Demon's Souls

 PlayStation 3
  • Publisher: Atlus
  • Release Date: Oct 6, 2009
User Score
8.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2033 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,772 out of 2033
  2. Mixed: 135 out of 2033
  3. Negative: 126 out of 2033
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  1. HazeSpire
    Jun 19, 2011
    4
    This game could easily have a subtitle of "The Punishment". I don't really have anything to add above what others have already written. The graphics are OK, the inventory system is average. I really like the combat system, though, especially because it has that tactical feel to it with stamina, one on one fights and other nice things. Unfortunately the checkpoints and foe respawn are aThis game could easily have a subtitle of "The Punishment". I don't really have anything to add above what others have already written. The graphics are OK, the inventory system is average. I really like the combat system, though, especially because it has that tactical feel to it with stamina, one on one fights and other nice things. Unfortunately the checkpoints and foe respawn are a major flaw of this game. It is not a difficult game despite of what some people would claim, I'd say it's on par with other titles out there. Basically you're going to die multiple times and will have to retry, but where another game would let you to load a save game or restart from some not too distant checkpoint, Demon's Souls will require you to repeat the whole level (or a great portion of it), including all the fights (well, you can try to run, but it's not always feasible) and it will also make it harder than the first time by taking away half of your HP. This one single design decision made me abandon the game, despite that I found it interesting otherwise and really liked the combat, player notes & warnings, etc. But I'm not going to play the same level and fight the same enemies over and over again just to die somewhere further down the road and be warped to the very beginning. This not my idea of fun. I am OK to repeat the same thing 20 times if I have to and eventually I will pass, but starting over with additional hindrances is not fair. This game has a potential and it could have been a great title. Could have, but is not...… Expand
  2. Crab666
    Aug 2, 2013
    2
    Demons's Souls is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. The mythos is kinda fascinating, the visuals are solid and some of the online community features are interesting but otherwise It's a piss poor execution of even worse gameplay Ideas that should have died back in the nineties. I don't want to ramble on about the awkward and unnatural control setup or the boring NPC'sDemons's Souls is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. The mythos is kinda fascinating, the visuals are solid and some of the online community features are interesting but otherwise It's a piss poor execution of even worse gameplay Ideas that should have died back in the nineties. I don't want to ramble on about the awkward and unnatural control setup or the boring NPC's or the punishing initial difficulty and skip to the main thing that ruins the whole game. Every time time you die not only do you loose all you demon souls (effectively currency) which is pretty sadistic as it is, you go all the way back to the beginning of the stage and all enemies re-spawn. You can try to fight your way through to the end of the stage or at least until you unlock a shortcut to the warp point at the start or fight through some then run back to the warp point and upgrade your character, but this almost doesn't matter since will be playing the same stage fighting through the same waves of enemies over and over again. It's not exactly helped by the fact that there are pitfalls and sudden difficulty spikes all over the place. I toiled for hour's to find something plausible about this game with is unforgiving gameplay, lack of music, atmosphere, decent character creator or even a pause feature make this and incredibly frustrating experience for all but the extremely patient and tolerant. My final score is a 2 out of ten.… Expand
  3. dmasz91
    Jul 18, 2018
    1
    I bought this game thinking it would be good because of all the high reviews, but it's the worst game I've ever started. I can't even get past the 1st level and have tried 3 times already. Everytime you die, it sets you back to the beginning, even when you think you've already passed a possible checkpoint. It doesn't autosave for you at various locations. It is just the type of game thatI bought this game thinking it would be good because of all the high reviews, but it's the worst game I've ever started. I can't even get past the 1st level and have tried 3 times already. Everytime you die, it sets you back to the beginning, even when you think you've already passed a possible checkpoint. It doesn't autosave for you at various locations. It is just the type of game that you have to keep repeating the level over and over again hoping you can get further than last time. By the time you reach the boss you'll die there for sure as well. There is no map to follow, so you're blinding going along and don't know the goal or where you're going. It's not a good game for planning to play for only 1 hour or something like that, you won't know how long it'll take you to complete a level and you could be there all day. The character reacts to your commands pretty slowly. There is a huge lag when you want to parry an attack and especially when you want to take a healing item. Don't waste your money on this game.… Expand
  4. Orlandeu
    Jul 4, 2014
    2
    Firstyl i would like to say good things about this game.

    1 Really challenging it makes you stay attention all the time and gives you a intention. 2 People around the world leaves you a messages as advice during your adventure or you can leave to them. That's it, these are above only good things about this game and rest of it really really awful. This is the worst RPG game i    Firstyl i would like to say good things about this game.

    1 Really challenging it makes you stay attention all the time and gives you a intention.

    2 People around the world leaves you a messages as advice during your adventure or you can leave to them.

    That's it, these are above only good things about this game and rest of it really really awful.

    This is the worst RPG game i have ever played.

    Can you believe you can not pause this game until end of it?.
    Can you believe there is no map in this game?
    Very bad inventory and status screen interface.
    Very limited equipment chooses.
    Do not crash the corpses that you killed they will be stucked to your feet.

    This is the first time i am saying this: '' This game is overoveroverrated''

    Play Dragon's Dogma instead. It is probably closer game of soul series and have open world that you can inspect and much more.    … Expand
  5. yahelono
    Jun 1, 2015
    2
    This game is bad, that all I have to say. It has one of the worst level design I have ever seen, the first area is fun, the combat is fun, the game is awesome, and that's why I am more upset about this game, when you kill the first boss you feel like a badass you feel like you did something important, and then the fun ends with the bad level design, you reach a long bridge thats a dragonThis game is bad, that all I have to say. It has one of the worst level design I have ever seen, the first area is fun, the combat is fun, the game is awesome, and that's why I am more upset about this game, when you kill the first boss you feel like a badass you feel like you did something important, and then the fun ends with the bad level design, you reach a long bridge thats a dragon protects and insta-kills you, if you even succeed to cross the bridge you are greeted by 10 **** archers, and they kill you, and that means you have to respawn at the beginning of the bridge. but if you (somehow) killed the archers you enter a boss fight which is a **** giant and has **** of archers, and if you die guess where you are going to respawn? this game is bad, play dark souls or bloodborne… Expand
  6. BABERKA
    Aug 16, 2021
    0
    This piece of curve is not up to the game ! It's just awful, how could you make this crooked piece of ****
  7. skim123
    Jan 15, 2016
    4
    I have flip-flopped on my feelings toward this game a few times, but after giving it plenty of thought over the years, I think I have decided that the "Souls" series it quite overrated. In the end it just comes down to gameplay for me. I appreciate the difficulty in this series of games, but the gameplay is just too shallow. There's not enough variety, strategy and depth to the gameplayI have flip-flopped on my feelings toward this game a few times, but after giving it plenty of thought over the years, I think I have decided that the "Souls" series it quite overrated. In the end it just comes down to gameplay for me. I appreciate the difficulty in this series of games, but the gameplay is just too shallow. There's not enough variety, strategy and depth to the gameplay for it to be compelling. It's basically just "kill all the bad guys." Sure, you can kill them in different ways by choosing different weapons and spells, but after a while you realize that you're just shooting and slashing at enemies and it gets pretty repetitive. I wasn't all that frustrated with the difficulty - like I said, I enjoyed the difficulty....the gameplay was just boring. Plain and simple. There isn't enough variety to how you can approach the game, and not much AI to speak of (no stealth options or strategy to vary the experience), so the gameplay is really nothing more than "wander around the world and hack at enemies or run away from them." Basically just a glorified "hack-n-slash" with a lot of weapons to choose from. Meh.… Expand
  8. CROSSEYEDJIM
    Apr 16, 2011
    3
    Archaic, dull, and frustrating. Those are the three adjectives that best sum up Demon's Souls, a game that seems to scoff at nearly every advancement made in gaming over the last decade. Instead of conforming to modern standards, Demon's Souls decides to drag players back to the days where many games were an excercise in frustration and patience rather than fun or satisfaction. IArchaic, dull, and frustrating. Those are the three adjectives that best sum up Demon's Souls, a game that seems to scoff at nearly every advancement made in gaming over the last decade. Instead of conforming to modern standards, Demon's Souls decides to drag players back to the days where many games were an excercise in frustration and patience rather than fun or satisfaction. I rarely do this, but I will preface this review with the statement that I never finished the game. In fact, I never made it past the first main level. If that turns you off to what I have to say, feel free to bail out now. If you would like to find out why a player who compulsively finishes nearly every game he plays couldn't be bothered to waste his time with this hunk of garbage, please read on. Technically, the game is average. The graphics are acceptable, although that's all I can say about them. The character models look decent for the most part, the lighting is passable but certainly not striking, and the texture work is on par with most RPGs. The animations are also relatively good; in fact I'd go as far as to say that some are genuinely interesting. Everything else, though, is par for the course and maybe even slightly below today's standards. The sound is also passable. The game sports a relatively enjoyable old-school style soundtrack that at times reminded me of the Diablo games at other times sounded pretty unique. Sound effects are also passable, though again you won't be finding anything to write home about here even with 5.1 headphones. Unfortunately for Demon's Souls, it needed a whole lot more than middle-of-the-road technical features to pull it out of the bog of awfulness. A long, long time ago in the far away lands of our childhoods, games were hard. Really hard. There were no saves, no checkpoints, and there was certainly no mercy. You had your reflexes, your knowledge of the level you were playing, and maybe a 1 up here and there. Those days died long ago, and they died for good reason. It's no secret that part of the problem games always had with becoming a mainstream, accepted form of entertainment was that they were just too damn inaccessible and frustrating for anyone other than the dedicated to succeed at. While this did help foster a sense of accomplishment among those who did invest the time and energy to succeed, it also had the effect of seriously hampering the fun factor, which, if we're honest, is really the whole reason most of us play games. Demon's Souls commits the same sins, but they are amplified by the fact that it has been released in an age of user-friendly games that can be challenging but not frustrating. Essentially Demon's Souls is a stage-based old-school RPG. You select your character and you are then dropped into the world. You get some weak semblance of a story opener that is basically just your standard RPG fare (evil threatens world, your character has to stop it, you know the drill). Your very first experience with the game involves you bein killed by a monster that is ludicrously above your level. Yes, that's right. Your experience with the game is prefaced with your death. Get used to it; you will be dying a lot. You then proceed to a hub area where you are able to chat with other spirits/NPCs and fill in the less-than-interesting parts of your story. Very boring, poorly written NPC conversations didn't do much to light my fire for the game, but I went ahead and hopped into the first area anyway. It sees your character running up a long flight of steps towards a castle, which you then proceed to scale with bad guys opposing you. Standard fare, but here's the trick: the castle is massive (45 min massive if you were to run the whole thing with a low level character), and it is packed with enemies you have no hope of defeating. If you die, and you WILL die, you will lose all of your experience, gold, and items and be reset to the very beginning of the level. It doesn't matter if you were five minutes in or thirty-five minutes in, you will be completely reset. Since you are now in spirit form again due to dying, your health bar will be made smaller and since all your experience and money are laying in a blood puddle where you died earlier (you can pick all of it up again IF you can make it back to the puddle), you will have no real way to upgrade your character or prepare for the challenges ahead. This was my resulting experience: fight through castle, die 20 min in. Respawn, fight through castle, die 20 min in, etc., etc, etc. After 3 hours of this I ripped the disc out and sent it back. Any game that frustrates me with a stupidly difficult set-up and then proceeds to punish me for falling victim to it does not deserve my time and certainly not my money. Those talking about the "accomplishment" and "hardcore" aspects of the game are elitists trying to justify poor game design as old-school. If you like fun, AVOID.… Expand
  9. Stealthgear
    Nov 1, 2016
    4
    Demon's Souls was horribly out of date on launch. The artificial difficulty from poor controls and no save points made the game pointless. The atmosphere, music, and character creation were good enough to get the game a sequel. The meat of the game is unplayable and only those who enjoy finagling the glitchy gameplay stay with it. It reminds me of Shinobi, but there isn't much action goingDemon's Souls was horribly out of date on launch. The artificial difficulty from poor controls and no save points made the game pointless. The atmosphere, music, and character creation were good enough to get the game a sequel. The meat of the game is unplayable and only those who enjoy finagling the glitchy gameplay stay with it. It reminds me of Shinobi, but there isn't much action going on. It is not like this is DMC3. Its slow, boring, and uncontrollable. It's a super bad game that had cool atmosphere. Its NOT a hidden gem or a good game.… Expand
  10. Broyax
    Apr 16, 2017
    1
    C'est vilain, flou et pixélisé et à dire vrai, même la PS2 aurait honte d'une telle réalisation. L'interface n'est pas en reste dans sa médiocrité manifeste et la maniabilité est à l'image des graphismes : aussi floue qu'imprécise, un vrai calvaire. A ce tableau déjà pitoyable s'ajoute la difficulté (!) totalement aberrante. Bref, un jeu honteux de nullité qui n'appellera pour conclure queC'est vilain, flou et pixélisé et à dire vrai, même la PS2 aurait honte d'une telle réalisation. L'interface n'est pas en reste dans sa médiocrité manifeste et la maniabilité est à l'image des graphismes : aussi floue qu'imprécise, un vrai calvaire. A ce tableau déjà pitoyable s'ajoute la difficulté (!) totalement aberrante. Bref, un jeu honteux de nullité qui n'appellera pour conclure que ce mauvais jeu de mot à l'image de son pathétisme : Demon's Souls, ça soûle... très rapidement !… Expand
  11. ChessRedEagle
    Jan 2, 2010
    3
    I honestly cannot figure out the appeal. I took a chance and bought it and I hate it. If you take away the excrutiating and frankly cheap difficulty it has nothing going for it save maybe the bosses. I just got it yesterday and I'm already sick of it.
  12. JohnA
    Oct 13, 2009
    4
    The Gamervision review is dead on in its criticism, and their score may be too generous. And in truth, I'm stunned so many people are willing to forgive poor game design by touting it as "difficulty." In 2009, forcing a player to grind through the same level for hours at end, with an autosave and experience loss system that actually punishes exploration is poor game design, not a The Gamervision review is dead on in its criticism, and their score may be too generous. And in truth, I'm stunned so many people are willing to forgive poor game design by touting it as "difficulty." In 2009, forcing a player to grind through the same level for hours at end, with an autosave and experience loss system that actually punishes exploration is poor game design, not a smart return to hardcore difficulty. A bad camera and a shoddy lock-on system that doesn't work with large bosses and multiple targets in a room is poor game design, not a smart return to hardcore difficulty. Forcing players to grind for several hours, with little to no progress, simply because their armor breaks, is poor game design, not a smart return to hardcore difficulty. A nearly incomprehensible inventory system that forces players to slog through multiple stat screens just to figure out if their armor or sword is going to break is poor game design, not a smart return to hardcore difficulty. After spending 13 hours with this game, I can safely say I wasted $60 dollars. More people should be willing to admit the same.… Expand
  13. chilimac
    Oct 15, 2009
    0
    Suffering is the word that comes to mind when I think of Demon's Souls. You will play for a few minutes, die, watch a lengthy load screen, start from the beginning of the level, die again, lose all your souls and be left beaten and broke... and of course staring at yet another lengthy load screen. Your reward, if you do succeed on one level, is more suffering as you move on to the Suffering is the word that comes to mind when I think of Demon's Souls. You will play for a few minutes, die, watch a lengthy load screen, start from the beginning of the level, die again, lose all your souls and be left beaten and broke... and of course staring at yet another lengthy load screen. Your reward, if you do succeed on one level, is more suffering as you move on to the next, more difficult level. The further you get in the game, the more times you will die, more load screens watch, more repetitive combat to slog through, more frustration as you lose all your souls over and over again. And no matter how many levels you gain, no matter how many stats you increase, you always feel underpowered. So you never really feel that you're improving as a player, never any suitable reward for all the crap you must endure to make progress. These brutally difficult games were popular 20 years ago when games were 2D and had shorter, more action-packed levels and no load screens. But today, with 3D graphics, the levels are longer, the action slower, so now unforgiving games like DS are tedious and tortuous. Don't buy into the hype. Avoid at all costs.… Expand
  14. JeffreySturgeon
    Oct 15, 2009
    0
    This game is fun for the first level.
    Then it very quickly approaches EPIC FAIL status.
    The depth is lacking, enemies spawn in the same locations EVERY SINGLE TIME you play the same level... which is required to do to even get any sort of decent soul level.
    This game could have been the best game ever made.
  15. OliverFerrigni
    Oct 9, 2009
    1
    Targeting is broken. Game punishes death by robbing only way to gain level. However, with broken targeting system, game difficulty is through the roof. Don't believe the hype. Its like playing pac man with a broken controller. Sure, its harder, that doesn't make it fun.
  16. MiKE
    Jan 22, 2010
    1
    Visual, the game is grainy, with dark, dull colors. techincal but not artistic graphics. The voice over is average. Combat system is simple, but it works. Diffulty? EXTRA EXTRA HARD. Which makes me think, why did this game recieve such a HIGH average from the critics? The production value, is of that a LOW bugdet. The game may attract HARDCORE RPG gamers, but thats about it. Overall a Visual, the game is grainy, with dark, dull colors. techincal but not artistic graphics. The voice over is average. Combat system is simple, but it works. Diffulty? EXTRA EXTRA HARD. Which makes me think, why did this game recieve such a HIGH average from the critics? The production value, is of that a LOW bugdet. The game may attract HARDCORE RPG gamers, but thats about it. Overall a disappointment in my book.… Expand
  17. StickyBomb
    Mar 22, 2011
    4
    Once upon a time, before most of you were born, games were tough. VERY TOUGH. No quicksaves, heck sometimes even no saves at all. Ah yes...those were the days. And it seems that the developers of Demon's Souls want to drag us all back to those days. But is this a good idea? Frankly...no.
    As an alleged RPG, Demon's Souls has litte story. Heck, even DOOM has more story. So if you want a    Once upon a time, before most of you were born, games were tough. VERY TOUGH. No quicksaves, heck sometimes even no saves at all. Ah yes...those were the days. And it seems that the developers of Demon's Souls want to drag us all back to those days. But is this a good idea? Frankly...no.
    As an alleged RPG, Demon's Souls has litte story. Heck, even DOOM has more story. So if you want a narrative, please look elsewhere. So what does this game have? DEATH...YOURS...AND LOTS OF IT.
    Mostly, your death is caused by not knowing your enemy. So you must therefore retrace your steps and fight again. But when you die you lose souls (the games currency) and so you ideally want to get back to where you died and touch your own bloodstain. Naturally, whatever killed you is still there - so be prepared.
    That pretty much is all there is to this game. It's a rinse and repeat hack 'n' slash with no party members and no real idea of what you're doing.
    Oh but there is online isn't there? And here is another major problem. You are basically online all the time, along with everyone else. People can and will, invade YOUR game and they may help you, but more often than not, they will kill you. Charming. Back you go to the beginning of the level AGAIN.
    If you like the idea of all this repetition, then you will love this game.
    Controls feel a bit 'off' unless you use target lock-on, which works, but is a great way to end up dead as you can't move the camera around to see what's behind you.
    Having said all that, the graphics are nice, the sound is OK, and the music is appropriately melancholic.
    It's a tough game, but you are always battling it's design flaws, rather than anything else.    … Expand
  18. JohnM
    Oct 16, 2009
    0
    Big waste of time. Graphics are mediocore at best. The lag is HORRIBLE at times. The gameplay is boring and repetitive. Takes ages to level up and when you do and die. You lose plaything and start all over again. Good thing my store has a 7 day return policy.
  19. RandomDying
    Sep 19, 2010
    0
    I've come here to WARN anyone considering this horribly made game. The difficulty of this game lies in the not-so polished game designs and has nothing to do with being genius or brilliant or bringing any sort of "old-school" nostalgia." First off the controls are terrible, not the button layout just the way that if you accidently push one extra attack swipe, you not only waste staminaI've come here to WARN anyone considering this horribly made game. The difficulty of this game lies in the not-so polished game designs and has nothing to do with being genius or brilliant or bringing any sort of "old-school" nostalgia." First off the controls are terrible, not the button layout just the way that if you accidently push one extra attack swipe, you not only waste stamina but leave your guard open for an arrow/attack to get through. If you accidently swapped your secondary weapons, you leave yourself open for attack. You can't ever pause properly and the menus are not simple enough where easy swaps of items or equipment can be made on the fly. Enemies have no problem attacking and running through each other to mob you to death, as one breaks your shield another is landing a hit, but in instances where you have an allied NPC like the knight in the first level, you can't dare attack near him or it will cause friendly fire, huge double standard. Especially when volleys of arrows are going THROUGH the melee enemies you're trying to fight in some instances like the dragon bridge areas in the first level. (The only way enemies kill themselves is if they fall off a cliff or blow themselves up with fire). Targetting the correct opponent becomes near impossible when theres a mob of enemies. The only easy method early on is to just engage 1 or 2 enemies at a time by drawing their attention in the cheapest manner and running back as faster as you can in the most cowardly fashion, rinse and repeat and thats 99% of the gameplay. Using a bow is strictly prohibited unless you can make the kills from a VERY safe distance, since even swapping back to your shielf and sword will take a deadly amount of time. Even with a one handed cross bow (shield in other) your hero will think it is wise to ALWAYS immediately reload after the shot rather than shield and move into a safe corner first. The platforming is random or not implemented properly. Accidently falling off of cliffs will occur especially in the many tight stairwells when targetting and fighting enemies. Trying to climb knee-high platforms is needlessly glitched, where you find yourself tumbling forward into the small wall. The story is mediocre at best and when you are randomly dying every couple minutes you simply forget what is the point. The npc characters are boring to talk to and have very few lines and whenever finished shopping or speaking with them you are forced to listen through the same old goodbye message. Using souls as your only means of gaining levels and purchasing is ridiculous and makes no sense. Gaining levels one stat at a time is a very slow and painfully grinding process, especially if you're forced to kill the same basic enemies thousand times over just to feel confident enough to proceed to the next imbalanced and going-to-instant-kill-you foe. Once you've died the world tendency becomes darker, thus harder than before to the point where you can't even get to where you last died before since you've already run out of healing greens that rarely drop, but you have plenty of mana and poison replenishment potions that you don't need if you didn't become a mage early on or are encountering poison enemies. The game just becomes repetitive and the same boring level over and over, and they are mostly linear with the exception of some rooms but most of the side paths will just loop back to the main one. Do not waste your money and time and frustration.… Expand
  20. ES
    Dec 28, 2009
    3
    Do you want some meaningless "hardcore cred"? Pretend to like this game and give it a 10. This is more and less than a game, this is a soul destroying experience. I am not embarrassed to say that I find this game far far FAR too hard. But the problem is that most people seem to think that there is some sort of shame in that. Old school megaman was hard. But even in those games every Do you want some meaningless "hardcore cred"? Pretend to like this game and give it a 10. This is more and less than a game, this is a soul destroying experience. I am not embarrassed to say that I find this game far far FAR too hard. But the problem is that most people seem to think that there is some sort of shame in that. Old school megaman was hard. But even in those games every single enemy you came across was not a boss unto themselves. To the wanna-be masochists who think that if you don't like this game you need to learn what a challenge is. Something like fencing is a challenge when fighting a skilled fencer. Fencing against someone with a sniper rifle isn't a challenge, it is madness.… Expand
  21. Pier
    Jan 23, 2011
    4
    Demon's Soul lacks any kind of story telling. It's simply dungeon after dungeon collecting souls... and that could be ok if the game in itself was good, but it isn't.

    The graphics are ok, nothing spectacular though. But that's the only good part. The interface is clumsy and illogical, as if nobody had spent a second thinking how the user would navigate the menus (which are ugly). It is    Demon's Soul lacks any kind of story telling. It's simply dungeon after dungeon collecting souls... and that could be ok if the game in itself was good, but it isn't.

    The graphics are ok, nothing spectacular though. But that's the only good part.

    The interface is clumsy and illogical, as if nobody had spent a second thinking how the user would navigate the menus (which are ugly). It is really plagued with bad ideas... for example when you're playing and recover your blood an annoying text appears on top of the screen but the game still goes on and you can't see what's happening (and yeah you can get killed or fall into some hole and die).

    The gameplay is basically repeating the dungeons again and again without being able to save at any point, and loosing almost all your progress every time you die, which makes it boring and frustrating. And you die a lot of times...

    The combat system is also clumsy. Your character will start a combo, you will loose control of it, it will make make a few steps, and fall into a hole and die again.

    Also the game doesn't inform you of anything. You have to go to the internet to learn

    Oblivion, which is from 2006 is still a better RPG.

    This game is terribly bad, it's by far the worst game I've played on the PS3. I bought it because it had a high score on MC and I still can't understand why it has such a high score.    … Expand
  22. Republicofpeter
    Jan 19, 2011
    2
    This game is frustrating on purpose. I love a good challenge and I will sit and play something over and over for hours just to beat it, but Demon's Souls is a whole other matter. I tried it for several hours, playing through section after section of the first level only to die multiple times because I love to explore. I read notes left by players, avoided sections meant for higher ups,This game is frustrating on purpose. I love a good challenge and I will sit and play something over and over for hours just to beat it, but Demon's Souls is a whole other matter. I tried it for several hours, playing through section after section of the first level only to die multiple times because I love to explore. I read notes left by players, avoided sections meant for higher ups, and killed enemy after enemy on my journey to the boss. It never got fun. I waited and tried really hard to like this games as it was recommended to me by multiple friends, but its appeal just never shone through. I don't understand how this game got such a good review. Many elements of the game feel broken (targeting system is crap, difficulty increases with death, etc) and it tries to be difficult just to be difficult. How is that supposed to be fun? I don't play games to sit through such frustration, I want to have an enjoyable experience. I'm just so disappointed with this game overall, it had incredible potential, and I don't understand how so many others thought it was nearly flawless(10/10) . It's acceptable at best.… Expand
  23. ps3gamer
    Oct 20, 2009
    1
    Bought it at release day, traded in at next day. The problem for me is cannot pause the game no matter which button you press, even the Playstation Buttion not pause the game.
  24. JamesR.
    Oct 13, 2009
    2
    Awsome graphics, ok controls, and a story you probably won't see because you broke your controller from the frustration this game causes. The difficulty level is that of playing D&D with a Dm whose dog you'v run over, spilt drink onto his pristine D&D books, and generally have pissed off, before a session. You will die alot, you will restart from the beginning of the level, Awsome graphics, ok controls, and a story you probably won't see because you broke your controller from the frustration this game causes. The difficulty level is that of playing D&D with a Dm whose dog you'v run over, spilt drink onto his pristine D&D books, and generally have pissed off, before a session. You will die alot, you will restart from the beginning of the level, alot. You will tire of it very quickly. you also restart the levels with half health when you die and don't get it back till AFTER the boss fight., unless you have somewhat hard to find item. which you'll worry about wasting cause you know that next death is right around the corner. Rent this first, you'll be happy you did.… Expand
  25. Sasha
    Nov 2, 2009
    4
    Nice looking game, good fighting. Bad inventory management and no pause. Punishing the player for every little mistake or twitch of the controller. There are challenging games, then there are sadistic games. and a few other minor issues.
  26. Reaperville
    Nov 5, 2010
    4
    In my opinion the game was to complicated..... every time you die you lose your souls and have to run around killing everything trying to level up....... maybe i missed a trick to getting through the game but i gave up and moved on after a fews hours of dying over and over and having to try to collect my lost souls again
  27. LordSeferoth
    Dec 30, 2011
    1
    I cant really explain this. I love Dark Souls, it has become my favourite game of all time, but still i hate, hate and hate Demon's Souls. Its easier then Dark Souls, but its maddeningly frustrating and cheap. Demon's Souls is one of the most over-rated games of all time. Skip this one and buy the sequel.
  28. sdwillie
    Mar 31, 2014
    0
    Like dark souls and dark souls 2 this game is brilliant, beautiful, massive and about 8 kicks in the family jewels difficult. And it's the starting point of the flaw that makes all three utter trash, the multiplayer elements in what is largely a solo game. The PvP works exactly as intended and adds a ton to the game. My actions affect other's games and their actions affect mine, andLike dark souls and dark souls 2 this game is brilliant, beautiful, massive and about 8 kicks in the family jewels difficult. And it's the starting point of the flaw that makes all three utter trash, the multiplayer elements in what is largely a solo game. The PvP works exactly as intended and adds a ton to the game. My actions affect other's games and their actions affect mine, and that is absolutely inexcusable. Things becoming unavailable to me because some imbecile can't learn isn't something I should have to deal with. If a dev wants this in their game, make it opt in. A nag screen works for everybody. Too bad this is opt out-by disconnecting the console- because otherwise it's one of the best games I've ever played. Such a horrible choice, so easily avoided, so inexplicably repeated (twice!) In over 30 years of gaming and over 20 online, no one else has ever asked players to do something outside the game that has a huge bearing on the game. This game doesn't even deserve a zero. Horrible decision on the devs part.… Expand
  29. Kituco
    Aug 22, 2012
    1
    Hard should be a difficulty setting in the game, not the only option of the game, from that to the repetitive base you imply, since, once you die, you will have to do it all again, its like playing an 8-bit console game with graphics.
  30. BonalsII
    Apr 7, 2013
    2
    I was pretty shocked when I looked at the reviews for this game, so many of them so high. First and foremost this game is utter garbage. The controls are terrible, the graphics for a 2009 PS3 game look horrendous, there are many PS2 games that look stunning in comparison, even attempting to compare it visually to any modern game and you will find yourself looking like a fool. I wasI was pretty shocked when I looked at the reviews for this game, so many of them so high. First and foremost this game is utter garbage. The controls are terrible, the graphics for a 2009 PS3 game look horrendous, there are many PS2 games that look stunning in comparison, even attempting to compare it visually to any modern game and you will find yourself looking like a fool. I was fortunate enough to get this game for free from PS+ membership, if i had actually spent money on this I would be nearly as pissed as I was when I purchased BRINK, which is hands down the worst video game ever created.… Expand
  31. DaVintchi
    Aug 30, 2013
    4
    This game isn't the worst thing I've ever seen, but I find nothing great about it. It was made annoyingly hard, and this is not hard like to test your skills, it's like "you will die if you get hit once, and you'll have to restart the game". I also don't get the story. Honestly, I've seen better games.
  32. ripa123
    Sep 22, 2018
    0
    I have played all soulsborne games. i love all the other four games (even ds 2), but this game is BORING. poor mechanics, no shortcuts, terrible weapons. i did not enjoy this game at all.
  33. NessNoldo
    Jun 14, 2022
    0
    Overrated game and saga. Frustrating gameplay instead of fun. The most capricious and pedantic games I have faced, labeled as "hard" when, at least with this title, is just a game with modern gaming features removed to add an unfair difficulty. You can't save when you like. There is no checkpoints. You can't pause, even if the controller runs out of battery, you are served to the enemies.Overrated game and saga. Frustrating gameplay instead of fun. The most capricious and pedantic games I have faced, labeled as "hard" when, at least with this title, is just a game with modern gaming features removed to add an unfair difficulty. You can't save when you like. There is no checkpoints. You can't pause, even if the controller runs out of battery, you are served to the enemies. Camera is crap, trophies are too much tedious and annoying to bare for a completion and the game is plain to be made to kill you. If you die you must run all the way back, kill all the enemies again to recover your souls (currency of the game and somehow the experience to make you stronger), because if you die again without recovering, all that progression is lost, just like your time. This game is a total waste of time and the fanbase is just as annoying as the very game. When you try to heal, you can't run or walk at the same time, instead, your character stops and stay there by 2 seconds where your enemies can rape you. I don't know why this saga is considered a big deal, because this is not real difficulty if you have all the modern features ripped off. How is supposed to be fun a game that need you to explore but then it punish you to do so? Is like a bad joke.… Expand
  34. H0i29
    May 14, 2023
    0
    ميازاكي انت قحبة ياباني احول ولد يابانية قحبة وش هذا العطب اللي قاعد تسويه بجي انيكك في بيتك يا مازوخي يا مخنث

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best PS3 Game of 2009
2
#2 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2009
2
#2 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 81 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 79 out of 81
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 81
  3. Negative: 0 out of 81
  1. Cynamite
    85
    Demon's Souls: Unbelievably hard and unbelievably satisfying at the same time. If you accomplish to get through your initial rage attacks, you will experience an outstanding action-RPG with a tense and dark atmosphere.
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  2. Telegraph
    100
    Beyond the initial threat of difficulty there waits a remarkable combination of accessibility and challenge, of risk and reward, punishment and empowerment.
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  3. Eurogamer
    90
    It's stoic, uncompromising, difficult to get to know, but also deep, intriguingly disturbed and perversely rewarding. You can learn to love Demon's Souls like few other games in the world. But only if you're prepared to give yourself over to it. [JPN Import]
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