Demon’s Souls
PS5
You embark on the remake with your late-game confidence, only to be pulverised repeatedly once more, just like the old days
Developer Bluepoint Games, SIE Japan Studio
Publisher SIE
Format PS5
Release Out now
FromSoftware didn’t invent the concept of New Game+, but has it ever been implemented more satisfyingly than in the Souls series? Upon starting a repeat gameplay cycle in these games there is an unparalleled deliciousness in paying a return visit to the creatures that bullied you for so many of your nervy early hours. The old you was twitchy and tentative, measuring progress in miserable yards, but you’re a hardened adventurer now. Entirely comfortable in your armour and with a rack full of very pointy weapons with which to get properly medieval, the tables can turn. So of course in 2020 you embark on the Demon’s Souls remake with your late-game confidence – only to be pulverised repeatedly once more, just like the old days.
All of your favourites are here. Turning a corner and being paralysed by a Mind Flayer which then sucks on your brain, killing you instantly. Treading on an unseen pressure pad and being punctured by arrow traps from two directions simultaneously. Falling into a poisonous sludge having being pushed off a thin, rickety bridge by a hidden assailant – then remembering that the name of this particular area is Swamp Of Sorrow, and wondering why you expected things to go differently.
The lessons are as they have been since the beginning. Don’t rush. Make measured decisions. Ensure that you have the right tools for the job at hand. And for goodness’ sake switch to online mode, because that way the entire game will be littered with messages from other players warning you of incoming dangers, making the experience considerably less fraught. Accepting help from others at every turn may feel a little dirty, but it is encoded in the DNA of the series.
And, beneath all the new-console shimmer, authenticity is at the heart of PS5 Demon’s Souls. Bluepoint has been careful to leave the underlying structure intact in order that the game functions fundamentally as it did two generations ago. The decision is understandable, even as it perpetuates a few mechanical wobbles. Presumably Bluepoint could have removed your enemies’ ability to hit you through solid walls, and allowed arrows to pass by obstacles rather than getting stuck on invisible boundary boxes, and softened physics so that wooden baskets don’t actually explode when you brush up against them, but that would have messed with the founding formula to an unacceptable degree. There is more leeway elsewhere.
The PS3 original was a lot of things, but it wasn’t among the best the format had to offer visually. With all art assets created anew, the remake has a different set of priorities, encouraged no doubt by Sony positioning it as a PS5 launch game. The increased resolution helps, along with a 60fps Performance Mode, but equally it’s about the care that has been poured into every crevice of the visual presentation. The charactercreation section is a vivid statement of intent, its facial models a legitimate step-change from those of, say, Bloodborne on PS4. And so it proceeds throughout, a technical achievement but also a triumph of consistency in art direction, implemented by expert hands. Capturing the spirit of the original game while updating it visually to serve as a showcase for a new generation was perhaps the biggest challenge facing Bluepoint with the entire project, but only the chippiest of fans would deny its artists’ achievements. When you’re slopping around in a lake of blood at the base of the Tower Of Latria, past distorted human torsos lashed to wagon wheels revolving gently back and forth in the wind, the game casts an intoxicating visual spell that leaves you longing to see what’s coming next, even if you’ve visited these places many times over in the past.
Demon’s Souls on PS3 was the first of its kind – a prototype, essentially – so inevitably it was bumpy on the surface, not smooth. Over the past 11 years its developer has been streamlining the template, with defining characteristics of the original binned in the process, and it feels strange to be presented with those discarded concepts at the outset of a new generation, especially since the tally is extensive. This is the sloggiest Souls, for starters, with shortcuts at a premium, especially early on. Weapon deterioration persists throughout rather than resetting when you move between areas, adding tedious maintenance as it nods towards a sense of realism. There’s no drop attack, an absence felt keenly during a number of encounters arranged across vertical sections. And the complexity of the weapon-upgrade system, involving a mind-melting assortment of mineral types, can be annoying. At the other end of the scale, Bluepoint has made additions, including new weapons, items and armour. It’s also improved rolling during locked-on combat, made it possible to send objects to storage from anywhere, and even implemented a new shortcut at a critical point. It all makes sense given that a broader audience beckons, and importantly none of this activity feels sacrilegious. The Souls games flourish among a community; the developer endgame is in carefully nurturing its growth.
It adds up to a game of contradictions, at once a curious antique from another age and a breathtaking display that feels entirely at home on a new console. The load times enabled by PS5’s SSD are transformative, while the haptic controller feedback still fascinates in the hands some 30 hours in. The new audio, including NPC dialogue and music, has less immediate impact, but it’s more evidence of Bluepoint’s attention to detail.
Scrape away all of the new bits, though, and crucially the magic is still there, the imagination and ingenuity within level and boss design as potent as ever. If you’re experiencing it now for the first time, we’re rooting for you at every step. Umbasa, as they say.