Demon’s Souls really brings me back. Just two and a half glorious years until I grace the age of 30, some of my best days or memories when it comes to gaming come from the NES era. Back in those days, you only had X number of lives, and the only way you could check out a walk through was by stealing your neighbor’s Nintendo Power when he wasn’t looking. If you don’t know what Nintendo Power is, you are way too young for this website; that or I am getting way too old. But I digress. What I’m getting at is that video games, for the most part, have really lost their challenge factor. Now players can save games at will, and hop online while they play to read once-coveted strategy guides instead of having to learn the hard way. Well Demon’s Souls has brought the challenge back folks, and oh is it awesome.

Okay, so let’s get down to business and bust out some initial thoughts.  First of all, it’s Demon’s Souls; not Demon Souls or Demon’s Soul.  It’s tricky to say, but it’s easily fucked up.

So WTF is Demon So … er Demon’s Souls About Then?

Demon’s Souls can be classified as an action RPG, however Atlus, the game’s publisher, has gone so far as to dub it as a dark fantasy action RPG, and they would be right making that statement.  This game is dark, very dark, and not just in a I can’t see shit five feet in front of me kind of way.  Demon’s Souls, although it will make you smile, is not a happy game.  Personally I think it’s more action than RPG, but the end product (at least thus far) is very cool.

Since this title has been on store shelves for a little over a year now, I am sure you’ve heard just how ridiculously hard Demon’s Souls is, and for good reason: it’s fucking tough.  That’s probably why you haven’t picked it up yet, even though it’s brought home numerous Game of the Year awards and garnered consistently high review scores from around the industry; the question that you probably have however is will I like it? I asked myself that question for almost a year since it came out, so you and I are not so different.  My answer to you, foolio, is yes, I think you will.

You Gotta Be Handy With the Steel, If You Know what I Mean

Demon’s Souls is friggen tough.  It’s hard, and you will pull your hair out playing this game.  But you know what, it’s not hard like Ninja Gaiden for Xbox hard, if that makes any sense; Demon’s Souls is tough, but it can be mastered by just about anyone as long as you’re patient, and well, that’s about it.  Just like my man Warren G said in maybe my most requested bar song ever, Regulate (or “Regulators”), you gotta be handy with the steel, and by steel, I mean your fucking sword and shield.  Maybe moreso with the shield, because if you don’t learn how to use it you are fucked seven ways from Sunday (did I say that right? oh well).

Blocking and timing are everything, with lots and lots of patience mixed in.  Only then will you advance in Demon’s Souls, because when you die, and folks it’s not a matter of if, your ass will start all the way over from the very beginning.  Every enemy you just killed in glorious battle?  They respawn (unless you killed a boss, he won’t be there), and you get to take them on all over again.  BUT WAIT!  This is where the learning comes, because I promise you now you will know how your enemies fight, and how to quickly send them back into the depths of Hell.  I cannot tell you how glorious I felt after beating just one freaking level in this game, and the feeling of accomplishment that I got is something straight out of the 80′s, when an NES controller was in my hand and not a PS3 Dualshock whateversonycallsthatthingthesedays.

Demon’s Souls is brutally hard, but I swear to your favorite deity that anyone can master it.  And when you do, wow is it cool.

It’s Single Player, but It’s Multi Player.

What? Did You Say ‘Yeah, Sir, or Yeah, Sure’? Did I catch a “niner” in there?

Okay, so how about a little explanation?  Demon’s Souls is a single player game.  There is no “multiplayer”, at least in the traditional sense.  From Software, the developers of this bad ass game, have really revolutionized or rethought what “multiplayer” really means; let me explain.  If you are connected to the Playstation Network while you die repeatedly, over and over again, you’ll notice some weird stuff as you play.  Like ghosts.  Except those aren’t ghosts – they are actual live player movements from other players.  Even cooler, you’ll see bloodstains on the ground from where other actual players died recently, and when you select one of them with “X”, it will show you an instant ghost replay of how that dude died, helping you out considerably as a warning to remember to fucking block as you enter a new room.  A third cool aspect behind this new take on “multiplayer” are messages, which like the blood pools, can be posted on the ground for everyone to see.  Want to post a warning about what to expect in the next room?  Toss that note on the ground and notify the whole game server.  Want to fuck with people and tell the entire server that beginners should go right instead of left, because it’s the easier route, only to send them into Hell itself as a joke?  You can do that as well.

Pretty cool, isn’t it?  So no, it’s not technically multiplayer, but for a game that really makes you feel alone, it does have some very social layers to it that you’ve never seen or experienced before.  Very cool stuff.

Final um … Initial Thoughts

Tough, frustrating, but insanely fun and even more addicting.  That being said, I still cannot truthfully tell the entire beloved Glitchoris nation to purchase it, because I don’t think it’s for everyone.  I do think everyone should experience it, especially if you’re not old enough to legally purchase or consume alcohol yet, because you’ve had it way too fucking easy with your saved games and Internets.  So rent it, GameFly it, steal it, just play it.  Try it out, because I think you’ll like it.  It was named Game of the Year by multiple outlets for a reason.  Mid-game thoughts and full review coming soon.