The new generation of consoles is here, and yet the surprise hit of the PS5’s early days is a remastered edition of a game that came out in 2009 for the PS3. Demon’s Souls was the game that put From Software on the map and led to the creation of the Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodborne, and it remains one of the best games around. To be clear, everything I’m saying below is based on experiences with the original Demon’s Souls; however, the remaster is incredibly faithful and so this should still be relevant if you’re considering giving it a try.
Now, if you’ve heard anything about Demon’s Souls, you’ve heard about its brutal, spirit-crushing, soul-destroying difficulty. And you’ve heard right, although that’s nowhere near the whole story. This isn’t an easy game, make no mistake, but it does give you a chance — no matter how miniscule. Let me explain what I mean by taking you through the beginning of the game.
The game’s prologue starts off innocently enough. After plowing through the first few enemies you encounter, you feel like you’re starting to get a grip on this game, and possibly even wondering what all the fuss was about. And then you walk through a gate and a boss demon the size of a house kills you.
THAT’S when the game begins.
But again, that’s not the whole story. If you’re very, very good, you can kill that first boss. You wind up in the same place as the rest of us who died, but with (I’m guessing here, I died screaming like everyone else and I won’t try to pretend otherwise) a lot more souls and some useful loot, no doubt. And that, in a nutshell, is Demon’s Souls - Atlus’ game is difficult, yes. You get thrown back to the start of the level everytime you die, yes. But they always, always give you a fair chance, even if it doesn’t always seem like that. And it’s that constant, tantalizing glimpse of a carrot that enables you to forge on through all that stick.
The gameplay takes some getting used to — in a world of games with protagonists who boast superhuman agility, Demon’s Souls is the only one where you’ll genuinely feel clumsy. Your character feels substantial when they move, like they have genuine weight.
Even with the more nimble classes, dodging feels appropriately physical. Take the heavily-armoured Temple Knight, however, and a single dodge feels like an event. The physicality of the game doesn’t stop there though – narrow corridors can impede the swing of your halberd, for example; which, it has to be said, is easily one of the more hilarious ways to die in gaming.
As for the story, it’s incredibly cryptic at best and seemingly nonsensical at worst, but — like every other facet of the game — every bit of lore that you manage to decipher feels like an accomplishment. Boletaria’s not a pretty world, and you’d hardly expect it to be, what with the whole being-overrun-by-demons thing; but it is a supremely engaging one.
Bluepoint Games, who developed the PS5 remaster, deserve a shout-out here — by all accounts, they’ve made the game look absolutely fantastic and not out of place in 2020 at all. In an era of regenerating health, generous checkpoints and hand-holding UI, Demon’s Souls remains a welcome — and, dare I say, refreshing — kick in the teeth. Seek it out, you won’t regret it!