Where do I start on how Demon’s Souls steamrolled its way onto my most cherished games? Back in 2009 I had gotten my first PS3 on the launch of Uncharted 2 and I instantly fell in love with PlayStation again. A friend who was with me when I bought my Playstation 3 told me that I needed to play Demon’s Souls. He didn’t say a word about it, he didn’t warn me about the introduction, and he sat me down and told me to play. So I started making my way through the tutorial, learning the basics. The deep fantasy setting had intrigued me. Then I went through the first fog wall into the boss room…and I was instantly destroyed. That was it. It was the moment it locked itself into my life.
Of course that’s not the only thing I love about the game. The lore of this game is just amazing. Having to find the story through the environment, as well as talking to NPCs was really fascinating. It brought the mysterious nature of the game to the foreground. The difficulty was also something that had been long needed in gaming. It’s not even so much that the game is “brutally difficult,” like a lot of people made the Souls games out to be. It’s hard, yes, but it’s also about learning from your mistakes, which progressively makes the game less difficult. The boss fights were amazing, from the Old Monk that pulled a random player to be your boss in the only forced PVP battle to the Tower Knight, a massive knight that loved to smash you with his shield. Each area was very focused on its story; how a peaceful kingdom fell to the colorless fog, or a dark prison slowly went insane from a false idol. Having each area accessed from a hub world made it so each area could be contained and focused to make these stories shine. The unique speechless communication was also something special, as to coop with someone you had to look beyond vocal communication to relay messages to each other. Demon’s Souls is the series origin, and a game any fan of Dark Souls needs to play if they already haven’t. They managed to get lightning in a bottle the first time and they haven’t truly faltered, but then also have never made a true sequel to this magnificent game, which is unfortunate. The depth and soul this game has is just amazing and something I will remember for the rest of my life.
Have you played Dark Souls 3 yet?