Demon’s Souls the Remake is published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Bluepoint Games and SIE Japan. Demon’s Souls originally developed in February 2009 by FromSoftware quickly became a cult classic inspiring the creation of the Dark Souls series. It is an action RPG, though I would nearly go as far as saying it is a survival RPG. This game is not for the faint of heart and offers a lot of challenges that not only breaks the mind but also the spirit.

The game itself has the basic premise; levels of bad guys with the main bosses. A few other harder fights are thrown in there too as extra level content. Your job is to defeat all of the levels demon bosses or die again and again trying. If not, the souls they collect will awaken the Old One.

You need to try and put that bad boy back to sleep like Crocodile Dundee put that buffalo down. I may be making light of it but the story is very good and the NPCs are amazing but I’ll mention them later. If you have played the original game on PS3 you’ll find that this game is almost identical, in terms of story.

You will encounter helpful allies along the way that will help you out with amazing items, like a spyglass (?), along with those creepy merchants we all just wish we could not have spoken with. Of course, there is the sweet-hearted storage guy that holds onto all the weapons and armour you cannot use and on the opposite side there’s the blacksmith, a bit of a dick but it can’t be helped as he is the most important NPC seconded only by good old wax face. She is your best friend and in exchange for souls will up your stats so you will only die a couple of thousand times instead of a couple of hundred thousand times.

The gameplay is that of the original and Dark Souls, dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. You got to keep on your toes, or you will end up on your back more times than you can blink. If you’re feeling ballsy though you can attack using light or heavy attacks but be warn every weapon attacks differently. They both may look like daggers but one you may slash with and the other you will only thrust with, so keep an eye on the weapon damage type.

There are a lot of cool weapons and armours in this game but make sure you upgrade your stats or else you will be a cool looking corpse. Other than that, the gameplay is considerably basic but challenging in its simplicity meaning there are only a few ways to make it through this rage-inducing delight of a game.

The really cool thing about this game is the multiplayer aspect. Now, I have yet to fight side by side with anyone, but you can leave messages on the ground. You can use these to help out others moving through that area or taunt and trick them into swan diving off a cliff, not that I would do that or followed that direction *cough, cough*. As well as the messages you can also look at bloodstains that show how another player died in that area, also a useful ‘what not to do’. Lastly and probably the coolest is seeing the ghostly visages of other players who are in the same area as you. I can not wait to try out the co-op system, being able to take on this difficult of a game with others would be so much fun and add an amazing co-operative experience.

This is a stunning game complimented by a soundtrack that adds just the right amount of music that adds just the right amount of tension to the game. The voice acting in this game is on point, just listening to the merchants made me pause, they really used some talented voice actors. It would be hard to fault the visuals of this game I have yet to find or run into any glitches or bugs and if I have, they must have been small enough that I could not pick up on them. You can tell that a lot of time and energy was spent on this game and was made with the greatest of care for the original game.

Demon’s Souls is an incredibly challenging, rewarding, soul crushing, and stunning achievement, and well worth taking a look at. This game is challenging enough to get you hooked but not over the top to have you quit from frustration. This game has definitely been I highlight of this interesting year.

Written by: Adam Brasher