Demon’s Souls

10 Review to this product

• 

  Dark Dreams
  October 6th, 2009 on 10:03 am

  Rating

  I had imported Demon’s Souls in April, and finished it 3 times since then. I have a long review below but if you want a few sentences here it is:

  The game has an excellent atmosphere, great character customization, enjoyable combat, some unique online elements, but very little story and minimal npc interaction. It is also very unforgiving, but it is strangely addictive if you don’t get frustrated easily. It takes about 40 hours in your first play through. It’s not because the game is huge… It’s because you’ll die a lot and repeat a lot, which results in playing very cautiously (which also adds to the atmosphere).

  ***Review***

  Demon’s Souls is an action RPG game with some unique online elements. I loved the game but I can also see why some people (even RPG lovers) might hate it. Although I gave it 5 stars, I cannot say the game is for everyone. Just read the paragraph at the end where I explain some game mechanics, and if it sounds frustrating to you then might want to try the game first before buying.
  
  For me 3 things are very important for an RPG. A good story and well-developed characters, deep character customization, tactical and fun combat.

  Story

  In DS, the people in different realms/worlds are possessed by demonic souls and you are to get rid of them. When you kill them you collect their souls and get more powerful and eventually fight against the final demon. That’s basically it. The game has very little story and minimal amount of non player characters (NPCs). There are about 15-20 NPCs in total (including the merchants and blacksmiths), and most of them are located in a hub called Nexus. Furthermore, you can talk to them but there are no dialogue trees. They’ll say 2-3 new sentences after each time you kill a demon boss, giving you some background about the setting. Sometimes they’ll initiate a sidequest, by asking you to find/do something. That’s all.

  If you are expecting something like Mass Effect or JRPGs in terms of story or dialogue this is not it. However, the game has a very dark and immersive atmosphere. It just sucks you in and makes up for its lack of story. Also, sometimes new characters/enemies appear depending on World Tendency (world tendency is something like an alignment that can change toward black or white), which provides replay value.

  In sum, unlike most other RPGs, this is not a game that you play for the story. There is minimal story and dialogue, but the game has an excellent atmosphere which gives you the feeling of being alone and overwhelmed.

  Character Customization

  Character customization is probably the most important aspect of an RPG and this is where the game shines. You start the game with a certain class you picked, but it doesn’t restrict you. You can develop your stats in anyway you like and completely turn it into something else (kind of like Oblivion). For example, weapons/armors have different stats requirements, but they are not restricted to classes. As long as your character meets the stats requirement you can use it. So you can mix and mash classes anyway you like. There are 8 different attributes, and when you level up you can raise one of those attributes by one point (there is room for up to 99 for each attribute).

  Weapon upgrades are done by using the ores you find. You can do regular upgrades (e.g. long sword +2) or you can change it into a different weapon (e.g. dragon long sword) depending on the ores you found. There are several different types of ores that opens a different upgrade branch. There are also some special upgrades, if you choose to use a demon’s soul that you obtained from a boss, which will give you a unique weapon.

  Combat

  The customization also affects your gameplay. For instance, you can wield double swords, sword and shield, sword and crossbow, sword and a wand, two shields (if you want to be fancy) etc. Moreover, any sword can be wielded two handed or one handed. Of course, if you choose to wield a two handed sword with one hand, you character becomes clumsy. If you choose to wield a one handed sword with two hands, then you make stronger attacks with different animations.

  The combat is in real time and it is like an action game. In the controller, L1-L2 is assigned to the left hand, and R1-R2 is assigned to the right hand. L1 is used for guarding, L2 is either for parry (when wielding a shield) or attacking (weapon on left hand)). On the other hand, R1 is regular attack, and R2 is strong attack. You can also roll, run, but you cannot jump. So you end up having different combat gameplay and tactics depending on what you choose to equip.

  Online Gameplay

  If your PS3 is connected to the internet, you’ll automatically play the game online. That lets you do different things. First, you’ll see some messages left by other players. They can provide some clues, warnings etc. You can also leave messages but you can only create them by combining preset words and phrases. You cannot type whatever you want. And if someone finds your message helpful and rates it, then your health replenishes. Second, you’ll see pools of blood and if you touch them it will show you a ghost of some other player and how he/she died. It’s just another clue to help you in the game.

  Third, and the most important one, is playing with/against others. If you are in body form, you’ll see blue signs on the ground left by other players. By touching those signs you can summon up to two more people to your game and they’ll fight along with you in your game helping you out. On the other hand, when you are in body form some other player can invade your game and try to kill you. If you are in soul form, then you can put a blue sign on the ground in order to be summoned by others or you can use an item to invade another player’s game. However, you cannot just invite your friends to your game. If you and your friends are on different servers (which you have no control over) you won’t see the signs they left and will not be able to summon them. If you happen to be on the same server, you can arrange a location in the game to put the sign (via XMB message) and then summon the other person.

  Conclusion

  In sum, Demon’s Souls is one of the best games on PS3. It has a great atmosphere and addictive gameplay that makes you come back, even after you died for the tenth time in the same boss battle. Unfortunately it is not a game for the impatient. Just take a look at the cover art (the regular cover art which happens to be the Deluxe Edition cover in US release) of the game. You see a lone, battered knight, who is about to give up. That’s Demon’s Souls for you. If you are willing to take the challenge, victory will be very satisfying.

  ***About the difficulty and potential frustration***

  First of all, the game is very unforgiving. Even regular enemies can kill you with 1-2 blows, and they will kill you many times. However that’s not the main issue. The real difficulty comes from not being able to save in the middle of a stage/map. The stages don’t have checkpoints either. Also dying is very costly. When you die, first you will drop your souls at the location you died (You gain souls by killing enemies, and souls are used as both experience points to improve your stats and also as money). Then you will lose your body (which means losing half of your life bar, making the game even harder) and you will respawn in soul form at the start of the stage. However all the enemies will also respawn. Furthermore, if you die again before reaching the location you died, you will lose all the souls you have dropped previously for good. That means no experience/no money from all that playing. Also reaching your corpse does not give your body back, it only gives back your collected souls. You can gain your body (half of your life bar) if you beat a boss, or invade another player’s game and kill him/her, or use a special item.

  In brief, you will be playing the same stage from the beginning over and over again, until you beat the boss at the end of the stage. In a lot of cases, you will not gain any experience/level during this process, because you’ll die a second time before reaching your corpse. However, the stages are not very big. It generally takes about 5 to 10 minutes to get to the boss if you know the way and IF you don’t die. A new respawn point appears at the end of the stage, after a boss is defeated. (The game has 5 worlds and each world has 4 stages/bosses). So, after you beat a boss you can spawn from that location if you want.

  Still, a lot of people would probably hate this no save/checkpoint mechanic combined with the games unforgiving difficulty. It’s like 80s arcade games which takes you back to the beginning of the stage when you die.
  
• 

  Chitown Lurker
  October 7th, 2009 on 5:37 pm

  Rating

  Having spent just several hours with this game, it is already difficult to describe. It’s difficult. Actually, no, it’s punishing. No…in fact, it can be maddeningly infuriating at times. It is also a complete blast.

  I don’t want to write an essay. In short, though, Demon’s Souls is an action/RPG which is a bit like a combination of a 3rd-person adventure like Uncharted, a hack-n-slash action/RPG like Diablo, with the required thoughtfulness in swordplay of the original 2D Prince of Persia (you have to be an old-schooler to remember that one).

  The game is difficult, but veterans of the 8-bit days will find the difficulty somewhat nostalgic. The game does not simply restart you unscathed 15 seconds from where you kicked the bucket. Rather, you have to start the level from scratch, and to regain your earned currency (which you earn by killing enemies, and use to buy improvements for your character), you must fight your way back to your corpse in spirit form with half of your health. Die before you get there? Kiss that currency good bye. The game is FAIR, though. You have the option of running, at your liberty, to the beginning of the level and exiting to the starting area to spend your winnings, so that you can return all-the-more powerful. When you feel like you are pushing your luck and the level is outgrowing your character skills, it’s time to heed that advice. Of course, this IS a dungeon crawl game, so when you come back the enemies will have returned. Think of it as more souls (i.e. money) to be made.

  It helps to go into this game EXPECTING to be in spirit form more often than not. The game assumes you will die a lot. In that sense, one should avoid frustration over death. It’s a natural part of the game.

  Battle must be approached carefully. Running in and hacking mindlessly will only tire out your character, and likely result in an unceremoniously awkward death to even the most bottom-rungs of the enemy food chain. You must work with your shield, your footwork, and given the right character your magic and ranged weapons to succeed.

  All of this alone makes for a fantastic experience beyond any action RPG offered in this generation of games. What makes it a slam-dunk are the online aspects. The single player game takes advantage of your internet connection (though you can opt out by signing out of your PSN account). You will see occasional apparitions of other players fighting through the same level you are. Further, before long you will obtain an item that will allow players to invite you into their games to assist them. Later, a more sociopathic ability is obtained: the ability to break into another player’s game, without their consent, hunt them down, and kill them. Either provides a bit of a “shortcut” to regaining your body, with the further effect of easing/intensifying the difficulty of the world around you…helping people “lightens” the world, harming them “darkens” it.

  On top of this, the ability to examine bloodstains to view apparitional replays of other players’ deaths is fantastic and adds to the feeling that you’re not dealing with this alone. The game punishes EVERYONE, and they are struggling with you, and it will prove it via these replays.

  This is no quick game. Reports from those who have played the imported non-US version claim play times of 80+ hours to conquer the game for the first time…nevermind 2nd and 3rd playthroughs, which supposedly come at a higher difficulty.

  All that said, it is not impossible. In my very first shot at it, I actually survived for a good half hour in the first non-tutorial realm without dying, and when I realized this, I quickly found my way back out and spent my winnings to upgrade before I went and got myself annihilated (and make no mistake…I did shortly thereafter). That is what is fantastic about this game (so far for me at least): if you respect it, play conservatively, and don’t do anything you wouldn’t try in real life, you CAN have a reasonable chance at survival. Stay on your toes, don’t push your luck, and survival IS possible. Often death is simply a result of a lapse in attention or a reckless decision. If, on the other hand, you approach it like you would, say, “God of War” or just about any other action game from this generation, you WILL pay a price for your stupidity. And it’s wonderful.

  Just to wrap up: the graphics are nothing short of what you’d expect in a top flight PS3 game. The sound is amazing…I have never wanted surround speakers so badly. And, as I mentioned, the gameplay is phenomenal.

  My only warning: casual gamers need not apply. Do NOT approach this game unless you like a challenge.

  Looks like I wrote an essay, after all. It could use some editing, but I have some playing to do.
• 

  Raymond Weidner
  October 27th, 2009 on 5:47 pm

  Rating

  Demon’s Souls is a mess of wonderful contradictions. It is punishing but fun. It is simultaneously complex (the depth of customization) and simple (there are only two attack buttons). It is refreshingly new, while borrowing features from many other games.

  Much has been said about the difficulty of Demon’s Souls. This is certainly not a game made for the casual Wii or iPhone gamer. Hours of continuous play are recommended. Death (and subsequent rebirth) is absurdly common. There is no saving, and no pausing. This. Game. Does. Not. Love. You. But you will love it.

  Nevertheless, all things must be taken in context. The frequent death and dying is a part of the game. Your character is not the only person who is gaining experience — you, the player, are also continuously developing skills. Even when the character dies, losing all his experience (aka “soul”) points, you are learning how to play the game better.

  Combat in Demon’s Souls is surprisingly deep for a game that features only two attack buttons. It is also paced far more slowly than most games. There is no button smashing here. You have time to think about your attacks, and you better. It has been said elsewhere that when you die, you realize that it is your fault, and not the game being unfair. Rarely is it the case that there is nothing that you can do. The pacing always gives you time to think, and there is usually a good solution to any problem.

  Demon’s Souls combat focuses on distance and timing, and managing your stamina and magic resources. All but the lowliest foes can kill your character in a few hits, and even the weaker ones can bring you down if you get sloppy. In combat, there are a lot of different things that you can do, and all the options seem well-balanced. There’s no single move that you’re going to end up spamming, and none that are utterly useless.

  As I’ve said, you die a lot. Much of this happens in combat, but it’s easy enough to fall off ledges that I get nervous when there’s no equivalent of a railing. When you die, you leave a bloodstain, lose all your unspent soul points, and start again at the beginning of the level, with all enemies restored to life. These soul points are used to buy equipment and to improve your character. Since you don’t run into too many merchants mid-level, and cannot level up until you return to the home base, this loss can be quite painful. Fortunately, you can recover these lost points by returning to where you last died, and touching the bloodstain. Beware, however: if you die again before reaching your bloodstain, you leave a new bloodstain, and the old one is lost!

  Thus, as you progress through a level, you will typically be careful the first time through, and positively nervous on the way back to picking up your bloodstain. It can be tremendously frustrating to lose points in this manner, and the tension one feels on the way to one’s bloodstain can be overwhelming. That, coupled with the need to replay a section of the game over and over, will turn off many casual players. However, for more hardcore gamers, this will create a sense of challenge that is rare to experience in this day of quick autosaves.

  The graphics don’t immediately impress, but they are actually very nice, with no inconsistencies like the odd jagged model or grainy texture. The longer you play, the more lifelike it seems. Sound design and music are effectively atmospheric. Dialog and characterization are very sparse, but effective and non-cheesy when encountered. There’s plenty of game content — I’m only about halfway through, and I’ve been playing it extensively since it came out in North America.

  The online features are quite interesting. You can occasionally see faint wisps of other players running through the same area. Other players’ bloodstains will appear in your game, and you can touch them to see the last moments of their owners’ lives. You can also leave each other messages selected from a large (but by no means comprehensive) set of templates. If other players ‘favorite’ one of your messages, you regain health. A very nice incentivized system.

  In addition, it is possible to play with or against other players. You can leave a marker that will allow them to invite you into their game instance, or invade other players’ instances. Co-op play is fun but anonymous, with only a set of canned gestures to communicate. Adversarial play, where you invade another player’s game to steal some experience, is very tense and fun. There’s nothing like getting a message that another player has invaded your world…you’ll feel the goosebumps, waiting to run into them around the next corner.

  There are a few aspects of Demon’s Souls which are less than user-friendly. Some of the symbols used to describe weapon stats are bizarrely unexplained, as is the precise role of various statistics. It would be nice if I could play co-op with a specific friend, although this may be disallowed due to game balance issues. Being able to pause would be nice, although if you’ve cleared out the local enemies, it’s usually pretty safe to walk away from the console indefinitely. But these are a few quibbles against an otherwise instant classic.
• 

  hellfire
  October 30th, 2009 on 3:35 pm

  Rating

  many people have covered the story, mechanics etc.

  having a *little* up-front knowledge about how to play the game dramatically drops the frustration factor:

  1) almost always play in soul-form. when you’re resurrected, suicide in the nexus. this avoids all frustration around altering world tendency when you don’t intend to, and also eliminates invasions by black phantoms.
  
  1a) if you’re afraid of doing a level, go into soul-form and volunteer to help someone with the blue stone, then explore the level as a blue phantom.

  2) get a strong shield (the purple flame shield (grabable from 1-1 dragon’s nest) is one of the best) and winged spear early. great thing about spears is you can attack while shielded! makes the game dramatically easier.

  3) farm souls from 4-1 (shrine of storms) in early game, 4-2 in mid-late game

  4) unlock the shortcut/elevator in 2-1 (stonefang tunnel) asap to get access to the other blacksmith. ONLY use him. he can show you different upgrade paths at are only available when a weapon is +0, +3 or +6 (e.g. compound long bow +3 is your only path to sticky compound long bow…sticky+5 is about the most powerful bow).

  5) understand the key to making weapons do more damage: the weapons modify their damage according to different stats. e.g. an S/A/B/C weapon takes most of its extra dmg from strength, a bit from dexterity, a little from magic and even less from faith. an -/-/S/A takes most of the dmg modifier from magic and faith. so you don’t have to rely on strength or base attack to do damage. these stat modifiers change as the weapon is upgraded, so even though something might start D/E/-/- it might end up S/A/-/- by the time it’s fully upgraded.
• 

  Orin35
  December 5th, 2009 on 1:09 am

  Rating

  So many negative reviews on here do not understand the personality of this game. Too often nowadays, we see games that give so much to the player, to the point where the game just doesn’t feel satisfying, but merely an experience; nothing but a moving story book with some user input. This game gives that point of challenge and mystique, and grand sense of scale.

  So many people compare this to old school gaming nostalgia, but what is the reasoning behind it? Back in the 80′s, playing a game like super mario bros. was difficult. To beat the game was a challenge. You had to have the skill to manipulate your character onscreen to do exactly what you wanted at the precise time. You had to know where the enemies spawned. You had to know the strategies to kill them. Secrets were always fantastic knowledge to have. The boss fights (while it was just Bowser, granted) were difficult, some requiring different strategies. The penalty of death was harsh; lose a life and redo all progress.

  But the rewards were great; the bragging rights gained after beating the game were fantastic. You have triumphed where so many have failed. You earned it.

  The biggest issue with gamers today is that they are IMPATIENT and believe they are ENTITLED to beating any game. Demon’s Souls returns you to the basics, where you earn the prestige of beating this game.

  What it did right:

  -Difficulty: While brutal at times, the gameplay is a very simple risk/reward system. Do you dare wander deeper into the dungeon to make progress, or do you return with your ample amount of souls to hopefully level?

  -Exploration: Each of the worlds you travel to have their own personality, with their own unique enemies and perils. In this game, no one world will prepare you for the next.

  -Leveling: The game allows you a very simple yet complex approach to your character and how you want to treat them. While you select a class at the beginning, it merely selects your starting equipment. Any character can evolve to any path. Want your knight to cast magic? It can happen. Want your magician to be proficient with a polearm? It can happen.

  -Equipment: It has its own persona. Walking around wearing a particular set of armor to your tastes engrosses you and your energy into your character. Each weapon itself feels unique, and most have a specific attack animation, adding to the characteristics of that weapon.

  -Combat: The game shines in this department. Some of the best fighting I’ve done in an actiony sort of RPG. Each enemy and weapon has a strategy. What may work for one weapon may not work for another.

  -Boss fights: Essentially the crown jewel of every level, almost every single boss has a unique strategy to bring them down. These are possibly the only reason to play this game. The boss fights are true in every sense of the word. Never have I fought against such gruesome beasts. They are truly the endcap to such a fantastic game.

  Death: It is inevitable. You WILL die in this game. A lot. You will lose souls. A lot. You will be frustrated. A lot. However, death should not always be considered a punishment. Instead of saying how stupid and hard the game is and firmly lodge the controller in the wall, consider this: You are not the only one having a difficult time. Every enemy has its weakness. You may have to die more in order to find this weakness, exploring certain points of attack. Death is, in this game, a learning experience of what you did wrong, similar to your parents letting you touch a hot stove: Won’t do that again, will ya?

  -Accomplishment: What I mean here is that sensation. To enter a boss fight, and knowing one wrong move means certain death adds to the intensity of the fight. To pick up that one specific piece of equipment to round your character out. As explained above, it gives satisfaction to beating it, not just any normal experience.

  What it did wrong:

  -Multiplayer: While truly innovative and a different twist on it, the game makes it absolutely frustrating to find a buddy on your friends list in game. The inability to summon via the friends list and really no good system in place to find him makes co-op with a friend extremely difficult. The invasion of other players into your world is also a questionable practice, when there is such an extreme amount of lag. Many times I’ve found myself swinging at someone, and the hits register close to a minute later!

  -Took my soul: Seriously, I’m supposed to take Demon’s Souls, not the other way around!

  Overall, for those that are looking for a really nice, in-depth RPG that’s severely lacking right now on the PS3, you should pick this up. I will repeat that the game indeed has its frustrating difficulty at times, but the ability to triumph over this masterpiece of torture is to truly be considered a master over it. I will not lie, you will have to grow as a player to know and understand that death is unfortunate, but will help you grow as a player.

  If you choose this game, I first will congratulate your attempt to try this game out, and suggest you understand this: Many have taken the challenge, and many have failed at the awe-inspiring difficulty. Will you attempt to master the untamed Demon’s Souls?
• 

  Akili K. Thomas
  December 12th, 2009 on 1:30 am

  Rating

  Demon’s Souls is a title reserved for those in the gaming community who relish the idea of enemies being your enemy. What I mean is that the game is criticized and praised universally for being difficult, when it merely wants to show you that you are a human. When you see that gigantic dragon whipping its tail back and forth, tantalizing loot underneath its swings, you don’t say “hey, I’ll just go pick it up, no problem!” The game makes you feel as if you are your character, as if bad decisions have consequences instead of a few taps of X (or in this case, R1) to get out of. What’s important to note about this game is that it really isn’t that tough until New Game+, when enemies suddenly have 3 times the health that they did, because it’s just fair. If you want the game to be hard, you can make it hard in 3 steps:

  1) Forget your shield. Who needs it? You’re invincible, you play GAMES!
  
  2) Take on all comers. Remember those scenes in Chinese martial arts movies when the good guy is surrounded by 8 guys? It works superbly.
  
  3) Run headlong all the time into everything, slashing wildly. This is no time for metered attack and defense, you should use up all your stamina instantly regardless of your environs.

  If you approach the game with patience and planning, you will find it is not as challenging as you’ve heard. It’s really quite easy for the most part, you just have to respect your enemies.

  However, there are some fine points about the game that I really hate. The first is the camera. Usually the camera is great, but in a game like this where you can be brutally slaughtered in a few moments of not being able to see yourself, it becomes a real onus. Secondly, the farming for ore via crystal geckos is a fine idea, but sometimes shoddily executed. Making a pure Darkmoonstone drop from 2 sets of geckos on a % chance to drop is the worst idea they didn’t cut. Requiring what could be near-infinite playthroughs of the entire game to acquire one item is just lazy game design. The final problem I have with the game is the way the weapons never feel that different from one another. You have your heavy weapons, requiring most of your stamina per swing; your medium weapons, allowing 3-6 swings on moderate stamina; and your daggers, the only weapon that has any speed whatsoever. This makes for an evolution of combat that is dull and ponderous rather than exciting and fast-paced, because you’re limited by what weapon type you prefer so drastically. The game alludes to switching various weapons out to be more effective against certain enemies or in certain environments, but really you can just take your dagger out and slash your way through the game with no difficulty.

  Aside from these relatively minor setbacks, Demon’s Souls is a fine outing for a new IP and one I hope can be polished and returned to in some sequels. I’ll be preordering the next one for sure.
• 

  Hazy
  December 27th, 2009 on 9:11 pm

  Rating

  Never before did I expect this to be a smash hit. Never.
  
  I had seen tidbits of gameplay and a few interviews pre-launch, but never did I see this as a game to spend $60 on.

  Now? I happily shelled out 60 smackers, and I have not once regretted my decision.

  If you can brave the harsh curve, and truly attest to your shortcomings, you will find one of the greatest RPGs ever made. And I am being dead serious.

  Demon’s Souls is the acclaimed title developed by From Software and published by ATLUS games. Now, like I said earlier, I had no interest in this whatsoever, partly due to the fact that I had never heard of From Software. However, I had heard of ATLUS, who had created the “Persona” series – another smash hit. I figured that if they were backing this, then it was truly something to take note of. Boy was it ever. The guys, gals, and sadistic people at From Software have truly outdone themselves (See: My rating of 5 stars) and if you are even remotely interest in Role Playing Games, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

  The story is as followed – The kingdom of Boletaria comes under an infestation of demons. You, the protagonist, journey through the newly enveloped thick fog to attempt to stop them from the destruction they are causing. Right off the bat, this is not a pretty tale. You’re told, in the intro, that many before you have died. And the best part? There is no certainty that you won’t as well. It’s great to be the underdog, especially when the game isn’t really rooting for you.

  And boy, is this game sadistic. I should probably make note of this really quick – but this game is challenging. Not hard, but challenging. For you naysayers who claim that old school challenge is dead, I invite you to take one look at Demon’s Souls. Let me get this out of the way before you even think about buying this game: You are going to die. You will die A LOT. The game simply challenges your mind and reflexes in ways that I have never seen, and it pulls it off beautifully. While you will die, you will never feel as if it is a cheap death (Atleast, not ALL the time.) You die because of your own faults, and there is no other way around it. This is one of the few games where people will just, for lack of a better word, suck. But, do not be discouraged! As Demon’s Souls is also incredibly fair. Heck, if the developers intended you to play perfect, you wouldn’t have the multitude of healing items and your hub, the Nexus (More on that later,) there to back you up.

  And of course, with your (inevitable) death, you’re going to need a way to continue playing. This ties the “Soul Form” into the story, as you will likely be spending quite a bit of time as a soul. If you die – Sorry. WHEN you die, you will spawn at the start of the same level you were currently playing. Only this time – you’re dead. But fear not, as you are still able to fight. You see, when bloodstains are dropped by other players (See: Next paragraph for more details on bloodstains) coincidentally, you drop them as well. Your goal, as a spirit, is to reach your blood stain. Why would you want to do that, you ask? Well, so you can re-obtain your “Demon’s Souls,” which act as the currency of the land of Boletaria. But be warned: If you die as a spirit, they’re gone for good. No chance to get them back, better luck next time. And believe it or not – this system is incredibly fair. It punishes you for making mistakes, and if you do, you have a second chance to rethink your actions. Refusing to do so will result in your loss a second time. However, if you’re wanting to actually return your body to normal, you will have to tackle one of the many boss demons. These are incredibly varied, each with their own tactics, moveset, and weaknesses. When you tackle one, the feeling of glee washes away all traces of anger or frustration.

  Which leads me to the multiplayer, which just happens to be synonymous with the word “genius.”
  
  You see, when you log into your PSN account, you are playing Demon’s Souls online. You will see ghostly apparitions of players as they are solving the same challenges as you. Likewise, there are red blood stains littered through out the world. Of course, this also has a purpose – in the sense that you’ll be able to watch the last few seconds of a person’s life, before their untimely death. This is a great way to rethink your strategy and plan ahead, something the game rewards greatly.
  
  And yes, it gets deeper than that. You are able to call in up to two souls to help aid you in fights. The three of you are then able to tackle the aforementioned bosses, and if you succeed, they reclaim their lives. But, however, there is another way to reclaim your life. You will be able to invade a world as a black phantom and reap the life of it’s inhabitant. Being invaded is the most terrifying feeling that you will ever encounter while playing a video game. You’ll think it won’t happen, and BAM! you’re scared out of your mind as you pray the phantom doesn’t round the corner to finish you off.

  Still with me? Good. Because Demon’s Souls is dark. And I mean REALLY dark. It’s gritty, atmospheric, and at times – it’s just plain gothic. You would never believe me if I told you that From Software is a Japanese company, because this aptly mimics the medieval ages in ways that confound the mind.
  
  Quite a bit of your time is spent running through dark and claustrophobic environments as you tackle hordes of enemies. When you arrive outside, it’s usually over a sweeping landscape of ruin and destruction, with the sun barely shining through the specks of kicked up dirt and gray clouds. And let me tell you – having to venture past the sanctity of the light, the feeling of a safe haven, and battle your way into the unknown once more, unsure of whether or not you will emerge alive, is a frightening feeling that hits you where it hurts, and it never truly lets go.

  I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that, while venturing through 1-2, I heard the growls of what seemed to be wolves, and I stopped in my tracks. Heart racing, shield drawn. The sound design is perfect. That’s all there is to it.
  
  Rarely do I regard something as “perfect,” but the sound design is nothing but. I invite you all to stop in 1-2 and listen to the ear-splitting roar of the dragon, as he swoops down onto the bridge, incinerating all in it’s path. Your mind will be blown.
  
  But it doesn’t stop there, oh no. Some of the greatest orchestral scores in the game are heard during the massive boss fights. As if comparing to a total of 1/25th of the demon’s size, and having to tackle it as a result, your ears will be treated to a fiesta of strings and haunting choral melodies.

  So, if you’ve sifted through this rambling even a little bit, you can tell that I LOVE THIS GAME.
  
  You owe it to yourself to check this one out. It’s not for everyone, and even if you hate Demon’s Souls, you cannot help but acknowledge that it does so much right, it makes up for the very few flaws that permeate it.

  Two thumbs way up.
• 

  Truthbard
  December 30th, 2009 on 2:22 am

  Rating

  I just picked up a PS3 this year, and got 3 PS3 exclusives to start with: God of War (Collection), Uncharted 2, and Demon’s Souls. I played God of War for about 1 hour, Uncharted 2 for 2 hours, and Demon’s Souls for 3 days and counting (not finished with it yet).

  This game is almost indescribably amazing. It’s beautiful, yes, it’s innovative, yes, but there just doesn’t seem to be any other phrase more appropriate to describe this game than ‘addictively phenomenal’. (And bear in mind, I played World of Warcraft for about 2 hours total before getting bored with the game mechanics and other players.)

  Yes, you die a lot (a LOT!), yes, you have to start over from the beginning of sections repeatedly, yes, there are no save points. The game creators took a lot of risk by removing these game mechanics which a lot of modern gamers take for granted. However, in return, you get a game where the emphasis isn’t on staying alive at all cost, but instead is placed upon the actual experience of the (gasp) *game play*.

  In short, this game will not hold your hand or make it obvious which way to go. However, what you get from the game as a reward is far better than any game you thought you wanted. My husband says he has never heard me yell at a game so much, or play one with such dedication for so long.

  Highly recommended.
• 

  Sammycat
  February 13th, 2010 on 10:15 am

  Rating

  The beauty of this game is that it doesn’t give you ANYTHING. You have to fight for every inch. That’s including beating a level, obtaining an objective or simply figuring out the story. They don’t even give you the full story! This game spoon feeds you NOTHING and a lot of people will hate it for that. You die, you start the level over with all the enemies respawned, all the souls you’d earned gone (in game currency) and you’re in Soul Form with half your Body Form health (but you do increased damage). You die again before reaching the spot you died originally and getting your souls back and you lose ALL of the souls. There are no save points, there is no pause and the game doesn’t care that you’re crying like a little girl (the game does auto-saves, so you won’t lose your progress or your items). I’ve read reviews with people talking about the need to research Demon’s Souls to figure out things like upgrading weapons, boss strategies as well as Character and World Tendencies. Because, honestly, if you try to figure it all out on your own, it’s going to take quite a bit of personal time investment.

  For me, I really enjoyed that aspect of the game. When you begin, it’s rather pretty straightforward after playing the tutorial. You know the basic controls and how to get the job done essentially. After the first boss, though, you really don’t get any further guidance from the game. You get a short bit of information and that’s it. There’s no real linear progression, you go to whatever stone you want next, there’s no definitive point where you get the rest of the story, it’s all up to you. If you want to piece the story together, you literally have to speak with each character, including hidden and unlockables, give certain ones specific items, read all the captions and read the item histories. It’s a tough process and it’s actually more akin to piecing together a puzzle or figuring out a mystery. To me, I LOVED that sort of open world feeling, the vagueness and the reliance on the player to figure things out.

  If you’ve ever watched the film “The Third Man”, this game seems to play on that sort of feeling on alienation for the viewer. In that film, practically everyone speaks Italian EXCEPT the protagonist and there’s NO SUBTITLES. He and you have NO idea what’s going on and you have to pay attention if you’re going to get anywhere. Demon’s Souls is similar in that it throws you into this mess and says, “Figure it out, win the battle.” The best part is, you don’t have to figure it out if you don’t want to. You can just play the game and not care at all about the story or the history of the land you’re involved in. You just have to kill, collect and get stronger if that’s all you want to do.

  Further, the whole game is simply much more difficult on your own. The thing I enjoy about this is that it sometimes makes you dip into the community surrounding Demon’s Souls (what game isn’t better with some company?). Basically, as mentioned in another review, if you’re connected to the internet, it automatically goes to Online Mode. What this means is you can read messages other players have left behind as clues to hidden items, hidden characters, hidden creatures, traps, strategies etc. It’s an excellent system that has short, preset messages anyone can leave on the path. You can’t write your own message, you have to use the preset ones due to the designer’s desire to not bog down the experience and it’s excellent. Beyond that, you have the option to Summon in 2 other players who’ve left their Blue Stone marks on the ground, who could be complete strangers, to help you. It’s a great system if you’re having trouble and it’s excellent in that even if you don’t know anyone who plays the game, you will nearly ALWAYS have help if you want it (assuming you’re in Body Form that is). If you die and lose your Body, you can place down your own Blue Stone that allows players to Summon you into their world so you can help them and if you achieve your objective, you’ll receive your body back and be sent back to your own world ready to Summon your own help.

  I really can’t stress enough how much fun the online system is, both in receiving help and in helping others. You also have the option to infiltrate another player’s game by using a Black Stone if you’re in Soul Form. The creatures of that level will work beside you rather than against you in killing the player you’ve invaded and, should you succeed, you’ll be revived and gain your Body Form back. Should you fail, you simply walk away with a bruised pride.

  As far as customization goes, this game is excellent. Like others have stated, you begin with a general class, but this really only starts you off with specific weapons, armor, items and stats that are generally associated with that class. It does not limit you. You pave your way in this game in basically all regards and define your character. If you want to be a Mage that wears plate armor and carries a massive sword or hide behind a giant tower shield, you can do that. If you want to be a Priest that casts Magic too, you can do that. You simply build your stats however you wish as all the items in game are determined on stats, not class. You build your stats however you want, so you determine your play style and methods of destruction. What’s more, is you can customize your weapons to take on specific attributes. What’s important about this is that, say you’re a Mage, you want your sword to do a lot of damage, but in most RPG fantasy games you need Strength or Dexterity to increase weapon damage. In Demon’s Souls, you can upgrade your weapon to do damage based off your Magic, or you can upgrade it to give you Mana back, etc. What’s nice about that is you don’t need to level up Str and Dex to have a weapon that does a lot of damage. You can be a Mage and still wield a sword that does massive damage based on the stats you want rather than need.

  They do a great job in making the whole process highly personalized. Will you need to look up sources from time to time? Most likely, unless you want to go through trial and error. Is that necessarily a bad thing? For me, I feel it makes a good game great. If anyone remembers old school gaming on the NES, you may remember having to dial their hotline a few times to get past some pretty crazy puzzles or game mechanics that you had to basically get blind sloppy lucky on without getting outside info. Now? You’ve got Google and masses of other nerds playing the same game where everything about the game is at your fingertips, seconds away. They even have their own forums where people help each other out constantly. So, if you don’t want to figure it all out, it’s right there for you and the game encourages a community type feel, a game where people work together and swap information. Because, in reality, if you’re waging a war, you’re probably not doing it alone, right?

  Beyond that, the difficulty being as brutal as it is is really the true winning point of Demon’s Souls. Like I said, you have to fight for EVERY inch, for everything. Even the lowest of enemies can take you out in one or two hits if you aren’t careful. While some find this frustrating, I find it exceedingly rewarding. Even the most minor achievements and successes in this game can make you feel more accomplished than beating most current games. Every step keeps you perched on the edge of your seat anticipating what might be behind the next corner. When you have so much at risk and so little room for error, you make absolute sure you’re playing at your best, thinking on your feet, becoming your own personal master strategist. When you turn Demon’s Souls on, you’re invested. At the start, you’ll feel like breaking your controller, but after you gain some levels and make some progress, your moves in game become second nature, you won’t want to put your new controller down. Even after you’ve beat the game, you can start New Game +, making the game progressively more difficult each time. If you want to upgrade all your gear and be the biggest, baddest player, you’ll want to keep going to collect more items and more materials.

  Long after you beat it, you’ll be sitting around looking for people to PvP against or to help some poor sap out with that crazy, difficult boss. But, honestly, if you want a game that’s great for your money, this is it. You can look at a boss that takes you hours to kill as a frustrating roadblock that’s driving you insane, or you can see it as money well spent by how much time you’re getting out of it. I’ll be honest, I come from playing MMOs where bosses could take a week or two to learn and kill, so when I was playing a PS3 game and having to take a few hours to learn a boss, I was pretty happy with whoever designed the encounters. Trust me, the bosses are MASSIVE and they are brutal, unforgiving challenges. Sure, they are tough as nails, but they are fair and once you figure them out, the fight is yours and you’ll feel like an absolute champion. You need to move quick and find the weakness fast or you’re on your way back to the very beginning. So, if you’re looking for a challenge, a game that has infinite replay value or a great RPG that has you working for everything but let’s you take nearly total control of your character, this is the game for you. It will be a love hate relationship, but in the end, you will definitely be satisfied.
• 

  J. Chi
  February 15th, 2010 on 12:42 am

  Rating

  Like others, I was hesitant to buy this game based on its name(Demon’s Souls…do I really wanna spend money on a title like this?) and the reviews describing how difficult the game is; however, the reviews were overwhelming positive so I had to see what the deal was with Demon’s Souls.

  Overall, this is one of the best games I’ve ever played and I hope they make a sequel very soon. Reviewers that don’t like DS usually criticize the game for being a) too difficult, or b) too creepy. The gameplay of the game is indeed tough because the enemies’ attacks do a lot of damage and if you die, you’ll start from the beginning of the level. This reminds me of NES games like Megaman or Ninja Gaiden when recognizing patterns and avoiding strikes were priorities since dying meant starting over. In my opinion, DS is very fair and realistic in its gameplay–if you get hit by a swinging halberd or blasted by a fireball, it will naturally hurt a lot and you might die.

  When this kind of gameplay is combined with the kind of surreal and grisly environment presented in DS, you will be very cautious in your approach, especially the first time. In my first go-round, there were levels that had the tension and dark feel of a Resident Evil game, where I had my shield ready at all times and manuevered very slowly around corners and ledges. It’s really a testament to the superb graphics and sound of DS.

  This game rewards having patience, understanding patterns, and reacting properly. I have died embarrassingly from rolling away from an enemy only to fall off a cliff or spazzing out and button-mashing in panic only to have my attacks blocked, my guard exposed, and my chest impaled in return. But you learn from your deaths, and that’s the beauty of the game. The game only becomes frustrating because you made it that way; as you move forward you realize that DS isn’t really that hard. When you clear a level though, you can breathe a sigh of relief and feel like you earned something. All those souls you managed to keep can be used to customize your character to any way you see fit.

  Throw in a unique multiplayer dynamic, and DS is even more fun. It’s cool to help people beat levels and bosses as well as recruit 1 or 2 others to assist you. There is some sort of unspoken camaraderie to it all. Likewise, you can invade another player’s realm or be invaded by another player, which exhilirating in its own right. The replay value of DS is big. If there is ever a sequel for DS, I am sure the multiplayer system will be expanded on.

  I’ll give Uncharted 2 the credit it deserves as PS3 game of 2009, but DS is the dark horse runner-up that could have taken the title.