The PS5 came out on November 12th, 2020, and one standout title among the launch lineup is Bluepoint Games’ remake of FromSoftware’s cult classic Demon’s Souls. The title laid the foundation for the company’s future up until today and influenced numerous other action games and RPGs.
It is also extremely difficult. Later titles like Dark Souls and Bloodborne further perfected the genre. Because it is the first game Hidetaka Miyazaki directed, some parts about the notorious difficulty seem downright unfair. However, much of the challenge is completely just and makes overcoming the levels a massive triumph.
14 Fair: Item Scarcity
There are some items you can farm easily, but others are either rare drops or finite in any one playthrough. This makes you think very carefully about using them. All in all, lots of the difficulty is designed to make you feel every moment of the gameplay.
Where you can go through many modern triple-A titles without paying attention, you have to really think about every encounter in Demon’s Souls, and that includes the use of items. The fact that the currency to buy items is the same used to level up also makes one weigh the pros and cons of their investment.
13 Fair: Co-op Restrictions
Demon’s Souls is playable in co-op, but it is not as simple as just going into the menu and picking a cooperative mode.
You have to have a certain item and the people who join your game have to be at a similar soul level. This means you cannot just summon an overpowered player to carry you through the hardest parts of the journey.
12 Cruel: False King Allant Stealing Your Soul Level
Most players generally fight the False King Allant last as he is arguably the hardest fight in Demon’s Souls. He does serious damage and has one of the most frustrating moves in any action game ever made.
Soul Drain actually takes away one level in the middle of the fight. With no way to guard against it except for a dodge, players just have to level up again if they fall victim to it.
11 Fair: Auto-Saving
Demon’s Souls does its best to prevent save-scumming and exploiting save files in any way by constantly auto-saving. Most actions are not undoable. While it is unconventional, the whole game is built on this idea of every action counting.
If you could reload any save, it would take away a lot of the stakes that make the game so interesting. Of course, there is always the argument that people should be able to play the way they want. Imagine if XCOM only had the Ironman mode, for example.
10 Fair: Leveling Up
Often times you might find yourself dying particularly quick from the lowest of enemies. Just remember, Demon’s Souls is still an RPG at the end of the day and soul levels have a massive impact on gameplay.
A particular section is not necessarily insurmountable; you’re probably just under level. Take the time to grind for souls or go to a different Archstone to earn more souls to beef up the character.
9 Cruel: World Tendency
Many games ask you if you’d like the difficulty turned down after dying a few times. Demon’s Souls does the exact opposite. Die too many times while in human form and the world tendency turns black, making the particular level exponentially harder.
To help return to white tendency, make it through the area and beat a boss. While a brutal penalization for death, it makes you value your life more.
8 Fair: Dying Twice Loses Souls
You know the phrase “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”? This mechanic kind of works like that. If a trap trips you up once, you have one more chance to reach the same point and recoup all of your souls.
Dying again, however, will eliminate those lost souls forever. One death destroying all souls would be too much, but two deaths gives players a chance for redemption.
7 Cruel: Fewer Shortcuts And Bonfires
The Archstones are a great way to raise the stakes by eliminating modern checkpoint systems. However, in Demon’s Souls fewer Archstones, later referred to as bonfires, exist in the levels when compared to later FromSoftware games.
Additionally, many of the levels contain fewer shortcuts, forcing players to venture through the area each time a boss kills them. It quickly grows infuriating to spend several minutes just to try and kill a boss again.
6 Fair: Enigmatic Level Design
The maps of each Archstone are little mazes. Upon entering them for the first time they seem overwhelming. However, venturing through the levels slowly seeps the design into your memory and before you know it these labyrinths are as familiar as the back of your hand.
The messages from other players also help navigate the maps and avoid traps. Some malicious players might try to trick you with their messages, however.
5 Cruel: Puzzle Bosses
In more recent FromSoftware titles the bosses feel like honest fights between you and whatever beast stands in your way. Too many of the fights in Demon’s Souls feel like puzzles with gimmicks.
On the one hand, this makes most of them easy once you know what to do. Adversely, those who opt to try and beat the game without any guide or walkthrough might find themselves banging their heads against a wall as they figure out how to beat a particular boss.
4 Fair: Fall Deaths
Modern games like to put invisible barriers around cliffs to prevent you from falling to your death. Demon’s Souls scoffs at this notion, letting you fall into an abyss at any moment if you are not careful. It is a constant reminder never to take anything for granted and to never feel safe.
Designers trust you not to be foolish enough to jump off the edge of a cliff. You’re a full-grown gamer who has no need for training wheels.
3 Cruel: Invasions
One of the distinguishing features of Demon’s Souls is the online component. In addition to leaving messages for players, others can also invade worlds and rain on someone’s day. This can only happen to you if you are in human form. It feels incredibly unfair if a strong and talented player comes into your world.
Stones of Ephemeral Eyes, the item which brings players back to human form, are hard to come by, so having this happen right after using one is devastating.
2 Fair: Respawning Enemies
Imagine clawing your way through an area by the skin of your teeth only to die and have to do the same battles over again. In any other game, this would be considered sadistic, but it is all a part of the souls-like game design.
Respawning enemies forces players to master a strategy for each combatant and situation. After a few runs through an area, encounters that once made you pull your hair out will feel like brushing dust off your shoulders.
1 Cruel: Ambiguous Stats And Progression
Enigmatic level design is one thing, but stat progression and upgrades that take a companion book to understand are annoying to gamers who eschew guides. For example, Certain spells are only obtainable by using a boss’s soul, but this same soul also unlocks a different spell, making it impossible to get both in one playthrough. However, if you don’t know this you can earn a useless spell, waste the soul, and lock yourself out of a spell you really needed.
NEXT: Things That Make No Sense In Demon’s Souls (And Fan Theories That Do)
