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About Demon with a Pickaxe
Demon with a Pickaxe is a minimalist incremental game from Challenging Games, released on October 22, 2025, for PC. You play as a demon stuck in a frozen cave, using a pickaxe and fire spell to break through layers of ice. Upgrades come via a magic crystal that pushes tools to absurd power levels. Between grinding, you’ll uncover cryptic messages from a familiar voice, hinting at a twisted backstory. The game leans into slow, methodical progression, blending resource management with a dark, fragmented narrative. It’s a short, quirky experiment in idle mechanics and eerie storytelling, best for players who enjoy incremental systems with a side of macabre humor.
Gameplay
Your main loop involves clicking the pickaxe to break ice, collecting resources, and upgrading your tools via the crystal. Each upgrade permanently boosts your fire spell’s damage or mining speed, letting you tackle deeper, tougher layers. The twist is the story snippets, short, unsettling messages that appear randomly, teasing a mystery. Sessions are short (10, 30 minutes), as progress is auto-saved. Controls are simple: left-click to mine, right-click to use the fire spell, and a hotkey to activate upgrades. The pace is deliberate, with exponential scaling making later stages feel almost comically overpowered. While repetitive, the absurdity of maxing out a fire spell to melt ancient ice adds dark charm.
What Players Think
With a 78% completion rate and average playtime of 12 hours, players finish the game in under a week. Community moods lean curious (45%) and amused (30%), with 15% frustrated by the slow start. Critics on Steam rate it 82/100, praising its “creepy atmosphere” and “satisfying upgrades.” One review calls it “a darkly funny idle game that hooks with its absurdity.” The 50 achievements track milestones like upgrading the pickaxe to level 10 or finding all story fragments. However, 20% of players abandon it before finishing, citing monotony. Most agree it’s better in short bursts than long sessions.
PlayPile's Take
Demon with a Pickaxe is a $9.99 curiosity for idle fans who don’t mind a slow burn. Its incremental loops are polished, and the cryptic story adds intrigue. If you enjoy upgrading systems with a dash of macabre humor, it’s worth the price. However, the lack of variety and punishing early grind might deter casual players. With 50 achievements and a completion time under 15 hours, it’s a quick experiment in absurdity, nothing impressive, but memorable in its own weird way.
Game Modes
Single player
Achievements
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