Bluepoint Games’ new Demon’s Souls remake has quickly taken off as one of the top picks for the PS5’s starting lineup with the console’s recent launch. With veteran players transferring over from the PS3 version and some Dark Souls fans coming to Demon’s Souls for the first time, fans are quickly exploring and recording every major change made to the game.
Some of these reworks in Demon’s Souls have been somewhat controversial, but the overall experience has been dramatically improved through quality of life fixes and updated graphics. That isn’t to say that longtime fans of the original game are wrong to their opinions if they don’t approve of these changes, but many players will be receiving a more streamlined experience built on FromSoftware’s initial vision.
Many of the biggest changes to the remake are clearly the visual one’s, bringing characters like Demon’s Souls‘ final boss King Allant to new life in both forms with heavily updated character models. However, the alterations made by Bluepoint that have the most impact on the game, and hopefully the future of the series in some cases, come from simple quality of life fixes and a little extra flair added by the new developer. One of the most notable improvements would be the new ways that the player character, enemies, and NPCs move around the space and speak.
The new animations in Demon’s Souls particularly involving weapon animations, as well as the backstabs and ripostes, are a welcome improvement on the flow of movement from the original game. Many weapon attacks and even walk cycles felt stilted and unnatural in the original game, something that FromSoftware has previously improved with recent titles like Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 being examples of how expert animation should be done. Looking back at the PS3 version of Demon’s Souls now, the animations seem almost primitive in comparison to the developer’s more recent works, making Bluepoint’s reworks of the animations stand out all the more.
At the same time that these improvements make walking, running, and fighting feel more fluid and natural, Bluepoint also took it upon themselves to animate the mouth movements of NPCs as they talk to the player. It’s a small detail that shows an appreciation for the original, especially considering that the developers hired all the same voice actors to reprise their roles in the remake. Additionally, to keep the flow of combat intact with the original, the Demon’s Souls remake’s weapons have all kept the same cadence so they all follow the same rhythm as before.
This is one change that is surely among the more controversial of decisions, with Bluepoint remaking the HUD with a much more simplified style than the original game. Not only have the health, stamina, and magic bars been given a more flat color scheme with a much more simple eye design to designate Demon’s Souls‘ world tendency mechanic. Few players, even those that have fallen head over heels for the new remake, have been able to find much good to say about this new display when compared to the original.
One specific change in the HUD that upset tons of players as they first found the removal of a fan-favorite Easter Egg was the change for the Demon’s Souls‘ iconic cat ring icon. This continues the simplification of the entire HUD, trading out an icon of the cat of one of the developers for a more simple sprite that depicts the silhouette of a more cartoony cat. Fortunately the original cat is still available to be found in the credits, but many players did miss having the more charming icon appear as they equip one of the best rings in the game.
While some of these changes are somewhat controversial, others are a huge help that addresses some of the major fixes Demon’s Souls needed before the remake came along. The most necessary fix being the removal of the item burden mechanic, which Bluepoint didn’t fully remove due to wanting to keep the spirit of the original intact, but did essentially make irrelevant. Giving players the ability to send items directly to storage from both their inventory, as well as when picking the item up in the first place, trivializes item burden, and removes a frustrating old mechanic.
In the original, if a player hit their item burden limit, they would have to drop items until they were under limit before they could move again. The main issue with this is that if the player dies, returns to the nexus, or exits to the menu, whatever items that were left on the ground were abandoned and unobtainable for the rest of the playthrough. This can be increasingly aggravating when this forces players to miss out on difficult to find weapons in Demon’s Souls, like the Large Sword of Moonlight or the Dragon Bone Smasher.
Looking at difficult to find items, none are quite as impressive as the secret behind Demon’s Souls‘ new hidden door and the ongoing public quest to find the keys necessary to open it. Players have since seen behind the door and are beginning to snatch up the prize, even if it takes two to three full playthroughs in order to unlock the reward. The door itself isn’t the only new addition in this secret quest as well, with the final reward being a full set of armor from one of the game’s most iconic bosses, The Penetrator.
Completing the quest for The Penetrator’s armor is a massive endeavor as players have to hunt down Ceramic Coins all over Demon’s Souls, found in both pure white and pure black world tendencies. Fans of Bluepoint’s previous remakes might recognize this same style of extended quest from Shadow of the Colossus‘ 79 coin quest to open another secret door. Often times its the small details that makes a remake or remaster stand out against the original, especially with quality of life changes, but this kind of huge new quest is one of the reasons why Bluepoint Games excels at helming these remakes.
Demon’s Souls is available now for PS5.
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