This was actually written  back in March 2009 when The Claw was just a tumblr blog. It’s recent release in NA increases it’s relevance here though so we’re reposting in the new Claw. The release reviewed was the Hong Kong import.

Where the hell did this come from?
I was completely unaware of Demon’s Souls until I happened across a very excitable and enthusiastic thread about it on t’interweb last month. Within 24 hrs I had it pre-ordered and spent every day from then until the postman arrived positively giddy at the thought of playing it. It has, I suspect, taken FROM software completely by surprise that their utterly uncompromising, focus-group free, ode to the hardcore has disappeared, nay vaporised from the shelves on launch day and that there are still more around the world clamouring to import it. It shouldn’t have, in my opinion, but the stock situation says it has.

In a world where dying in a game  has been replaced by a complete lack of punishment for mistakes ( and lauded as innovative for it* ), it’s unsurprising that those who consider themselves to be part of the “hardcore”, for lack of a better term, are absolutely gagging for a genuine challenge. If nothing else, Demon’s Souls is one of the  most challenging games in years.

But there’s more to it too. A clarity and originality of thinking in the online space which would surely have been mediated into mediocrity had a marketing department been let near it in the early stages. It’s a game, I submit, that would/could not have been made in the west  and gives the lie to the common conjecture that Japanese game design is dead. It also gives the lie to the idea that there are minimal sales in the hardcore market.

Demon Slayer
Demon’s Souls is a full on action-rpg in the mould of King’s Field, Diablo et al. Maximum combat, loot and exploration. Minimal chat. It’s refreshing in an age where RPGs conjure up images of spending most of your time choosing dialog branches. The combat itself is pleasing, solid and varied. Even tactical. Blocking is essential and thought is a necessity… blindly hacking and slashing will see you back at that uncompromisingly distant start point in a trice. And that’s the crucial element… that uncompromisingly hardcore attitude to failure makes you take care. Where in another game, death is a minor inconvenience, here it has a profound effect on your progress. It makes you think hard before you move forward… consider the options, prepare for the worst and it makes those triumphs so much more significant.

That said, death is not the end… death is simply the default mode of being in Demon’s Souls. When you die, you simply fight through the level as a soul … with half-health, forced to be cautious. Forced to stop running blindly into unexplored areas. Forced to pay heed to the messages that other players have left on the floor for you, because even when you’re dead it’s a long way back to the start.

Ghostly Presences
And this is where things stray further from the standard action-rpg template. Connect your PS3  to t’internet and the game subtly transforms into a ghostly Game 2.0** experience. Messages from other players appear on the floor ( picked from an extensive, descriptive and often funny series of pre-defined messages and terms ) warning of perils ahead, treasures round the corner, hidden doors and many other surprises which, without warning, may well have seen you, yet again, back at that start point, minus all those valuable souls you had collected. There’s a nice rating system too:  if it helped you, rate it and the messenger gets a nice health boost; if it didn’t help, don’t rate it and it disappears into the ether fairly quickly.

On top of that you’ll frequently see ghostly representations of other players fade in and out of your world… all going about the business of dungeon crawling in their own way. You’ll see momentary sword slashes, blocks, escape attempts and even deaths… all of which fade out as smoothly and quickly as they appear. It’s a fascinating feature and at times adds to the already scary atmosphere – the last thing you need when slowly creeping through a dark prison tower  ( shield up, slow movements, quietly murmuring something about “mummy” ) is to see a ghostly apparition hurtle towards you at breakneck speed, then disappear as quickly as it appeared. Fifty hours in, it still unnerves me if I see it out of the corner of my eye.

Early on you collect two important artefacts which build co-op and PvP rather cleverly into the fabric of the experience. Lay a blue stone down on the floor and you advertise your availability as a co-op  Phantom for hire ( the reward for success in which is to regain your corporeal body );  invoke the black stone and you become a Black Phantom ( actually appearing quite red in game ) replacing the AI controlled Black Phantom in an anti-coop / PvP move reminiscent of Left4Dead ( again the reward is to regain your body ). Both are immensely enjoyable experiences and really feel like a part of the single player experience.

All in all, if you are connected to the Web, the game begins to feel like all the great elements of soloing an MMO. There’s a sense of community, belonging and an element of threat from your fellow players. It adds an awful lot of sizzle to the experience.

You Could Cut The Atmosphere With A Katana +5

These days, I find, graphical issues are for the more picky fanboy to digest and regurgitate endlessly – personally I think as long as the graphics meet the basic expectations of the current generation and fit the purpose then that’s the end of discussion… anything further is down to personal preference and that’s not something  that can be imposed on someone else. Happily the graphics here are impressive, if understated and make everything seem extremely solid, the animation is to be singled out for praise too: the combat is entirely convincing and the differences between heavily armoured characters and lithe unencumbered ones have been very well realised.

The sound effects and minimal orchestration do a great job of heightening tension . They really ratchet that feeling of being alone in a labyrinthine death trap. All the areas are extremely varied with minimal repetition if any. And the traps and bosses are just ingenious and often insanely hard. To go into detail would be to spoil it too much as regards those, but suffice it to say you can expect to be crushed, burnt and impaled in various imaginative ways within hours of starting the game.

How Many Hours??
That’s right – I said fifty. It’s actually closer to sixty now and I’m a good distance from completion. Even without the almost unheard of level of difficulty, the game would be big. Value for money here is exceptional if you’re up to the task. And there’s never been a moment where I’ve tired of it, even in the difficult “early hours” where death is much more frequent. I just want more … I’m already planning my second run through with a different class. There’s always a breakthrough just when you need it ( well actually, generally a bit after you needed it… but it’s always tantalisingly close ).

If you consider yourself to be “hardcore”; if you sometimes tire of patronising game design; if you just want a genuine challenge for once – FROM deserve your attention. Demon’s Souls needs to be on your “must play” list.

*don’t get me wrong, I like Fable 2…
** I don’t believe I just wrote that