The Demonheart series is one of my favorites! I wasn't a big fan of Ice Demon though and I'm happy that the Cursed Trial feels a lot more like the first part of the series again.
I'm honestly not that enthusiastic about the Love Interests - Ran is okay, that's the route I chose for my first playthrough (haven't started the 2nd yet), I'm not very optimistic about Kaisar - BUT this time the love stories are not that important anyway as the murder mystery is very suspenseful and well written. It's quite grim but I still loved every part of it.
It won't be as fascinating the second time around (and several other times... as I plan to see every possible outcome and try every alignment) but I'm still very curious about the different paths. In the Demonheart series your choices always change the way things unfold, so there is a lot to discover and I'm excited for it!

The best part for me were the well-known characters (like Raze), their memories and the additional lore here and there. And that throughout the series we have the same (very good) voice actors - very important in my opinion!

Demonheart: The Cursed Trial – Frustrating, Funny, and Somehow Still Addicting

Let me just say this upfront: I have a love-hate relationship with Demonheart: The Cursed Trial, and if you’ve played any other Demonheart games, you probably know exactly what I mean. It's beautifully chaotic—edgy in all senses—and while it definitely left me yelling at my screen, I also can’t stop thinking about it.

The Good
Character Chemistry & Intrigue: The game continues the Demonheart tradition of complex, morally gray relationships. There's a weirdly compelling emotional whiplash that keeps you invested, even when you're mad at the direction things are going. (Why a muzzle? He could have used a tongue piercing instead...)

Replay Value: Despite some major gripes, I still want to replay this game. There’s enough variation and romance tension to tempt you into multiple routes—even the ones that don’t always feel satisfying.

Voice Acting (Eventually): Once the voice lines were added (mid-playthrough for us), it was like a whole new Ran came alive. Woof. Too bad we already made our choices by then! We would’ve picked differently had we heard that voice earlier.

The "This Needs Work"
No Voice Acting Early On: For hours, we were wondering if this was a design choice... until we found out the voices hadn’t been added yet. By the time they were uploaded, the delivery and the text often didn’t match, which made things feel even more disjointed.

Story & Choice Inconsistencies:

The writing often contradicts itself. One moment we’re volunteering for the first time, then Ran says we always volunteer.

Some dialogue choices literally don’t match what your character says next (e.g., choosing to support someone leads to unsupportive dialogue).

The whole "Where’s Janiya?" option immediately after spending time with her was a bit of a head-scratcher.

And don’t get me started on the ending—it felt like the show got canceled mid-season and they had to tie up 12 plot lines in 20 minutes.

Sound Design: The audio cues were weirdly recycled. Crypt doors and sliding panels sounding the same? Loud knocks that felt like "FBI OPEN UP" memes? Definitely not immersive.

Images vs. Descriptions: The images often don’t match the scenes or text descriptions. It can pull you out of the story when you’re imagining one thing and seeing something completely different.

The Romance Frustration Is Real
You will absolutely feel like you're being edged the whole time—especially if you don’t pick the author’s favorite. Characters you clearly flirt with are treated like creeps in the writing. Some romantic tension is fun… but this? This is personal.
(Seriously, give that man a tongue piercing. He earned it.)

Also, some choices genuinely felt like they didn’t matter. Others should have mattered more. There are inconsistencies in how the story reacts to your decisions, and that makes it hard to feel like you’re truly shaping your own path.

Final Thoughts
Despite all that... I still want more. I hate how much I love this game. It’s flawed. It’s frustrating. But it’s also fun, hot, ridiculous, and somehow endearing. It’s the type of game that makes you say, “Never again”… right before loading it up one more time.

Now, if only we could get some real merch to go with our emotional damage. Until then, I guess I’ll just commission fan art to hang on my wall while I pretend not to be replaying it again.

God, you can't imagine how much i love this game and i keep repeating it after awhile, and every time i do it's like i'm playing it for the first time, i only wished there were more intimate scenes with the love interests, especially Kaisar since he was the one who caught my eye and i immediately pursued him, i'm a sucker for toxic men what can i say heh, anyways i also wish that you'd make a sequel on what happens after, like i get this one was more focused on the thriller/mystery genre, but i wished there were more interactions, so that's why i'm kindly asking for a sequel, whenever the dev wants tho!! i'm looking forward to anything, i just love the other stories as well.