave 90% of the population and has sent Deathpolca and her allies to the Execution Dungeon. This game mode is playable, but your characters have a tiny fraction of their original power because they are imprisoned, drugged, and they suffer Fan Disservice.
- Kaiju: Ultra Beasts are giant monsters who have a power lever no demon or human can ever match. The beasts normally live outside the borders of the continent, but there have been cases in which they have invaded and destroyed countries.
- Loony Fan: Deathpolca saves Hanna from brutalization by Tortas Soldiers, who were about to make her a slave. From then on, Hanna feels an irresistible need to worship Deathpolca. She takes risks going to all dangerous places where Deathpolca is adventuring to set up her shop, and has mad laughs when she feels complimented.
- Made a Slave:
- Slavery has been normalized by the Empire in all countries, with some exceptions like Bohelos. More than 30% of the population of the Continent has been enslaved. They are trained to lose any willpower to fight back and constantly threatened to get sent to the Slave Internment Camp should they disobey.
- There's a focus on the fate of the population of the peaceful country Lace after its defeat by the savage kingdom Shingana. The Queen and the knight Ange were captured and sent to Plana's Slave Market. The King of Tolkia bid millions of Iru for the former Queen of Lace, so he could lock her up in a room and shamefully show it to visitors. An ambassador bought Ange, but during Bohelos' invasion, he gets killed and Ange is set free.
- Matricide: In order to attract more customers, the King of Plana set up a gladiator deathmatch between Kalinka and her mother, known as the Goddess of Battle. Kalinka killed her in the hopes that she would eventually defeat the king even if her mother couldn't.
- Mordor: The Dark Realm is the dimension where demonkind has lived for the last thousand years. It's gray and covered in fog, and there's no other life other than a few microbes, bugs, and a small garden that Deathpolca raised.
- The Namesake: "Demons Roots" is the name of Deathpolca's ultimate skill, which she learns during her duel against the King of Bohelos.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: Zanaharry has a huge, muscular body, and his head is bull-shaped and with three pairs of horns. He's the most brutish out of the Remnant demons, loving to beat humans up when defending Bohelos.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: When the Remnant demon Mebius, who has a horn and only one eye, infiltrates Plana, he's wearing a fabric bag with a crudely drawn face on his head. People are repulsed by his looks, but don't recognize he's a demon. Later, Mebius forgets about the disguise and tends a gladiator's wounds with the bag he was wearing. He gets caught immediately.
- Porn with Plot: The sexual content in the main story, which deals with oppression, slavery and demons; is very minimal. Most H-scenes are found instead in two completely optional areas: DoReMi Fuckingdom and the dungeon of Bad End Mode.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: The children and youngsters of Rooklook have their bodies perpetually stuck in portal walls. Their lower bodies are lined up in a room of Maximus, which has a crystal that extracts and stores their magic power. With the rest of their bodies, they attend classes at Rooklook and are forced to spend even more energy to maintain the Magical Barrier.
- Slain in Their Sleep: Deathpolca is sleeping in the Bohelos state when Lily Killer approaches with the intention of cutting her open to take a look at her allegedly beautiful heart. Deathpolca wakes up before anything can happen and forbids Lily Killer from entering demon territory.
- Slipping a Mickey: Before allowing Deathpolca's party to fight him, the King of Plana instructs them to drink some special wine. Deathpolca, Ange and Kalinka comply, but soon feel their bodies going numb and become unable to land a scratch on the King. Luckily, Deathpolca uses her Green Thumb to discover an antidote for the poisoned wine.
- Take Over the World: The goal of demonkind is to take over the Continent and secure a place for them to live. It soon includes having to defeat the Hegemonic Empire.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: The Gardemons carry Deathpolca to the kingdom of Tortas at a blinding speed. From the motion sickness, she immediately goes behind a rock to throw up while a screen of her with the caption "Please wait" is shown. After that, the King of Tortas picks the dizzy Deathpolca up, but she gets disgusted at being groped and vomits on him again with the same "Please Wait" screen.
- Wizarding School: Played for Drama. The system of Magical Barrier Rooklook attaches all children and teens to floating portals and employs very strict discipline to train them into Magical Units. Magical Units are forced into the duty of consuming their mana to maintain the Deflector Shields of the country. Many of them die from overwork.
- Zero-Effort Boss:
- In chapter 2, Remnant Claura offers to train Deathpolca and Ange. The fight can end with a few rounds of attacks and Claura ressurects the party members who die, so it's impossible to lose.
- In chapter 3, The Emperor goes down with the very first attack. Although he's soon revealed to be an impostor.