Developer: From Software
Year of release: 2009, June
Platform: Playstation 3
Official website: http://www.demons-souls.com/
Date finished: February 2010
Playtime: +-100 hours, finished the game 3.5 times every time with a different class character
Demon's Souls is one of those games that has only been released in Asia and the US. I can remember that my brother was in Hong Kong and later in 2009 in Toronto seeing this game. At that time I thought it would also be released in Europe somewhere in the near future. Probably with new content than the US version. So I waited until I heard that there won't be a release in Europe. In the mean time a few colleagues of mine had imported the game and they had this love/hate opinion about the game. Hate because it can be so hard and unforgiving. To me that sounds like a good point; I'm always in for games that have a high difficulty.
It was around December 2009, since it wasn't available in Europe my only options were to import it or find a local special game store. I wasn't really keen on importing; it was soon going to be Christmas which means that it takes longer before a package is shipped over. And there were already some good games released that I had not played yet; Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed 2. So I thought well just leave this game and play the other games first.
At my company for Christmas present we always get coupons that can be used to buy games in the national stores. Normally you get the present before going on Christmas holiday, but in my case I took a few days off earlier so... I wouldn't get my Christmas present with coupons until after the holidays. The funny part here is that in the holidays I found a local toy store that had at least 6 copies of Demon's Souls. I was really surprised that they had the game; they normally never have import games.
The game was 65 euro which is expensive. I normally don't buy a game for that price. Online I can get the game way cheaper but I can't use the coupons that I was going to get. So I left the game at the toy store thinking that since the game is not released in Europe nobody knows the game and it will probably still be there after the holidays. So after the holidays when I got my coupons, I called the toy store and, gladly, they still had Demon's Souls and I could use the coupons there. So after work I drove off to the toy store and my thoughts were right. They still had at least 6 copies of the game on the shelves as if nobody had noticed them. Which is actually a shame; Demon's Souls has won multiple awards including game of the year by some sites. Anyway I was glad to be a proud owner of a copy.
The story goes that the Old One has returned with a deep fog that covers the land of Boletaria. Every living creature that is in the fog is attacked by demons or turned into a demon. Heroes from other countries are coming to Boletaria to defeat the demons and to prevent the fog from spreading. You are one of those heroes. The story stays vague through the entire game but it is interesting and fits the game atmosphere.
At the start of the game you can create your own character. You can choose 1 out of 10 classes and define the look of your characters head. There are a lot of options to change your characters face. In my first play I chose a male wanderer and spend 1.5 hours to put my own face in the game. The class you have chosen defines the initial character statistics and starting gear. It really makes a big difference which class you chose. I chose the wanderer because they are more focussed on speed, luck and start with a good weapon, but weak on defence due to their shabby gear. In the instruction manual I read that you can block and dodge so I thought I could use that to counteract the shabby gear. But man was I wrong.
The first play through was really hard with the wanderer. Due to its low health and shabby gear I would die easily. Even when you block attacks you still get a little damage, depending on the shield you are wearing. I was able to dodge attacks, this works in open spaces where you have the space to dodge, but you are often in areas where there is no space for that. In the levels there are also a lot of traps where enemies are hidden to ambush you.
It was from the start that I noticed or better said experienced the unique design choices that the designers made. Dodging, blocking and attacking with a melee weapon requires stamina. So when you attack you need to watch your stamina bar to make sure you have enough stamina left to dodge or block an attack from the enemy. Depending on the attack of the enemy you need more stamina to block that attack. Another thing that really took some time to get used to was when using a melee weapon in a small area near a wall, you often hit the wall which cancels your attack and leaves you dangerously open for a small period.
In the game there are lots of weapons all with their unique look and feel. Fighting with a different size or type of weapon feels completely different in speed, range, attack type and stamina usage.
Next to melee weapons there are also ranged weapons and a lot of different type of gears to wear, magic spells and miracle spells to cast.
Demon's Souls consists of 5 big areas that are inhabited by demons; a big castle, a mine that goes deep underground, a huge tower reaching high in the sky, a deserted Island and a dirty swamp area. Each area consists out of 3 sub areas with their own boss demon except for the big castle which has 5. Each area has its distinct look and feel. Some are beautiful with landscapes and impressive looking buildings and demons while other areas are dirty with blood, bodies, horrifying sounds and detailed disgusting looking demons. It's those areas where you need to have a thick skin to not be horrified.
Next to the 5 areas there is also the Nexus. Nexus is a safe place where your character can deposit his/her items, learn new spells, buy, repair, upgrade equipment and level up. In Nexus there is a portal for each of the 5 areas. Each area has its own world tendency. The world tendency can be pure white to pure black. Depending on the world tendency the demons in that area will be more aggressive and more dangerous rewarding you with more rare items drops and more souls.
The game is all about demon's souls. Souls are used as a currency to buy, repair and upgrade weapons, gear and items. Buying equipment can only be done at certain locations in levels. Souls are also used as experience to level up. Levelling up can only be done in the Nexus. The player can chose to spend the souls for equipment or to level up. You gain souls by defeating demons and from certain soul items. The big challenge is to keep your souls until you reach a NPC where you can spent the souls.
When you die you will drop your souls at that location. You will respawn at the start of that sub area and all the demons you have slain are revived. If you manage to get to the location where you have died, you can pick up your souls again, but if you die before picking up your souls, those souls will be lost forever. You can only pick up the souls from your most recent death. What often happened to my wanderer was that I died pretty far, like at the end of a sub area facing the boss demon, leaving a lot of souls. When I respawned at the start of that sub area I tried to move to the place of death as soon as possible thinking that I could easily defeat all the enemies again and pick up my souls. This was often a painful deception. Losing all the precious souls you have worked so hard for really hurts the mind and can be really frustrating. If this happens often, you won't progress much in the game, because you need souls to upgrade your equipment and to level up.
So what causes you to die? Well the game has a lot of different types of demons and each demon has its own behaviour. This behaviour is influenced by the world tendency of that area. All this makes it hard to predict which attacks a demon will execute. Sometimes you defeat a demon easily, but the next time you face the same demon it can be way more dangerous, because it has a different attack pattern than before. It is one of the strongest points of Demon's Souls, for every fight you need to be focussed, unless you are way over powered, or you might be surprised by the demon and lose your life (again). This makes almost every fight exciting in the game. The best way to fight a demon is to examine its attacks and find an opening to counter attack. And if you need to run, make sure you run a big distance because the demons will follow you quite far. Other things that can get you killed is falling from a higher platform. In some areas there are quite some small ledges and hidden trap holes.
When you have defeated all the impressive boss demons you will face the Old One and fight the final demon. Here the player can chose to defeat the Old One and safe the county or join the Old One and become the strongest demon.
The good
- The exciting combat, there are a lot of things that have influence in combat, the weapon you are using, the gear you are wearing the amount of stamina that you have, the demon you are facing, the world tendency and the space that you have to fight in. Every fight is exciting because it requires strategy, quick thinking and focus to be victorious and if you don't you will suffer the often painful consequence. Because of all this, fighting never gets bored.
- Upgrade weapons and level up system, with souls and ores you can upgrade shields and weapons to be more powerful, depending on the ores you can give magical stats to weapons and shield. You can also spend souls to level up you character stats. There are 9 stat attributes that can be upgraded to level 99 and every time you chose to level up you can increase one of the 9 attributes.
- Cool demons and good AI, all the demons have their distinct look and feel. The AI is really impressive in combat; with a lot of different moves and often unpredictable patterns. The demons are often positioned at a location that is often not to your advantage and they try to ambush you. Especially the boss demons are really impressive with their appearance and their behaviours. Each boss demon is well designed and has its weakness that needs to be discovered and a different strategy to defeat.
- Excellent level design, each area has its own look and feel but they all look really good. Each area has its own atmosphere; some are more action and fighting in brought daylight on beautiful locations while other areas are more focussed on puzzles and horror themed in the darkness.
- Different Classes, there are 10 classes to play with and because of their initial stats, weapons and spells they play really different. Especially in the first half of the game your class choice is really important and defines your play style. Later on you can level up, get other equipment and be any class you want.
- Moral choices, through the entire game the player can chose to be a good hero that tries to stop the fog or a bad one who is only obsessed by souls. You can kill NPC that will define your entire play through and at the end of the game you can chose to save the world or to become the strongest demon.
- Secret side quests, events and equipment, there are quite some secret side quests and events to be discovered. They often require a certain world tendency before they can be done. Side missions can be; defeat a special demon, find a special item, rescue a NPC. There are a few boss battles where a NPC will help you if you have saved him in a secret side quest.
- Free to play any area in any order, from almost at the start of the game you can chose which areas you want to do in any order. This gives the player a lot of freedom and depending on the class and your equipments some areas can be easier to do first. This makes the game really dynamic and interesting for each new play through.
- Demon AI, a lot of the demons seem to have a flawed AI. There seems to be a maximum distance in which a demon will chase you. When the demon has reached that distance it will turn around and walk back. When it walks back it will not attack you so you can attack it without worrying. With this strategy you can kill some of the tougher demons. There is also one demon that will only attack you when you are close to it. If you use ranged weapons or spells you can kill it without being attacked at all.
Since the game can be really hard, I can imagine players to exploit this flaw (at least I did ^_^). - Final boss battle, when facing the Old One there is one final boss demon to defeat. This is the easiest boss demon of them all and does not require any special strategy or focus to defeat. It is really hard to get killed by that boss. So after all the exciting battles and awesome boss demons the last battle is the most disappointing. I could not believe that it was the final boss. The final boss should have been a climax.
Demon's Souls is one of those addicting games that never gets tired. The game is really hard and often frustrating at the start when you play your first play through, but when you have passed that pointed it only gets better and the feeling of defeating a demon because of your own sweet skills is awesome. Even when you have finished your first play through there are still 9 other classes to play and you are free to chose which area you want to go and if you want to be a good or bad hero. Because of all the different classes, weapons, spells, world tendency and secret events; the game stays interesting for a long time. I finished my first play through as a wanderer that was purely focussed on quick hack and slash combat. It took me 48 hours. The second play through I played as a magician that was purely focused on magic. It took me 22 hours to finish the game. In my third play through I was a soldier wielding a giant dragon claymore and finished it within 16 hours. My fourth play trough was a temple knight that was focused on faith, wielding the secret Large Sword of Moonlight. It has been a long time since I had finished a game multiple times especially now when I have so much other potential good games to play.
Demon's Souls has some unique design choices that I have never seen in other games before. Some of them are bold and might be interpreted as bringing more frustration, but to me the game fits and is awesomely well designed. For me it is the best game of 2009! (Together with Street Fighter 4)
9.3/10
