REVIEW: Demon’s Souls – Gamer.no

60 frames per second in Performance Mode (left) fits much better in Demon’s Souls than 4K / 30 in Cinematic Mode (right)

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The transition to the new version’s upscaled 1440p resolution, or 4K for those playing in Cinematic Mode, is like night and day. In a world full of death and misery, everything is simply incredibly beautiful, and everything from dilapidated surroundings to the ugliest beasts oozes beauty.

Light and shadow effects bring life to the world like never before. Especially fire – whether it spews out of the mouth of a dragon or covers the body of your character who helplessly burrows with his arms – looks fantastic. It becomes almost tempting to be attacked a couple of times by a flame sword so you can get a perfect picture with the new version’s photo mode… almost.

Models and textures have undergone a complete overhaul, and it is wonderful to see celebrities such as Maiden in Black, Crestfallen Warrior and Ostrava of Boletaria in all their glory. Bluepoint has also done a great job of bringing in the game’s original voice actors, to really wish fans of the original home.

Where it has not been possible to use the same voices, you notice the difference, at least if you just come from a replay on PlayStation 3. The new voices by no means do a bad job, but behind the cerebral cortex there is still something gurgling . Those who have played the original game will also notice that some enemies look a little different, but these changes are never intrusive and feel like a natural modernization of the design.

PlayStation 5 effects

It’s all presented in beautiful 60 frames per second in the game’s performance mode – a powerful upgrade from the 30 originals often struggled to hold. As mentioned, this jacks down the resolution a few notches, but in this game you rarely stand still long enough to notice any difference anyway.

All in all, the experience is racing in record time, thanks in large part to the SSD solution for PlayStation 5. The loading times are lightning fast, and it only takes a few seconds from standing in the hub world of The Nexus until you are ready for battle in one of the game’s five worlds. Suddenly dying is not as sour when you do not have to stare at a load screen for a minute or two at a time.

Otherwise, several of the much talked about PlayStation 5 features are in place, without them really doing much of themselves. The DualSense controller vibrates along the way, giving you, for example, a cautionary warning that an enemy is charging a firebomb or a dose of magic. The adaptive shoulder buttons also sneak up when you tighten the bow, but in the heat of battle it is barely noticeable enough to be registered in the finger.

On the PlayStation 5 menu, you will find the console’s new game card, with various hints for the experience. The game registers how far you have come in each world, and points you in the right direction for the sequel. You can also use this feature to move directly from the world to the world, but then you have to give up all the souls you carry.

A perfect rendering…

While it is tempting to spend hours studying the surroundings of the stronghold of Boletaria or the swamp of the Valley of Defilement, there are, of course, more important things to do. Every nook and cranny is infested with monsters of various shapes and sizes, and getting past them alive is the very core of the experience.

Have you played Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Nioh, The Surge or one of the many features in this genre, you should be pretty sure of what to expect. Countless numbers of enemies waiting for you to pig-slaughter you, an endless search for souls to upgrade your character and not least many, many, many deaths.

However, if you have actually played Demon’s Souls, you know exactly what kind of enemies are waiting around every turn and you know how to defeat them. While the extensive visual changes deserve attention, it is at least as remarkable what Bluepoint has done with the gameplay itself: no worldly things.

The combat system works just like before, with a number of different options related to playing style. As in the original, magic offers the easiest way to fight everything that goes on and on, but swords, shields and a solid dose of unrolling also do the trick.

The enemies also behave in the same way as in the original. They hit hard, and even the thinnest creature can right as it is send you back to the start. Here it is just a matter of learning from time to time and avoiding the same mistakes. As far as weapons are concerned, the timing of attacks is exactly the same. Admittedly, Bluepoint has spiced up with some new attack animations for some weapons, which only makes it more exciting to try your hand at different swords, axes and clubs that you pick up.

Experienced players – and those playing for the first time – who make the trip to Boletaria will experience the same frustrating moments, followed by the intense joy of success. The traditional Souls experience is alive and well, in other words, but the devotion to the original experience is not only positive.

… On both good and bad

Since the announcement of the renovation project, Bluepoint has made it very clear that the goal was to recreate the Demon’s Souls experience in as faithful a way as possible. The developer has managed this with brilliance, but it also brings with it the slightly boring aspects of the game.

In 2009, Demon’s Souls was a revolution that dished out the wonderful combination of frustration, steadfastness and a feeling of mastery that we have now become so used to. It was admittedly 11 years ago, and in the name of hindsight, it’s easy to see the mistakes developer FromSoft learned from in Demon’s Souls and corrected in the Dark Souls series.

This is especially evident in several of the boss battles, where Bluepoint has retained almost all the unintentional ways one can easily mow down the game’s toughest enemies. It is admittedly no longer possible to whip the big demons with a bow and arrow from a safe environment outside the arena, but there are still plenty of knotty design choices to take advantage of.

Furthermore, the mechanics of cooperation and player-to-player matches are still equally restrictive. Unless you are familiar with the way Demon’s Souls handles player contact, it’s perfectly possible to get through the entire game without having the pleasure of defeating a tough enemy with others or murdering a player who has invaded your world.

Here, I wish Bluepoint had opened up a little more, for example by making calling for help a more risk-free affair.

The multiplayer part is back

It must be said that just seeing other faces in Demon’s Souls land has been very gratifying. I myself only really got started with the original game after that the servers were turned off in 2017, so the chance to actually play with and against others has given the experience an extra boost.

My time as both helper and enemy has gone surprisingly well. That is, I have not always succeeded, but with the exception of a few server delays and the occasional untimely lost network connection, the multiplayer experience has worked just as it should.

The network features also open up a deeper link in the game’s unique World Tendency system. In short, this is a mechanic that determines the difficulty level in each of the game worlds. The tendency is determined by your actions in the game, but if you are online, the actions of others can also help to pull your World Tendency up or down.

Over the years, the system has been much debated, as it can make the game more difficult the more you die in an area. At the same time, it’s an exciting and distinctive part of the Demon’s Souls experience, which I’m glad Bluepoint has stuck to.

Conclusion

That Demon’s Souls has taken the step from being a slightly strange thing for those who are particularly interested in 2009, to being at the forefront as a major investment in a new PlayStation is basically quite special. It says something about how enormous the Souls genre has grown in the last ten years, and as more and more imitations come on the field, it is extra exciting that more players get to explore where it all began.

As it stands, the new Demon’s Souls is a fantastic showcase for PlayStation 5, and one of by far the best launcher games I can remember having with me on console. It’s simply a joy to explore Bluepoint’s detailed rendition of the game world – so far away from all the disgusting people who want you to life, of course.

In addition to the graphic overhaul, the Demon’s Souls experience has been recreated in a perfect way. The combat system delivers equal parts intense excitement, cruel frustration and intoxication of joy, with even the flaws and clumsy design choices from the original game well preserved.

11 years after the original’s launch, it has become a bit difficult to ignore the starting difficulties that occasionally characterize the experience and which FromSoft eventually got weeded out in later games. As a refurbishment project, however, this is another masterpiece from a developer who has really cracked the new version code, and almost mandatory gaming for someone who likes the Souls genre and has managed to pick up Sony’s latest console.

Demon’s Souls will be released for PlayStation 5 on November 19th. All screenshots, except for one comparison screen, are taken in Performance Mode.

Hungry for more exciting experiences from the new console generation? Then we can recommend Spider-Man: Miles Morales. If it’s sword fighting you are looking for is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a great alternative.

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