The genius of Demon’s Souls lies in its treatment of death and the implementation of a dazzling risk/reward system, central to which are the demon souls of the title. Obtained by slaying foes and finding the souls of deceased adventurers, demon souls function as both currency and a means for levelling up your character’s various attributes. Actually accruing souls can be tough (especially for newcomers) and holding on to them is similarly difficult; in any level, death is punishable with the loss of all the souls in your possession and being sent back to the start of the world, with all enemies you’ve killed respawning. Lost souls can be retrieved if you manage to fight your way back to the point of your death; but die en route, and they are lost forever. Further cementing this concept is a complete lack of a pause button and the fact that the game auto-saves constantly, making it nigh on impossible to skip back to that point just before you were crushed by a boulder… While on paper this may sound like the stuff of gaming nightmares, in practice it results in Demon’s Souls being one of the few games that imbues the player with a palpable fear of death, and you soon find yourself carefully considering every step forward into the gloomy dungeons; the temptation to retreat to the safety of the Nexus with your winnings is never far from your thoughts.

Despite the finality of losing all the souls you have collected, death is not the end. Should you die while in body form, you are instantly brought back as a phantom, and must play with a reduced energy bar until you manage to regain your body by killing a major demon or using rare items. In our experience, we played most of the game in phantom form, with only brief trips back to the physicality of the flesh.

Similarly innovative is From Software’s approach to the online elements of the game. Rather than simply serve up the standard-fare of lobbies, co-op and death-matches, it uses online as a means of embellishing the single player experience. It does this in number of ways; firstly, while exploring you’ll frequently stumble across blood stains which can be activated to reveal a phantom playing out the last few moments of another player’s life. Players can also leave messages on the floor warning other adventures of approaching dangers, hidden treasures etc. Additionally, online players exploring the same location as you occasionally appear as white phantoms; while you cannot interact with them directly, it gives you a brief and haunting insight into how the Demon’s Souls experience is playing out across the globe. The only direct online interaction between players is in invasions; under certain circumstances, you can invade another’s game or they can storm into yours; in either case, the task of the invader is to kill the host.

The icing on the cake are the silky smooth controls and how well they connect with the onscreen action – whether you’re lunging with spears, swiping with swords, parrying with shields, rolling out of the way an attack or merely walking down dark corridors, there’s a convincing heft and physicality to all movements that serves to plant you in the iron-boots of your avatar. The importance of your own skills are also never overwhelmed by stats or special items; you may very well be wielding an enchanted falchion but put a foot wrong, and you’re demon-food.

The one question mark that (it seems) will forever plague Demon’s Souls is whether or not it is too difficult? To this, we would have to say, absolutely not – the level of difficulty is perfectly pitched within the overall structure and is expertly balanced with the controls and levelling up systems. The degree of challenge also helps to make the absolute most of all the environments, with the repeat visits that are required rarely failing to unearth another surprise, another hidden pathway, another item for your inventory, another reason to keep playing.

It is rare to play a game that makes as many brave design choices – and that attempts to introduce so many new concepts – as those on show in Demon’s Souls; it’s rarer still for a title to pull these decisions off quite so effortlessly and with such cohesion. From Software, however, have managed to do just that and in refusing to compromise their vision have hewn a spiky, engaging, challenging and magical experience that breathes fresh life into what can be the stalest of genres. Once it sinks its claws in, you’ll find it nigh on impossible to escape until the Kingdom of Boletaria is free from the horror of The Old One. In short then – Demon’s Souls is a modern classic.

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