Demon's Souls

i'll preface this by saying i never played the original Demon's Souls because I never owned a PS3 (unfortunately). I recognise it as a huge blind spot in my gaming career, especially considering i'm a huge souls fanboy. so i have absolutely no frame of reference for this remaster by bluepoint, besides all of the souls games that came after it.

firstly, i'll be the first to admit that i don't dislike bluepoint (seems to be popular to hate on them on glitchwave idk) and i liked the shadow of colossus remake. one of the main points people seem to bring up with them is that they give the presentation and graphics a facelift, and leave pretty much everything else as is. in my opinion if you're just remastering a game like this, that's fine. sure the combat in this Demon's Souls is pretty clunky, but it is in Dark Souls 1 too and i feel like they both handle pretty similarly. if you were to remake DS1 and give it Elden Ring controls, I feel like the game would become a cakewalk and something entirely different. part of the DNA of Demon's Souls and DS1 is that the animations are slow, chunky and half the reason the game gained its infamous difficulty. it felt fine here but then again, DS1 is one of my favourite games of all time so i'll defend its slow movement for the rest of eternity.

on the back of that, in order to lift this game out of its console generation, it would need to become something entirely different. the PS3 era is baked directly into this game from the shorter length, the existence of the Nexus acting as a hub area to then travel to other worlds, and the relatively small pool of weapons. like it or not, this is still a PS3 game, just with a bit of botox. and unfortunately, you're reminded constantly of this while playing.

this whole game feels like a prototype for souls. it feels like a blueprint for what the souls franchise would come to be. and most of the ideas explored here are fleshed out in a much more satisfying way in its successor/s. even down to the ideas in levels (Boletaria = Undead Berg, Valley of Defilement = Blighttown, Shrine of Storms = Sen's Fortress), which retrospectively makes these feel like lesser versions of these aforementioned areas, which are also entirely disjointed from one another. speaking of which, the level design here is significantly more linear than i was expecting. i have to admit, areas like stonefang tunnels and the latter portion of Boletaria have a bit more verticality and missable areas (which is something i LOVE about the later souls games), and as cool as it is to see these ideas in their infant form, it gives you little reason to explore. i also think there are parts of the game which feel particularly claustrophobic, and you are funnelled pretty much down a single path to the end of the level.

the bosses are pretty eh most of the time too. the only bosses i genuinely enjoyed were the penetrator and sir king allant. these 2 felt like they had an actual moveset beyond just a simple gimmick. and what i noticed with playing this game in particular is that there was no main driving force for me. people say this isn't the case in the original but this remake has next to no atmosphere. it looks great, but there's no music and very little ambience, compared to DS1 which is positively thick with grime and fog, with music used sparingly yet effectively, and just generally incredible sound design. this combined with the subtle yet intriguing story pushes you forward to ring the bells and get to Anor Londo. In Demon's Souls, i literally couldn't care less about the story, and because there's no atmosphere, I had no reason to. sure, there are hints of environmental storytelling and that textbook hopeless cycle is present here too, but it sums up to nothing.

having said all that, it is very easy to get lost in this world. there's something quite charming about the level design here, and how unique each level is (even though some of them are a bit of a chore to play through). i especially like tower of latria and its labyrinthine layout, as well as how you slowly climb up to the top of the tower to fight the final boss. there's a tangible sense of progression and triumph as you fight your way past gargoyles and jailers. oh and that's another thing, the amount of enemy variety here is staggering (again, considering it's a PS3 game). rather than reusing reskinned enemies there are a myriad enemies to battle in each level, even more than probably most contemporary games (looking at you Ghost of Tsushima).

i know i've just spent paragraphs kind of tearing this game a new one, but it is in the unfortunate position of being compared to some of the best games of all time. and even taking all of this into account, i can't bring myself to give this a negative score at all. i mostly enjoyed my time with it and trying as hard as I can to put it into the context of being released 15 years ago, i can see why it had so many people obsessing over it. the best part of this game is revelling on what it brought next for gaming, and how so much of its DNA was only built on to create masterpiece after masterpiece. and in all fairness, the main bread and butter of this game wasn't really changed for Dark Souls 1, mechanically it is very similar. it is a cultural landmark in media and who knows where we would be today without it.

thanks Demon's Souls, without you, I wouldn't have some of my favourite games of all time.

The remake of Demon Souls is flat-out beautiful. It's one of those games that feel essential to play if you're a new PS5 owner just to test out the feel of the controller and how it interacts with the system. The way the dual-sense controller vibrates with sound effects of the clank of the sword or the pulse of the magic casted immerses the player into this uniquely designed medieval fantasy world filled with fire-breathing dragons, undead zombie-like soldiers, ironclad possessed knights, and many other frustrating but amazingly designed characters leaving gamers in complete awe and wonder. The stunning graphics along with the overall atmosphere of the game pulls you in constantly wanting to explore more, yet easily aggravated as each area is jam-packed with mobs of enemies.

My favorite moment playing this game was running along the Lord's Path trying to avoid getting burnt by a dragon, then fighting one of the knights on top of a fort as the dragon flies over us. Playing this game makes me ponder what a difficult or hard game should actually be like. Both titles are respectfully challenging to the point where you get infuriated whenever you lose to a boss, but the reward of beating these difficult bosses is continuously chased after because of how diverse each boss's mechanics are to fight against. Demon Souls does not have that. Whenever I do lose to a boss, I'm not caring at all about not dying because of the thought of losing to the boss itself. I'm praying to not die because of how horrific the runback was to just get to the boss's stage. I really feel that each fog the player passes through on the level should be checkpoints and not the location of the boss's death. Playing Sekiro, if I died to Guardian Ape, at least the checkpoint idol was right behind him. If I died to Genichiro or another boss on the top floor of the building, I had two choices of re-spawning at the very bottom or an idol right beneath the floor. Either way, I could simply use my grapple hook to skip past the common enemies.

If there's one thing I despise in games, it's the feel of the grind. I have the opinion that "grinding" should not be felt at all in video games. Now, the essence of failing a challenge then studying the opponent to see how to get better is essential in most great video games. You get your ass kicked, then you come back to see where you messed up. You keep coming back and getting better until you finally beat that boss or overcome that obstacle that was giving you initial trouble. That is not the grind I'm referring to. That's just a good old fashioned challenge. The grind feels like work to the point where you begin to ask yourself "is this even a video game anymore?". It feels like a chore or an unnecessary task you're not getting paid for. But what makes this even worst is if I use all my important items like spice or health leaves,. It's already a frustrating game to play. The creators of this game really thought to themselves "Hmm how can we make it even more frustrating?”

If there's anything Demon's Souls has taught me, it's that I value playing games that give me joy. I like playing games that feel rewarding after they present a challenge. The only boss that I somewhat had fun beating was Flamelurker, King Allant, Penetrator, and the Spider boss. Tower Knight was not fun. The method of hitting his ankles two or three times then backing up on repeat for minutes. Phalanx was not fun. A glob of shit protected by a bunch of mini globs of shit with arrows and shields was just not fun to beat at all. The Fool's Idol boss is what really motivated to give up this game. It's simply not for me and I tried multiple times to press through hoping that magic would hit, but it just doesn't. Even though I completed the game, the final boss feels nothing like a grand finale because I have to fight her side-dude i guess? just to beat him, then smack the crap out of her as she just sits there contemplating life? I really don't understand why they assumed that would be a great final boss.

Overall, the good about this game is the atmosphere and the graphics. The bad is the dreadful chore-like levels you have to beat just to get to the boss which has the checkpoint. If you die, you get to do your chores all over again.

Modernising the first Soulsbourne without compromising its identity was always going to be a tough act, and depending on who you ask, DeS PS5 doesn't quite make the cut. The art style loses a bit of its luster compared to the original, particularly the too human facial animations meant to really sell the power of the PS5, but looking a bit gooey. Similarly, some monster audio is too close to human and doesn't feel otherworldly or hellish at all. There's definitely a bit of that Gothic sheen lost in translation. BUT. This is a high octane action game that runs in 60 FPS with no annoying input buffering and fast load times, which faaaaaarrr outshines any complaints I have about the artstyle not being totally faithful.

And while the game design is absolutely dated even compared to the magical DS1, which is almost as old, it still nails the core feel of a Soulsbourne experience, and the staggered level design gives it a different twist rather than perverting it beyond recognition, though it does detract from the overall atmosphere. Unfortunately the bosses are only okay, with only a couple really nailing the blood-pumping action or deliberate decision making of the best bosses in the series, and often being easy to cheese out if you're not running sword and board. Though, this does make DeS one of the more customisable in the series, and owing to its relatively short length, is the most palatable to replays with different builds, adding a lot of flavour to the experience. Some old mechanics like soul form and enforced PvP are still great; others, like tendencies or non-replenishing health items, are just reminders of how old this game is; this is definitely a template that would be improved upon in games to come.

Still, it feels fresh and exciting even a decade later, even in this version, and though it's arguably the easiest mainline Soulsbourne, it's no less exciting and feels the most fluid, responsive and snappy. If not having Bloodborne level art design means no long load times or frame hitches but the same old frenetic gameplay, I will take it.

Utterly bizarre to see a game with such shiny new graphics and such archaic gameplay.
Coming into this after playing all other Miyazaki's From games, Demon's Souls feels hopelessly outdated.
- Bosses are for the most part either gimmicky or made artificially difficult by awkward arenas
- Boss runs are a drag with almost no exception (I cannot stress this enough, they kill you inside)
- Healing system is frustrating and forces you to waste time to farm
- Inventory management is even more frustrating, forcing you to carry an incredibly limited number of items on you at a given time

Overall, this is Dark Souls with better graphics, no Estus flasks, no interconnected level design and with every boss being a variation of Capra Demon/Bed of Chaos

This was a good opportunity to modernise and rebalance the systems in this game, leveraging all the work done by From in the last 10 years, for instance by adopting regenerating healing items and getting rid of the inventory weight limit.
Sadly it wasn't taken.

"Demon's Souls" definitely requires patience, cold blood, and hours of internet research, but it was much more enjoyable than I expected. The first few hours were a little traumatic, but once I got familiar with the dynamics and found the right build for my playing style, I finally started to genuinely enjoy the challenges the game was putting me through. I even thought about going for platinum, but New Game+ was just too much for me to handle. The bosses are actually not too hard for a Soulslike, but the way to them can be a nightmare. I still get the feeling that the game rewards you more for creating the right build rather than for improving your skills, but that's the case for most action RPGs. The battle system is as clunky and outdated as you would expect from a PS3 remake, but at least Bluepoint managed to maintain a remarkably steady 60fps throughout.

Things might feel relatively simple at first, but a lot of depth is given by how the character's death influences the gameplay. Every time you get killed, you get stuck into your "soul form" and have to beat the next boss to get your body and maximum health back. Killing or being killed also influences "tendencies", variables that affect difficulty, rare item drop rate, and even appearance of certain enemies and NPC's.

Online interaction with randomly selected players also has a considerable impact on the gameplay: you can invade other characters' worlds to mess around, summon people to your world for help, or make yourself available for other players. During your single-player session you can also find lots of hints and messages left by other players, as well as bloodstains that show you the ways they died. While these aspects made the original "Demon's Souls" innovative back in the days, I still have mixed feelings about the co-op mode. The game is definitely too hard for you alone, but gets way too easy once someone joins you. Sure, you may risk losing your body form and affect your world tendency, but most of the players I summoned were on a much higher level and even able to take down enemies alone with me just watching.

Heads up to Bluepoint for the work on the graphics, which really do justice to the Berserk-reminiscent, dark fantasy atmosphere of the original. Human characters could have looked a little better, but the work on the environments and fantastic creatures is flawless.

I am a huge fan of Bloodborne and call it one of my favorite games of all time. Bloodborne was my introduction to From Software. After playing BB i played DS3 and then Sekiro. While Bloodborne was and forever will be my favorite of them i had a lot of appreciation for DS3 and Sekiro. Things i love about Bloodborne is it´s smart level Design, it´s extremely challenging but rewarding Gameplay and it´s horrifying beauty. All these 3 things are lacking in this Game. I probably am part of a minority with thinking that this Game didn´t age well. In my opinion there is two types of difficult Games: a good one and a bad one. While i would classify BB, DS3 and Sekiro entirely as the former here it´s too much of the latter. Tight hallways that take your view while having extremely aggressive enemies in the way not being able to really see yourself or them well. Unbalanced Boss fights put in weird spaces that don´t seem nearly as thought out as later entries in From Softwares catalogue. Then there is the Level Design. This is where Bloodborne shines and delivers again and again with it´s clever and rewarding distribution of Lamps (checkpoints), shortcuts and merging of spaces, something almost entirely missing from this Game. Whereas in Bloodborne and Post-BB Games i felt rewarded after fighting through a tough area arriving at a checkpoint or discovering a new area here i never have those experiences. There is no feeling of joy after finishing a Boss after studying their attack patterns because most Bosses lack ambitious mechanics. Moreover the Mechanics of Bosses don´t really feel integrated into the Gameplay. Again, with all the Post-BB Souls Games there was a coherence between the Boss Design and Gameplay mechanics. Whenever i died in those Games to a Boss or enemies i always felt like i wasn´t good enough, thinking about the enemy attack patterns and how i could improve. When i die here i find myself most of the time thinking about poor design choices such as the things mentioned. Another example of it´s unbalanced mechanics is farming for healing items. While BB did have the need to find healing items as well the distribution was way more balanced out and enemies would frequently drop them. In certain areas of Demons Souls you wont find any healing items at all which adds to the overall feeling of frustration this Game leaves me with.