Demon's Souls is an action role-playing game released in 2020. It was created by Japan Studio and Bluepoint Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5. The game was one of the first titles available when the PlayStation 5 launched in November 2020. This version is a remake of Demon's Souls, which was originally made for the PlayStation 3 in 2009 by FromSoftware. Japan Studio's team led the development of the remake, which was the last game created by Japan Studio before joining Team Asobi. It was also Bluepoint Games' final project before the company closed in 2026. Critics praised the game for its gameplay, visuals, technical features, and improvements compared to the original. As of 2022, the game has sold 1,857,000 copies.

Gameplay

The game includes new weapons, armor, rings, and items called "Grains" that give players temporary protection against effects like poison, fire, and bleeding. Like the original game, players have limits on how much they can carry before their character becomes too heavy, though some rules about carrying weight have changed. For example, in the original game, all types of moon grass had the same weight of 0.1; in the remake, the weight depends on the type of grass, ranging from 0.1 for crescent moon grass to 6.0 for dark moon grass. Players can now send items to Stockpile Thomas instead of dropping them, which might cause them to disappear forever. A new feature called "Fractured World" is a mirror mode that flips the layout of environments. The game also adds a photo mode that pauses the game, which was not possible in the original. Filters from the photo mode, such as a "classic mode" filter that looks like the original PlayStation 3 game, can be used during gameplay. Although the Souls series is famous for being hard, Bluepoint confirmed the remake will not add different difficulty levels. The character creation feature has also been updated with more customization options.

Development

In 2016, Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of the original Demon's Souls, said that while there was interest in making a remake, the project could only begin if Sony, the owner of the game's intellectual property (IP), wanted it. Japan Studio and Bluepoint Games started working on the remake after completing their 2018 remake of Shadow of the Colossus. Japan Studio helped create the original game, and Gavin Moore, a member of Japan Studio best known for Puppeteer, led the remake project. The team aimed to stay true to the original game but made changes to match modern technology. They used the original artwork, music, and level designs as a guide to improve the game for players used to newer hardware.

The original game’s music was recorded digitally, which made it hard to update for the remake. To solve this, the team recreated the score in the style of the original composer, Shunsuke Kida, using a full orchestra and choir. The voice acting was also redone, with many of the original actors returning to re-record their lines and add new dialogue. Motion capture animations were updated as well. The game uses the DualSense controller’s haptic features to let players feel sensations, such as the impact of metal striking metal or the timing of parries. The game includes two visual modes: "cinematic mode," which runs at 4K resolution with 30 frames per second, and "performance mode," which adjusts to 60 frames per second while maintaining 4K quality. Despite earlier suggestions, the game does not support ray tracing. Although players often asked about a sixth zone hinted at by a broken teleport stone in the original game, the team chose to keep the number of worlds unchanged. At one point, the team considered adding an "Easy Mode," but they decided against it, believing it would change the game’s balance too much.

Release

The game was introduced during the PlayStation 5 reveal event on June 11, 2020. Demon's Souls became available as a game released when the PlayStation 5 first launched in North America, Australia, and New Zealand on November 12, 2020, and globally on November 19. Sony Interactive Entertainment published the remake worldwide, which is different from the original game, which was only released in Japan. A special edition of the game was also made available, including a soundtrack album and other extra items.

Reception

According to Metacritic, a website that collects game reviews, Demon's Souls received "universal acclaim" from critics.

IGN wrote, "Demon's Souls is very beautiful and plays much better than it did on the PS3. This improvement is because of the powerful graphics of the PlayStation 5, as well as useful updates and small changes that make the game easier to play in some ways, without changing the difficult challenges, clever puzzles, and unique style that made it a famous game." GameSpot added, "Despite some unusual features, Bluepoint's remake is a major success. It is a technical masterpiece that shows the power of the PlayStation 5 and Sony's next-generation console. More importantly, it is a creative achievement that proves the studio has a unique style and voice."

Game Informer noted that Demon's Souls influenced later games, including the Dark Souls series. It said, "Demon's Souls came before many FromSoftware games, and players can see many ideas from this game in the environments and challenges of the Dark Souls series. For those who haven’t played the original in a long time, this remake feels like exploring a museum, seeing the early versions of areas like Blighttown and characters like the Pursuer, which later became important parts of the Dark Souls series."

In its first week of release, Demon's Souls reached the sixth position in the UK's all-format sales charts, the fifth position in Switzerland's all-format sales charts, and the eleventh position in Japan's individual-format sales charts. In Japan, 18,607 physical copies of the game were sold during that week. By March 26, 2023, 300,682 copies had been sold in Japan. By December, the game had sold over 1.8 million copies worldwide.