Review: Demon's Souls

More recently I have played, and finished, Demon's Souls.

For the uninitiated, it’s a fantasy action roleplaying game renown for its punishing difficulty.
Most reviews of the game say something along the lines of "best left to the most masochistic, hardcore gamer," (which, by the way, is from an actual review)
And so, with trepidation, started to play the game and found that its really not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. Now I’m not saying this just to brag about my awesomeness (because, you know I’m awesome), but its actually not as hard as, say, Ghost & Goblins. The reason I say this is the game uses death as a gameplay mechanic rather than a failure to complete the game.
When you die, you leave your collected souls where you were, and are resurrected with all your collected weapons and items intact. If you can fight your way back to where you died you can collect your souls again, but if you die along the way you lose those souls forever.
So basically there are no ‘Game Over’ screens, at its worst you fight through the beginning of the level over and over again.

As for the actual game, it’s kind of a tough-love situation, as it teaches you through negative reinforcement. The game teaches you to block and to manage your endurance in much the same way a parent might teach its child to learn from mistakes by allowing the child to make them.

There’s some other quirky design features that makes Demons Souls memorable, firstly, after you die the first time (which happens quickly), you come back to life with your maximum health halved (you’ll later find a ring which raises your maximum to 70%) and you don’t get that back until you defeat the boss of that level.
Another interesting component is the online functionality which allows users to leave messages for other players, advising them of hidden ambushes or strategies for difficult enemies. In addition to this, you can also activate a blood stain to see a ghostly replay of how another player had died. And finally, the most sinister online component, you can be invaded by other players whose goal is to see you become yet another stain on the stairs. It feels something like a horror film to see the notification that someone has invaded your world and knowing that they are stalking you as their prey.

Strangest of all quirks, is that souls are both the currency of the realm and a measure of your experience, so you can choose to spend your souls on going up an experience level or you can buy that new shield for extra protection. In addition to this, you cannot sell the items you’ve picked up or purchased. This never really presented a problem for me, but I wouldn't have minded if i were able to rid myself of several dozen wooden shields i picked up along the way.

Visually the game is spectacular, with rich, detailed surroundings and excellent enemy/creature details.

After discussing this game with my brother, I was surprised at how differently we approached the game. I took the enemies out with a bow, if possible, then switched to shield and spear for some up close and personal encounters, where as my brother would quickly close the gap armed with a rapier and saber (allowing both slashing and stabbing attacks) and would proceed to dodge about and wear his enemies down. (I must say - I thought he was crazy!)

There is a huge range of different weapons and armour types, as well as different ways to spend your experience, so the game allows for very varied play styles.

So there you are – a rich, challenging, inventive game which is extremely rewarding, innovative and bloody good fun.

I highly recommend it.