Demon's Souls - Review

The PlayStation 5 launch was released with a handful of titles in which Demon’s Souls being one of them. If you’re a fan of the FromSoftware games such as the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne or Sekiro, this is a game you can’t skip. It’s considered the predecessor and grandfather to all these infamous titles, and what popularized Hidetaka Miyazaki in the gaming industry. This is where it all started.

Miyazaki’s storytelling is known to be extremely vague which slowly opens up as you progress through the game. This is done by characters you meet, and item descriptions which lets players speculate its origins and setting. Over the years, avid fans have deciphered the Souls series in details by linking item descriptions, level and enemy design, and vague dialogue. Demon’s Souls still has the same formula in terms of the item description storytelling quirk, however its narrative is a little more straight-forward in comparison. The opening sequence states: 

“On the first day, man was granted a soul, and with it, clarity. On the second day, upon Earth was planted an irrevocable poison; a soul-devouring Demon.”

You play as an adventurer that steps into the city of Boletaria which has been consumed by this ‘deep-fog’ due to the presence of demons. And without spoiling it too much for people who haven’t played the game yet, you travel through the five different regions (via Archstones) of Boletaria in hopes to defeat the bosses that control those areas, which by the end will hopefully stop the soul-devouring demons from conquering earth (no spoilers here).

Bluepoint are known to be the leaders in game remakes and remasters, keeping them pure to the original game, while enhancing the visuals, user interface, controls and score. Their previous enhancements include Shadow of the Colossus, and the God of War collection (just to name a couple) and more.

Being the fact that Demon’s Souls is now an 11 year old game (going on 12), it only makes sense for Bluepoint to jump in and remake the legendary title. With utilising the PS5’s hardware, Bluepoint has done a tremendous job that can easily be seen throughout the game. In comparison to the other PS5 launch titles, Demon’s Souls’ visuals are incredible due to the atmosphere and lighting from torches and fire, shadows, and movement of the character. For example, as you walk past a lit torch, the high-lighted and shadows that are shown on the body move as you walk past, making it realistic. The amount of detail is absolutely amazing and prominent in Demon’s Souls, if compared to other launch title games. 

Not only are details now included due to the capability of the PS5, but characters through the game have also been updated to a modern re-design. This could clearly be seen with the likes of the Flamelurker, Vanguard, Demon God and more. And though for the most part this is a welcomed update design, there are some purists who have mentioned that the enemies are starting to look a little too much like something you’d see form Diablo instead. That being said, we’ve got no complaints here as any update and new detailed designs are always welcomed.

As for the actual gameplay itself, you’ll either love or hate the game. Being the fact that Demon’s Souls is known to be the backbone and first of FromSoftware’s line-up of games such as the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne and Sekiro, Demon’s Souls doesn’t have an option to change its difficulty mode. This could be off-putting to a high volume of gamers, especially when the frustration of difficulty kicks in as these games are renowned for their herculean gameplay challenge. On the flipside, the familiar movement and mechanics compared to FromSoftware games would definitely be a welcomed update to the Souls fan.

Bluepoint have updated the controls in a positive way, such being able to roll diagonally opposed to the 4 way roll as seen in Dark Souls 1 Remastered. Additionally, little perks such as being able to teleport between Archstones (worlds) have been added in, eliminating the hassle of having to go back to the Nexus (firelink shrine) before travelling over to one of the other Archstones (worlds) as an extra step. 

With all these updates (and more) added in, it’s really hard to see the game’s age (nearly 12 years old upon writing this review), and this being the first that influenced the games that Hidetaka Miyazaki have created. Throughout the game, you can see where he’s taken design ideas and expanded upon them, such as the stage coaches found in the first Archstone (Boletaria) as well as the environment in the third Archstone (Latria), taking you back (or forwards) to the town of Yharnam, in Bloodborne. There’s also a whole area in the fifth Archstone World (Valley of Defilement) which takes players back to Blighttown in Dark Souls 1. You could even say that this would have been Blighttown 1.0, and in Dark Souls 1 being Blighttown 2.0.

Again, due to the PS5’s hardware, load screens and times which have been prominent in the Souls series have pretty much been eliminated. Whenever you get to a fog door to expand the level, and/or going into a boss fight, the load screen is pretty much non-existent, making it a fantastic and seamless transition to keep playing.

Being one of the first of its type, Demon’s Souls definitely feels as though they started the Soulslike genre which can be seen influenced through a vast amount of games out there today. And even though there are no difficulty settings (as previously stated), Demon’s Souls’ difficulty isn’t as tough as the other Souls series. As you progress through the 2nd half of the game, some boss fights aren’t as demanding in concentration, but more of a ‘cinematic boss fight’. Due to this, you can speculate that Miyazaki had taken what worked well with boss fights, and developed more in his FromSoftware games.

If you’re a true fan of the Souls series (and pretty much any game that FromSoftware has ever created - maybe except Dark Souls 2 LOL), this is one that you don’t want to miss as it has all the familiarities of the Souls games. Souls-veteran who have played Demon’s Souls previously would find this to be a refreshing take on the game, making it feel like a brand new game. And for someone have attempted to play any of FromSoftware’s games but gave up due to their difficulty, Demon’s Souls is a fantastic jumping on point as it’s not as challenging as their more recent games.

We’re hoping that the next Miyazaki game, Elden Ring, will be released in the very near future, but unfortunately no further announcements have been made… leaving a lot of fans hollow. That being said, I’m sure fans would welcome Bluepoint to remaster Bloodborne while they’re waiting for the release of Miyazaki’s and George R.R. Martin’s collaboration.

The Score

9.5

Review code provided by PlayStation

The Pros

+Feels like a brand new game due to Bluepoint’s perfected remake

+Familiar gameplay to FromSoftware’s line-up of games

+Updated score sounds incredible

The Cons

-No difficulty setting might be too challenging to people

-A little too easy (for the Souls-veteran) in comparison to the Souls series

-Game does look rather dark for the most part due to the atmosphere