Devil and the Fairy (Early Access)

Developer / Publisher – HandyGames
Price – US $9.99 / EU €9.99 / UK £7.19
Release Date – February 12th, 2018
Input – Track Motion Controller
Play Area – Seated, Standing, Roomscale
Store – Steam
Reviewed on – HTC Vive

Devil and Fairy currently only has 3 levels, with 3 different difficulties, but boy is it enjoyable! The player acts as the titular “Devil” and summons different demons in order to protect his dungeon from invading spell casters and knights, all while a ugly goblin fairy hovers around and gives you advice. There is a set path the invaders will take on the way to destroy the center of your dungeon, and it’s your job to keep them from reaching the center, in a traditional tower defense fashion.

Build your defences…kill the heroes!

Each demon you can summon has a different trait that makes them unique. You have your basic minions, a spellcaster, large golem, and more. Along with these henchmen, you can place spike traps, fences, and other obstacles to hold your enemies at bay. Placing enemies is done by a quick button tap with a rotation of your hand and feels intuitive, like a simplified version of how Brass Tactics addresses tower placement.

Each difficulty is distinct. The easy mode is good to learn the basics of the game, and the medium mode feels hard enough that it provides a challenge, but not so hard that it’s impossible. Hard mode truly does feel difficult, and took me a while to master. Even though there are only 3 different dungeons right now (the game is in early access on Steam) but each level is different enough that there is some replay value, especially on the hard difficulty.

Graphically the game is great. Each minion looks good, and is fun to watch fight. The dungeons all feel suitably creepy, and contain objects for you to smash to get more mana for your summons. All the effects feel immersive, and I did at certain points feel like I must be a great summoner bringing my minions forth to conquer my enemies. The music here is minimal, but fits right in. It really put me in the mood to be in a dungeon, and made me hum along while I played.

When the heroes come, you best be prepared

Overall, The Devil and Fairy is worth picking up for an hour of entertainment. I’d recommend checking in on the game from time to time to see how Early Access is going and to play whatever new content is added. This game looks gorgeous, and the little fairy still makes me laugh.

What would I pay? For the content that Devil and Fairy currently has, I’d probably pay around $6 for The Devil and Fairy. It has a solid base and is fun to play, but I don’t see more than a hour, hour and a half of content in its current state. As early access goes on and more content is added I could easily see this being a key game for people who enjoy strategy games and the $10 asking price is an easy ask for fans of the genre.

HandyGames provided The VR Grid with a review code for this title and, regardless of this review, we thank them for that!