Demeo X DnD: Battlemarked Twilight's End DLC Review – An Epic Tabletop RPG Conclusion

The Twilight’s End DLC wraps up the story of Demeo X Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked with a grand finale of a third campaign that any battle-hardened Demeo player will enjoy.

In our initial review of Battlemarked, we said that it “packs more expansive campaigns, better difficulty balancing with enemy spawns, lovely visuals, and a greater story focus that better complements these gameplay systems.” Twilight’s End carries that forward and improves on the first two campaigns with more interesting combat and a final act storyline that properly ramps up from the first two campaigns.

The first two campaigns of Battlemarked, though self-contained stories in their own right, have an overarching plotline running through both of them. As you are adventuring through Neverwinter Woods in Embers of Chaos and Icewind Dale in Crown of Frost, you occasionally encounter a slaad, a toad-like monster with a connection to both stories. Twilight’s End puts the slaad species front and center while also tying in the other various communities and tribes you have encountered to this point.

There is no formal recap of the first two campaigns to kick off Twilight’s End, but as long as you remember how to actually play the game, the NPCs will mostly fill in the blanks. Also, if you are like me and spent time between campaigns leveling up your characters, you may want to consider a higher difficulty to keep combat interesting. I have nearly all eight playable characters up to the max level of 19, so enemy mobs on standard difficulty are quickly wiped out in one or two rounds when I do any one-shot dungeons. For Twilight’s End, I kicked the difficulty up to hard and found it challenging enough for a fully leveled party without being too overbearing.

The two new multi-floor dungeons are excellent with unique boss fights that address one of my small complaints about the first two campaigns. The original Demeo, which we loved and voted as our VR Game of the Year in 2021, had five very distinctly unique boss fights. The Elven Queen had minions that cast spells to make her impervious to damage. The Rat King scurried away after attacking, forcing you to corner him while dealing with dozens of vermin surrounding you. High Priest Umbal started hidden and had to be revealed while navigating three giant serpents.

By contrast, only two boss fights in the first two campaigns of Battlemarked had similar ancillary mechanics involved beyond repositioning to avoid AOE (area of effect) attacks and neither were required to defeat the boss if you just attacked often enough. In other words, you can brute force your way to victory.

Twilight’s End’s bosses all force you to think strategically to win, throwing twists that make you think strategically. Party members switched roles in multiple rounds with some of their attacks being completely nullified depending on the conditions. What good is a powerful sorcerer against an enemy totally immune to spell attacks for several rounds? How can my fighter contend with an enemy who counterattacks every melee attack? Strategy is at the heart of a good turn-based combat system and Twilight’s End emphasizes that.

The standard enemies also level up in Twilight’s End. The slaad and other newcomers prove to be very formidable, a notable step up from the goblins, kobolds, myconids and such in the first two campaigns, some of whom return in this final chapter. They come with new status ailments and other wrinkles that keep you on your toes. All of it makes for a satisfying journey in the nine hours it took me to complete the campaign. After completing two full dungeons, you unlock each as a separate one-shot dungeon and new dice that match the theme of each. There are also several shorter missions that hopefully get added as additional one-shots in future updates.

Visually, Twilight’s End is less interesting than the first two campaigns, mostly due to the recycling of locations instead of a consistent theme like the forestry of Neverwinter Woods and the snow-covered Icewind Dale. The Silver Marches, the primary setting for Twilight’s End, is visually less interesting by comparison. The music is a standout though as it always has been in Demeo. Even with some tracks of the rousing orchestral fantasy score carrying over from earlier campaigns, the new additions might be the best of the entire series and that is a high mark to clear.

As far as downsides, I am at a loss to name any. The game is clean with no noticeable performance issues or bugs, though I will mention one personal disappointment. Battlemarked now has more playable characters (eight) than the original game (seven), but the final two, warlock Azruss Drevontir and orc druid Gruda Razortusk, were added in updates between the game’s launch and Twilight’s End. Comparatively, the original game introduced its final three characters with each successive new dungeon. There are no new playable characters in Twilight’s End, though you can gain AI-controlled allies depending on choices made during your journey.

Demeo X DnD: Battlemarked Twilight’s End – The Final Verdict

Twilight’s End is a fitting and highly entertaining conclusion to Battlemarked’s story, more than justifying its $9.99 cost with the best boss battles in the entire game, a slew of new foes to contend with, and a high fantasy endgame plot that RPG fans rarely get in a VR game. Even with the recycling of previous locations, anyone hesitant about whether Twilight’s End offers enough value for its price can rest assured. It is worth every penny and is easily one of the best experiences I have had in a headset this year.

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