Great for one time.
I played this after playing all of Miyazaki’s other games after the original demon’s souls in 2009. I respect what it did for the souls formula and genre. The gameplay loop and exploration was fun and intuitive even here. But the bosses suck. Most are gimmicks or pathetic. Only one that gave me an issue was because the arena was a narrow bridge and I kept getting knocked off. Also the run backs are the worst fucking thing ever.
A lot of negatives but Tower of Latria, Boletaria, and Shrine of Storms are some of the BEST areas they have ever made. Latria is ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL holy crap. The Prison is just some of that peak fromsoft atmosphere.
Anyway, solid game. Definitely the worst one though.
A lot of negatives but Tower of Latria, Boletaria, and Shrine of Storms are some of the BEST areas they have ever made. Latria is ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL holy crap. The Prison is just some of that peak fromsoft atmosphere.
Anyway, solid game. Definitely the worst one though.
This review contains spoilers
For context, I never played the original Demon's Souls, so I don't have a point of reference to make comparisons between the two versions (and, thus, can't really comment in-depth on the artistic/stylistic changes other reviews have mentioned). I will say, however, that it's a shame that the original game's muted colors and muddied presentation have been overhauled for the sake of graphical fidelity, and there's an important conversation to be had about the gaming industry's obsession with remakes that emphasize pixel count over artistic integrity.
When judged on its own merits, I found DS to be flawed but, overall, a good time. As mentioned above, I found the game's presentation to be a bit soulless (ha). From a graphical perspective, everything looks amazing, but the level of polish in the presentation makes the world feel fake. I never really bought that Boletaria is a real, lived-in place; everything felt too video gamey and too crisp. Like I said, I've never played the original DS, but I think other commenters have done a great job discussing how much of From's artistic voice was lost in this remake.
Despite being very light on the lore, I think DS' core story asks some interesting questions and is a compelling analysis of the relationship between systemic power and people. The central mystery - why would King Allant, who ruled over an already prosperous nation, choose to awaken the Old One? - was particularly well-developed, and it's ultimate answer - that Allant, a man who had everything, still felt the need to amass more power to fill an emotional hole inside himself - felt particularly relevant to the current state of the world. While I found the supporting cast to be less memorable than other From games, there were still some compelling moments and interesting ideas: Ostrava's tragic search for answers about his father, the ideological clash between the Old One-worshiping clergy and marginalized magicians, the Golden Monk's oppression of Latria, Astraea's doomed humanitarian mission, and the Monumental potentially allowing the Old One to awaken as a false flag operation to increase the population of its kind, to name a few. Boletaria and the clergy's search for power and dominance over neighboring nations and spellcasters respectively destroyed this world long before the Old One awoke and, considering DS ends with the player character either perpetuating the cycle (the Old One goes back to sleep, the player character becomes a Monumental, and no one learns a thing) or succumbing to the Old One's power sought by so many other characters, the game ends with no indication that things will get better. All of this is to say that DS has a great, compelling story that more than lives up to the rest of From's catalogue.
The game largely plays very similar to many other From games and felt polished the whole way through. I wasn't really a fan of the world tendency system, missed having access to automatically replenishing healing a la flasks, and would've preferred an interconnected world, rather than a series of disparate levels, but DS includes several great areas (with 1-1, 1-3, and the entire Tower of Latria being particular standouts) and a few great bosses (I particularly loved Penetrator, Flamelurker, Astraea, Allant).
By its own merits, DS is a strong video game. I want to end by echoing the sentiment that it's a real shame this game will, likely, render the original DS obsolete, especially when considering the significant artistic vision lost between these two versions. I don't love the industry's current obsession with remaking games and sacrificing artistic vision with graphical polish and, for all this game does well and for the overall good time I had with it, I also hope we don't keep seeing more games with the same design philosophy as this one.
When judged on its own merits, I found DS to be flawed but, overall, a good time. As mentioned above, I found the game's presentation to be a bit soulless (ha). From a graphical perspective, everything looks amazing, but the level of polish in the presentation makes the world feel fake. I never really bought that Boletaria is a real, lived-in place; everything felt too video gamey and too crisp. Like I said, I've never played the original DS, but I think other commenters have done a great job discussing how much of From's artistic voice was lost in this remake.
Despite being very light on the lore, I think DS' core story asks some interesting questions and is a compelling analysis of the relationship between systemic power and people. The central mystery - why would King Allant, who ruled over an already prosperous nation, choose to awaken the Old One? - was particularly well-developed, and it's ultimate answer - that Allant, a man who had everything, still felt the need to amass more power to fill an emotional hole inside himself - felt particularly relevant to the current state of the world. While I found the supporting cast to be less memorable than other From games, there were still some compelling moments and interesting ideas: Ostrava's tragic search for answers about his father, the ideological clash between the Old One-worshiping clergy and marginalized magicians, the Golden Monk's oppression of Latria, Astraea's doomed humanitarian mission, and the Monumental potentially allowing the Old One to awaken as a false flag operation to increase the population of its kind, to name a few. Boletaria and the clergy's search for power and dominance over neighboring nations and spellcasters respectively destroyed this world long before the Old One awoke and, considering DS ends with the player character either perpetuating the cycle (the Old One goes back to sleep, the player character becomes a Monumental, and no one learns a thing) or succumbing to the Old One's power sought by so many other characters, the game ends with no indication that things will get better. All of this is to say that DS has a great, compelling story that more than lives up to the rest of From's catalogue.
The game largely plays very similar to many other From games and felt polished the whole way through. I wasn't really a fan of the world tendency system, missed having access to automatically replenishing healing a la flasks, and would've preferred an interconnected world, rather than a series of disparate levels, but DS includes several great areas (with 1-1, 1-3, and the entire Tower of Latria being particular standouts) and a few great bosses (I particularly loved Penetrator, Flamelurker, Astraea, Allant).
By its own merits, DS is a strong video game. I want to end by echoing the sentiment that it's a real shame this game will, likely, render the original DS obsolete, especially when considering the significant artistic vision lost between these two versions. I don't love the industry's current obsession with remaking games and sacrificing artistic vision with graphical polish and, for all this game does well and for the overall good time I had with it, I also hope we don't keep seeing more games with the same design philosophy as this one.