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Demon's Souls

PS3 Review

by Plopboy

Do you like dragons?
Do you like hacking and slashing?
Do you like adventuring in a fantasy setting?
Do you like challenging games, that require a bit of thought?

If any or all of these are yes then Demon's Souls may be the game for you.

Essentially it is a third person RPG set in a fantasy setting, which starts with the player choosing one of the following character classes:

Knight
Crusader
Thief
Magician
Temple Knight
Soldier
Wanderer
Barbarian
Noble/Royal
Hunter/Ranger

Each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Then a fairly standard tutorial explaining the combat system (L1 to block R1 to use weapon), item use etc starts, but ends in the player's death. This is not quite as fatal as it first seems, with the player being transported to a hub called the Nexus.

Here the player can upgrade their character through trading souls they have collected from defeated enemies and select the next level. On selecting a level the player is transported to a castle, but in their spirit form (basically means they only have half their health) where battling the enemies within leads to the level boss, who if defeated allows the player to return to physical form.

The problem here that most people will face is the difficulty, as you die an awful lot, retracing the same sections but getting a little further each time as you learn the enemy placements. This sounds incredibly off-putting and to a certain extent is, but if you persevere the game becomes more open, less linear and you learn how to counter enemies and generally become a bit more of a hero of old.

One other major part of the game is the online aspect.

Here players can leave messages (made up of preprepared bit of sentences) for other people to read, warning them of traps, monsters, good items, etc. Other players can also appear briefly in your game as ghosts, they have no effect but can be quite fun to see. Further on in the game other players can invade your game and battle you to try and regain their physical form by defeating you. Online co-op is also available for up to 3 players. Also you can touch blood stains of other players and watch how they died.

The game is truly a slow burner; initially frustrating but very rewarding. The first time you see a dragon strafing some ramparts is an awesome sight. There is also so much more to the game i.e. character levelling up, magic, exploring the Nexus, revisiting old levels and discovering new areas, watching dragons having a kip. It is truly a great game if you stick with it.

Unfortunately at the time this review was written it had only had a far east release (the North American and PAL versions have subsequently been released). Thankfully the Asian version was in English though it was quite difficult to find at the time.

I haven't progressed as far in the game as I would usually before posting a review, but this game is excellent and from other comments I have read only gets better, so I thought I'd strike whilst the iron was hot and add to the review later!

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Author

Plopboy