This remaster of a 2009 classic not only demands a high amount of skill and knowledge from its player, but also their patience. Many consider Demon’s Souls the birthplace of the “souls-like” genre that has seen some incredibly difficult and rewarding games released over the past ten years. All are known for their high difficulty and lack of hand holding, but there is somewhat of a large cult following for these titles. After Hidetaka Miyazaki, the President of FromSoftware who created the original gave the green light for a remaster, BluePoint Games started on Demon’s Souls and reworked an old look to make it beautiful, while keeping its original, albeit, haunting charm.

The story is that the Kingdom of Boletaria was attacked by the “Old One” and nearly destroyed by a deep fog and the demons that inhabit it. The player controls an adventurer that enters the fog and once dying they are taken to “The Nexus”, a hidden temple that acts as a bridge through the use of the “Archstones” to all five locations within the kingdom. This is a safe space for players to interact with various non-playable characters, buy from merchants and upgrade skills. Ultimately, the end goal is to eliminate the demons from the fog and return the kingdom to its former glory.

Once loading Demon’s Souls, the player is taken to a character creator screen. The customisation is quite in-depth, giving the player the option of even selecting a favoured walking animation and voice. There are ten classes to select from, each with a unique playing style to become accustomed to, as well as the option of selecting one of ten starting gifts to give a small leg-up in the beginning of a playthrough. Almost all facial assets can be customised, including scars and decals, as well as plenty of facial pre-sets for players who just want to jump straight in to the action.

As a newcomer to Demon’s Souls and dropping into the cursed land of Boletaria, an unnerving feeling washed over me knowing the challenge I had ahead. Demon’s Souls starts with a sort of tutorial level although not in the usual sense. Messages that are highlighted by bright ambers on the ground are strewn right across the lands and these messages are either tips put in the game by the developers or other Demon’s Souls players who have played online. These messages offered some sound advice as to what the current path may lead to, or even just some words of encouragement. I read almost every message I seen on the ground with some coming in very handy, teaching me particular paths to follow or weak spots on enemies.

The way combat is approached varies from class to class and I played as a soldier, so I predominantly fought melee. Melee combat relies heavily on stamina as each swing of a weapon, each roll to avoid a hit and each attack blocked deplete the stamina bar bit by bit. Players can also choose to play as a class that focus on magic, and so combat is often fought from afar and reliant on the players MP levels. It is very easy to lock on to enemies, then to quickly switch to the next closest when fighting multiple foes at a time and though the player can fight without locking on, it is always a safer bet to do so. A well-timed parry will give the player a window of opportunity to deploy a strong attack that can be unleashed on a staggered opponent that can deplete their health entirely with one swoop, and it is oh so satisfying.

The core gameplay in Demon’s Souls is in its combat and so it has to be done right. I can safely say it has been. Although I died many times, I always knew why I died and how I could adjust so it would not happen again. Demon’s Souls is about learning, whether it be enemies, traps or environments and the game forcing the player to approach every corner with absolute caution to avoid being left for dead.

Enemies can be avoided, but they do drop a form of currency called Souls. These Souls are spent at various merchants across the land on weapon and armour upgrades, as well as consumables. When the player dies, they drop all their Souls and return to the last checkpoint they were at, which are very infrequent so the trip back to the previous location can sometimes be a long one. If the player manages to return to their place of rest, they can retrieve their lost Souls and hopefully survive.

Demon’s Souls rewards players who want to explore. Though the areas may not seem too vast in size, there are many hidden gems and areas that can be found through searching every nook and cranny. There are Souls that can be taken from fallen Hero’s that are littered across the lands and can be cashed in for a nice lump sum of Souls. Often there are routes which give the player a tactical advantage over their enemy or a shortcut unlock that will allow the player a quick return to locations far from a checkpoint. A wall of fog separates different areas and the player must walk through them unknowing of the dangers behind the wall. There were times I entered a wall of fog only to be met by a boss, just one of the many lessons learned.

Each area also has what is called a “World Tendancy”. Each world can go in to a White Tendancy for the player completing good deeds and a Black Tendancy for the player completing bad deeds. As the World Tendancy changes, so does the world. Going to a White Tendancy makes enemies easier to slay but gives less Souls and drops, whereas a Black Tendancy will makes the enemies harder to defeat, with a higher reward of Souls and greater chance of a good item drop. Depending which end of the spectrum the player chooses to go also can unlock new areas to explore, for example a high White Tendancy might remove rubble from a blocked path so it can be explored. It is actually quite complex how these Tendacys work, and this is a very simple run down of what it actually holds. Demon’s Souls tends to have quite a few forums laying around on the Internet for players to explore and it is worthwhile.

The attention to detail put in to Demon’s Souls is second to none. The intricate details on the worlds broken surfaces, items and beings that inhabit it are incredible; combined with fantastic lighting, the ambiance is set for one hell of an experience. BluePoint have remained faithful to the look and feel of the original title but have taken full advantage of the power of the PlayStation 5 to fit today’s standard and in fact, surpass it.

The sound plays an integral role to the player’s survival in Demon’s Souls as it can hint the whereabouts of enemies and traps. Enemies also make a sound when they perform an attack so it assists the player in making the right decisions in combat; having said that, the experience is greatened by a decent headset. Though there is not a huge cast of non-playable characters, the voice acting is great and fits the world and its themes well.

This is not a game to play in front of the kids, it comes with an MA15+ rating and combined with the dark themes and violence, the little ones may have a restless night after watching this one. Pausing is a bit of an issue. It does bring up the pause menu but it does not freeze any enemies on the screen, so the player will have to find a safe spot and save and quit. Though there are plenty of spots where the player is safe from attack, sometimes there is not time to backtrack to one of them.

Brando for One More Game

9 – Amazing – as near to a 10 as you are going to get without it being a 10. It’s an amazing experience that just requires that little something else to make it a masterpiece. Your hard earned cash and time would be well spent here.

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Demon’s Souls was reviewed on a PlayStation 5.

The publisher kindly provided code for this game. All thoughts on this game are ours and ours alone.