Demon’s Souls is an unforgiving and incredibly fun game that challenges you to be better at every turn. While I prefer the limited Estus Flask system to consumable health items, the entire game is so meticulously designed and remarkably recreated that anyone who is up to the challenge will thoroughly enjoy.
Demon’s Souls
Developer: Bluepoint Games
Price: $80
Platforms: PS5 (reviewed)
Outside of some very brief Bloodborne and Dark Souls segments, I’ve never really delved too deeply into the Soulsborne genre. Reviewing a lot of games means I don’t often get to devote a ton of time to one particular game. Not being able to spend the time to adapt and improve in a Souls game means I never really got into them, but that changed when I suddenly had the chance to review a Souls game, as playing it became my job. Demon’s Souls is the perfect entry point, as it relentlessly forces you to improve while rarely feeling unfair.
The lore of Demon’s Souls is fascinating, though outside of the opening cutscene, it’s up to you to learn more about it. After King Allant leaves his kingdom, he returns and brings a colorless fog with him that came from the awakening of the all-powerful Old One. This fog brings demons who feed on human souls and makes it impossible to escape the land. You play as a warrior who has decided to brave the fog to try to save the land and finds themselves trapped in the otherworldly Nexus until their work is complete.
This is what I put together from the intro cutscenes and conversations with NPCs, at least. One of the unique things about Demon’s Souls is how the plot requires some investigation on the player’s part. I quite like this, as it always made me excited to learn something new about the world after talking to an NPC or defeating a boss. The story is inherently tied to the gameplay, and it made me a lot more interested in exploring the lore as I played.
“It’s very easy to die, which makes living so much more rewarding.“
If you’ve ever played a Souls game, Demon’s Souls will be quite familiar to you. Otherwise, it’s an action RPG where any enemy can kill you and probably will. You’re very fallible in Demon’s Souls, as your attacks can get caught on walls, you can run out of stamina and be unable to block, or you could just fall from a bit too high. It’s very easy to die, which makes living so much more rewarding. This is offset by how immediate respawning is, as load times are nearly non-existent in Demon’s Souls. Before you know it, you’re back in the action and on your way to another boss, making death feel like a fair punishment rather than a cumbersome bore. I do wish the healing system was more flexible like Dark Souls’s Estus Flask, which refreshes upon death to keep you from running out of healing items. It may not have been Bluepoint’s place to change that system, so I can understand sticking with consumable healing items, but running out of grass and grinding for it can interrupt the otherwise strong pacing of Demon’s Souls.
Unlike Dark Souls, there aren’t checkpoints outside of those earned from killing bosses. This means you have to navigate your way back to the boss every time you die, which starts out as repetitive but becomes almost cathartic. There are a lot of different weapons to use too, each working in their own way with their own new animations that make them feel a lot more fun to use. There’s a lot of skill to learning how to play Demon’s Souls, as parrying, riposting, and backstabbing are all essential skills that can only be learned with practice. The game teaches you how to survive quickly and efficiently though, so you’re able to jump into the action pretty quickly. The minute vibrations from the DualSense controller as you break things or strike enemies brings the game’s immersion up quite a few notches, making attacks feel crisp and weighty.
“The boss designs are fantastic as well, with many of them having an eerie layer of grime to them that makes them feel particularly nasty.“
The best part of Demon’s Souls is easily the bosses. Learning how to beat each enormous and terrifying creature provides a sense of accomplishment that’s difficult to describe, as you feel godly for taking down such a challenging foe. The different strategies that each of them requires make each fight fresh and exciting, which is especially aided by the gorgeous music. Each boss fight feels like an event, both because you earned the right to be there, and because of how epic in scale each battle is. The boss designs are fantastic as well, with many of them having an eerie layer of grime to them that makes them feel particularly nasty.
Demon’s Souls is a beautiful game, and possibly the nicest looking game on the PS5 so far. Every detail in Boletaria, from the ruined castle to the dilapidated stilts of the Valley of Defilement look gorgeous. The bosses are especially nice to look at, as every one of their putrid features is given new life by Bluepoint. The Adjudicator is probably my favorite for how gruesome he looks, though each of the bosses and foes has its own distinct and memorable look. The orchestrated music makes every major moment feel enormous, while the tactically placed silences add even more tension to each passing moment while you traverse the world.
The Final Word
Demon’s Souls is an excellent game that will knock you down and challenge you to get back up in the best way possible. If you’re willing to embrace a hellish but endlessly fun challenge, look no further than Demon’s Souls.
MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
