In my short time on this platform I've noticed that a not-insignificant portion of FromSoft fans tend to look back on Demon's Souls as nothing but a stepping stone to Dark Souls, and while DeS certainly laid the groundwork for a new sub-genre of adventure games that future titles would learn from, I don't think it's fair to sweep it under the rug as nothing but a prototype.

Something we tend to hear about in games criticism is the idea of conventional design. For example, a platformer that teaches a concept in a safe environment and tests your knowledge on the concept incrementally will likely be heralded as an example of good game design. It doesn't have to be a platformer, every genre under the sun tends to have games that follow what's expected, and more often than not those games see success over those that break the mold. This makes sense to a certain degree, something comfortable to the consumer is clearly a safe investment, odds are they'll be more satisfied with their purchase in the short term, etc. The fallacy here, of course, is the implication that the best games only stem from those that don't take risks, but looking at the most successful games of all time night trick you into believing this. Market trends continue to worm their way into every corner of the medium, allowing for higher profits for the higher ups at big companies leading to more disposable experiences (quick aside, but this is a big reason why i tend to be more cynical towards remakes these days. it's more profitable to take a classic title and reshape it to better fit in with modern standards rather than just preserve the art as it once was).

This is why a game like Demon's Souls slipping through the cracks is all the more fascinating to me. Back in an era where most devs fell into formulaic trappings that some would follow for the next decade, DeS not only made it to shelves in the tangled abrasive state it was in, but actually managed to resonate with it's playerbase. What other game was cool with you missing massive pieces of lore right before the final boss? What do you mean other players can join my world and punish me for successfully regaining my humanity? Even today, Demon's Souls was able to capture my attention in how it was somehow able to tie all these disparate gameplay elements together cohesively.

Now, it'd be foolish of me to write any piece on a Miyazaki-directed title without bringing up the difficulty, but to those of us who've played DeS, the way the game expects mastery from the player is more thoughtful than you might be led to believe. If there's one slice of the game that exemplifies this well, it's gotta be the cycle between soul form and human form. Starting the game with half your health slashed might be devastating to a first-time player, but it will surely teach them one thing: patience. After the player has carefully navigated the first level and taken down their first boss, they're rewarded with their humanity, but only for a fleeting moment. Since they know that this only lasts as long as they can handle, it will make them more cautious of traps and upcoming dangers, as the punishment for death will be severe. But even though they may lose their humanity in the moment, the reward for pushing through can't be understated. It's a brilliant little loop of design that not only keeps the player engaged throughout, but expertly threads the game's depressing mood and theming into the core gameplay. It's gameplay ideas like this that are so insane when stacked up against the larger gaming landscape, but the team behind the project had faith and passion in what they were creating, any potential accolades were secondary to the game itself.

Suffficed to say, it's very cathartic to see a game like Demon's Souls make an impact despite not even the publishers and higher ups at Sony believing in it. Even though Dark Souls was the game that changed the world in a more significant way, it wouldn't have turned out the way it did had Demon's Souls been adjusted to better fit in with the industry. Is it a game that can stumble over its own ideas occasionally? Sure. Are there clearly rough edges that slipped past QA that wouldn't have existed if the team had more experience? Absolutely. But we need more games that are willing to bend conventions and see what they can get away with. We need more rule breakers like Hidetaka Miyazaki that care about creating meaningful experiences above all else. Though even if all creativity was drained from humanity tomorrow and we only got slop for the rest of our existence, at least that wouldn't wash away the diamond in the rough that came to life against all odds.

Simply put, few games have managed to capture my soul quite as much as this, and that's probably the highest praise I can give.

Thanks RPCS3. My favourite Souls - Blanketed in sorrow and an intoxicating ambiguity. An artstyle akin to a faded picturebook you've plucked out of an ancient water-logged library. I love so much that all of the environments feel restrained and utilitarian. A soundtrack that is wholly unique, doesn't feel a little inspired by the Hollywood Orchestral Epics nor does it even attempt to hit those notes.
The one title in the franchise that actually feels like a fantastical adventure, with encounters and environments that are more often a challenge of wit and intuition than attack pattern memorisation or a side-flippy shounen damage value race. It reeks!!! But it reeks beauty. I genuinely don't believe FromSoft in their current form have it in them to create a boss battle like King Allant again.

Solid and innovative, continues to be the breath of fresh air now as it was when I first played it in 2009. Nothin like it!!!!

All I'll say on the Bluepoint demake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5z2-hpZB1w

FYI this is still the best one. Most inspired soundtrack, most painterly and phantasmagorical setting, best hub zone and maiden, and laden with the most lyrical sense of tragedy and loss. Sure the gameplay is a little bit clunky compared to (some of) the later titles, but Deal With It!!

it makes me deeply sad that the online has been discontinued and we haven't heard anything about a re-release. Still totally playable offline, but the full experience deserves to be remembered and kept alive!

EDIT: WAIT I SAID RE-RELEASE NOT SLEEK HIGH POLY REMAKE DEVOID OF ATMOSPHERE AND RESTRAINT!!! WHY MUST THE DEVILS AT BLUEPOINT CONSPIRE TO MURDER EVERYTHING I LOVE

De la misma manera en la que Boorman en Excalibur retrata de forma mundana y sin gracia un evento tan clave en el mito humano como la espada en la piedra. Miyazaki en Demon's Souls nos pone como jefe final una figura patética que da pena ajena y que solo sirve como un saco de boxeo, ilustrando con puro cinismo el fin de una aventura expresada a través de mecánicas tan torpes como obtusas.


El juego realmente no intenta expresar otra fantasía oscura medieval del montón, sino el de plantearnos desafíos y más que superar el diseño en sí, es el comprender el control que tenemos a nuestra disposición, y esto se complementa de forma muy gratificante con los escenarios planteados que apunta a ser más un dungeon crawler, alejándose bastante de un diseño convencional, por lo que nos comprometemos en afrontar situaciones en donde nos adentraremos en sitios desconocidos llenos de trampa y enemigos aguardando en las sombras, es casi parecido a la misma sensación y emociones que expresa Castlevania, el ser un plataformero más lento y menos dinámico dónde la sola acción de subir por las escaleras significa un peligro latente, ya que podríamos ser golpeados por algún enemigo volador y caer a nuestra muerte inevitable, algo parecido aquí a cuando un soldado raso rompe tu guardia y te logra acertar un ataque que baja más o directamente toda nuestra vitalidad por no haber puesto nuestro escudo a tiempo o someterlo bajo mucha presión a las constantes embestidas del adversario.


Cabe destacar que otro fuerte es el siempre plantearse situaciones en donde te verás en desventaja, sin importar tu armamento, el enemigo más débil puede incluso ser un adversario a tener en cuenta en ciertos momentos, ya sea por despiste o mera suerte, ya ni hablar cuando el número de enemigos asciende a dos, en dónde una victoria sin recibir daño es casi imposible y ni decir cuando se plantean situaciones con un grupo aún más grande en dónde la huida es la única opción, tan constantes son estas situaciones que incluso conociendo superficialmente el diseño o sabiendo lo que te espera, inevitablemente moriras por el más mínimo error que realices.

Todas estas reglas favorecen aún más (algunos) de los enfrentamientos contra los jefes, Batallas como las de Flamelurker o Old Hero son excelentes por brindarte un gran espacio en el que desplazarte con alguna que otra dificultad (ya sean con obstáculos que interfieren de forma constante en tu movilidad) con la contra de que el enemigo planteado será errático y embista de forma constante, castigandote apenas te tomes un respiro y volviendo eterno la lucha si tus represalias no son constantes. o el caso de los Maneaters en donde se aplica la presión constante sumado a un espacio estrecho en donde un movimiento en falso significa caer al vacío y el no ser rápido acabando con uno, también implica la aparición de una segunda criatura que hará de todo esto aún más complicado. Pero estas son contadas excepciones, ya que ciertos enfrentamientos puntuales se resolverán a través de una gimmick que se debe descubrir, por lo que ofrece una variedad constante a lo que desafío se refiere (con todo lo bueno y malo que eso implica, verdad Dios Dragón?) volviéndose interesantes de forma más conceptual y narrativa que por el combate en sí, al fin de cuentas el reto real es el llegar a estos sano y salvo.

Lo que quiero decir es que Demons es un juego bastante torpe, pero es justo esa torpeza mezclada con su buen diseño de mazmorra es lo que logra hacer que destaque bastante y que por más que no tenga un sistema de personalización tan bien hecho, al menos el que seas tan frágil en combate hace que se marque una gran diferencia cuando el arma que mejoras hace al cinco puntos más que antes. Toda esta amalgama de cosas son lo que lo convierte en una de las experiencias más caótica, frustrante y divertida que he tenido el placer de experimentar y lo que lo ha vuelto en uno de mis juegos favoritos más recientes.

Note: this review will be written in the hypothetical scenario that, this was 2009 (barring the multiplayer I can't speak on) and the rest of the series does not exist yet. Why? Because I think I can indicate why I feel so strongly about it, and why I feel the opposite about later entries only with a certain context. With that said...

It's rare to see a game this solid just out there without much appreciation, and the appreciation it does get doesn't go the full mile for what makes it so good. It's an unconventional action-RPG, pretty much anyone could recognize that, but Demon's Souls isn't the best action game, nor the best RPG, yet I prefer it to anything I've played of those genres other than itself. Weighty, slower combat, methodical exploration and an extreme variation in landscapes characterize a sensation of exploring its world in a way that isn't something you frequently see these days. Ranging from a vast sea of blood in a murky green haze filled with Lovecraftian monstrosities, to a stormy landscape populated by flying stingrays which blast you from above, I never got tired of the landscapes. But what really makes it great is the way they tie into the gameplay at hand, thanks to the unique systems the game has that are very experimental on the whole.

Recognizing that it's a weird game is one thing, but Demon's Souls best strength isn't actually its combat or complexity as a choice-driven RPG, because it'll continue to beat you down no matter what path you pick. In-fact, it's not even an action game in my eyes - it's a game of preparation. The moments of high thrill and intense action have their fates usually already decided before they begin, by the environment, by the number of enemies, by the items you have on hand and the items you have directly equipped at this moment. All this means a lot since you can't pause, an utterly bold choice, yet a meaningful one. Before several boss fights, I found myself having to choose between weight and fast movement, between high magic defense or slow regeneration, between landing lots of hits or maintaining range, knowing I wouldn't be able to pause and change anything in the heat of the moment. My in-game stats didn't define me, it was my wits, and managing to outthink a world clearly out for my blood. The games most experimental edges all have a purpose, which is to add a preparative element to adventure. It's not just a matter of trial-and-error, it's a matter of figuring out what to do just as much, if not more, than execution. Some bosses I'd find would just be near impossible to damage, or would revive after I killed them, always throwing new hurdles at me I had to factor in. I remember when I was around the Leechmonger Archstone, I found myself consistently getting pushed down no matter what I did, so I found myself going to other areas (which you can access in a non-linear fashion) and exploring there instead. After conquering those worlds and accumulating rings, I managed to get enough poison resistance to muster my way through the poison swamp, utilizing my Soul Remains to lure enemies away as even with my best gear I could never take out that many, but I had another challenge on hand, which was that thanks to my own failures of dying here after entering my human form, the world had changed. The landscapes of Demon's Souls often change ever so slightly in regards to things like enemy placement tied to your own direct failures, and while I think more could have been done with it, it's such an ambitious idea that I can't help but praise it anyways and love how it feeds into that notion of being careful every step of the way. Other games may put you on scripted adventures, but Demon's Souls non-linear exploration and gruelling difficulty saw me taking things at my own pace, yet simultaneously going with the flow of how much the game would punish me for failures. Learning and discovery are necessary to overcome the greatest challenges, because a fight means nothing if the outcome is predetermined by what you know.

Demon's Souls true greatest quality is that most games punish exploits and trickery, but Demon's Souls fully expects you to utilize them to overcome how much it exploits and tricks you, the player, in an act of unfair-fairness where both sides play dirty. What you gain on your adventure and what you learn is what carries it, you go at the order that suits you yet it'll always have something in store to clobber you down with, even if you're finding one area more comfy than another. Checkpoints are far from where you need to go? If you get far enough, you can mitigate the trials of the map via using interconnected level design to create shortcuts. Enemies are damaging you too much? Distract them, or alternatively, use long-range to immediately kill them without them standing a chance. Everything that would be disincentivized in another game under some idea of the game designers valuing honor amongst their own systems is thrown out the window here. You play in a cruel world, and you will play cruel to the world. Everything you find on your journey benefits you and balance is wishy-washy in a way that somehow only serves to make the game better rather than worse, as I was constantly weighing out what I needed; especially thanks to the system of Souls being both money and experience points, leaving even my ability to level up in the air. It's not a flawless game but it's an enchanting one to get lost in. I just hope for a sequel that utilizes some of the mechanics more, perhaps less focus on the RPG elements and more focus on the scavenging for tools and exploits side of the game given builds don't mean much? Some of the bosses were a bit too straightforward too, I'd kill for more bosses that make me think outside the box almost like they're puzzles. World Tendency could affect the world even more when you die, perhaps having entire environments warp. Hell, given the existence of the Thief's Ring, maybe just a full-blown ability to sneak around enemies, more variation in the quality of the AI could be good for this too; with some enemies being smart and snooping you out, while others are equally as mindless as is. All just ideas, but for a game brimming so full of possibilities, who knows what one could expect from a sequel?

The OG souls game.
It aged pretty well, I actually prefer the original over the remake, it feels more.. idk... Demon's Souls.
Good first introduction to the legendary series, pretty much the easiest.
The bosses in this game lack quality but there's a few that are good.
The pure bladestone took me like... 6 hours till it finally dropped, im glad the duping glitch works on the ps3 version.
If i hate one thing about this game is the fifth world:))) oh and the World Tendency system, AND Dragon God😡

Demon's Souls is, in a word, uncaring. A better word than 'difficult' as it loves to fluctuate between easy and hard, fair and unfair, long levels with shortcuts and long levels with no shortcuts. It is a hard game - and delights in putting you into particularly nasty situations - but it's one that, particularly with the help of healing items, can feel fairly easy to power through. Yet it all manages to fall into place; it's reasonable to muscle through but death will often set you back far more than any later, causing even the easier sections to become tense when they last too long.

Demon's Souls is, in a word, atmospheric. A game built to make you feel small, to make you feel threatened. As early in its world as the Nexus, towering and decadent yet disconcertingly empty. As early in its encounters as the Phalanx, as you bounce off its shell, step back and realise just how outnumbered you are. Boss monsters are more than just large enemies expected to be attacked and dodged like anything else, instead expecting you to find their weakness and exploit them; a method befitting foes of their size and strength. Its mood brought out fully by its soundtrack being subdued yet intimate, ominous, intimidating, and only breaking its mould for its greatest moment.

Demon's Souls is, in a word, bizarre. A world consisting of a strange selection of landscapes populated by even stranger monsters. Full of strange bosses, utilising strange mechanics that punish you in strange ways and demand to be approached as such. Backed by strange mechanics that affect your game in strange ways, which you won't even know or understand without looking them up. It's consistent and cohesive in its strangeness, and culminates in a curious and compelling world to explore.

Demon's Souls is, in a word, fantastic.

Finalmente tive a oportunidade de jogar esta obra prima que deu início e é o grande responsável pelo meu gênero de jogos favorito, e pra fechar com chave de ouro foi o meu último jogo de 2022. Eu definitivamente não sou bom pra colocar em palavras oque acho dos meus jogos favoritos, então eu vou tentar escrever um texto curto e direto ao ponto.

Hidetaka Miyazaki é um gênio em criar mundos que transmitem desesperança e ao mesmo tempo refletem o estado natural da vida, abordando sempre sobre ciclos, e Demon´s Souls é bem semelhante em temática aos outros títulos. Mas desde Lordran, Drangleic, Lothric e as Terras de Ashina, nenhum se destacou mais para mim do que Boletaria, pois é através desse mundo que brilha a maior qualidade desse título, a atmosfera. Me senti tão imerso que me pareceu uma experiência MUITO semelhante a estar pela primeira vez jogando DS1, meu primeiro e mais amado Souls Like, mas não somente isso, Demon's Souls conseguia ser único pois é o mais sombrio e intricado de todos os jogos da FromSoftware, e isso me surpreendeu demais. Tamanha imersão também se deve ao fato de que esse foi o primeiro que tentei ao máximo (MESMO) entender toda a lore do jogo, pois me dediquei a procurar e ler todos os itens que eu podia(E isso é algo que eu deveria ter feito em todos os outros jogos, Vitor seu preguiçoso). E com isso outra coisa me surpreendeu: E NÃO É QUE LER TODOS OS ITENS REALMENTE TE FAZ ENTENDER TODA A LORE SEM PRECISAR VER UM VIDEO NO YOUTUBE? KKK

Bem, como eu estava falando, o principal destaque de demon's souls é a atmosfera, de resto o jogo é bastante um protótipo e cheio de testes do que viria a ser aprimorado nos jogos futuros, e com isso também é o mais fácil de todos eles. Há muitos bosses em que a From realmente arriscou bastante e com isso obviamente erraram também, mas há alguns que se destacam por sua criatividade e originalidade, como Fool's Idol, que é basicamente o Pinwheel só que bem feito, e a Maiden Astraea, que é algo que nunca nem tentaram repetir e isso só a torna muito mais única, onde na verdade VOCÊ é o Chefão da situação, puta que pariu, que momento! (a OST) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPJUQg_U5HY QUE TRILHA SONORA!!! OUVIU DEMON'S SOULS REMAKE?? AS MÚSICAS NÃO PRECISAM TER UM CORAL E SEREM ÉPICAS IGUAL DARK SOULS PRA SEREM FODAS!!! ... Enfim, eu amo essa Boss Fight, me deixei levar, mas no geral é um jogo que tem as suas qualidades e diferenciais e mesmo que, por ser o primeiro, em mecânicas e gameplay (obviamente) seja inferior aos futuros Souls, ele consegue se destacar e vale MUITO a pena jogar. Ah e faz sentido o crédito ir muito para Dark Souls, até por que VAI TOMA NO SEU CU SONY.

Playing through all of Demon's Souls again after Nioh made me realize how special this game is.

I remember thinking to myself that just 5 hours in this game had more enemy and level variety than Nioh in my 20 hours of playtime; this is especially true when it comes to enemy design.

Against bosses I love how you need to actually stop for a moment, analyze the situation and think of what you should do next instead of it just being a dodge -> roll behind boss -> attack -not that I don't like that but it can get boring after a while-.

The sound design and visuals come together for an unmatched atmospehere, all the different worlds are memorable -my favorites being Shrine of Storms and Tower of Latria-.

It's kind of amazing that the first game that basically created a genre managed to get everything right from the beginning; a masterpiece.

This game does not forgive but will reward those who persevere.

There are several classes to choose from in Demon's Souls. These range from Knight, Thief, Magician among others. All of which have different stats and starting equipment. It must be noted though that this is a flexible title. Starting off as a Magician doesn't mean you can't easily play it as a knight by changing your stats as you level and vice-versa. No class is locked that way.

This is one of the first RPGs in a long time I had played that posed any sort of challenge. Simply put, even basic enemies can kill you fairly easily if you don't use some sort of tactics, even if it's dodging, luring, or blocking. The first level of the game gives no choice but to learn this as until the first boss is defeated your character can't level up.

To level up, souls must be used that are gained from killing various enemies, including bosses. The harder the enemy, the more souls are acquired. These souls however also act as the games currency. You have to judge what's more important as early on soul supply will be limited. Is leveling up a stat by 1 going to help? or would some healing items or repairing equipment more important? These sort of decisions actually become crucial when first starting out, Demon's Souls is a title that makes you manage your resources wisely.

What makes soul usage so important is that when you die, the game doesn't end but those souls that were just collected for a whole level? you lose them, at least half way. The game is played in essentially two modes, human form and soul form. When your character dies it becomes a soul, exactly the same only with 50% of it's hit points. If your character makes it back to where it dies there is a blood stain with all the souls it had. If you die before getting back however, all those souls are lost for good.

This leads onto the online. Demon's Souls has a rather ingenious online system that really sets it apart. When in soul form there are a couple of ways to get your body back. You could use a rare item. The other method is to get summoned into another players game as a blue soul and help them defeat a boss. If you succeed and survive you will be reborn in human form as well as with a lot of souls, the amount depending on the grade the other players give you on your performance. Friendly help is not the only type available though. Should you wish, you can invade another players game as a black soul with the intention to kill them rather then help them. This can get annoying at times though will never happen to you if you are playing as a soul or offline so is easily avoided.

The online mode in Demon's Souls also features elements not directly linked with other players. As you travel around occasionally you will see white souls running around and fighting, these are merely shadows of other players that are fighting on the same level as you in human form that are briefly visible in your world. These other players also leave other marks in your game such as pre set messages. They can either leave helpful warnings and tips or occasionally can be miss leading to trick you such as "safe place" in a spot where a dragon will swoop by and breath fire. Lastly there are the blood stains. Search one and witness a soul in red's last moments, perhaps giving you a helpful pointer on what to not do...

Visually Demons Souls is a decent looking title to be sure. The scale of the game is huge with some really large castles, swamps and larva filled mines all with impressive views. The bosses are equally impressive both in size and design with 50ft high knights, dragons, fire demons and even monks. The textures and detail however while nice won't make any one really look twice. The audio is fairly similar, the opening song is great with excellent foreboding chorus singing throughout, though music through out the rest of the game is sparse. Voice acting is fantastic. Each voice is in a fairly British accent that these fantasy titles are quite fond of and performed brilliantly.

My first play through of the game took me about 60 hours. Having finished though there is a new game + option that starts you off on your finished level with all your items and equipment. However the catch being that the games difficulty goes up to match this advantage.

Overall Demons Souls is a great game for anyone who likes a challenge and dungeon crawling, it is however not a game for everybody and if you don't like the idea of dying a lot, stay clear. The front cover of a slumped over knight with arrows in him isn't just artwork. It's a warning.

+ Excellent design, both technically and artistically.
+ Fun and often huge bosses.
+ Innovative online system.
+ Challenging gameplay....

- ....which certainly won't appeal to everyone.

"On the first day

man was granted a soul

And with it, clarity"

There's something oddly quaint about Demon's Souls, with its soundtrack's goofy orchestral bombast, relatively bog-standard dark fantasy setting and minimalist tale of kings & demons, conjuring up imagery of a DM's first DnD campaign, no doubt the result of a cultural import of Wizardy shaping the early days of Japan's RPG scene in ways that would give birth to Demon's Souls' very predecessor, King's Field. This basic tale of fallen kingdoms and terrifying demons, crestfallen knights and ancient dragons capturing the hearts of thousands as an old-school throwback trailblazer of the action RPG genre when it dropped in 2009, yet now mostly looked upon as an ancient ancestor defined almost entirely by its progeny's legacy.

"On the second day

upon Earth was planted an irrevocable poison

A soul-devouring demon"

It's this aforementioned quaintness though, that gives Demon's Souls the leg up in comparison to its spiritual successors in the multi-million Soulsbornekiroring franchise. The artificiality of Boletaria, it's segregation into video-gamey worlds aided immensely by its strong atmosphere, of abandoned monoliths and overrun capitals, of howling prisoners and majestic beasts that ebb & flow on the horizon, a setting so seemingly uninspired on paper yet so deeply compelling in motion. A game of antiquity, of four-direction dodge rolls and jank-ass lock-on, like pulling puppets missing a few strings; of spite, that thrives upon kicking you while you are down and robbing you of progress much more than its future installments ever would, yet it's so utterly cognizant of its shortcomings that it creates some of the most interesting boss encounters of the series so far, goliaths that do not simply ask for skillful execution and high-level action gameplay, but for observation, for spatial awareness, for a level of comprehension beyond spamming R1 at someone's ankles. Bosses such as Old Hero, Dragon God and Fool's Idol engage me on a level that not a single boss from Elden Ring managed to do so, and its a lost magic I wish other games of Demon's Souls' kin would try to recapture.

Demon's Souls is a game that left me with genuine headaches and gritted teeth at its obtuse brutality, and yet it is still filled to the brim with the magnetic charm of early FromSoft that compels me to their portfolio, the so very human feeling of perseverance in the face of adversity that runs through much of their catalogue. It's a game that I did not enjoy for most of my playtime, but it's one that deserves its praises and more, even if I'm not the kind of die-hard enthusiast these games seem to compel.

"Soul of the mind, key to life's ether

Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vessel.

Let strength be granted so the world might be mended.

So the world might be mended."

January 2022 I played Dark Souls 2 : Scholar of the first sin for the first time, it took a while to click but eventually I fell in love with it and the series as a whole.

April 2024 It is with a heavy heart that I must face facts : I cannot play these games anymore. A similar thing has happened to me before, in 2022 I had the same realization about the total war games, but I have since been able to replay them a few years later. So I'd like to say its not "goodbye souls" but "see you later souls". I've simply grown too used to them, as replayable as they are, there is just nothing to excite me anymore. I will note however, that demons' souls was the last holdout.

Admittedly, this is probably less due to Demons' Souls' qualities than it is to the fact that I have done fewer runs of it than DS1 and 2 which I have played to death, by virtue of having to get my ps3 out of storage to play it, but nevertheless I find myself thinking about IT in particular lately.

Spoilers for Demons Souls I guess

The last time I played it I felt like the protagonist of Shadows over Insmouth or even 1984 when the cosmic horror hit as I made my way through the swamp of sorrows and thought to myself "oh god, I'm actually enjoying this". Miyazaki's psy-op finally got to me, whichever pheromone infused miasma the swamps emanate has made it into my head. Are these thoughts my own anymore? Am I but a vessel for the sacrifice to the great god of toxic swamp water that From Software has built an altar to?

Before any of the Demon Souls superfans get too pleased with their new convert, I think my overall enjoyment of DeS has stayed about the same; case in point I think I fucking hate 1-3 and 1-4. I think DeS strengths lie in atmosphere, in novel challenge revolving around environmental traversal, elemental match-ups, slow, methodical exploration and puzzle bossfights. In terms of straight up combat gauntlets its been utterly left in the dust by later entries, and its my least favourite aspect of the game. My ass also got killed because I accidentally climbed over a railing my rubbing too close to it and jumped into a 3 enemy gank, which felt less like punishing poor awareness and more getting fucked by weird controls. How hard is it to add a button press for mantling over obstacles? Either way, FromSoft abandoned that shit almost inmediately so its nice to know they agree with me.

The Blue dragon fucking sucks. The red dragon as an obstacle in 1-1 and 1-2 works perfectly, thematically and mechanically it serves its role of pseudoboss/setpiece wonderfully. The blue dragon sucks, whether or not you get past his second phase seems more luck to me than anything else given the disconnect between the visual outline and hitbox of his fire breath (especially if you rescue the knight dude) and given he guards the false king, as a player you're going to be seeing him a lot, leaving you to either absolutely master his bullshit timing or do the slow, tedious process of killing him with arrows. I have only ever fought King Allant "honourably" like 2 times maybe, because by the time I get to 1-4 my enthusiasm for DeS has grown thin and the tedium of the dragon and runback occupy such a space in my mind, that I usually just pull out the thief ring + poison cloud cheese combo, and I admit that with 0 shame. Its unfortunate, because the first time I fought King Allant I was legitimately sweating by the end of it, it was an incredible rush of adrenaline, but that fucking dumbass dragon had to fuck it up.

That's kind of DeS' double edged sword. It fucks with you, and dares you to fuck with it back, which is great when you max out health regen items so you can tank the poison and absolutely breeze through the swamp, but less great when you realize the optimum interaction with the world tendency system is to act in such a way that you dont have to engage with it at all i.e kill yourself in the nexus and always go in soul form. I get the logic in body form having the supposed risk/reward of extra health vs the chance to make the entire area harder if you die with it, but the usual obtuseness added to the fact that 25% extra health isn't particularly helpful compared to potentially getting into black world tendency, there isn't much of a choice. The added mechanic of item drop rates going up with black world tendency is also kind of pointless because pure white levels with sub-optimally upgraded weapons are infinitely easier than pure black with maxed out weapons. There's just not much of a choice here. You could argue that maybe there wasnt intended to BE a choice, given that the NPC which explained this mechanic was removed during development, but even as an opaque mechanic it cannot help but incentivise not bothering with it at all. Especially given the focus on cooperation I think they had to have realized people would crack the code on it eventually.

The poise system is weird, in that its an example of a system that is both too punishing and way too forgiving for the player, which is weird. Compared to the later souls games (though admittedly DS1 maybe went a bit too far in making poise OP) it fucks with the usual dynamic of the combat wherein you commit to every attack, both yours and the enemies' being slow and interruptable leading to tense back and forths. In DeS though, there is no poise, just hyper armor given by attacks. This leads to some weirdness. Take the scale miners in world 2. They are extremely tough skinned mindless workers in the mines of boletaria, they are very resistant to slashing damage but vulnerable to magic and pierce (and maybe blunt I think). So you'd think then that they would be able to shrug off any attacks from you and attack uninterrupted. This isnt really the case though, because hyper armor only kicks in during certain frames of attacks, hence if they start their pickaxe attack they are absolutely impossible to interrupt by quick thinking, as the attack has basically 0 windup before it enters the hyper armor phase, but if you hit em before they attack you can absolutely stunlock em into oblivion. The same is true of the blue and red-eyed knights who are way easier than they were likely intended to be because they don't have poise. This is what I mean, its both too punishing (doesnt seem to follow the dynamic of the rest of the combat) and too easy to abuse. The red eye knights in 1-3 are absolute dickheads for this, their charging spear attack can get spammed ad infinitum, with basically 0 cooldown and grants hyper armor. Thankfully I have a bow, but the amount of enemies in 1-3 is one reason why I hate it so much.

But nowhere is this poise problem demonstrated more than with Garl Vinland. Poor garl, serving a corrupt demon without poise. For some reason, of the heavy weapons which get hyper armor in DeS, seemingly the ultra greatswords and his fuck off hammer were excluded, and even if it wasnt easy as hell to parry him / get his hammer to smack the wall harmlessly, his dumbass heavy armor grants him 0 resistance to being stunlocked into oblivion. Compare him to Havel, who can also be cheesed, but at least he shrugs off attacks with a toothpick and hits you with his fuck off hammer regardless.

All that said, I love worlds 2,3 and to a lesser extent 4 and 5. 1-1 and 1-2 are great. Atmosphere and visual design wise they are great treats. I read an article I'll link here which brought up an interesting point I've been thinking about lately, which speaks to DeS' longstanding cult status. In the article they compare the flamelurker design in DeS and its remake, and how the latter looks like "artstation fire demon", which is harsh but kind of true. Its what you make when a director asks you for a fire demon, and if there is something that defines DeS I think, its that it embodies the opposite, for good and for ill. The vanguard demon, the storm king, maiden astraea, phalanx even, these all subvert usual genre expectations and give something rather unique without feeling try-hard. Everything else about its design from its mechanics to the art all seem to follow the rule of not just doing the obvious, the easy, the straightforward.

Think about the tutorial, where after maybe defeating the vanguard demon (which again, is not the type of enemy one would usually put as a beginner boss, both in its lethality and slight goofiness of the design) you are taken to an area with some loot and then are put in front of a giant humanoid dragon, who kills you not by breathing fire and melting you (i.e what you would expect) but by hitting you with a big old punch.

So all my complaints aside, I have to respect Demons' Souls, and if I manage to get back into souls at some point in the future, I hope I get to enjoy being brainwashed into liking 5-2 again. And despising that fucking dragon asshole.

Praising its atmosphere while admonishing its unrefined gameplay is the obvious route to go for a review of Demon’s Souls. Some people aren’t drawn in by its dark tone, some can’t adjust to its weighty combat, this is the sort of analytical static that will probably surround it forever. However, there is one aspect to it that completely eclipses its successors which is a little less obvious, in the brilliant way it structures itself as an open-ended game. Just as Demon’s Souls has the endless static of “atmospheric but clunky”, all three Dark Souls games carry the criticism of “great when you don’t have to constantly warp between locations” to some extent. So, how did Demon’s Souls actually manage to get it right on the first try?

The best way to point out what makes it so good is to start with the counterpoint of Dark Souls in particular. After gaining the ability to warp between bonfires, the first of the four open-ended areas you tackle will probably be a decent challenge, but after that, your character will be so kitted out that the rest will be trivial. Not only that, but the quality of these areas varies dramatically, with Lost Izalith perhaps being the nadir of the entire series. Meanwhile, Demon’s Souls doesn’t just set you loose to tackle each of its zones in a linear fashion, it encourages you to mix it up by giving each area multiple layers of incentives. The most obvious is the supplies you can farm from each area: healing grass in Boletaria, upgrade materials in Stonefang, magic spice in Latria, souls in Shrine of Storms, and lotuses in Valley of Defilement. The next layer is with the titular souls themselves, which heavily incentivize players to challenge themselves for great rewards. Magic users don’t just run to a shop and buy the best abilities, they have to brave one of the most punishing areas of the game for a basic kit, then actually defeat bosses and use their souls for the best abilities. Similarly, miracles can provide great utility, but you have to actually go defeat some bosses and use their souls to earn that advantage. The last layer is the way that each of these incentives were intelligently balanced around which players would want to come there first. Strength-based warriors would want to go to Stonefang for its upgrade materials, but most of the enemies there are highly resistant to slashing damage. Mages want to go to Latria, but it’s filled with a mix of low-level enemies to waste your spell power alongside highly powerful spellcasters who can demolish low-HP builds in one shot.

A counterargument to all of this may, counterintuitively, arise from the biggest fans of the game. If you know where everything is, you probably only need to kill three or four bosses in total before your build is online. However, this is a case where you need to put yourself back in the mindset of a blind playthrough. This game was designed for people who had never seen anything like this before, and the designers worked hard to convey the information we can take for granted in a naturalistic way. Players can be counted on to try and find the most efficient path forward, so by mixing layers of incentives with a difficulty level that forces characters outside their comfort zone, players wordlessly get sucked into exploring every corner as a real adventurer. They make decisions about which areas are worth exploring right now, which to avoid, and which bosses might give the most useful spells, relevant weapons, or simply the highest amount of souls. Players poke at the defenses, make mental notes, explore, and learn while jumping from place to place and making progress one step at a time. This is the genius at the heart of the game’s nonlinearity: in breaking into distinct areas, it constructs a cohesive adventure. I think that’s a major factor of why the hostile atmosphere is a commonly discussed topic, since it’s such a perfect fit for a game that wants you to feel threatened and to be observant for any possible advantage. Really though, it’s not just the atmosphere, it’s the mechanics, difficulty, and even its story that harmoniously build upon its open structure to create one of the best adventure experiences in gaming. Other games may have refined its ideas, but none of them quite replicate the unique feel that Demon’s Souls achieved. If you haven’t played it, please give it a try, it’s been a longstanding member of my top ten for all these reasons and more.

P.S. I haven’t played the remake or even seen much footage from it, so I can’t comment if it’s an adequate substitution. If a PS5 is all you have available, it would probably be fine, but when in doubt, I always lean towards the original.

people that haven't actually played this game complain about world tendency.

people that have played it know that there are moments in this game that have not been matched in its many generally-better descendents.

they never made a dragon bridge as good as 1-2.
they never made a fucked up jail as good as the tower of latria.
they never made a gimmick boss fight as good as maiden astraea.

me though i just split it down the middle and wonder how this japanese-developed game somehow contains 3 or 4 of the best scottish accents in the entirety of video gaming

Ok

Elden Ring, is the nice boy in class, he has all the good grades, he's not particularly ugly, he's cultivated, he'll likely gonna get into a good university once he's gonna graduate, he seems to have no flaws, except one, he's painfully boring in its flawlessness

Demon's Souls on the other hand, he's the bad boy , he's dark, sinister, a bit cringe , he has black hair, he makes barely passable poetry , he smokes marijuana and is involved with several case of high school crime, he always brings a guitar and listen to 21 pilot on his airpods, not the kinda guy you should get interrested in, he looks silly , he looks like a fucking looser, he thinks he's goat, but he's not goat, he's just a piece of shit edgy kids and oh my god I hate this guy, but one day you go to a party

Who did you end up in bed with ? That's right , not fucking ER, he's too good for this, It's DeS, you woke up next morning, and he fucked you and you look past the bed border and your mom is lying on the floor , fucked like she never has been before. Then he wokes up with pancackes, kiss you goodbye and leaves you with a teen pregnancy he's never gonna act upon. But the memory of such an experience will last with you for the rest of your goddamn life

Been continuously trying to "get" demon's souls has been potentially harming for me honestly.

I'm not saying I don't understand where everyone's praise is coming from, and I don't write this in some act of their upheaval, but moreso because I walk through the fog wall feeling nary a thing. Seeing the talk of the town years and years later as I try to get into it after being able to appreciate other games I didn't before and still feeling the same npc face go across me is like a gutshot to the heart.

The vibe is not for me I guess. I can break down how effortlessly and excellent a lot of the qualities are that makes the unique and interesting game this certainly is, but all of it feels tenuous and out of my grasp when I try to visualize it and feel it. But even now I still feel a startling obligation that I have to finish it at some point, because almost all of my friends and peers on here love it. Who knows, maybe years from now too I'll break through whatever metaphysical wall is in the way but I'm starting to think that it never existed and that reality is ugly here as it was for the kingdom of Boleteria.

Even when placed next to its spiritual successors, there's nothing quite like it, probably thanks to the unique conditions of its development. It still feels as transgressive today as it did in 2009, which is what makes any attempt to change anything about it feel like a somewhat fruitless endeavor. In a way, Demon's Souls is a ghost: we'll never get a game like this again because even attempting to replicate it would be antithetical to its own existence, it would be lesser for it. The next "Demon's Souls" won't be made by FromSoft or even be in the same genre space, and while I can't tell you what exactly it will be, I can tell you that we'll know it when we see it.

Playing this the very last, it's inevitable to see how it has been picked apart by every Souls after this. Dark Souls 1 took the important stuff, Dark Souls 3 the cosmetics.

Breaking up the game into levels like this may not feel as "organic" to lot of people who prefered a long, unique world (maybe the same people who's favourite thing about movies is when a long one-take happens, for the sake of it). I think they can be equally gimmicky if taken out the context. DS1's world's interconnection served to demonstrate how much the fabric of reality had been torn apart after generations of nothing or no one holding it together. In Demon's Souls, the world is at this very moment being threaten by the destruction of reality in the hands of the invisible fog, and so what little remains of the world can be preserved in levels, the only way to go from one place to another without being trapped by the fog. Even then, the fog can still affect this places (hence having to "traverse the fog", a classical element of the franchise that took meaning in here).

This breaking up into levels gives it much more freedom, as you can do them in the order you prefer. Also, the levels are much more enjoyable than in any other Souls game, they have more ups and downs, there are wider landmasses or narrower pathways, the architecture feels more expansive and broken. DS1 may have Blight Town's poisonous deeps, which are a pain in the ass, but Demon's Souls has a poisonous landmass where, if you keep still, dozens of creatures will try to surround you, creating a sense of "lone person in a stranded tiny island, having to deal with the ocean's menace". It is the most varied, without having to resort to hundred shortcuts and a thousand closed doors that read "ok, will be unlocked later".

The bosses are also much more interesting, they don't rely so much in having to learn patterns, but in having to read the room (literally!). I think there's no boss fight that doesn't force you to internalize the area you're placed in, sometimes turning that into an advantage. It's so different from the countless boss fights encountered in a round colosseum-style area.

Even then, my favourite will still be DS1, Demon's Souls as a closed second, due to how many similarities they share.This corrupted land may have lost the punch it had when it came out, after so many iterations on the same concepts, but it's wild to see the very first primordial being as also the most creative one. After DS1, it appears the rest haven't learned much.

Demon's Souls, and to a lesser extent Dark Souls, had the privilege of low expectations. Demon's Souls didn't necessarily earn its reputation as a challenging game through pure mechanical difficulty alone, but through its experimentation and obtuseness, both of which contributed to an oppressive atmosphere in synch with the audio-visual design. This has sadly, but perhaps inevitably, been lost in newer titles, particularly Bloodborne and Dark Souls III. I still love where the series is at, but the immersive, experiential side of Souls has diminished over the years. I love bosses like Slave Knight Gael or the Orphan of Kos, but I'm still waiting for another Maiden Astraea, still waiting for another moment that subverts expectations and leaves the player with an unusual emotional reaction.

Everything that makes Demon's Souls normatively 'worse' ultimately works in its favour, with jankiness and a general lack of polish contributing to the experience in unexpected ways. I think it poses interesting questions about the how aspects we think of as uncomplicated, such as performance stability, can impact the experience in complicated ways. Do the performance hiccups in the PS2 Shadow of the Colossus contribute to the feeling of scale? Is Blighttown less oppressive without the frame-rate drop? I don't think there are easy answers here. All I know is that, when I play Demon's Souls, all the thematic, aesthetic, audio, and mechanical elements are synchronous to a degree that they just aren't in Dark Souls III.

I'm finding it difficult to express my thoughts coherently, if you couldn't tell. All I'll say is that, playing Demon's Souls 12 years after release, after 5 similar games and another on the horizon, Demon's Souls is still some kind of masterpiece. For all its flaws, this game hits heights that haven't been reached since. I've yet to play the remake, but if the SotC remake is anything to go by I'm sure it will a) be outstanding on its own terms, and b) kind of miss the point.

Para ser el primer juego de esta saga conceptual de From Software, acaba siendo el mejor de todos. Se siente raro, ya que si hablamos desde un aspecto mecánico, este es el más simple de todos (y uno de los más faciles de romper para el caso) pero su armonía con el diseño de niveles y jefes están tan bien congeniados que esta falencia no llega a ser de mucha molestia. No bromeo al decir que no hubo ningún jefe que me haya disgustado, que a pesar de ser sencillos en su mayoría todos tienen una temática y metodo de vencer diferente que los vuelve memorables, es una diferencia muy remarcable con sus secuelas ya que la mayoría acaban siendo muy repetitivos o tematicamente poco interesantes. El lore en este juego también es algo diferente de sus sucesores, al ser uno mucho más directo y no tan discreto, pero sigue teniendo una narrativa muy sólida que retomaría la fama de la fantasía grimmdark en el gaming camuflada de tu típica épica medieval. La única pega real que tengo con el juego es que, para ser un RPG, no hay muchas cosas para personalizar en cuanto equipamiento se refiere, y los enemigos comunes llegan a repetirse mucho o le cambian las skins con muy ligeros cambios en sus patrones que a la larga no marcan mucha diferencia. Pero en definitiva se convirtió en mi Souls favorito y a la vez uno de los mejores juegos que tiene From Software, junto con Echo Night, Dark Souls 1 y Kings Field 2 y 3.

there's a deep tragedy present in demon's souls that i enjoy quite a bit, with a lot of really good moments closer to the end but one stuck out with me particularly. right before one of the game's last few bosses you ascend a flight of stairs littered with corpses that hold legendary hero's souls, and i feel like demon's souls is the only game in the franchise where that style of environmental storytelling clicked with me. i was about to fight someone that all of these legendary heroes failed to defeat, and it made the fight feel a lot more meaningful to me. i know that the dark souls games use this exact same thing with its item placement, but something about this specific instance resonated with me quite a bit. the game isn't dark souls, not yet at least, and it's rough around a lot of the edges but it's still a good and well crafted experience and it feels so unique to the rest of the games in the franchise or its side series. some of the levels aren't very fun, there's one specific enemy that was just terrible to experience in every sense of the word and a lot of the other enemies aren't too crazy, but it feels like a souls game in a lot of the right ways and i feel like demon's souls should get appreciated more for not only what it gets right on its first outing, but also the things it does unique to itself.

i'll probably play the game again if that geforce leak comes true and we get the remake on pc. i plan on doing this despite its shortcomings (the only ones that bother me are the soundtrack and like 2 cutscenes, i feel like the response to the remake is overdramatic to say the least but i'd rather not go into it) since playing it the way i did led to a lot of really annoying graphical glitches and audio stuttering and i think that did a lot worse for getting myself immersed, but overall i still had a really good time with demon's souls and while it definitely didn't do quite as much for me as some other soulsborne offerings, i implore pretty much anyone who enjoys anything about dark souls to check it out at some point

I like the ideas and world designed in Demon's Souls but this has not aged as well some of the future entries.
The balancing of this game is wild, sometimes you will be mowing through enemy's while others will one shot you at full HP. This also applied to bosses that barley attack compared to others that have insane hit registration or damage output.
I found it interesting that the game puts some bosses directly after a previous fight leaving some "bonfires" quiet close together. While the idea of world tendency is cool it isn't very well utilised or particularly clear on what has changed.
It's obvious that FromSoft games have evolved with every entry and the foundations layed in Demon's Souls are present in all future "souls" installments. Overall i'm glad that I went back and played this on the PlayStation 3 and I'm excited to see the graphical overhaul on the PlayStation 5.