Japanese publisher One or Eight has made available a playable demo for developer Team EARTHWARS’s upcoming game Warota: I Live Next to The Demon King’s Castle LOL ahead of its planned Early Access release on November 13. The title previously held several closed beta test sessions for a select group of players between June and September. This marks the first opportunity for general players to experience the game firsthand without needing to register as beta testers.
As implied by its quirky light novel-inspired title, Warota casts players as someone reborn into the fantasy realm of Luna, governed by an arrogant and self-absorbed Demon King who doubles as a female pop idol. Her concerts incite a frenzy among nearby monsters, causing chaos for the rundown village adjacent to her castle—now the protagonist’s new residence.
The gameplay closely mirrors town-building RPGs from Koei Tecmo, such as Dragon Quest Builders and the recent Pokémon Pokopia hit. As a “Bounder” endowed by the goddess with creation abilities, players must revitalize and enhance the village by collecting resources, constructing buildings, managing fields, and recruiting new residents—all while defending against waves of the Demon King’s wild, monster-like fans.
The newly launched demo provides a glimpse into the game’s core systems, including village construction, item crafting, and combat leading up to the first boss encounter. It offers roughly 2-3 hours of gameplay. Enhancements have been implemented since the open beta phases, such as the inclusion of an original vocal track for the Demon King Platina Goldcaster’s concert, composed and arranged by Maron from indie music collective IOSYS (famous for their viral remixes of Touhou Project music).
The game remains in active development, with additional features and refinements scheduled before the Early Access debut next month. The development team has encouraged players to share their thoughts and ideas through their official X account, community Discord server, and a Google survey accessible via the demo’s announcement page.
The demo for Warota: I Live Next to the Demon King’s Castle LOL is now live, exclusively on PC (Steam) with support for English, Chinese, and Japanese languages. Versions for PS5 and Switch 2 are also in the pipeline following the full release next year.