An old-school action RPG dripping with gothic style and scary monsters, Demon's Souls is a treat for the eyes and a frustration for the brain, harkening back to days when there were not save points every two feet, and a game was willing to impart consequences for failure. Is it frustrating? Absolutely! Is it worth it? Read on.
Demon's Souls for the Playstation 3 was originally released in Japan February 5th of 2009. In October of 2009, it finally made the jump across the pond to North America. After having landing here, the game has done quite well for itself, with a number of stores being out of stock for several weeks. But what is all the hype about? This article will give a condensed review of the game to being the reader up to speed on one of the more unique games released for the PS3 this year.
Demon's Souls - The Story
Frankly, the story is nothing all that special. The King of the island nation of Boletaria (somehow) began using souls as a power source, and awakened a vengeful god known as the Old One. This being caused a great fog to sweep across the land, which was full to the brim with horrors unimaginable. Demons within the fog stole men's souls, turning them into demons themselves, or allowed to them wander free and insane.
It is at this point that player's worthy hero steps in, ready to take up the last-ditch challenge of saving the kingdom. There are a number of classes to choose from including Knights, Wanderers, and Thieves, who begin with slightly different stats and weapon set-up. At the beginning, a more heavily armoured class will fare better, especially while learning the ropes, but as the character becomes more customized by the user, the differences essentially disappear.
Demon's Souls - The Beginning
Demon's Souls is defined as an action RPG since it takes place in "real-time", the player hacks and slashes away at bad guys with any number of weapons, and the character is able to level up and improve their abilities.
However, the traditional notion of action RPG games calls up titles like "Diablo II", "Dungeon Siege" and "Fable", but Demon's Souls simply does not play in the same way.
After a brief story introduction, the player is given a quick tutorial on how to move, use weapons, and pick up and use items. A few minor enemies are killed, and then the player faces off against a massive, and impressive-looking boss. The player is killed in one hit. This begins the real game play of Demon's Souls.
This is not an option and there is no "beating" this boss. The player then loses their body and is transported to The Nexus, the only safe zone remaining in Boletaria. From here the player can purchase and upgrade weapons and transport to the various zones of the game. The player is also reduced to having half health until their body is reclaimed upon vanquishing the boss of the first zone.
Demon's Souls - The Game Play
While the game is set up to play as a traditional action RPG, doing so will get the player killed. Repeatedly. Frankly, doing anything will get the player killed repeatedly. The game seems bound and determined to punish ignorance, and does so in abundance. Players will immediately notice that enemies hit hard and fast, and will attack from behind, in front, or any other way they can get at the player. Enemies that have been dodged or blocked may choose to throw a firebomb or quaff a potion to regain lost health, and aren't shy about doing either multiple times.
The environment is also a challenge. The player's character will fall over edges and into pits with alarming regularity, and there is never anything fun at the bottom of the pit, if the player lives at all. As well, there are many, many traps in the game, ranging from hiding enemies to rolling boulders to fire-breathing dragons.
In short, the player will die. A lot.
The only form of currency in the game is souls, which are obtained by killing demons. If the player dies, all souls collected are lost. They get one chance and one chance only to reclaim these souls – if they die on the way to them, those souls are lost forever. The player will restart at the beginning of the zone with all of their items, but will have to fight their way back to their death site or "bloodstain" through all of the same monsters they did before.
Since souls are used to do everything – including any item purchasing, upgrading, and the progession of character stats – knowing when to turn around and high tail it to the Nexus becomes very important.
Demon's Souls - The Online Component
Demon's Souls exists in a perpetual online world, and the player is logged into that world upon loading. Players will see heroes from other worlds fleetingly as white ghosts, but cannot interact with them. Players can touch the bloodstain of another player who died, and can view a quick replay of their death.
As well, players can leave messages for each other which indicate treasure, or a trap ahead, or other pieces of advice. Also of note are that with the use of two special soul stones, players can enter the world inhabited by another gamer and either help them defeat monsters or kill them and steal their souls. This adds an interesting "group" dynamic to the game even though it is largely a single-player experience.
At the end of the day, Demon's Souls is a brutal ride. It is long and unforgiving, and demands a high price for failure. The joy of success, however, after having earned it through hard work and patient learning, is well worth the trouble. Demon's Souls is not for everyone, but is well worth a look.
Douglas Bonderud - Doug Bonderud is a thirty-something aspiring writer. During the course of his life, Doug has been a waiter, delivery driver, University ...
