Demon's Souls (PS3 Essentials) reviews

This will be one of the most difficult game's you will have played in the last 5–10 years. But also one of the most rewarding games you will ever play.

You start the game as some nobody who needs to save the world from the “Old One” (Big Scary Demon). To do this you must defeat lesser demons who carry stones necessary to sealing the “Old One” away for good.The story really isn't much to write home about but does provide a premise for the game and does seem to make some sense.

This games graphics are amazing, dark and gritter some of the stages are actually quite scary but all seem authentic and fit Demons Souls theme perfectly.

Game play is what is important here and it is amazing. You start a character having basic customization options and class choosing.The class system only really affects the beginning of the game as once you gain enough soul levels you will be able to train anything you want, though levels do come very slowly after a while. You will have a full arsenal of weaponry for your character from clubs to katana's, magic to bows and armor of all shapes and sizes. There is also a creation system you will unlock later on as well to create legendary weapons you make using loot off the bosses.

When playing you will feel quite awkward and off balance as you are not some heroic sword swinging bad ass like Dante or Kratos but instead an authentic knight where swinging your sword just once or rolling away from an attack while wearing heavy armor can drastically drain your stamina bar and make you unable to move. Every encounter has to be planned out before entering it and surprises lie around every corner so walking and having your shield raised at all times will help in your survival.

Dieing 10 times on one stage is not unusual or uncommon in this game. Demon Souls is ruthless in it's approach to gameplay.The enemy AI is amazing and smart. Monsters or enemies will have no problem in dispatching you in one hit or a flurry of attacks and send you to the grave if you make a mistake. Saying this the computer doesn't cheat, if you die it is because YOU made a mistake. If you die you will lose all your exp or souls you have gathered and will have to start the stage again with lowered health and all of the creeps having respawn. If you die again before getting back to your corpse those souls are gone for good. The bosses or demons of the game require strategy and most of all patience to defeat. Dying at that point of the stage can be quite frustrating especially since they come back to full health and you may have to go through the whole stage again, but they offer big rewards for the victorious few.

Now the multiplayer in this game is very unique. There are no lobbies or rooms instead if you have a active connection then your world is open. You can see other players running around your stage in what seems like another dimension as ghosts. You will also find players who have died bloodstains on the floor. Clicking this will show you the last ten seconds of their life and maybe give a clue to how they died. Also later in the game it is possible to summon other players to your world to play and help you in your quest, just a note people can also invade your world and engage in PvP (You can too if you want to be mean).

One bad thing I found about the game was it is very light on help or details on some things. But most of us have the internet and you can do research to figure out all the tricks and mechanics in Demons Souls.

Overall this game is AMAZING and is so underrated I believe because of it's difficulty. If you like to have your hand held then stay away but if you are looking for a challenge, kind of a game of old where it was hard to clock a game and you want to have that scream like a girl yelling “I DID IT!” after defeating a boss then this game is for you.

Demon's Souls was the prime motivator in my purchase of a PS3. Having played both Dark Souls and Dark Souls II on my Xbox 360, including all the DLC released to date, I wanted to see where it all started. While the game play is not as refined as the Dark Souls games, Demon's Souls still has the extremely technical and skill based combat that makes the Souls games unique.

The nexus hub area is a nice feature, with each world having its own distinctive flavour. My only gripe with this is the load times for each world are immersion breaking, whereas in Dark Souls the entire world was seamless.

The atmosphere is amazing however, and it is nice to play a Souls game that takes place in a different world with different lore.

Not for the casual gamer, but if you are looking for challenge in a deep, complex and customizable RPG, Demon's Souls is for you.

I have no regrets buying a console just to play this game, although of course there are other benefits such as The Last of Us and Tales of Xillia.

Perfect introduction to the souls series

Demons Souls is THE must have RPG for PS3. The difficulty is extreme. This game is definitely not for the casual gamer. But as far as hardcore gamers go, who think they're unstoppable and can't be beat, Demons Souls will beat you. And hard.

And that's just the single player aspect. Demons Souls seamlessly blends offline play with online. Think you've mastered the core game? Beaten every boss and collected every weapon? Well take your game online, and prepare to learn new weapon/armor combos, new spell mixes and new fight patterns.

The dark gothic direction of the art is supported beautifully by the eery soundtrack that seems to reflect the mood of each area perfectly. While Demons Souls has no story as such, each character has a background, and reading and understanding these backgrounds really gives weight to your decisions. With good choices making the world around you lighter, and bad ones making it darker, and enemies tougher.

In summary Demons Souls is a great RPG, blending incredible art with an epic soundtrack, solid gameplay and a reliable online experience.

So i admit that this game is somewhat good. But i don't think it deserves the praise it's had. I have to give kudos for the online. Truly one of the best online experiences and the best help/support system in gaming history. That's really the only thing that deserves considerable amounts of attention.

Everything else is pretty lackluster. The story is boring and barely present, only given out in small doses between the lengthy levels (lengthy due to copious amounts of trial and error, backtracking and dying).

Bringing me to my next point, the difficulty. Demon's Souls has received both good and bad words about it's difficulty. The thing is, it isn't actually hard. Combat is quite simple once you get the right idea, the right idea being block and wait for them to stop attacking. The main reason this game is hard, is because of cheap insta-kill attacks/traps, and having to go back to the start of the level whenever you die. Not challenging, just unforgiving.

The graphics are kinda dull too. I mean, there's no problem when a game is going for a certain theme (eg Fallout 3 being a very one toned game due to nuclear war/post-apocalyptia). But what Fallout 3 did to counter that was have bright personalities and such. With Demon's Souls, everything is dull and grey. It fits the scene (a world being overrun with demons) but it just doesn't look good and isn't fun. The graphics themselves (from a technical view) are good, as is the sound.

All in all, it's a decent game, worthy of praise for some of it's aspects, but it just gets boring and it really isn't anything that great (besides the online component).

Service was excellent, this was my first purchase from Mighty Ape and I was surprised at the speed of delivery. In regards to the game, I am a mature gamer who is serious about his games and so after reading many of the reviews I was looking forward to a real challenge. However, a game should be fun, if it isn't then what is the point? I enjoyed the harsh difficulty of the game but was seriously disappointed by the fact that you lose everything when you die and basically start from square one. I found this made the game unforgiving to the point that it became a chore to play. Other than that the fighting mechanics are very good and visuals are superb.

Fustrating and a waste of money. If you like random back to front fustrating controls that some make no sense then yes its the game for you. Otherwise dont waste your money.

You wil be pulling your hair out before it's all over. You have never played a more intesne game in your life. Never a dull moment as you're always on the edge of death and can die with the greatest of ease. They've made 2 sequels since – this is a classic with a classic price – DO IT!

Epic RPG. Dark, subtle, challenging and rewarding. Buy if you're a RPG fan, loved Dark Souls or want a good challenge.

Brutal and challenging as heck, Demon's Souls is a gaming experience you won't be forgetting soon.

From the awesome environments filled with so much detail and atmosphere, to the hardcore bosses and enemies that will test your gaming skills like very few other games can. Mastering Demon's Souls gets very addictive.

If you're coming into Demon's Souls out of Dark Souls like I am, you'll find that a lot of the mechanics work pretty much the same way.

The combat is tight and responsive, the builds for your character are highly customizable and upgrades work pretty much the same way except with different items to collect.

I found Demon's Soul to be a lot more engaging compared to Dark Souls, because there's more story to it, told through the different people you meet. The game makes you interact with a lot more people too, with items to gain or side quests to do.

What also blew me away was the graphics for the game. You can't tell that this thing is 4 years old now.

I knew going into it that it would be a better than average game, but no amount of online searches could have prepared me for how awesome the game turned out to be.

This was truly the start of something amazing in gaming and you have to check it out.

Brilliant game quite difficult though as there is no save option in the game

Demon's Souls is one of the more challenging games to come out in recent years. I have probably logged about 6 hours of play so far, and have barely made it anywhere … my trophy count is at 1%.

Having said that, if you are looking for a game that isn't going to be finished in 8 hours, which will at times frustrate the hell out of you, but provides a great role-playing game with will test your patience and gaming skill then Demon's Souls is perfect.

I love it, recommend it, and play it as often as I have time … be ready to sink a few hours in this game.

Love this game one of the hardest rpgs i've ever played it. It's set in a dark and gritty medievil world and will punish you if you get cocky. If your a hardcore rpg fan you don't want to miss this game it's hard and you will die but that just add's to the fun with this game.

This is unlike anything you have played before.

NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART – this game will pwn you but you'll love it. Reminds me of classic gaming back in the day when dying actually meant something, and where the main character wasn't God who could brush hits off.

DON'T get this game if you rely on autosaves and adjusting the difficulty to easy – DO get this if you want and love a challenge.

Received the game quickly and it's great, but I was disappointed to find that it wasn't what I expected to receive — the American copy which was shown in the product image. Would be nice if we were clear on what “import” is, next time.

A somewhat unforgiving game which I love. Nothing like earning your gear with skilled battle, learning each opponent

if you're looking for a challenge which is just as rewarding as it is difficult then this is the game for you.

a wide variety of classes to start with and a solid leveling system, the rpg aspect of demon's souls is great. the combat allows for multiple styles to be used and rewards the player who comes prepared.
a unique online experience just makes the game even better.

This game is very addictive! It's hard and unforgiving but teaches you to be a better player (not often seen in today's games). It's action packed, uses a very cool multiplayer system and is one of the most hardcore RPGs I've played.

Great game, love how when you die you go back to the start with no demon souls, makes the game more rewarding when your are able 2 finish the level without dying, got me and my mates hooked.

Demon's Souls is one of the hardest games you will ever play, but it's also one of the best. While you will scream at the TV when you die and lose all your level progress, you will also be the happiest dude on the planet when you do beat a major demon. Easy upgrade system, cool online features and more than 50 hours gameplay. Awesome game.

Was everthing the review from ign on youtube said brilliant fighting, weapons, monsters and when u die u lose your souls nd if you die again the game get hard every time. =D =D

Wonderful gameplay with non-linear progression makes this quite an interesting play. I have not beaten this game yet, one thing I found fun so far is that due to the game's non-linear progression you have the possibility of running into something you absolutely cannot handle at lower levels. This combined with multiplayer support that lets you see how other players died makes for some extremely hilarious moments in game. Such as getting one shotted by a boss or evade rolling into a bottomless pit, the amount of entertaining ways to die or watch someone else die are endless. With that said it should be obvious this is a somewhat challenging game. There are times when it will feel slightly grindish and frustrating. However once you get past a level or beat a boss, the feeling of accomplishment will be unlike any cake walk games you've played.

Best RPG I have played so far! Very good!!

When I started playing this game I thought it looked great but was so difficult. The game slowly became something of pure genius. It has been a long time that I have played a game and praised it so and in so many ways this game is perfection. The combat system to the environments to the mobs, this is a stunning game. It gets easier and easier the longer you play – not due to character development and leveling but you the player get better at fighting. Be prepared to scream at your console, threaten to turn it off and never boot it again. When I say this game is hard it's extremely hard! Not only can 2 hours of gameplay send you all the way to the beginning of the level with all mobs respawning but one miscalculation will leave you tearing your hair out. I loved this game, it's something I will always have positive things to say about. And the online play, I hate online play but this was done in a was so well that I embraced it, and it's helpful as other in the world can leave messages and warnings.

Overall, if you own a PS3 and are into RGPs this is something you can't not have in your collection. I hope to see more games like this from Atlas in the future as I am now forever a fan.

Great game

I actually bought this game for my partner. He loves it. My friend also enjoys this game too. Its awesome playing it online and getting clues from others if you get stuck.

Demon's Souls is an RPG with a difference. Featuring multiple interesting game mechanics, such as hint messages, invasions/assists, and soul mode, Demon's Souls is certainly a revolutionary game.

Not only revolutionary, Demon's Souls is much more unforgiving than most modern games. However, after playing it for a few hours and figuring out enemy's weaknesses, you will not find it any more difficult than most other games.

It won't take you that long to finish, but you can play a new game with your previous character, with slighty harder enemies, and you can try and collect all the goodies you didn't gather in your first play through.

Overall, a good game, with some very interesting ideas and concepts.

This game is fantastic. It's enough like Champions Of Norrath (one of my favourite hack ‘n’ slash games) to appeal to me, but has enough of it's own story and all-round individuality to draw in people who don't particularly favour the genre. Definitely a great buy.

On the surface, Demons Souls is your stock standard fantasy RPG; find weapons, kill enemies, level up and beat the boss.

Underneath is one of the most challenging and rewarding games of the last few years. The game will put your observation, strategy, and patience to the test, along with how well you can keep cool under pressure; try and hack and slash your way through this one and you will die. A lot. In fact, you'll die a lot anyway, but in Demon Souls death is just the beginning.

It's not for everyone, but if you enjoy the kind of combat challenge where winning is about trying again and again, and again, until you learn how to win, then this is for you. It's a little like Onimusha, on super hard, on steroids. If you're looking for some easy trophies move along.

Despite the extremely hard game play this game is hard. Nice looking flowing character animations, controls are very well mapped, very nice backgrounds and textures, and very hard. After the hours of frustration eventually you will find your own way to conquer the odds and feel so relieved and joyed that all you time dying paid off… great game.

I already own a 360, but after seeing videos and reviews of Demon's Souls online (and a few months of trying to convince myself not to) I finally caved, bought a PS3 and ordered Demon's Souls.

After a couple weeks of playing nothing but DS, it was definitely worth it. It punishes you for your mistakes but it's rarely unfair. Success has more to do with your skill than what level you are or what gear you're using. It's like gameplay from 15 years ago with current-gen graphics. If you're sick of games that hold your hand, give you endless hints and seem like they're built to prevent failure then try Demon's Souls.

The online components are a great addition too. You can read hints left by other players, watch the last few seconds of their lives, summon them to help you or get invaded and hunted down in your own game.