Demon's Souls is not a game for everybody. That being said, if you're up to the challenge, it's one of the best games of its kind to be released in recent memory. Most game review sites gave it high marks, and Gamespot recently awarded Demon's Souls its 2009 Game of the Year award, so it's clear that this game is doing something right.

Demon's Souls is basically a combat RPG. You run around and kill all sorts of different monsters with lots of different weapons and spells, get currency called "demon's souls" (hence the title of the game), and use that currency to level up, upgrade your weapons, buy items, learn spells, etc. The game takes place in five different worlds, each of which has its own style, both artistically and in terms of gameplay. The game world is one of the most atmospheric in any game I've ever played. There isn't really much of a story (don't expect anything like Dragon Age or Final Fantasy), but you really do feel like you're in a kingdom being overrun by chaos and evil.

The gameplay in Demon's Souls is spot on. There's a great sense of progression, since you slowly but surely become more and more powerful throughout the course of the game. A huge amount of the progression doesn't actually come from any statistical boosts, but from simply going through the game, dying a lot, and learning from your errors. As you learn how to beat different monsters and bosses, you really do feel like you're accomplishing something nontrivial. There aren't a huge number of weapons (maybe a few dozen?), but they each have a distinct role in combat, and the game really forces you to think about which weapons and armor you want to use. You'll find that there isn't one best answer; rather, the best equipment and spells to use will depend on your playstyle and the monsters you need to fight. One of the great things about Demon's Souls is that there are all sorts of different ways to progress through the game. The boss fights in this game are fantastic - they involve lots of different sorts of crazy, mostly huge, monsters, some of which seem overwhelmingly powerful at first, but which upon closer inspection have their weak spots.

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Demon's Souls is the multiplayer system. It's kind of hard to describe, but it involves you either helping or fighting other players by invading their worlds as a "phantom", or by leaving notes on the ground. You can also touch other players' bloodstains to see how they died, which might serve as a warning for you. You can't chat with other players, but this really adds to the atmosphere of the game.

One of the most frequent complaints about this game is the difficulty. It's true, this game is hard, but not unfair hard. There are ways to beat every monster in the game using the tools available to you, and if you take the time to be patient and learn from your errors, you'll find that the game isn't unreasonably difficult. That being said, Demon's Souls is more demanding than almost any other game out there, and probably isn't appropriate for more casual gamers. If you're unsure if your skills are up to the task, try playing the game at a friends or renting it first. The first few levels are pretty indicative of the difficulty of the rest of the game.

Demon's Souls isn't a perfect game, but the flaws are all minor. I don't know if this is the best game I've ever played on the PS3, but it certainly is one of the best games currently available for the system. If you're unsure about whether this game is for you, rent it first, but I'm sure that many people will be pleasantly surprised with Demon's Souls.

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This game made me remember something I had forgotten: that fear of failure makes victory that much sweeter. Today's games can be frustrating, they can be challenging, but they are almost never ever HARD. Bastard hard but never unfair, Demon's Souls will have you hyper-ventilating with fear in your living-room, throwing your controller at the screen, and doing wild dances of joy when you finally beat that end-of-level boss.

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This is a MUST-HAVE for all PS3 owners. I thought Fallout 3 would reign for a while, but this RPG really gets it to the edge of fun!

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I consider myself a pretty seasoned game-player. I've played and beaten all the games that were considered frusteratingly hard back in the day before autosaves and unlimited lives. I relish a challenge, and love overcoming steep odds. I was pretty sure I had Demon's Souls number. I was wrong.

The ads for the game say it all. "Your enemies outnumber you. They're bigger, and they're stronger." No matter how good you are, how slow you take it, how carefully you proceed, you're going to die. Demon's Souls will punish you for the slightest misstep. I have yet to play another game where the first 5 enemies in the game can easily kill you. They will block your attacks, counter, and take advantage of any weakness. They'll gang up on you, knock you down, and crush you. You WILL die countless times to what other videogames would consider the easy "training" bad guys, to say nothing of the massive, seemingly-impossible bosses. So why play it?

Because when you beat these skilled, difficult foes, it feels FANTASTIC. You actually feel as though you've accomplished something. You'll know 100% that it was your skill and patience that allowed you to win. After dying many times to the second boss, I finally eked out a nail-biting victory, and I felt like I'd won the lottery. This is what it would feel like to actually fight a horde of demons.

You'll literally have to step away from the game just to get a break from your pulse racing at 300%.

I only have a few minor gripes about the game:

1. It's often very, very dark. Like so dark that it's hard to see anything, much less the 3 guys appoaching from the side to kill you. You can turn the brightness up, but it's often just a dark, murky, hard-to-navigate game.

2. The targeting system is very difficult to master. You press down on the right stick to target an enemy, and once you've targeted something, you can move the right stick to switch targets. The problem with this is that you're very often running or backing away from enemies, and you also need that right stick to move the camera. I've died many times just because I stayed locked on the wrong baddie.

3. Learning what items do and how your gear's stats look is often frusterating. Demon's souls uses an large number of symbols to represent many stats in the game, and deciphering exacly what the stats are on a piece of equipment often feels like translating from greek to russian.

Don't let these things dissuade you from this game, though. It's worth a purchase, and amazingly addicting. Buy it.

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From the reviews I read about this game, I was a little worried that I would find it frustrating. Once I finally played it, I was hooked. This game is challenging fun.

This is a RPG in the sense that you create the character and the game puts you in the world. It has all of the archetypes you would expect in a standard fantasy RPG: Magician, Soldier, Priest, Thief, etc. However, your starting class just determines your starting equipment, spells, and stats. From that point on, your character's advancement is up to you. You could put points into your magician's strength and dexterity, give him armor, and make him a combination fighter-magician, or pour all your souls into magic and intelligence for a pure fireball-tossing archmage.

There is not much of a story and no dialog trees, so if you desire a strong narrative in your RPGs, you might want to look elsewhere. As a pure dungeon crawl, though, it is nearly perfect. You are in constant fear for your life, yet, if you take your time, be careful, and pay attention to your surroundings, you can get through most everything unscathed. Familiarity with a level can help you get through quicker, but I never felt that memorizing a level was required to survive.

Theoretically, it is possible to make it through the entire game without dying, but it is not very likely. However, I never felt like my deaths were cheap or unfair. The punishment for death is the need to reclaim your souls (used as both experience and currency) from where you died, and rarely do the challenges seem insurmountable. Due to the challenging nature of Demon's Souls, each completed level feels like an accomplishment. Nothing is handed to you on a silver platter.

You can quit and save at any time, but you do start back at the beginning of the level if you die (i.e. there are an infinite number of "save points," just no checkpoints). However, many of the levels allow you to open shortcuts as you advance through the level. For example, in the first level, the end boss is very close to your starting point, so once you open the gate, it is easy to get back to the boss if you die.

I was originally reluctant to buy Demon's Souls, but if they come out with a sequel, I'll be purchasing it on day one.

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Having spent just several hours with this game, it is already difficult to describe. It's difficult. Actually, no, it's punishing. No...in fact, it can be maddeningly infuriating at times. It is also a complete blast.

I don't want to write an essay. In short, though, Demon's Souls is an action/RPG which is a bit like a combination of a 3rd-person adventure like Uncharted, a hack-n-slash action/RPG like Diablo, with the required thoughtfulness in swordplay of the original 2D Prince of Persia (you have to be an old-schooler to remember that one).

The game is difficult, but veterans of the 8-bit days will find the difficulty somewhat nostalgic. The game does not simply restart you unscathed 15 seconds from where you kicked the bucket. Rather, you have to start the level from scratch, and to regain your earned currency (which you earn by killing enemies, and use to buy improvements for your character), you must fight your way back to your corpse in spirit form with half of your health. Die before you get there? Kiss that currency good bye. The game is FAIR, though. You have the option of running, at your liberty, to the beginning of the level and exiting to the starting area to spend your winnings, so that you can return all-the-more powerful. When you feel like you are pushing your luck and the level is outgrowing your character skills, it's time to heed that advice. Of course, this IS a dungeon crawl game, so when you come back the enemies will have returned. Think of it as more souls (i.e. money) to be made.

It helps to go into this game EXPECTING to be in spirit form more often than not. The game assumes you will die a lot. In that sense, one should avoid frustration over death. It's a natural part of the game.

Battle must be approached carefully. Running in and hacking mindlessly will only tire out your character, and likely result in an unceremoniously awkward death to even the most bottom-rungs of the enemy food chain. You must work with your shield, your footwork, and given the right character your magic and ranged weapons to succeed.

All of this alone makes for a fantastic experience beyond any action RPG offered in this generation of games. What makes it a slam-dunk are the online aspects. The single player game takes advantage of your internet connection (though you can opt out by signing out of your PSN account). You will see occasional apparitions of other players fighting through the same level you are. Further, before long you will obtain an item that will allow players to invite you into their games to assist them. Later, a more sociopathic ability is obtained: the ability to break into another player's game, without their consent, hunt them down, and kill them. Either provides a bit of a "shortcut" to regaining your body, with the further effect of easing/intensifying the difficulty of the world around you...helping people "lightens" the world, harming them "darkens" it.

On top of this, the ability to examine bloodstains to view apparitional replays of other players' deaths is fantastic and adds to the feeling that you're not dealing with this alone. The game punishes EVERYONE, and they are struggling with you, and it will prove it via these replays.

This is no quick game. Reports from those who have played the imported non-US version claim play times of 80+ hours to conquer the game for the first time...nevermind 2nd and 3rd playthroughs, which supposedly come at a higher difficulty.

All that said, it is not impossible. In my very first shot at it, I actually survived for a good half hour in the first non-tutorial realm without dying, and when I realized this, I quickly found my way back out and spent my winnings to upgrade before I went and got myself annihilated (and make no mistake...I did shortly thereafter). That is what is fantastic about this game (so far for me at least): if you respect it, play conservatively, and don't do anything you wouldn't try in real life, you CAN have a reasonable chance at survival. Stay on your toes, don't push your luck, and survival IS possible. Often death is simply a result of a lapse in attention or a reckless decision. If, on the other hand, you approach it like you would, say, "God of War" or just about any other action game from this generation, you WILL pay a price for your stupidity. And it's wonderful.

Just to wrap up: the graphics are nothing short of what you'd expect in a top flight PS3 game. The sound is amazing...I have never wanted surround speakers so badly. And, as I mentioned, the gameplay is phenomenal.

My only warning: casual gamers need not apply. Do NOT approach this game unless you like a challenge.

Looks like I wrote an essay, after all. It could use some editing, but I have some playing to do.

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Unlike its predecessor the PS3 hasn't been known for its extensive library of great RPG games however, in the last couple of years titles such as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Dragon Age: Origins, and the PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls looks to change all of that.

Demon's Souls might not appear to be anything special but like the old saying goes "don't judge a book by its cover."

Demon's Souls puts you in the dark fantasy themed Action-RPG world of Boletaria, a kingdom that has crumbled, been besieged by demons, and where the sane have become insane and have allied themselves with the horrors of the land. This game is classic good versus evil and though the story might again not seem like anything special it is portrayed very well and it eventually all comes together.

The game's difficulty at some points can be punishing but once you get the hang of how things work experienced RPG fans will find Demon's Souls to be quite rewarding.

The main object of Demon's Souls is to slay demons and collect demon's souls which are the unusual currency of Boletaria. You can use these collected souls to buy weapons, armor, items and even spells but once you die in demon's souls you lose all of your souls and start from the beginning of the level though you do have the chance to find your body and reclaim your lost souls.

Once you start a new game you will not only be able to choose from 10 classes but you will be able to fully customize the look and name of your character and there are several customization options. You also have the freedom to take your character in any direction you please because the classes only dictate what stats and equipment your character will start with. Once you complete or skip the tutorial (it is highly recommended that you play through the tutorial) you will find yourself in the Nexus, a sort of hub world where you will first be in "Soul Form". Throughout the game you will discover two forms in which your character will either be in, these are body and soul form. While in body form you have max health and you can active glowing blue runic writings which appear on the ground known as "Soul Signs". You can use these to summon Blue Phantoms while online (co-op). These phantoms are in soul form but once you and your ally or allies have destroyed a lead demon your phantom friend will be revived to body form and he will return to his or her realm. Now it sounds like being in Body Form is the way to be however, Black Phantoms (Player versus player aka PvP) can invade your game randomly and once there they will try to assassinate you because your death is their body form revival so be careful when you get an onscreen warning that you have been invaded. Soul form is a little different than body form. While in soul form your HP is halved however, you do more damage and you can join other players' games as a Blue Phantom and attempt to get revived, or you can enter a player's game as a dreaded Black Phantom. Now back in the Nexus you cannot be invaded by a Black Phantom and you cannot summon a Blue Phantom, it is sort of a safe haven and where you can enter 1 of the 5 worlds through portals called "Archstones". Each of these worlds are vastly unique and feature their own environments and enemies and each world features plenty of hours of play time.

Now this game can have a crushing difficulty but if you are playing online there things that can aid frustrating players such as Blue Phantoms, which I talked about earlier, bloodstains, messages and apparitions. Bloodstains show the location of where another player has died and if activated they will show the deceased player as a red apparition in his last moments offering a warning to players online that danger is around. Messages are glowing pink runic writings found on the ground which are similar to Soul Signs. These are left by other players and offer hints but always beware because some messages may be false. Last but not least are apparitions which are players from other realms in a ghostly form who fade in and out between your realm and theirs. Sometimes watching them can provide helpful hints. Online Demon's Souls is definitely a bit less hard and a lot more fun but offline or online any RPG fan will find that Demon's Souls is brilliant masterpiece RPG and is a proud and welcomed edition to the PS3's library.

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It's easy to be turned off by this games. It has no checkpoints or difficulty settings. It's more of a throw back to the old days of Nintendo where you had bragging rights for beating a difficult and short game with no checkpoints.

Old Nintendo method:

Short level design, unforgiving and no checkpoints.

This old method was dropped by developers for obvious reasons. There are better and well established ways to make a game challenging and accessible for a larger audience. Ways that conform to different peoples lifestyles, attention span and ability levels. They could have even designed an infinitely scalable difficulty setting and created a leader board for it.

PS. That was my idea if it shows up in the next release :)

Demon's Souls killer flaw is it's inflexibility in the user experience.

Just like Donkey Kong, I can see how a niche are drawn to this style.

Here's an analogy that works for a lot of people.

Remember the few GTA4 missions where you had to drive forever and then kept failing the mission?

Well, the missions (tough parts) are harder and the travels (easy parts) are longer (eyes glazed over) in Demon's Souls.

I always dreaded doing those missions and Demon's Souls takes this to the extreme.

Repeatedly work your way to a certain point in the level, die on a tough part, repeat.

This analogy accurately represents my experience with Demon's Souls.

If you do attempt this game, a wiki or walkthrough is highly recommended to reduce repeating the levels over and over and over.

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Demon's Souls is a mess of wonderful contradictions. It is punishing but fun. It is simultaneously complex (the depth of customization) and simple (there are only two attack buttons). It is refreshingly new, while borrowing features from many other games.

Much has been said about the difficulty of Demon's Souls. This is certainly not a game made for the casual Wii or iPhone gamer. Hours of continuous play are recommended. Death (and subsequent rebirth) is absurdly common. There is no saving, and no pausing. This. Game. Does. Not. Love. You. But you will love it.

Nevertheless, all things must be taken in context. The frequent death and dying is a part of the game. Your character is not the only person who is gaining experience -- you, the player, are also continuously developing skills. Even when the character dies, losing all his experience (aka "soul") points, you are learning how to play the game better.

Combat in Demon's Souls is surprisingly deep for a game that features only two attack buttons. It is also paced far more slowly than most games. There is no button smashing here. You have time to think about your attacks, and you better. It has been said elsewhere that when you die, you realize that it is your fault, and not the game being unfair. Rarely is it the case that there is nothing that you can do. The pacing always gives you time to think, and there is usually a good solution to any problem.

Demon's Souls combat focuses on distance and timing, and managing your stamina and magic resources. All but the lowliest foes can kill your character in a few hits, and even the weaker ones can bring you down if you get sloppy. In combat, there are a lot of different things that you can do, and all the options seem well-balanced. There's no single move that you're going to end up spamming, and none that are utterly useless.

As I've said, you die a lot. Much of this happens in combat, but it's easy enough to fall off ledges that I get nervous when there's no equivalent of a railing. When you die, you leave a bloodstain, lose all your unspent soul points, and start again at the beginning of the level, with all enemies restored to life. These soul points are used to buy equipment and to improve your character. Since you don't run into too many merchants mid-level, and cannot level up until you return to the home base, this loss can be quite painful. Fortunately, you can recover these lost points by returning to where you last died, and touching the bloodstain. Beware, however: if you die again before reaching your bloodstain, you leave a new bloodstain, and the old one is lost!

Thus, as you progress through a level, you will typically be careful the first time through, and positively nervous on the way back to picking up your bloodstain. It can be tremendously frustrating to lose points in this manner, and the tension one feels on the way to one's bloodstain can be overwhelming. That, coupled with the need to replay a section of the game over and over, will turn off many casual players. However, for more hardcore gamers, this will create a sense of challenge that is rare to experience in this day of quick autosaves.

The graphics don't immediately impress, but they are actually very nice, with no inconsistencies like the odd jagged model or grainy texture. The longer you play, the more lifelike it seems. Sound design and music are effectively atmospheric. Dialog and characterization are very sparse, but effective and non-cheesy when encountered. There's plenty of game content -- I'm only about halfway through, and I've been playing it extensively since it came out in North America.

The online features are quite interesting. You can occasionally see faint wisps of other players running through the same area. Other players' bloodstains will appear in your game, and you can touch them to see the last moments of their owners' lives. You can also leave each other messages selected from a large (but by no means comprehensive) set of templates. If other players 'favorite' one of your messages, you regain health. A very nice incentivized system.

In addition, it is possible to play with or against other players. You can leave a marker that will allow them to invite you into their game instance, or invade other players' instances. Co-op play is fun but anonymous, with only a set of canned gestures to communicate. Adversarial play, where you invade another player's game to steal some experience, is very tense and fun. There's nothing like getting a message that another player has invaded your world...you'll feel the goosebumps, waiting to run into them around the next corner.

There are a few aspects of Demon's Souls which are less than user-friendly. Some of the symbols used to describe weapon stats are bizarrely unexplained, as is the precise role of various statistics. It would be nice if I could play co-op with a specific friend, although this may be disallowed due to game balance issues. Being able to pause would be nice, although if you've cleared out the local enemies, it's usually pretty safe to walk away from the console indefinitely. But these are a few quibbles against an otherwise instant classic.

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Pros:

Fully customizable character design

Unique hint system

Upgradeable weapons

LARGE replay value

Online gamers can offer their help against tough bosses

Cons:

Online gamers can also invade your game and kill your player

Instruction manual is not descriptive enough

No pause option

No chat option

PS3 exclusive

Well folks, here it is. After completing the game with 112 hours of accumulated playtime and 108 soul levels earned, I'm finally ready to review Demon's Souls. This game is very enjoyable, and sometimes very patience-testing, and I will say with no hesitation, it is DEFINITELY a worthwhile investment of your hard-earned money.

PLOT:

The plot is simple enough - the far away kingdom of Boletaria has been enveloped by a strange fog. From this fog come demons who desire nothing more than to kill humans and claim their souls. Many warriors have gone to try and lift the curse, but none have returned. Now it's up to you, brave warrior. Will you be the savior of the land, or will the demons claim another victim?

GAMEPLAY:

Once you start playing, you'll discover that this is no ordinary role playing game. If you play in human form, your strikes and magic do less damage. If you play the game in soul form, your strikes and magic are more powerful, but your life bar is cut in half.

As you play through the game, you can gather demon's souls for currency - weapons, spells, miracles, healing herbs, armor, it's all the same currency in Boletaria. If you are playing in a world and get killed, all your demon's souls are now at the bloodstain where you died. If you make it back there and touch your bloodstain, all those sweet souls are yours. If you die on the way, those souls are gone forever and your wallet is empty.

There are some online features here that I've never seen before. After playing for a little while, I saw writing on the ground and when my character passed over it, it said "Beware of the dangerous foe ahead". I was very cautious from this point and eventually I saw a bloodstain on the ground. When I touched it, I saw a blood-red visage of another character rolling backward through a doorway, swinging their sword a few times, and then dying. From this, I figured out an ambush was waiting for me in the next room.

Wow - talk about helpful, I was given two ways to avoid a premature death: a written message and a blood-smeared warning. Awesome!

You can also leave messages for other players to warn them of danger - if they find your message helpful; you earn a healing boost. This can help out BIG TIME during a boss battle, let me tell you!

COMBAT:

One thing Demon's Souls will teach you is variety. Monsters will not attack the same way in all worlds. They will exhaust your stamina, or poison you, or simply try to cleave you from neck to navel. You will have to keep on your toes to survive. You can dodge by rolling, or time a perfect riposte, but you can't button-mash your way to victory.

Now we've all been there - we planned accordingly, brought enough healing items, even watched online videos to train up, but somehow we just can't beat the next boss. This is where the "help" option comes into play. Instead of throwing your controller across the room, throw a blue stone on the ground - you can summon up to two other players to defeat that boss. Rock on!

Now if you're one of those gamers with a lot of confidence, there is one boss battle with a delicious twist: if you play online, YOU WILL BE FIGHTING ANOTHER PLAYER...THEY _ARE_ THE BOSS.

Yep, you read that correctly.

WEAPONS/SPELLS/MIRACLES:

Your weaponry is virtually limitless in Demon's Souls. Knives, rapiers, broadswords, clubs, spears, crossbows, maces, and many more. You can create more powerful weapons by collecting various ores from the 5 worlds you explore. Your options also cross over into the magical - you can learn protection spells for your character, or conjure clouds of poison to slowly turn your enemies into worm's food. There are miracles to flee back to the nexus, or summon God's Wrath to lay waste to your foes.

Some upgradeable weapons/miracles/spells are not available unless you have the right demon's soul, so this means you'll have to play through the game a few times to get all those sweet, tasty goodies.

WORLD TENDENCIES:

While playing Demon's Souls, the worlds you inhabit can change from your actions. For example:

If you kill a demon boss, that pushes your world tendency toward white.

If you are in human form and die, that pushes the world tendency towards black.

There are some enemies and game events that are only accessible during certain world tendencies.

Sometimes the game's server throws events for us. Atlus threw all 5 worlds into pure black (the hardest difficulty) for Halloween of 2009 and before Christmas they changed all 5 worlds to pure white (easiest difficulty). While these events helped some gamers, I'm sure some committed themselves to an insane asylum.

CHARACTER TENDENCIES:

In addition to the worlds changing, your character can become good or evil with certain actions. For example:

If you kill other online players that invade your game, your character tendency goes toward white and your attack power will increase.

If you kill other players by invading their game, your character tendency goes toward black and your hit points will decrease.

There are certain events that only occur if your character tendency is at full white/black.

TROPHIES:

The trophies in Demon's Souls cover the full spectrum of difficulty. Some are given for creating the best weapon with rare ores, others are given for defeating bosses, and others are given for learning all the spells/miracles. A regular game from start to finish will usually net you about 17 trophies, but there are 38 total - and this vastly increases the replay value for the trophy-hungry crowd (like me!).

CONS:

Even with a game this amazing, innovative and addictive, it does have a few faults.

It's very annoying to finish fighting a boss and be returned to human form when all of a sudden, you're thrust into battle with another player with better weapons and spells that mops the floor with you. Of course, if you play in offline mode, this won't happen.

The game's instruction manual doesn't go into NEARLY enough detail, but fear not, it references the official website which has wiki entries on every subject imaginable.

Like many gamers, I am used to taking bio-breaks during my gaming sessions, but Demon's Souls doesn't let you drop your guard that easily. The best option is to clear an area of enemies and then do your business. Don't try this in human form while online; you never know when your game could be invaded!

The lack of a chat option is really the only gripe I have. Inviting players with the blue stone is a fantastic feature, but without a chat option, you're forced to send messages to each other - and let me tell you, you can't be doing strategy planning while the False King is trying to separate your head from your body!

Finally, I have to say it...while this is one of the great PS3 exclusives, I feel the very large gaming demographic of Xbox and PC gamers are truly missing out. I hope that Demon's Souls 2 will be available on other platforms, because everyone deserves the chance to play a game this fun, this frustrating and this rewarding.

If you're only a casual RPG gamer, you can take your time and enjoy Demon's Souls to the fullest. If you're a hardcore gamer or a trophy nut, you'll love, love, LOVE this game and find yourself playing it over and over.

Special thanks to Adam, AJ, and the countless people who left online messages which saved my butt a thousand times over!

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Demon's Souls is a title reserved for those in the gaming community who relish the idea of enemies being your enemy. What I mean is that the game is criticized and praised universally for being difficult, when it merely wants to show you that you are a human. When you see that gigantic dragon whipping its tail back and forth, tantalizing loot underneath its swings, you don't say "hey, I'll just go pick it up, no problem!" The game makes you feel as if you are your character, as if bad decisions have consequences instead of a few taps of X (or in this case, R1) to get out of. What's important to note about this game is that it really isn't that tough until New Game+, when enemies suddenly have 3 times the health that they did, because it's just fair. If you want the game to be hard, you can make it hard in 3 steps:

1) Forget your shield. Who needs it? You're invincible, you play GAMES!

2) Take on all comers. Remember those scenes in Chinese martial arts movies when the good guy is surrounded by 8 guys? It works superbly.

3) Run headlong all the time into everything, slashing wildly. This is no time for metered attack and defense, you should use up all your stamina instantly regardless of your environs.

If you approach the game with patience and planning, you will find it is not as challenging as you've heard. It's really quite easy for the most part, you just have to respect your enemies.

However, there are some fine points about the game that I really hate. The first is the camera. Usually the camera is great, but in a game like this where you can be brutally slaughtered in a few moments of not being able to see yourself, it becomes a real onus. Secondly, the farming for ore via crystal geckos is a fine idea, but sometimes shoddily executed. Making a pure Darkmoonstone drop from 2 sets of geckos on a % chance to drop is the worst idea they didn't cut. Requiring what could be near-infinite playthroughs of the entire game to acquire one item is just lazy game design. The final problem I have with the game is the way the weapons never feel that different from one another. You have your heavy weapons, requiring most of your stamina per swing; your medium weapons, allowing 3-6 swings on moderate stamina; and your daggers, the only weapon that has any speed whatsoever. This makes for an evolution of combat that is dull and ponderous rather than exciting and fast-paced, because you're limited by what weapon type you prefer so drastically. The game alludes to switching various weapons out to be more effective against certain enemies or in certain environments, but really you can just take your dagger out and slash your way through the game with no difficulty.

Aside from these relatively minor setbacks, Demon's Souls is a fine outing for a new IP and one I hope can be polished and returned to in some sequels. I'll be preordering the next one for sure.

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Ok so first of all I had no clue what this game was or what it was about until a week ago. The only game that was on my radar was Uncharted 2, and when I saw Demon's Souls pop up on the Amazon Ps3 top 10 I decided to look into it. Everyone keeps saying how hard it is and after playing it for 3 days I can certainly agree. However, the game is so rewarding if you stick with it. I am a big first person shooter fan (dont ask how much time ive spent on Halo 2 and 3) but this game has definitely won me over. For example, the second level I spent almost an entire day just trying to get through and then kill the boss at the end. After beating him, I collected enough souls to power up my guy and now guys I had struggled with in that level die with just two hits.

Pros:

Very Hard so you will get your moneys worth

Lots of things to upgrade

Incredibly intense and satisfying

Neat online incorporation

Very cool graphics

Boss battles are thrilling

Cons:

Can get frustrating to the point you want to break your controller (but stick with it!)

The lock on can be frustrating at some points. It either wont lock on when the guy is clearly infront of you, or it locks on to the wrong enemy

I highly recommend this and if you are someone like me that has been looking for a fun challenging game that will last a long time than this is it...also it has a New Game + which I feel all games should have.

Have fun!

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If I wrote a review based on my first hour or 2 of the game it probably would only be one star - 2 at the most; But if you can get through the frustration in the beginning and understand what the game is about, this may be the most addicting game ever created. Games like God of War are fun, but there is no way you will put in 100's of hours in those types of games. You can easily spend that many hours on Demon's Souls, you will get your money's worth. I am no hardcore gamer at all, I'm the first person to go to a cheat site if I get too frustrated, but for some reason I am avoiding such sites and want to accomplish this on my own...thou I'd be lying if I said I didn't get some hints or strategies here and there.

Don't be discouraged in the beginning; if you do you will not find this game enjoyable, once you understand the learning curve you will be hooked.

To sum it up: A game you will love to hate in the beginning but then will change to hate to love because it can be that addicting.

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I really got into Demon's Souls, I'm excited to report that it makes a really good first impression. I can't speak to the story, I just skip all of the cutscenes, but I love the visceral gameplay. I needed to "feel it" for myself to get it, but the rhythm of a well timed parry with my shield and quick counter attack that does an instant kill is so satisfying! The fighting has such a great feel to it, they nailed those "30 seconds of fun", that I didn't mind dying and needing to repeat from the beginning.

Each enemy is formidable enough to kill you if you aren't paying attention, and it is that much more rewarding when you take them out. I can understand that this game isn't for everyone, there is a lot of failure and retrying. However, I've been playing it more like an arcade experience, enjoying each individual encounter, rather than a grind trying to progress through to the end. The foreshadowing provided by notes left by other players, as well seeing replays of prior player's deaths is also a really innovative idea.

Demon's Souls is old school... For example, the modern Ninja Gaiden gives you more lives, continues, and save points, and even has a concept of difficulty settings, but many players came away from that game feeling it was too hard. Demon's Souls has none of those modern conveniences. If you die, you go back to the beginning of what seems like a long stage (shortcuts appear though, and once you become a better player, each individual fight takes less time).

The fighting mechanic is solid, and I'm only dying when I make a mistake, not because I'm overwhelmed with the number of enemies. It has a very "gamey" feel to it. All of the enemies spawn from the same locations. Like a 'shmup, there is a bit of memorization. Every time you die and subsequently attempt the stage you will get a little bit further because you know what is around the corner. Now, with the notes people are leaving you, if you are clever enough to figure out what the previous player meant when they wrote it, you could learn from them rather than your own failure & restart.

I rented this one first from GameFly, but I chose the "KeepIt" option after about 6 hours of play - it had me hooked. With this recent price drop to $30 though, new players can buy it cheaper new than I got my used copy for! This is very unique, some of the best gameplay available on any platform.

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I played different kinds of action rpg since diablo and this is as good as diablo. I bought this game with red dead redemption and I never have a chance to finish red dead redemption because of this game. I am currently on sl150 in Ng++ and still playing. There are many different armor, weapon and magic that you can learn and create the unique character. If you decided t o buy this game take time to do some research online so that you can have a good build. The manual is incomplete.

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