Within gamer slang it is popular wisdom that FromSoftware games are synonymous with demanding challenges that are not designed for the general public, and titles such as Bloodborne, Sekiro and the three Dark Souls installments are strong testimonies of this.
Speaking of Dark Souls, the saga originated in 2009 with Demon’s Souls , a PlayStation 3 exclusive that from a third-person perspective took users through an action-role-playing experience in which the master was the constant failure. , courtesy of a difficulty designed to evoke that of classic games.
From there let’s jump 11 years forward until we reach 2020, the year in which along with the launch of PlayStation 5 comes a remake of Demon’s Souls, no longer developed by FromSoftware, but by Bluepoint Games -study that has specialized in making remastered ports of games of the past and that in 2018 delivered the remake of one of the most celebrated titles in the entire PlayStation catalog: Shadow of the Colossus.
With that mastery of the remaster and remake, Bluepoint Games – with the assistance of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio – arrives with a rehash of Demon’s Souls built from scratch that updates the visuals and takes advantage of the technology of PlayStation 5, while respecting the experience. original to offer users an intimidating challenge and stunning visuals as soon as they enter the new generation of consoles.
The kingdom of Boletaria has been invaded by an evil force, after its king channeled the power of souls to bring prosperity to the land.
The ancient beast awoke from its eternal sleep, brought demons with it and now Boletaria is submerged in a thick mist from which no one has managed to get out alive. But it will be the turn of a brave warrior to enter the fissure, face evil and send it back to its deep sleep and free the kingdom of this curse.
Like its 2009 counterpart, Demon’s Souls begins with a character creation menu with extensive customization possibilities, among which are to select one of 10 available classes, designate a name, choose a starter gift, select body type, animation and voice, and have a good time customizing the look of the character, as deep variations can be made in skin, eyebrows, eyes, face, nose, ear, box, hair, facial hair and much more to ensure that users feel comfortable with whom they will be dying for hours and hours.
After a brief tutorial passage and dying facing the Vanguard Demon for the first time, the player is transported to the Nexus, a realm that operates as a hub that connects the five main regions into which the game is divided.
From then on, the user must learn by trial and error what is the best way to navigate through Demon’s Souls, because here there is no kind of consideration even in case the adventure is just beginning.
From the start it is not only clear that the game mechanics are not necessarily the friendliest and fastest – a situation that will jump especially to those who are used to frantic shooters – but also losing your life becomes a crucial situation in retention of the souls that are collected.
Let’s go by parts. Every time the player defeats an enemy, he obtains souls whose purpose is dual, since they act as experience points that increase certain statistics and serve as the currency with which weapons, armor and items in general can be bought, as well as to repair the equipment that has been damaged by use.
The point is that if the player dies they will be returned in soul form to the beginning of the level and all the souls they had accumulated will be withdrawn. The only way to recover them will be by going to the exact place where he died and touching the respective blood stain that lies on the ground.
But if he dies again, all those accumulated souls will be permanently lost, increasing the sense of defiance and despair at the idea of losing everything.
To try to die as little as possible, the first thing is to get used to a spectrum of movement that seems stiff, but designed to respect almost literally that of the 2009 game and to keep ourselves under the notion that this at the end of the day is a new one. Souls franchise entry .
The following is to keep in mind that L1 and L2 obey the items or weapons that can be designated to the left hand and R1 and R2 to the weapons of the right hand, under the understanding that each of these extremities can only have one object in use at the moment.
For example, if a shield and a sword are designated in the left hand, within the game they can be switched between them by simply pressing left on the pad, while those on the right are switched by pressing right.
In that understanding, L1 is used to block and L2 to parry, R1 is the standard attack and R2 is the strong attack.
Pressing down on the pad is to navigate between the items that are equipped – such as healing plants, support spices, explosives and resins to ignite the main weapon – and Frame is to use the item that has been selected. Pressing up on the pad is to switch between magics.
X is the general interaction button, Triangle is to switch between using the main weapon with one or two hands, and finally Circle is for the evasion that characterizes Souls games so much.
This is a difficult title and staying alive will depend on how efficiently resources are used and how well the combat system is mastered in which it is imperative to carefully observe the movements of the enemies and know when to dodge an attack or apply a parry.
Regarding the latter, when a parry is applied with precision, an animation of a counterattack will take place that subtracts a generous amount of life from the opponent. It sounds easy, but this is a Souls, so while in other titles that have parry it is easy to foresee the ideal moment to apply it, here the enemies – although they do not show a remarkable artificial intelligence – are based on attacks in which it is difficult to distinguish the exact moment to execute the movement.
Given this, the automatic thing would be to base the combat strategy on evasion, but remember that Demon’s Souls is based on RPG uses and customs, so that it is necessary to manage the items, weapons and armor that are equipped or passive, as they affect directly to the weight that the character carrie.
The movement can be kept agile and full of evasions and ropes on the ground in succession, as long as the weight remains below a certain percentage of the total capacity that can be carried. In general terms, it is the armor that weighs more , which means that if the intention is to move with agility, it will be necessary to bet on less armor, which of course means that enemy attacks subtract more life.
And if armor is loaded and the weight is impacted, movement will be restricted and a strategy that aims to be based on evasion will be quickly overtaken, since it is also necessary to consider that attacking, running and evading remains stamina – one of the pillars of the system of game of Demon’s Souls – and without it we become easy and immobile prey.
The game is very difficult, but there are also ways to better cope with the challenge. For example, the shortcuts that are enabled will be respected even when you die so that they are used as soon as we reappear in the level. Additionally, enemies can be struck with a withering attack if tackled from behind. And in addition, there is always the possibility to scale the level of weapons, in exchange for souls and materials.
For this reason it is important not only to liquidate enemies, receive their souls and recover those accumulated that have been lost when dying, but also to inspect the lifeless bodies of the adversaries or be attentive to every corner of the maps to find resources or items that help in the adventure.
Another point of support lies in the online element of the game, which consists of seeing other players connected via the PlayStation Network in the form of ghosts in their own session, which can serve to infer what has to be done, where to go or if an enemy is waiting in the corner.
It is also possible to consult the bloodstains of other players to see how they died, which can help with strategy. Additionally, all users can leave predetermined text messages on the floor to guide others as they enter the experience.
Despite the titanic challenge that it implies, Demon’s Souls manages to motivate players to overcome each challenge, as impossible as it may seem, and that is where its true beauty lies.
Much is said about the Souls franchise generating a kind of sadomasochistic bond with its users, who despite constantly dying, reappearing at the beginning of the level and returning to the place of their death to collect the lost souls – all in a cycle repeated over and over again – they feel the need to move on and show that they can handle the challenge.
It really is difficult to know why. Perhaps it is the simple pride of feeling that no challenge is impossible, or perhaps it is the motivation that the game radiates when one of its colossal bosses is defeated, or perhaps it is the desire to get revenge and to slaughter the one who killed us , but a fact is that Demon’s Souls is addictive and that it has no option to reduce the difficulty.
We understand that not all users are the target of difficult games, but those who are willing not to miss out on this rehash will find an experience that will empower them with each challenge they overcome.
Regarding the technical section, this is a title that from its start shows its new generation credentials. The graphic section is surprising, although it must also be made clear that we are in the first phase of the life of PlayStation 5, in other words, its visuals are amazing, but there are elements -such as the faces of some NPCs- whose details do not finish convincing. altogether.
But when it comes to lighting, the textures of the worlds and the visual effects , this is a jewel that really grabs us and embraces us to tell us that we have traveled to a new generation, which is strengthened if we also consider that the Game can be enjoyed under two visual modes: Performance and Cinematic . The first runs at 60 frames per second, but sacrifices graphic quality and the second runs at 30, but improves graphically.
We prefer the Cinematic mode and we can affirm that we are excited to witness what PlayStation 5 achieves in this first moment of life and we do not imagine what it will achieve later, because we must also add that the loading times are almost non-existent, barely a handful of seconds, thanks to the SSD. It is a factor that you will have to get used to, but in this transition phase it never ceases to surprise.
The audio design is rather compliant, while the soundtrack stands out and is epic in profile, evident when facing a boss.
On the negative aspects , this is a Souls for better and for worse, so the annoying camera that never wants to help the user is there, although you also have to understand that the idea of Bluepoint Games was to respect the FromSoftware game almost literally more than 10 years ago. It must also be said that the game crashed on us several times, but we trust that this will be corrected through future patches.
Whether or not the original Demon’s Souls from 2009 is known, this is a remake that combines the characteristics of two eras separated by a decade and it will be interesting to watch the reception from a wider gamer audience. The stiff movement was respected, the difficulty is immovable and the rhythm is not frenetic, while the visuals are impressive and the haptic capabilities of the DualSense are used and are part of the immersion.
Demon’s Souls is a cruel but addictive title, one that in the middle of the generational transition recalls the challenges of games from other eras and an exclusive that is seamlessly outlined within the best that PlayStation has offered usin 2020 .
Rating: 9.0 / 10
Demon’s Souls
Year: 2020
Developer: Bluepoint Games and SIE Japan Studio
Publisher: PlayStation Studios
Available: PlayStation 5