That’s it for single player, and that’s also it for plot. Each Demigod has a short biography, but other than the obvious – a god is dead, and the Demigods are battling it out to see who’s going to fill the void – there isn’t much there. In a similar vein to Sins of a Solar Empire, you get the impression that there’s a huge amount of backstory present which will be filled in through expansions. While Stardock is the publisher rather than the developer, regular updates to add in extra content (in a very Stardock way) look to be on the horizon.

One thing I mentioned at the beginning that I’d like to dwell further on is the art style, which is an immense success. Forgetting the eponymous Demigods for a moment, just look at the damn maps. One - a twisting, branching map – turns out to be, when you zoom out, a huge, twisting snake, wrestled by a screaming man. Another map has a fairly standard criss-cross design which, upon getting a wider view of the battlefield, turns out to be suspended on overlapping, parallel swords, rammed through the mouths of skeletons. One of the few bright maps turns out to be on top of a Babylonian ziggurat. These are the only maps I can think of in RTS games that gain a lot more character when you move away from the action.

Of course, this extends to the Demigods. They’re all unique looking, and their design usually has obvious links to their function. The Rook – the huge, walking colossus that anyone who’s seen a screenshot of the game will likely have noticed – is a heavily armoured, damage-dealing tank. Lord Erebus, the floating vampire, can turn into mist, drain enemies for health, and summon undead minions. The Unclean Beast, a spiked, dripping, wolf-like mess of a creature with plenty of glistening cartilage on display, rapid deals hefty damage and inflicts plagues. And then there’s the vaguely angelic Regulus, with his blonde hair and goggles, who can snipe enemies from across almost the entire map, and is described in my notes by a single very rude word.

The Demigods look and play incredibly differently, with the powers of each combining cleverly not only with their own abilities, but also with those of other Demigods. The maps look and play incredibly differently, with narrow paths and limited room to manoeuvre, and a variety of choke points, particularly desired flags, and defences. The game is simple to learn, but with a shocking amount of depth.

Demigod is a tremendous success. While this fast-paced, Diablo-esque RTS isn’t something that everyone’s going to like, it will be a crying shame if this quietly disappears. It does something that really does feel new, and it does it with serious flair. The single-player is stunted and definitely not worth a purchase, but single-player was clearly never the focus; this is a multiplayer game through and through, and a match with people who know what they’re doing feels like team-based action chess. The main issues with the game – mostly related to the multiplayer interface and connection issues – will almost certainly be improved upon with time, with the latter already getting better. This is brutal, spectacular, well-designed, and, as stated in the opening paragraph, a labour of love. And I love it.

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