Demon’s Souls will, unfortunately, reside in the shadow of Dark Souls for many people, including myself. It’s unfortunate as it’s a very innovative, creative game which sadly due to its follow up’s success and refinement of many features explored in Demon’s Souls, makes it hard to view Demon’s Souls on its own merits. Dark Souls is one of my favourite games, and Demon’s Souls is the second From Software game that I’ve played outside of half-hearted attempts at friends’ houses, and I feel like it’s only fair if I establish this context so that if you read this you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
There is a lot I like about this game. The combat is flashy, fun, the stamina comes back mercifully quickly, and while I still hadn’t quite got used to the delay on dodges when this game allows for it you can be pretty damn agile, which makes it really fun. Many of the enemies are very enjoyable to fight, such as the red eyed knights or the guards in 3-1, and the environments have a real beauty to them, from the Valley of Defilement’s grotesque, decaying wasteland to the haunting majesty of Latria. World Tendency, as neutered as it is with the absence of multiplayer, is a very cool concept and it feels really interesting to see it work. When I accidentally lowered the Boletarian Palace’s world tendency by killing an NPC and only realised afterwards what I had done, I felt both dread and excitement at how a simple mistake had made the game that much harder for me. With multiplayer no longer working I sadly felt like I couldn’t really explore world tendency’s full potential, but it’s a really interesting idea I’d like to see more games try, albeit with better explanation to the player.
Many consider Demon’s Souls the easiest game in the series due to the power of magic and how easy it is to cheese many of the enemies. I went with a dex build, as that’s the playstyle I enjoy the most from these games, and overall found the game to be pretty hard, but rarely excruciatingly so. If I were to compare the game with Dark Souls, the bosses tended to be easier while the levels were generally at least as hard if not more so. Every enemy had a weakness I could exploit, or could be avoided entirely, so very little of the game ever feels truly unbeatable. Most levels are gauntlets of varying difficulties, with 1-1 training you in the basics of the game, to 4-2 testing the player’s perception, reaction time and skills like few games I’ve played. One downside to the levels being this hard, along with a lack of shortcuts for many levels (looking at you 5-1) mean that, by the time the player reaches the boss, they’re exhausted and unwilling to be creative with their approach (unless of course, unlike me, they’re actually good at the game).
Granted, few bosses in this game are really that hard, I took down nearly half of them on my first try, but I think it speaks to how hard the game is (and how long the levels actually are) that I felt it necessary to play many boss fights as safely as I could. I’m very split on how it feels, on the one hand I hated having to push myself through gauntlets over and over to reach a boss that killed me because of one mistake or a slightly mistimed roll. Dark Souls had its long rushes to bosses but comparatively most runs were easier and/or shorter than most here. On the other hand it helps give the boss fights a real sense of tension, and made them more satisfying to overcome. So ultimately, I’m very torn on the relationship between the levels and bosses. I’ll say I definitely felt a sense of dread and excitement for most of my 17 hour playthrough, the sickening feeling in your stomach that challenging games can make super, super addicting, but it was released with whoops of joy as often as screams of frustration. Is this a good thing? Probably.
I must admit that I found the story to be serviceable, but nothing that really stood out to me. Very few characters were particularly memorable (unfortunately some were very clearly inspirations for certain NPCs in Dark Souls, most of whom handled the caricatures explored better) with the exception of Patches, who’s amazing as always. I know these games are rarely clear with their lore but I kinda wish there was some more insight given for the pros and cons of fighting for each side. That said the story fits well with the game, and there are some great narrative moments helping sell the desolate world of Boletaria.
I don’t own a PS5, so can’t comment on whether this version or that one is the superior game. What I will say is that this is a janky, messy, inconsistent experience held up by some great combat, a cool aesthetic and the addictive rush of adrenaline after overcoming the game’s many challenges. It feels like a disservice to this game to play Dark Souls first, so if you’ve never played a From Software title but want to get your teeth into this challenging series, it might be best to experience this title first simply so you don’t run into the issue I did where I compared everything with its follow up.
There is a lot I like about this game. The combat is flashy, fun, the stamina comes back mercifully quickly, and while I still hadn’t quite got used to the delay on dodges when this game allows for it you can be pretty damn agile, which makes it really fun. Many of the enemies are very enjoyable to fight, such as the red eyed knights or the guards in 3-1, and the environments have a real beauty to them, from the Valley of Defilement’s grotesque, decaying wasteland to the haunting majesty of Latria. World Tendency, as neutered as it is with the absence of multiplayer, is a very cool concept and it feels really interesting to see it work. When I accidentally lowered the Boletarian Palace’s world tendency by killing an NPC and only realised afterwards what I had done, I felt both dread and excitement at how a simple mistake had made the game that much harder for me. With multiplayer no longer working I sadly felt like I couldn’t really explore world tendency’s full potential, but it’s a really interesting idea I’d like to see more games try, albeit with better explanation to the player.
Many consider Demon’s Souls the easiest game in the series due to the power of magic and how easy it is to cheese many of the enemies. I went with a dex build, as that’s the playstyle I enjoy the most from these games, and overall found the game to be pretty hard, but rarely excruciatingly so. If I were to compare the game with Dark Souls, the bosses tended to be easier while the levels were generally at least as hard if not more so. Every enemy had a weakness I could exploit, or could be avoided entirely, so very little of the game ever feels truly unbeatable. Most levels are gauntlets of varying difficulties, with 1-1 training you in the basics of the game, to 4-2 testing the player’s perception, reaction time and skills like few games I’ve played. One downside to the levels being this hard, along with a lack of shortcuts for many levels (looking at you 5-1) mean that, by the time the player reaches the boss, they’re exhausted and unwilling to be creative with their approach (unless of course, unlike me, they’re actually good at the game).
Granted, few bosses in this game are really that hard, I took down nearly half of them on my first try, but I think it speaks to how hard the game is (and how long the levels actually are) that I felt it necessary to play many boss fights as safely as I could. I’m very split on how it feels, on the one hand I hated having to push myself through gauntlets over and over to reach a boss that killed me because of one mistake or a slightly mistimed roll. Dark Souls had its long rushes to bosses but comparatively most runs were easier and/or shorter than most here. On the other hand it helps give the boss fights a real sense of tension, and made them more satisfying to overcome. So ultimately, I’m very torn on the relationship between the levels and bosses. I’ll say I definitely felt a sense of dread and excitement for most of my 17 hour playthrough, the sickening feeling in your stomach that challenging games can make super, super addicting, but it was released with whoops of joy as often as screams of frustration. Is this a good thing? Probably.
I must admit that I found the story to be serviceable, but nothing that really stood out to me. Very few characters were particularly memorable (unfortunately some were very clearly inspirations for certain NPCs in Dark Souls, most of whom handled the caricatures explored better) with the exception of Patches, who’s amazing as always. I know these games are rarely clear with their lore but I kinda wish there was some more insight given for the pros and cons of fighting for each side. That said the story fits well with the game, and there are some great narrative moments helping sell the desolate world of Boletaria.
I don’t own a PS5, so can’t comment on whether this version or that one is the superior game. What I will say is that this is a janky, messy, inconsistent experience held up by some great combat, a cool aesthetic and the addictive rush of adrenaline after overcoming the game’s many challenges. It feels like a disservice to this game to play Dark Souls first, so if you’ve never played a From Software title but want to get your teeth into this challenging series, it might be best to experience this title first simply so you don’t run into the issue I did where I compared everything with its follow up.