Demon's Souls Hands-on

  • Posted September 23rd, 2009 at 19:33 EDT by Adam Dolge
  • 26 Comments

Atlus released a new video walkthrough for its upcoming North American release of Demon’s Souls. In this latest video walkthrough, narrated by QA lead Richard Rodrigues, we see how the game’s online components play into the game as a whole.

The game is an action RPG with a few online features. We’ve had a chance to play through the game, and the online features, like the messages left behind from other players, truly offer assistance in this otherwise grueling title.
 

In addition to messages, players can interact with each other through co-op play and in a PvP sense – but, the majority of the online components act as a guide for the adventurous gamer. Bloodstains on the ground show red-ghostly video depictions of other player’s deaths, essentially showing you what to expect, and what not to do.

You’ll need these messages and bloodstained-death videos to help you through each level. Make no mistake, Demon’s Souls is not for the easily frustrated gamer. When first learning the game, you will die, a lot. Needless to say, this difficulty level offers a great mental reward when you accomplish various goals.

It seems too often that games are getting easier (or maybe, as the gaming community, we are getting better). While there are other games that certainly offer up an enormous challenge, what sets Demon’s Souls apart is that when you die (and you will die), you start each level from the beginning in soul form, fighting the same demons all over again. There are ways around this, like loading a game if you are falling to your death, but by and large, the game’s difficulty rests in how each level is replayed. You can expect to play a lot of the game in spirit form.

Once you’ve mastered the gameplay elements, and learned how each enemy fights, the game starts to open up into a rich action-RPG title unlike anything we’ve played recently. If you take away the online component of Demon’s Souls, the game is still a solid RPG (and a welcome addition to the PlayStation 3), but with the added online components, the game shines, and the usual stagnant world is filled with a great sense of community. But, make sure you watch out for fiendish gamers who want nothing more than to trick you.

Look for our review of Demon’s Souls coming soon, and look for the North American release of the title on October 6.

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What are your thoughts?

  1. skinny_jr | Skinnyjr

    • 7:34pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    Nice!!!!

  2. RedOrb_collector

    • 7:36pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    Damn I wanted the first comment...awesome read though.

  3. BlinkyEC | BlinkyEC

    • 7:39pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    @2 c'mon man !!!!!

    is this a definite no for Europe ?

  4. Overcast | Gamenificent

    • 7:59pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    I want this so bad. @3 they haven't announced anything yet and they may not, but if this was only coming to the UK I would take advantage of the region free situation and import. I love Sony so much for doing that.

  5. draculaboy | draculaboy99

    • 8:03pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    what!!!

    I only Have blue , black and white stones in the chinese version

    where is the red stone ?

  6. arfi-gorgona-O

    • 8:15pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    Its a fantastic game,im playing it like a maniac.The game is deep and the online is great.

  7. helgast666

    • 8:27pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    very dark style this game..

  8. Mechwarrior3 | BluArro

    • 8:39pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    I can't wait! Two more weeks! :D

  9. NightStalker

    • 8:43pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    the game looks really good and I def. want it, but I'm worried I don't have the time to enjoy how deep it is =/

  10. Free_Agent

    • 8:51pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    This is hands down one of the best games I've ever played. You all owe it to yourself's to pick this up day one.

  11. Oatmeal | NEJI64

    • 8:58pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    damn i'm torn between Demon's Souls or Alpha Protocal. 

  12. darksora | Rav_M

    • 10:53pm BST - September 23rd, 2009

    @5: You unlock the red eye stone after getting the bad ending. It's rewarded in the new game+ after that ending.

  13. draculaboy | draculaboy99

    • 12:04am BST - September 24th, 2009

    @12

    thanks for the info

  14. XAversionX | aVeRsioN_X

    • 12:50am BST - September 24th, 2009

     cant wait for this baby

  15. PSX_Legend | KillZone3000

    • 1:31am BST - September 24th, 2009

     Amazing game!

  16. Solrac | Solrac7688

    • 1:46am BST - September 24th, 2009

     Game looks sweet 

  17. jamesobachand | sNaKe2112

    • 1:49am BST - September 24th, 2009

    Wow, this game looks very cool.

  18. OneFlow

    • 1:58am BST - September 24th, 2009

    I'd really like to comment the part saying that maybe the gaming community got "better".

    That's imho not true at all, most players that "join" the gaming community nowadays are so reliant on steady support by the game, that they would probably not even manage to succesfully finish a game that doesn't feature a tutorial, or a "smooth-you-in" first level. That was by no means usual back in the day. Nowadays ANY game without Auto-save is considered brutally hard.

  19. draculaboy | draculaboy99

    • 2:08am BST - September 24th, 2009

    @18

    oh this game has autosave

    if you even use a herb it will save the game

    so when you die after using all your herbs

    you will begin the level with nothing (it happened to me >_<)

  20. 6toes

    • 4:14am BST - September 24th, 2009

     Got have Demon Soul.  This game looks intense, actually making me contemplate choosing this over Uncharted 2...but most likely not....I have considered it though.  Ill be sure to pick this up when I get finished abusing UC2.

  21. wetfbbqchiken

    • 10:25am BST - September 24th, 2009

     sigh... no news on uk release.... been trying to ask a few shops here but nothing so far...

     

    tempted to import it from asia BUT if theres any DLC i wont be able to get it.... :(

  22. PYRO-610

    • 2:55pm BST - September 24th, 2009

    looks amazing I'm now have to choose between it & Infamous

  23. ryuken

    • 5:31pm BST - September 25th, 2009

     I was so close to importing this badboy

  24. The_One | Pwnguinz

    • 9:29pm BST - September 25th, 2009

    Already have my copy pre-ordered from Amazon with the pre-order goodies :). Tehehe. 

  25. OneFlow

    • 11:37pm BST - September 25th, 2009

    @19: I know, I was not referring to Demon's Soul in the last part of my statement but to games in general

  26. The_Silencer | xG7xSubzero

    • 4:08am GMT - December 5th, 2009

    sweet

Related information

  • Related game: Demon's Souls

    Release date (US):
    October 6th, 2009
    Developer:
    From Software
    Genre:
    Action - RPG
    Rank:
    151 of 1,505 Games
    Up 0 places (in last 7 days)

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