REVIEW: Demon's Souls (2020) remains brilliant in new guise

Launched in 2009, Demon's Souls it took some time to establish itself as one of the most influential games of the next decade. It did so, mostly, after the explosion of its successor Dark Souls. Even in the face of its younger and better-known brother, the original title maintains — mainly due to its pioneering spirit in various areas — an important position of great influence in the gaming industry and culture throughout 2010.

On the other side of this meeting we have Bluepoint, the developer responsible for remasters and remakes of famous titles exclusive to PlayStation consoles: it's hers Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (2015) e Shadow of the Colossus (2018). The mission, this time, was to show the possibilities of the console from the point of view of performance and visuals from the recreation of a brilliant and historic title, but known for problems in its frame rate per second.

Remake performance and news

In addition to bringing the experience of Demon's Souls for the 60 or 30 fps, the 2020 version also serves as a visual showcase of the PlayStation 5 and, to some extent, also for the functionalities of the control Dualense. In the case of the latter, the real showcase is Astro's Playroom — title already installed on the console and focused precisely on showing the new control. But even here it is possible to have important feedback from the game environment through the control response.

The visuals, however, figure as the most striking point of this remake — textures, lighting, native 4K resolution (in cinematic mode), and all the work of creating the models and environments make clear the position of Demon's Souls as an impossible visual achievement on the line's consoles PlayStation 4. Therefore, the title is a strong showcase of the graphic power of the new hardware.

In addition to the cinematic mode there is, as usual, the performance mode. In this one, the 4K resolution is dynamic and some minor visual details are lost, but the game runs at a fixed 60 frames per second. This is, without a doubt, the most suitable mode — this is where the gameplay flows best. Having the players of the original of PlayStation 3 In mind, it's not unreasonable to claim that this is a pretty significant difference in how combat and exploration play out.

The processing speed of PlayStation 5 is another highlight, and in Demon's Souls this is visible through the load time between leaving the Nexus and arriving in one of the worlds' areas. It's so fast that it even affects the expected time to finish the game. This happens, however, combined with the fluidity in the game granted by the good performance in terms of fps.

Another nice new feature is the inclusion of a photo mode – this works not only as a robust mode for editing and taking good screenshots, but also as a way to force pause the game. It was impossible to pause in the original, as in most of the games of From Software, and this possibility brings an important change in the quality of life for those who do not live for video games.

What does the remake not change?

Version 2020 of Demon's Souls It doesn't change, with the exception of the improvements and updates mentioned above, absolutely nothing about the game: it's the same stages, the same bosses, the same dialogues, the same AI and enemy movement, and so on. From a gameplay point of view it's the exact same game – with better frames per second performance and possibility to pause, I repeat.

Don't expect to add enemies or change boss encounters — it wasn't the Dragon God battle overhaul this time. There is no new map, the legendary and forgotten stage of the land of the giants is not in the remake, although who knows it could be worked on in a future expansion. From a playable point of view, the 2020 version retains all the positive and negative characteristics of the original. But don't worry, the original title is brilliant.

In the visual tract, things change a little. There are, yes, some revisions to the game's artistic direction. Certain enemies and environments have different photography and modeling. Personally, I tend to prefer the original models, perhaps because of an affective relationship, I confess. You maneaters, for example, change reasonably from both the new model and the arena lighting. 

Either way, the visual work and care taken to deliver a cutting-edge experience is what stands out the most throughout the entire campaign. The environments are very beautiful, and certain details are easier to perceive. Lighting sometimes brings another dynamic to certain stages.

To be honest, I welcome proposals for change. That's what remakes exist for, even the most faithful ones like those made by Bluepoint. The original game already exists, nothing from a new version will erase the success and brilliance of the past. In this way, the remake presents itself as another way to experience the same journey.

Demon's Souls is brilliant and inventive

It has to be argued that the Bluepoint games has only worked with first class material. Shadow of the Colossus e Demon's Souls are two classics, two of the most important and impactful video games in media history. Redoing them without changing much could only result in great releases. Demon's Souls is an exceptional game, and trying it out again from its newest version makes it pretty clear why.

The title works its mechanics, systems and stages competently, generating a result with its own face, later consecrated also from Dark Souls (2011). Combat is paced and connects with exploration — it is only by knowing the environment, enemies and obstacles that the player can formulate his strategy and equipment to completely dominate a stretch before proceeding to the boss.

Or maybe the player can also run from the stage's entry point to the boss arena and try to move on to the next part. Or even step into human form and summon friends or strangers to help with challenges. Demon's Souls puts mechanics and systems on the table and knows how to give possibilities — and obstacles — to the player from there.

Upon death, the character is in soul form; losing 50% of your HP (or 75% if you use a ring present at an early level of the game) and being unable to connect with other players. You won't be invaded, but you won't be able to ask anyone for help either. Staying in human form gives you more life, but creates more risk as well – after all, dying as a human changes the trend of the world and allows players to invade you.

This issue of worlds and character trends changes some side quest chains, gives access to new equipment, and even makes the stage more challenging and desperate if the player dies a lot in that place in his human form. I will comment in the next topic about this specific system and how the remake proposed a reissue of the connection between the community.

In addition to the intelligently designed levels, always bringing something different or unique to that place, one of the great assets of Demon's Souls are your bosses. We have a group of confrontations more focused on the direct exchange of blows or spells, but there are also a series of battles designed from the point of view of bringing news or even using game systems.

To comment a lot about them is to enter into spoilers, but I allow myself to point out that the title plays with its bosses as much as with the arena in which they find themselves. In most cases it works out very well, in some others not so much - let's remember the Dragon God mentioned at the beginning of the text and how many players pointed out this confrontation as one of the low points of Demon's Souls.

The game also gives us the possibility to create different characters. A mage functions differently from a melee fighter. The weapons, in turn, are varied and their movements also change the relationship between character, enemies and environment significantly. There are a multitude of ways to play, as well as customization and weapons creation that push the player to experiment and discover which equipment helps on which maps.

Searches of yore, searches of now

Demon's Souls is a title full of secrets, challenges and even systems that are not explained by the game. In this way, the connection between the players to understand, decipher and help each other was essential. Understanding both plot details and the trend system reasonably depend on cooperation, conversation, and information seeking.

Without changing anything substantial in the game in terms of mechanics and systems, Bluepoint decides to re-edit this “sense of community” from an unprecedented situation: a new door appeared in one of the stages, and new items also began to fall from enemies. In this way, players who managed to gain access to the console in its early days began to seek the resolution of this secret.

Saying what the resolution and what the "prize" is is also spoilers, but it's interesting to note how this simple parallel "mission" managed to recreate a bit of the sense of cooperation in front of a classic game from the late 2010s.

Demon's Souls pleases in its new outfit

The remake brings Demon's Souls to the field of the graphic display of the new machine from Sony. Although some decisions from the point of view of the artistic direction may displease, the visual care is visible and the title is very beautiful. From a gameplay point of view, it's the same game with improvements and updates such as the desired 60 frames per second, photography mode - and consequent way to pause, and negligible loading time.

It is, above all, the same brilliant and classic Demon's Souls, with its challenging stages, its proposal of understanding the environment and the obstacles being solved by the player through customizations and builds. It remains excellent in terms of sound work, and especially when we think about its intelligent and innovative systems. It also features exciting and inventive boss battles.

Demon's Souls is available for PlayStation 5 em digital format on the PS Store and physical media on amazon, both for R$349.