Demon's Souls (2009)

Gameplay

At the beginning, the player has to create a character. Apart from the most obvious choices the player has to make (name, gender, appearance), the game offers ten character classes such as Knight, Hunter, Magician or Thief. Each of these classes comes with completely different statistics, levels, gear and spells. Despite the fact the game has its main storyline, the player is not forced to follow any pre-defined route. Instead, the game offers a great deal of freedom in terms of exploration.

In the game, the player makes use of many different weapons. Each of them has their own unique attacks and character animations – depending on the skills of the protagonist, whether he wields one- or two-handed weapon. The game world and its inhabitants are all subjects to the laws of physics, thus the player has many tactical possibilities. In combat, the protagonist is capable of using the magic-based spells and faith-based miracles, thus the protagonist deals with enemies not only by means of cold steel. The character development is player-dependant, because the souls of the fallen enemies can be spent to develop different attributes. Also, souls serve the role of a currency in the game - the player can upgrade their weapons or buy new ones for the souls gathered.

Importantly, it is a difficult game and the player will often see the protagonist dying. Death is not the ultimate end however – the creators were inspired by Diablo in this respect – the souls the player managed to gather before death remain in the location of the death. If the player reaches the spot again, they can collect the souls they previously left. If they die while trying to do so, however, the souls are lost irreversibly. Reaching the protagonist's body after death is difficult, for the avatar is in the form of a ghost or a phantom. As a result, the player has only half of the health their character usually has, and of course the enemies are respawned. Most of them are capable of defeating the protagonist with a single weapon strike or a spell.

The multiplayer mode in Demon's Souls for PS3 is a big feature of the game. It allows the players to leave signs on the ground. Other players can read those signs, containing mostly different kinds of warnings. If another player considers our advice helpful, the character we control regains some health, thus it is worth being generous. The player often stumbles on the spots where other players died. Touching their blood, the player can see what were the exact circumstances of their death. The co-op mode allows to summon another player who is a ghost. If the player is a ghost themselves, they can help the others in their boss fights as well, by leaving an adequate marker on the ground. If the enemy gets defeated, the player regains their body and obtains additional souls. The players can invade their worlds as well, which creates a PvP duel opportunity.

Technical aspects

The graphics in Demon's Souls are decent. The game offers both diverse locations and eye-catching, detailed character models. Bosses are especially impressive, for the models are massive and frightening. The creators deserve a round of applause for designing such an extraordinarily gloomy and convincing universe. Exploration of these is accompanied by minimalistic soundtrack, which is nonetheless impressive.