Let's just call this game for what it is, it's the OG of Soulslike, remade for the current gen. But instead of dealing with the difficult path head-on, you'd go to the web for tips and tricks, then find out it's all involving you cheesing the loophole in the system.
Demon's Souls is a soulslike that is punishing by basically making the game harder the more you die, well dying in human form that is. In the meantime, you walk as a phantom, with half health. Some items can fix that problem, while during the rest of the time, you do what you possibly can to easily beat this. But that's also skipping half the real fun. It's about dichotomy.
Feels like it was made for the most hardcore RPG fans, there's little freedom, the world itself is gruelingly harsh with difficult enemies, hard to spot traps, very tricky areas to explores, resource management, even the bosses seem kind of tame in comparison.
If you're asking should you trust a talking statue of a child monk, ahh, well if your hearts in the right place. There's so much wrong happening in its world. Cruel tortures, radicalized soldiers gone mad through demons stealing souls, power abuse, and the land around falling apart.
Anyone I know will never talk about Demon's Souls, despite how much the foundation it has set was vehemently followed by later games. But done better in other areas. This is less forgiving than Fromsoft's earlier titles. It also felt highly experimental, where you pick and choose whether to continue with or without your human form.
Yeah, no, don't do that unless you're ready to surrender your humanity multiple times and completely change the World Tendency. Hell, if you're playing online, being human is bait for other players to invade and wreak havoc. You can summon help, but the rewards don't seem worth it.
The crux of the online part is where limitations get drawn out, you already have a title that has the harshest of settings. From the Nexus, you have access to five worlds, after defeating the Phalanx demon, and talking to the monument. A fair maiden, with wax on her eyes, allows the demon to help you level up. Starting to feel like the more souls I take, stronger I become. Which is good?
Farming for souls is at least the easiest part of the game. If you're good at surviving, learning how to use items sparsely or find their farming spots, and finding the right weapons to use with either full physical stats or some useful magic stats too. Enemies have crazy, unpredictable attack patterns and will summon at weirdest of places at times. While you don't get many souls, some spots I farm for healing items. Yes, there's no flask that replenishes every spawn.
Hell, the first world, Boletaria, has me running through masses of soldiers, skinbags, even running through a bridge where a dragon blasts over. The shortcuts to archstones found aren't real shortcuts considering how big these levels are. Finally get fed up with the dragon too.
This jackoff has a timer before I run off and cross the bridge. I farmed and upgraded my bow, before sniping this guy till he went down on top of an archer's tower. The A.I. in here is easy to exploit, for a remake of a 2009 game. Now, I could collect items on all these bridges, including the one taking me to the shield boss. All I had to do was slam his shoes, slash on his head and bingo.
If you truly want to get around this game, knowing what items to use and when is important. I already mentioned weapons stats useful against certain enemies. In offline, there are messages that will advise which weapons enemies are weak to. Use that as you may.
I had to use a Cling ring to maintain that extra 25% health in my phantom form. Other times, I switched to a Thief ring in order to sneak up on certain enemies easier. The mechanics are so easy to grasp, yet difficult to master is how combat flow becomes interesting and very tense. Certain enemies are hard to kill, yet once figured out, good to dispose of.
They never had any intentions of scaling the horror and atmosphere back, the remake gives it a glossy, more colorful shine. But the original was scarier, creating a sense of dread palpable, that made exploration mentally taxing. This one, I've used the photo mode which literally pauses the entire game, to look around traps, and areas. Even more exploitable.
Yet, remake Bluepoint made is over 90% the same as the original. This is a hardcore RPG, that was never supposed to lure in mainstream audiences. Online co-op is limited to human form only, and even then, you'll need PS Plus to use for everything. Including the messages.
Demon boss battles I've encountered so far aren't much to brag about, they're kind of a joke compared to the ones newer Soulslike throws at you. Easy to find exploits, and also easier to kill as well. They were largely based on gimmicks, just like the enemies are. Including these Mind Flayers.
They just freeze you with their blast on close range, and then grab you, taking big chunks of your health. But can be dodged, and easily backstabbed to avoid getting killed. Hell, the bow I upgrade multiple times becomes super useful afterward. But yeah, their presense in the Prison of Hope world, is pretty terrifying, and adds more to the dread.
After making so far in the game world, I guess it was safe for me to try dying in my human form in these worlds instead of the Nexus. That way, the world tendency pitches to black and enemies get scarier, but with more rewards to give too. Making sense more if I have gotten better at playing the game. Actually, I have to confess, I used this playlist guide to get around.
Each of the world's provide so much backstory, and their own ambiance, the prison level I mentioned; really horrifying place, yet has so many interesting discoveries to find. It's great to know there's something worthwhile to chase for anywhere.
I'll even admit the original was harder. It was also scarier. This remake mostly gave it a good shine, some QOL changes, exploration a little easier, but still will destroy you if you're not careful enough. It's more than a revitalization for modern times, yet still plays similar.
It is familiar like the hollow mechanics, you can only do online co-op, and you will get invaded in human form. Sadly, that much possible to see when you're paying Sony for their online subscription. Offline stops being fun after the 20th hour or so. The world building is still phenomenal, the characters also great, game mechanics are fun even in their rudimentary form.
