Excruciatingly hard; Painfully unpleasant: that’s Demon’s Souls all over.
The Souls games are beautiful; they are the dark horse of their genre, innovating and taking risks that other games shy away from. I commend the developers, From Software, for creating an IP that stands tall amongst the RPG genre’s juggernauts. What’s truly brilliant about the Souls games is that I would never be able to say “Buy Dark Souls/Skyrim, it’s better.”
The reason I will never be able to say that, is because they are completely different games; Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls are unique experiences.
Now, the question that remains is: are you the type of person who can handle that unique experience?
NOTE: it’s sad news that Demon’s Souls’ online servers have been shut down. With this in mind, I highly recommend Dark Souls over it and will not go too deep into the Demon’s Souls review, treating it more as a single player experience.
Demon’s Souls was a strange one for me. After looking it up on the internet by accident, I ordered it all the way from China and played it before a localization was even considered. It was a strange feeling, playing a game created in Japan that’s so strangely different, yet captivating.
The first thing I noticed in Demon’s Souls was its scary/badass theme song (if I can call it that). The song is very out of place, just like the player in this strange world; it makes you feel uncomfortable yet welcome in a gloomy abyss (Here, take a listen).
Upon starting the game even the sound effects in the menu keep up the atmosphere of despair, melancholy and hopelessness. Constant echoes are to come, entrapping your journey, being the only friend you have when you’re travelling through the tunnels of death in an underground pit to a gothic church that’s taken up Satanism.
Character creation is nothing special, but it’s good enough - especially since you’ll be covered in full armor most of the time, anyways.
The story is a light/darkness affair that I didn’t pay much attention to, but it just does do well in setting the mood, the lore of Demons’ Souls is pretty fantastic, stringing multiple characters, creatures, and areas together. It’s not obnoxious about explaining itself, however – preferring to let you figure out the backstory for yourself.
Demon’s Souls boasts amazing combat unlike anything else. While third-person action RPG’s tend to cop-out and offer second rate fight mechanics (using the excuse of level up systems to stay fun), Demon’s Souls offers the premium package of grade-A combat, providing satisfaction to the fullest degree with slight touches everywhere, such as the little kicks you can perform, which add an extra layer of connection to your character.
Using new weapon types such as spears, maces and swords - to name just a few - feel so different that using a spear after prolonged sword play instantly makes you feel refreshed and reengaged. Each weapon type requires a different playstyle, and you’ll soon settle on your favorite.
One thing to note in a game like Demon’s Souls is that however difficult it is, it never feels cheap. When a game is this hard you can become fumed, shouting “cheat!” at the television, and throwing controllers to their doom. However, every death in Demon’s Souls was completely my fault and never, ever the fault of the game.
Graphically speaking, the game is absolutely beautiful. Environments appear washed out at first, but once you start playing and noticing them you’ll appreciate the choices made by the artists. The art style carries a look of exhaustion through dark caverns or light exposure through cracked walls. Differently-colored glows in the safe and unsafe living characters perfectly blend a mix of gothic/medieval/abstract imagery.
Hand in hand with gorgeous visuals comes an eclectic soundtrack. With the sound effects, From Software took a risk - and it’s a risk that has paid off, to considerable aplomb. Souls has almost no sound in terms of music; walking around the game’s environments, normally all you can hear are your own footsteps. This isn’t necessarily better than having music per se, but it remains just as enjoyable, adding much to the game in terms of atmosphere. Also, this silence allows you to better recognize sound cues during combat, allowing you to dodge out of the way just in time as an enemy swings his axe down on where your head was just a moment ago.
Pro Tip: When you hear a dragon, just RUN!!!!!
The Nexus in Demon’s Souls is where all the different worlds and the sections/levels within them can be selected. This is a brilliant addition, that allows you to play through all levels even if you can’t seem to pass one. I’m not saying you would be able to particularly finish world 4 before World 1 without leveling up, but it’s still a nice addition.
Every level contains its own secrets and different ways of beating it with shortcuts that can be opened later, leaving a lot of variety in the completion of just one level. Similar to the 8bit/16bit era, you can learn different ways of beating levels quickly over repeated playthroughs.
Going back to the Nexus, one last addition I love and want to mention is the NPCs which are littered sparsely throughout. You can trade with them, speak to them or learn about the world from them. Also, when you free new people in the world they appear in the Nexus, similar to how in zombie films all survivors crowd into a house for protection.
An interesting point in Demon’s Souls is that levels never become boring, even after you have completed the game 3 times. I completed most levels 5 times and helped others as a blue phantom.
Demon’s Souls is not too hard, just unforgiving.
The boss fights are brilliant. They’re unique in the strategies required to defeat them, the creatures have wonderful lore behind them, they look great and their souls can be taken upon their death, opening another mechanic in this deep experience. Souls are the game’s currency and with Demon Souls, you can either gain many new Souls to purchase things with, or you can build special weapons only possible with the different types of souls. This is a great addition; it makes you start to consider which Demon Soul gives you access to which weapon, and how to get it. It’s a great choice to have and is even more appreciated since the game has a new game plus feature, leaving you to decide whether you will bother getting the weapon(s) in your second playthrough, or keep using them for souls or whatnot.
New Game Plus isn’t only ever activated once. Players can start over as many times as they want. The game is fine-tuned to become harder as you’re levelling up though, ensuring that it remains a challenge.
Demon’s Souls is a game I would have enjoyed less if it was 1996 and GameFAQs (alongside the internet) did not exist in my home. Whilst it’s a rich experience to try and figure out, sometimes it falls just on the wrong side of obtuse, leaving you feeling as though you need to resort to Google in order to unearth its intricacies. I couldn’t bear the frustration of figuring all of the levels out and taking risks to learn so ended up resorting to a wiki, but that’s just me; others might never use a wiki, or some may only play when they are using one. Demon’s Souls can be played your way - and that’s something you’ll enjoy.
Speaking a bit more of the levels, the design is great. Levels feel vastly different to each other even in the ways in which you explore them. Some levels are holding dangerous bridges with fire breathing dragons, with castles to climb and explore whilst others you explore going deeper underground in the flaming pits of not-Mordor.
When you die in Demon’s Souls, you stop being a human and turn into a soul form, halving your health (unless you find an awesome ring) and leaving your strength lowered. It’s a difficult choice, deciding between being a human and having the good and bad that comes with it: although being human means your abilities are enhanced, other players can invade your game and attack you.
In conclusion: I love Demon’s Souls. I’ve completed it many times now, spending hundreds of hours in its thrall.
Demon’s Souls is a fantastic game from start to finish. Every world is well-realized, there’s a real sense of achievement when you revisit older worlds with new weapons or a higher level, and the game just remains a solid RPG.
If you like RPGs, third person actions, or if you just read all the way to the bottom of this review, go grab Demon’s Souls … NOW!
Ahmed Ali
@@TheGeekyPenguin
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