DEEMO II Reviews

extremely unfortunate that this is such a letdown after deemo 1. the cutscenes are beautiful and i appreciate the song and visual artist’s work to no end. the structure of the game ruins it. limited-time events that lock songs behind them to exploit FOMO, intrusive energy system that slows progress, an excess of currencies that largely feel meaningless, there amazing game underneath is ruined by these unignorable, intrusive addiction mechanics. not to mention a bland songlist with far too much focus on chill songs that feel less like they’re meant to build atmosphere and far more like laziness, and one-note characters that have little more than mediocre one liners to offer you. after how beautiful and unique Deemo 1 ended up, this is just a letdown in every way. play Deemo 1 or Deemo Reborn instead, you will have a much fuller experience without predatory game design that disrespects your money and time at every turn

The art is beautiful…
The music is so beautiful when just walking around in the game, I just wanna stand around and listen to it…
The rhythm game is fine ig IF I COULD PLAY IT WHEN I WANTED
But the game being centered around micro transactions and even having radiance to limit the amount of time you play killed it for me. I’d rather have payed for the game like 3 dollars than deal with micro transactions similar to the original. The original had a story to tell and wanted you to play to your heart’s content for you to find the story and let it be told. This game feels like unnecessary grinding and having to wait to play or if you have money, pay to play. I find it awful that I just want to experience the story and play so many new songs and feel a new story. But this game is making it really REALLY hard to get through it. I’m sorry I’m not mad but just disappointed, especially since the original DEEMO had such a big impact on me and why I played rhythm games to this day

Aside from the actual piano gameplay itself, Deemo II is much worse than the original game. The biggest drawback being that story progression is now locked behind timed resources similar to most other mobile games, in opposition to the original Deemo that provided EXTRA resources to zip through the story and unlock all songs much more quickly.

Other than this, the sequel is riddled with other microtransactions. Both games have song packs to buy, but the sequel has events that can only be played a little until you need to buy more in game resources. If you want to progress through the story faster and get rid of some of the timed aspects, again, you can buy it.

Lastly, the game has much more tedious JRPG elements, like running around and solving rudimentary puzzles to unlock sheet musics, which is only one difficulty for a song at a time. If you play on a higher difficulty and aren’t interested in lower difficulties, much of this wastes time.

Most of the decisions for the sequel make no sense for a rhythm game outside of money making. If you want one of the best rhythm game experiences on mobile, stick with the original Deemo. Very disappointed in this long-awaited followup.

I respect what they are trying with the story and exploration, and they actually did okay in that regard. But I honestly don’t care much about the story. I play Deemo because I like the songs and they are fun to play. However, Something in Deemo 2 doesn’t sit right with me. The notes fall in a more narrow horizontal column and it is less forgiving in relation to the speed. I like the new holding notes mechanic and the speed up/slow down, but they aren’t utilized well. Most charts are either incredibly boring or way too difficult. Deemo 1 had some songs like that, but there were only a few and I would either play them for the challenge or because I liked the song. Deemo 2’s song list just isn’t as good IMO. Really the only two songs I like are Felzione and Karanosu, both of which are fun and challenging to play, so no complaints there. However, every other song is either boring or just plain bad. I really tried to give the game a chance but ultimately I always return to Deemo 1. Hopefully they add more songs that are bangers with good charts to boot. I’ll check in again every once in a while.

I’ve been playing Deemo for a long time, and it’s my favorite rhythm game. This feels like a cheap follow up full of micro transactions for no reason. Instead of focusing on the amazing music, it wants to show off cosmetics. I heavily dislike the battlepass system as well, I dislike having to go through a leveling system just to get a song I want, and having to progress in the actual story to get the next piece of the pass open to even level. The games visuals and music are top notch, but the micro transactions and shoehorned in ways to make money through them is a shame.

Been playing the original Deemo since 2.0 released, easily one of my top games. When the Deemo 2 trailer dropped in 2020, I was very excited for the way it looked. Two years after that trailer the game released and oh boy, it has the same great gameplay, but I’m also having to ask “why?” for a lot of the things added.
Battle pass, why? This is a rhythm game, why does deemo need a battle pass? Very sacrilegious.
Crystals, why? I understand this is a Cytus system and it can be used to get books for free, but why can’t I also just buy a book directly for money? Hate middlemen, it’s annoying.
Radiance, why? I actually just don’t understand why this system exists.
There’s a lot of different currencies and items in this game, but the game itself doesn’t explain them well or in most cases at all. It’s very overwhelming.

I do appreciate it being very possible to get all charming now, thanks for that. Animation and voice acting is good.

Please make direct buy books option, I beg!

I love Deemo, so when I realized they had released Deemo 2 I got pretty excited. Unfortunately, all the excitement was gone when I got in the game and saw that they turned into a "battle-pass-energy-limited" mess.

The songs, art, voice acting are all amazing. And they deserve your money for sure. But the way they are monetizing this game is hard to grasp because of the various systems.

Let's be honest, Deemo has never been very well monetized on iOS. The first one was better because you could purchase song packs and that was pretty straightforward. But still you could lose track of how much money you spent. That's why I bought Deemo on the Switch and also on PS4 when the PSVR version released. So I could experience more songs without being blocked all the time by a paywall.

Granted, the experience on iPad is better because of the bigger display and touchscreen. But the monetization approach here is bad if not malicious.

Please, let us pay $60 upfront and then unlock all songs through the story. Then release more packs later to expand our repertoire.

Thank you and keep up the amazing work.

As a player of all the other rhythm games by Rayark, even Voez, I have to say this title of the franchise is amazing in the art style, the gameplay (mostly because it calibrates well and has very well designed charts), and some parts of the story. But is lacking in the original setting and tone that others by Rayark have. I still enjoy playing it for about 5-10 minutes a week maybe but the energy bar, lack of starting songs without grinding, and battle-pass-like feature make it feel like a soulless cash grab instead of a masterpiece akin to that of other Rayark classics. I say this is an amazing game and it accomplished the release of a sequel to a story that had a definitive ending but, it’s features in the execution of release, IE adding all these basically milking a of the franchise for money, have made the series feel over done and the series as well feel like it is dying due to these decisions. Still a somewhat good game (no ads, you don’t have to pay if you really don’t want to) but I’m hoping for Rayark to make a comeback with a game that isn’t too much like the slight disappointment like this one as I don’t want one of my favorite rhythm game companies to revive backlash from this.

I really want to give this game a 5-star review, because the game itself is wonderful. Good gameplay, interesting story, nice graphics, decent songs. I’ve been looking forward to the release for a while, and mostly been happy with it.

The big problem is that the game is too much for my iPhone 7 to handle. It crashes, freezes, and buffers constantly. Which is really annoying in a rhythm game. After playing for about three minutes my phone gets super hot. I didn’t think my iPhone 7 was that old or that slow. I haven’t had speed problems with anything but this game and Genshin Impact.

So if you have a new phone, you’re in for a treat. If you have a phone that is even slightly old, get ready to do a lot of restarting, redoing, and waiting for things to load.

First of all, the actual gameplay isn’t too far off from the original; the rhythm game part is playable. Additionally, this game has good cutscenes and overall graphics.

The main crutch of this game so far is a lot of its features. I’ve played maybe an hour or so and only have 7 songs unlocked, which I’ve all beat on hard. Seemingly the only way to get more songs to progress the story other than by grinding the same songs over and over again is by either buying the song packs or the battle pass.

I don’t mind paying for games but I think it should be justified when I do. I believe that instead of having multiple attempts to get the user to spend money via the battle pass and the orbs needed to unlock song passes, this game would benefit more from having a song dlc pack or expansion that would be purchasable, similar to the original Deemo.

This game isn’t terrible, it just feels like it’s taken a bit too much inspiration from the cash-grab mobile app scene. Until that changes or more content is released, I’ll be going back and playing the original.

Flawless rhythm gameplay and a charming world to explore, just like the first one. The story part is greatly expanded.

Unfortunately, this one adds “free-to-play” elements like multiple currencies and daily tasks, and a $20 reward track upgrade is just about essential to have enough songs to enjoy the game. Once that’s purchased it’s a pretty solid game though, and I’m happy to support this developer.

Still, I wish it were more like the original, where I could focus entirely on the music and story. The original had more songs, better songs in my opinion (darker and more intense), and better value for extra songs.

I hope this one will similarly get new content over the years, but for now: go play the absolute masterpiece that is DEEMO 1 before playing this one.

I loved the first DEEMO, so when I saw this existed, I nearly jumped out of my seat! The music is beautiful, And the story is amazing so far. The only part I dislike, (and that’s strongly) is the addition of in-app purchases other than song packs, and stamina. It’s super annoying to have to either wait a really long time for stamina to recover, so gameplay’s more smooth, or purchase the coffee item with real money to recover stamina faster. I recommend this game, if you don’t mind long wait times for smoother/easier gameplay.

I’m was really excited for the release of the game since I’ve been a big fan of the original Deemo for years. The visuals are amazing and the story is very interesting, too. I love a lot of the new gameplay things as well. The songs so far are also nice. The small references to the original Deemo and other Rayark games are also a nice touch.
I’m just a little sad about the whole pass system, and that I would have to get the pass to get certain songs. It doesn’t really sit right with me in a Deemo game, but I guess I’ll see how it goes in the future.

The only problem I have with this game is that a few days into playing, there’s some background piano to the songs. I’ve tested it out a few rounds and it’s the accuracy of how I’m playing over the actual song. It’s pretty annoying because it doesn’t sound nice mixed with the actual music, and even if I get all the notes right with all gold, it still has a delay which makes it sound bad.
I never had a problem with it until today which is weird because I made more mistakes then I did now. Everything else about the game is wonderful besides that and I just wanted to let the creators know :)

The game is great!

the style of the art, the storyline, plot, everything! no argument against those details.

although, i didnt really expect the downloading to be really long for me. i guess im not really complaining since this phone is old, and it may be slow and laggy for downloading time, but otherwise…this game is really what i wanted!

the reason why im actually playing this is because the other rythm game i play is taking too long to download on this phone, while i play it on my other phone.

yes its still downloading while im typing this review, but i did watch the trailer and watch others play it so i did get a quick peek of what i’d be doing throughout my gameplay of it.

i did also see the reviews of the first game of this, the original “DEEMO,” so i am also looking forward to check through that if i want to see what happened first before what happened in this game, “DEEMO II.”

This is a great game with tons of callbacks to the original Deemo, but I got through the three chapters in three or four days. For anyone reading this debating whether or not to get it, that doesn’t mean there isnt a lot in this game, quite the opposite. But this game is so good that I will spend a good hour or hour and a half each day on this game. Please, please, PLEASE make more because this is an absolute gem but it needs more. I dont care if it is just one more chapter, but i need you to get the rest of the content out!

The graphics, broken-buildings-and-flowers aesthetic, and the story is so muAh 😍 This game is so cozy and criminally underrated, highly recommend for causal and pro gamers alike!! That said, the game seems very monetized (albums cost a lot of Crystals, and u only get trickles of Crystals a day), but it’s not a huge biggie for me since I just love playing a lot of the free/event songs for fun! If u don’t mind grinding to get a select few albums you love, you’ll enjoy being a free-to-play player! And with tHat said, I just finished one of the huge month-long concert events and totally forgot to use up the Star Points I collected through out the event! I’m down to very little event tickets too… 🤦‍♀️ I know other games keep the event shops up for a few days or so so players can spend their earned currency. That would’ve been nice for this event and future events too… TwT

This game went from "oh, a rhythm game with a story... neat" to one of the most amazing narrative games of the year with the 4.0 update. Absolutely you owe it to yourself to play through this game and experience the full story.

Mechanically, the game has significantly improved with the removal of flick notes. I think my only remaining complaints are that paid items (tickets) get deleted if you have too many, and that favoriting songs requires buying a season pass AND another purchase if you have a lot of favorite songs. Which, if you do it means you've bought a lot so... just let people who support you have that?

How is this even possible. All the songs are good and the art is just insane. The fact that you can earn premium currency by just playing is also a plus. The way you move your character takes a bit to get used to, almost made me quit until I saw there was a fast travel. Only issue I have is having to tap back a few times every time I go into the achievements page. Everything else is pretty awesome. Another great game by Rayark 🙏

This game is a masterpiece, among all rhythm games I played this game is the only one that seems to promote chart play without sacrificing/neglecting the work on the story or vice-versa. Amazing art style with a good focus on details, camera angle can be sometimes intimidating but for a good purpose.
Although I haven’t played DEEMO 1, storyline is pretty comprehensible, and at same time it encourages you to get the first to understand plot roots.

Even though (at the time of) this review is when the game just released and I haven’t played much of it, I can say for sure that the cutscenes, sound effects, characters and their designs are amazing, pretty, and very detailed! I love this style and the rhythm game aspect of it is quite fun and beautiful. The exploration part is also innovative and I am inspired by it, as many other rhythm games are just for, well, rhythm games. Overall, amazing!

This game is stunning..I like how simplistic the graphics and the characters are..you can tell they put a lot of time into this. It’s nothing like the first because you can scroll and walk around but it is also like the first game cuz the basics never changed. I wonder if they’ll be a third as well…I could see them making you learn the actual piano for the third game lol but hopefully they just stick to the main tap tap aspect of it…so far so good 😊👍🏿

Ah it feels like for ever. Though the game finally came out! I’m so happy it did. I love the story cut scenes gameplay pieces and songs. The art is amazing the voice acting the music again is outstanding!!! The story at least for me is really interesting and I want to keep on playing till the end. Until the journey ends will we go our separate ways. I recommend playing the other Deemo games! Since I have only just played like 2 or so years ago Deemo I was super happy that it has another game!!!

This is such an amazing game so far! The animation, story, design, EVERYTHING! I’ve been following DEEMO ever since when the first game came out and that game was such a masterpiece which played a big part of why I got into mobile rhythm games. This is honestly the most happiest feeling I’ve ever had playing DEEMO II, this is just pure, raw, enjoyment. I love everything about it. Best part it’s FREE! I know there’s some purchases to be made but I honestly think it’s worth every penny to support these wonderful artists and company. Thank you Rayark! You hit the park with this one.

I first played the original Deemo in High school and it was my first rythem game I had so much fun and the story made me cry so when I heard that there was going to be a second game. To say I was excited is an understatement I pre-ordered it and waited for it to come out and now that it’s out, I definitely wasn’t expecting there to be voice acting but the game is even more beautiful than the first one the story already has me hooked and the different characters you can talk to really bring to life of this world that you can explore. The music is amazing so far and the songs are just as fun and challenging as they where in the first game I would definitely recommend anyone interested to try this game out

Their first game left a big impression on me and this game is no exception. With it’s different game features that provides a more immersive experience, it feels like an upgrade to the original yet also keeping that aesthetic from the first. I seriously love the visuals and the voice acting that’s also added, definitely a game that’ll resonate with you.

As always, music being the main component to this games franchise is evident and really shines through. I’ve always loved Demos music for being mainly calming and upbeat music and this game doesn’t disappoint. The BGM to the Deemo II is just beautifully arranged, creating an atmosphere to the station that is also highlighted with the visuals used. The soundtrack is also beautifully done, some of the songs having a delicate feel which reminds me a lot of the originals music.

There needs to be more review talking about how amazing this story is. It had me crying on a Friday afternoon for a solid 10 minute. I start getting teary every time I boot up DEEMOII afterwards. I don’t want to spoil too much but this is definitely a well written story that evoked a lot of emotions. The music and graphics made it 1000% more entertaining but also ties to the story building as well. I’m going to tell everyone I know about this game because it’s such a fun game with a great underlying story to tell, and it’s completely free (except the add ons). EVERYONE NEEDS TO HOP ON THIS GAME ASAP