Hands On With The New Strategy RPG From Disgaea’s Long-Time Producer

You’d be forgiven for thinking Demons’ Night Fever is just Disgaea in new clothes. Sohei Niikawa, previously President of Nippon Ichi Software and the scenario writer and producer of its signature tactical RPG series, is helming the new anime-style strategy game, alongside scenario writer Roman Kitayama (who is, in actuality, also Niikawa under a pseudonym), and the 2026 release is a collaboration between Drecom Co. and Niikawa’s SuperNiche. 

In many ways, the comparisons are unavoidable. Yuji Himukai of Etrian Odyssey fame creates characters whose designs bear obvious resemblances to those of Takehito Harada, a longtime collaborator on NIS’s work, including Disgaea 4. Paired with the new game being a strategy RPG, it’s no surprise that it would raise the eyebrows of anyone familiar with Niikawa’s history. That being said, Demons’ Night Fever is an entirely different beast from Disgaea. 

I only had the chance to go hands-on with the game for about 45 minutes during Anime Expo 2026, but the gist of the gameplay loop revolves around gathering character units called “Peons” for your party, performing Misdeeds to slowly strengthen yourself, and gathering resources to be spent on upgrades for your Peons, as well as protagonist Killshiro Katanaka’s abilities as a demon. These include siphoning health from your Peons during battle, swapping places with them, ordering them to change their planned actions, and even killing them right on the spot to send them out in a sacrificial blaze of glory.

Not just a new flavor of Disgaea

Different Misdeeds offer specific stat rewards as well as requiring a certain number of Peons recruited in order to enact them. You’ll also receive bonus stats for leveling each Misdeed itself up. The glue that holds the whole system together are deadlines. During each chapter of the game, you’ll have to complete an objective by finishing Event Battles before it’s too late. You’re balancing investment into Killshiro’s stats, your recruited Peons, and your “Corrupgrades” without losing track of the timer.

It’s hard to gauge how this will all feel in the long run, but I like what I’ve played so far. The Peon system is pretty engaging. Killed Peons can be resurrected, and when they’re recruited the second time will have increased stats, offering another carrot to chase while managing your deadlines. The game’s story—and translation—have the exact same type of energy you’d expect from Niikawa’s previous works. There’s a complexity to the gameplay that takes a bit of getting used to, but ultimately feels pretty sticky once you do.

That being said, it’s a very different gameplay loop overall than Disgaea‘s. A better comparison might be Trillion: God of Destruction, a strategy RPG from Idea Factory which was developed in collaboration with Disgaea veterans as a PlayStation Vita exclusive. It focused on training up Demon Lords on similar deadlines. Niikawa’s own ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman, which centered around slowly building up one character from zero to hero, offers another decent point of comparison. 

Speaking to Niikawa himself, I was curious to hear exactly how it felt to develop a game within the same wheelhouse as Disgaea, albeit this time as a freelance developer. And how did the new strategy RPG end up with Arc System Works as the publisher?

“After I left Nippon Ichi Software—NIS—and I went independent, I wanted to think of a game that would provide a new gameplay experience with completely different gameplay mechanics compared to the Disgaea series,” Niikawa said. Owing to the game’s eccentric design, he was actually fairly worried about finding a publisher for the project.

“I think it’s a game with an acquired taste to it,” he added. “I do not think that a ‘normal’ company would have been willing to provide me with funding for it—thankfully, Arc System Works is not a ‘normal’ company.” 

“I feel like I have my freedom back”

Niikawa went on to emphasize that one of the core aspects that makes the game so unique is the Peon system. The main character starts off fairly weak, so you have to rely on your recruited Peons to do most of your damage during battle. However, since you can’t really command them directly, sometimes you’ll want to kill them. This sets off a giant explosion, reminiscent of throwing a certain Penguin demon at enemies in NIS’ Disgaea.

Contrasting the development of Demons’ Night Fever with his experience at NIS, Niikawa had more than a few things to say about the shift to freelance work as a whole. NIS, he said, mostly worked with proprietary engines, and while some projects used industry-standard tool sets like Unity, they weren’t the ones that Niikawa himself had worked on.

“At NIS, I definitely feel like I was so focused on using proprietary engines, as a way to help the programmers and the engineers develop their skills,” he said. “Yet, when working on something that’s getting a multiplatform release, I felt that these open tools were extremely helpful—and that they really increased the speed I was able to work at. Now that I’m working independently, it’s good that I have access to tools like these.”

While Niikawa has already released Etrange Overlord this year, an action-RPG adaptation of his manga of the same name, he’s still getting used to being outside the structures of a larger institution after working at NIS for over 25 years, with around half of that time spent as the publisher’s president. His greatest takeaway?

“I feel like my work is more heartfelt, like when I was younger,” he said. “I feel like I have my freedom back.”