No pause button. Constant, recurring death. Loss of XP. And brutal, challenging combat. Demons Souls: Welcome to the anti-casual game experience.
Did you ever play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons? I did. The fun of D&D is the sheer number of variables that affect each action you take. The weight of your sword. The height of your character. Your class. The light in the tunnel where you're fighting your adversary. The moisture on the handle. The sweat of your brow. With a strict Dungeon Master, there are countless items to take into account before each die is cast; the stats and math of the game are an attempt to craft a consistent reality. We can all play at being warriors during recess -- D&D gave us a vocabulary of consequences so that our imaginations were more firmly anchored in the moment.
Demon's Souls is a game that takes itself seriously on a Dungeons and Dragons level. A game where real-world physics meets a meticulously realized fantasy setting. The producer-developer of Demon's Souls is your DM, and he's a real stickler for the rules.
"Sure, you can take that three-foot sword with you into battle," says your DM, "but you can only swing it once every ten seconds. It will take you fifteen seconds to build up the strength to swing it again. Also, because it's so heavy, you can't run. But sure, you can take it with you."
"Oh yeah," he adds, "When you draw that sword in a low-ceilinged tunnel, you won't be able to swing it at all."
As a result, Demon's Souls will be misread as a game that punishes the player. It does not. Instead, it asks you, sincerely: What would you actually do if you were thrust into a dark fantasy world? What is it really like to be a hero?
Would you grab the three-foot sword because it looks awesome? Or would you equip yourself with a more conservative blade, and gingerly step towards your opponent with an eye on the exit?
Unless you have been around since the 8-bit days, your experience of games has probably been pretty forgiving. 8-Bit games were more punishing in part because they were shorter; developers extended the life of their titles by padding the play-time with death. A difficult learning-curve meant more time spent with a title. But when games got memory cards and save points, replay was replaced with filler content. Then, when games targeted the mainstream market, they became easier still. Now, games feature unlimited continues as a given; the length of a title is not determined by how many times you play it, but simply how long it takes to physically get from the beginning of the title to the end.
Demon's Souls, on the other hand, is as long as you are stupid. Its length will be determined by how impetuous you are. Demon's Souls does not tolerate impatience. A castle filled with sword-weilding skeletons, where flying sting-rays throw thunderous shards of stone from the sky, would not turn a blind eye to a poorly-armored idiot charging its gates. So, take your time, select some good gear. Pay attention to your surroundings. And don't run in screaming your own name. Because Demon's Souls takes itself very seriously.
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