You’ve probably heard of Demon’s Souls by now. You’ve heard that it was one of the hardest games you could possible own. And if you haven’t head about it, let us tell you right now: It’s the hardest game you’ve played in a long time. Not hard as in “please try again hard”, but rather, hard as in “ram-the-controller-in-your-face-hard”. Really, the challenge is epic. There’s are no rooms for error, and you’ll be dying so many times it’s impossible to count. Anyways, the review…

Demon’s Souls, is an action RPG much like Diablo, Dungeon Siege and Dragon Age. Only compared to Demon’s Souls, those games are for sissies. Demon’s Souls is the one that’s carved out of rock, and once you complete it, if you ever do, it’ll make a man out of you. Even if you’re a girl playing it, it’ll still make a man out of you. It’s that bad-ass. However, despite all the dying you’ll be doing, all the enemies you’ll be killing again and again through the level, the game still manages to feel rewarding. Which is a tough thing to accomplish, as you’ll most likely be threatening to destroy the game disc plenty of times. Only to play on and and have some more fun. Then die again.

The story of DS follows the tried and tested of many fantasy games: evil rises, and you must venture out and defeated. A classic “hero’s journey” story. You create your character and venture into five different worlds in the game, all look and feel very different, which is just how it’s supposed to be. The story is told through cut scenes and voice over, and those might just be the worst parts of an otherwise excellent game. You can level up, upgrade your weapons, and whatever class you pick, you’re not forced to stick with a single set of abilities — all classes feature all abilities. You upgrade and get new weapons and items by spending “souls”, which you get every time you kill an enemy. But items are rather expensive, and don’t think that you’ll be able to stash a load of cash and supplies, in DS, you have to spend wisely.

Gameplay wise, you’ll be battling anything from simple soldiers to massive dragons, and when you die, you’ll return as a soul, with only half your health. Oh, and you’ll lose all the souls you collected and have to get back to your body to reclaim them. You think that’s tough? No, this is tough: if you keep dying, the enemies will get tougher. And tougher. We told you it’s a tough game. You won’t do any charging in DS, you’ll be doing calculated one-on-one combat, swinging your sword and blocking the strikes from the enemy. Every single enemy is deadly and needs to be respected.

There is multiplayer in the game, but it’s unlike any other game before it. While you’re playing, you’ll see “ghosts” of other players playing the same level, and players can leave each other notes to warn about enemies and traps. You can also check where and how they died, and learn from their experience. Other players can assist you in your quest. Or kill you. Yep, you can play through an entire level, painstakingly kill tons of enemies, reach the end, and get stabbed in the back by a human player. While this only happens later in the game, it’s piss-off annoying. And utterly mind-blowing at the same time. You literally never know from where death can come. And death will come. Bet on it.

Visually, the game looks stunning and offers an amazing atmosphere, no matter what level you’re playing. While the voce overs are rather tame, the rest of the audio and music are top notch, and the boss battles are staged like epic matches. Which they are. Demon’s Souls is an epic game that’ll challenge you no matter how “tough” a gamer your are. And it should be played, at least tried, by anyone owning a PS3.

The Good:
Extremely challenging.
…yet rewarding.
Atmospheric visuals
Great production values
Epic boss battles

The Bad:
Will get frustrating
Cut-scenes are rather tame

Overall score: 9/10