Now of course, FromSoftware aren't actually the one's behind the wheel for this particular remake, that goes to Bluepoint games, (the professional remastering company, it feels like) and with that comes some hard to swallow truths I need to come to terms with. Firstly, it's very unlikely that there will be anything actually new in this Demon's Souls remake, in fact, I've already read one apparent expert on the game who said that everything he's seen so far is literally exactly the same as the base game. (Save one tutorial about wall hopping which was absent) Now whilst that should be serviceable as those who played it sing Demon's Souls' praises, FromSoftware's craft has really be finely tuned and improved upon through the years of Dark Souls games, Bloodbourne and Sekiro; it's a little disappointing to have to go back. Although in that same vein it is also a little interesting to see where all this genre-creating genius spawned from, so I'm a little of two minds about this.
Not so long back we got ourselves a little bit of a deeper dive into the gameplay of Demon's Souls thanks to the PS5 conference. That's right, no more trailers and pretty screens; actual honest to goodness gameplay! Of course, this was gameplay from someone who apparently likes to turn their HUD off for some reason, and who keeps the camera in an odd drifty angle, (then again, maybe the camera is supposed to be like that, I don't know) but it's all gameplay none-the-the-less. Watching it all I must admit that whilst the graphical fidelity look gorgeous and the thematic tonality seems to practically ooze off the screen; they could have chosen a more exciting segment to demo. What they showed off was literally the tutorial segment on the lead-up to the first boss of the game, Vanguard, who they lose too! We didn't even get to see the Dragon God in action (right after that boss) and see the origin of where FromSoftware got their 'lose in a cutscene' bone from. (Sekiro thanks you, I guess.)
Also, I'm not the only one pointing this out but it did ring a little hollow (badum-tish) in the way that they played through the demo with some sort of 'one hit kill' godmode on. This is a Souls game, right? Save your heroic demo theatrics for the impressive 'Spiderman: Miles Morales' walkthrough, these games were literally built on the bones of concepts like struggling, hardship and overwhelming failure. And sure, they went the distance and died stupidly against the first boss, "there's your 'Souls'" but it still just rubbed me the wrong way, is all. I mean I know I'm harping on about this, but Souls isn't just defined by hard bosses but the mobs along the way who can be overwhelming or whom whittle you down on the bitter path. Reducing them to briefly glanced sword fodder speaks to an inherent misunderstanding of the source material... but now I know I'm reading into this too much, I should get back on topic.
One of the natural consequences of a remake that occurs so long after the original is that technology has progressed to such a point that sometimes straight adaptations won't do, meaning it can be interesting to see the way themes mould and shift to meet different standards. The side-by-side screens we have seen tease some environmental details that lean more into explicit Gothic than perhaps their predecessor's did, which seems more in keeping with FromSoftware's later titles. Big impressive lighting structures where before there was pitch black, dramatic weather effects where before there was but a foreboding sky and a slight redesign of Vanguard that seems to make him look more like the Asylum Demon than the large toothed creature of the original whom I've read one call almost Lovecraftian.
It's tempting, as a veteran of the franchise, to merely discard the idea of this remake and wait until the next FromSoftware title Elden Ring, (Whenever that is) but those who have never touched it may be interested to look into some of the unique, arguably even unburnished, quirks of the spiritual predecessor. There are some systems which, in the right circumstances, has the potential to make the game harder if you die, a shifting world state the reacts to the actions you take (As exciting as that sounds, I doubt there's much nuance to those actions beyond "kill this innocent NPC for no reason" and the world state itself just adds more phantoms) and cryptic almost nonsensical dialogue. (Oh wait, that's in every Souls game. Apart from Dark Souls 3, I'd argue, those NPCs seemed to be oddly straightforward. Or maybe I just got used to them.)
In truth, the only issue I have with Demon's Souls remake comes down to policy because, yet again, this is a horse pulling Playstation's exclusivity-intoxication bandwagon. All we have to look forward to is a potential PC release that was revealed in the trailer and then vehemently denied by Sony. They called it a 'human error', which says to me that they've literally just bare-faced lied to all of us and there is a PC release coming that they are intentionally misleading folk about in order to pigeon-hole them into a PS5. (Afterall, they did the exact same thing for Death Stranding) And this is why I hate exclusivity, it's not about winning people over with better policies, substantial quality of life incentives and clever marketing, it's about forcing people and, sometimes, literally lying to them. It's a practice I hate being heavily pushed by a company who I really want to respect, but who have been making that very tough these past few months. (And Demon's Souls impressive remake is caught up in it.)
As someone who has never played Demon's Souls I will admit that this new game does intrigue me, but even with the graphical updates that allure is more to check out a relic of history than to latch onto some new content. What I mean to say is, the improvements to the look of the game hasn't hidden the way that Demon's Souls feels like a predecessor, and unless the game is ready to blow my socks off with interesting and imaginative enemies down the line I can't see this title hitting me as profoundly as a new FromSoftware game would. Honestly, it looks like a really high-budget genre-rider title, which is silly to think about considering I'm literally looking at the genre's genesis. At the end of the day, however, I still want to play it and it sucks that I probably won't get to until a year or two after launch. (Thanks for nothing, Sony)
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