Demon’s Souls: A Horror Like No Other

Demon’s Souls is one of the strangest horror RPGs that I have ever played, and the reason might surprise you. It’s not because of the gothic imagery, like the unsettling torture chairs in the Tower of Latria (although that does help), it is because of the way it made me feel. Resident Evil 2 Remake (RE2R) and Alien Isolation made me feel unsettled and, at points, scared. For me, they successfully created foreboding atmospheres that had me afraid of turning each and every corner. Darting for cover just before the xenomorph turned around or having to dodge lunging zombies because I have run out of ammo really got my blood pumping. Demon’s Souls, similarly, had me dreading what would be around the next corner, and beating an enemy with only a sliver of health left my blood pumping too. However, despite these three games eliciting similar responses, Demon’s Souls felt completely different. I wasn’t running from something like I was in Alien Isolation and RE2R; I was running towards something in Demon’s Souls. The boss. Light spoilers ahead.

Demon’s Souls doesn’t have the connected level design of Dark Souls. Each area is a separate level split into four stages with a boss at the end of each one. The only way to advance a level is to beat the boss of the stage, and there are no saves. If you die before reaching a boss, you lose all of your souls (the currency of the game) and are sent back to the start of the stage. At points, this did make me feel like my time was not being respected, and the time it took me to beat the final boss would have been significantly shorter had I been able to teleport straight back to a boss room. When (not if) death occurs, you lose your humanity and enter soul form. Soul form reduces health by 50% (although there is an item that can reduce this loss somewhat) and humanity can only be regained by defeating a boss or using a rare consumable. Sounds hard, does it not? It gets worse. Dying in your human form lowers the World Tendency (dying in soul form does not affect this.) World Tendency determines how difficult each enemy is in the level in which you died. Basically, dying in human form makes the game harder.

The gameplay revolves around traversing a level and carving a path with your bow, sword, magic, or fists to the boss. There are two attacks: one light and one heavy. They are tied to a stamina bar and so is the ability to block. Having more stamina means more attacks can be performed and more attacks can be blocked, although a shield is not a requirement. Weapons gripped by both hands deal more damage, and rolling can be used in lieu of a shield (also consuming stamina). Also, enemy weapons can be parried, which if successful, allows a stronger blow to be dealt. Similarly, stabbing an enemy in the back is typically a one hit kill. Precise timing (learning enemy animations) is needed for the moment-to-moment combat. This is not a hack and slash game, and definitely not one that can be button mashed through. My typical tactic of charging headfirst into battle was quickly punished by Demon’s Souls. Patience is key. Dodging or blocking is almost always safer than attacking. Staying alive means attacking only when there is opening.

At the start of the game, 10 different classes are presented. Given the opening cinematic, I chose the Temple Knight class. I thought that cutting my way through demons as a man of God fitted the game’s theme quite well. I then replayed the game as a magic class. Let me tell any beginners now, if this is the first Souls game that you are playing, choose one of the magic classes. Magic in this game is much more powerful than any weapon I came across in my 70+ hours. The two classes I played as did have different playstyles though, which adds a lot of replay value to the game. I found that successful magic use meant keeping a good distance between my character and enemies, whereas wielding a sword meant I had to focus much more on blocking, rolling, and parrying.

The Nexus, the game’s safe place where levels are accessed, is where the Maiden in Black resides. She exchanges the souls claimed by killing demons for stat boosts. These stats are not explained very well by the game, and it is easy to boost the wrong stat and make the game harder. This is where I started to have problems with the game. Demon’s Souls tells the player very little, for example, souls can be traded for more spells as well as levels. More specifically, specific demon souls gained by killing bosses. However, if that soul is traded for levels, there is then no way to get that specific spell. This issue was exacerbated for me because not all of the NPCs are present in the Nexus at the beginning of the game. The character who trades spells for souls, for example, must be freed in one of the levels found in an area that a player may never actually visit.

Nevertheless, I cannot say that this is bad game design. I still do not know what all of the different weapon upgrade materials do in the game, and that is fine. Figuring out how the game works is part of the game. However, the lack of guidance given to the player, punishments for dying, and overall difficulty of the combat system makes this a game that is definitely not for everyone. For those wondering about the difficulty, if Demon’s Souls had an easy mode, Jedi Fallen Order’s normal difficulty would be the easy mode of Demon’s Souls easy mode. The game reminds me of an older title I have been playing: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. The game is hard, the enemies have specific attack patterns, and death means starting the level again. Of course, Rondo of Blood and Demon’s Souls are very different games, but those basic designs are present in both. I think Demon’s Souls borrowed a few fundamental design choices (restarting levels, little guidance, and requiring the player to memorise attack patterns) from older games like Rondo of Blood.

The multiplayer element of the game can make it easier. I also had more fun when I engaged with the multiplayer. However, like everything in this game, setting it up is obtuse. To summon a friend to a game, you must both be in the same stage and in a similar location. Easy enough. But, the person summoning must be in their human form, and the person being summoned must be in soul form. So, if you become stuck and run out of ways to restore your humanity, things get a lot harder. Another facet of the multiplayer is invasions. Other players (your level ±10) can invade levels and steal the player’s humanity. This is a fun way to restore humanity but can be a rage inducing mechanic for the invaded. There is a way to set a network password which can reduce the number of invasions but, in my experience, failed to completely prevent them. This mechanic is quite subjective, though. I personally enjoyed it, but my friend despised it.

All of the above brings me back to what I said at the start: I was running towards something in Demon’s Souls. Once I had made it through a stage and to a boss, the game, for me, suddenly became about trying to get back to the boss as quickly as possible. Which enemies can be avoided, and which ones do I have to kill? I think that this can cause a lot of people to stop playing the game. Running back through a level just to die and be sent back to the start can be incredibly frustrating, and this is what the horror aspect of the game was for me. It is all about the fear of losing and having to start over, facing a force so powerful that there is no hope. Demon’s Souls is set in an oppressive, miserable world filled with demons, and the game, for the most part, made me feel like I was there. Demon’s Souls made me feel oppressed, punishing me for every mistake, suffocating me with obtuse mechanics, and making me miserable when ‘You Died’ was eventually shown. But this is the world of Demon’s Souls. It should not have the scary atmosphere created by RE2R and Alien Isolation. You are not running away from the horror; you are running towards it. The world of Demon’s Souls is abrasive, and so is the game. I rage quit the game quite a few times; I will admit that. I am sure my character wanted to rage quite Demon’s Souls too. And that is why I must commend Demon’s Souls. It made me feel the way my character would probably feel. Confused, angry, frustrated, and absolutely ecstatic when a boss is finally killed.

Overall, Demon’s Souls is definitely not a bad game, but it is definitely not a game for everyone. I completely understand why people love this game, but if you’re someone who cannot commit hours and hours to games or are going through a tough time, I would suggest that you think twice about playing this. This is not a game for those with limited time. However, if you want a game with a steep learning curve, little hand-holding, and hard combat, Demon’s Souls might be right for you. I will not rate this game on a scale of 1-10, but, instead, I will leave you with this: Demon’s Souls forced me to change the way I usually play games, and it changed the way I play for the better.