What Critics Are Saying About Demon's Souls

After FromSoftware released Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, audiences wondered how the studio would continue to push the soulsborne genre forward. Few predicted the company would try a tactic as radical as giving Bluepoint Games the reigns to remake the title that started it all, Demon's Souls, for the PlayStation 5. Gamers were curious — if not outright fearful — the remake wouldn't live up to the original. And while Bluepoint stated it wouldn't change what made Demon's Souls a beloved classic, audiences had to wait for the game to launch before they could see if the studio could deliver on all its promises. According to the most recent reviews, Demon's Souls does all that and more.

While very few sites have published reviews of Demon's Souls, all have heaped praise on the game. Game Informer, for example, stated that the remake lives up to the original, all while updating it for a new generation of console hardware. The gameplay felt like a familiar friend, but Bluepoint's touted tweaks, such as changing how many healing items you can carry, didn't significantly alter the game's solo experience. The adjustments, however, completely changed how player-vs-player fights unfolded. The end result was a walk down memory lane that had received a shiny spit polish — exactly what Game Informer wanted.

TheGamer, meanwhile, was so pleased it declared the Demon's Souls remake was "the best PlayStation launch game ever." According to the site, the original framework was intact, and everything new to the game was built on the pre-existing skeleton but didn't get in the way. To that end, TheGamer praised Bluepoint's ability to improve on the original Demon's Souls with fresh animations without making them last any longer than those from the first game. All the timing burned into gamers' brains won't have to be relearned. While TheGamer was a little miffed the studio didn't tighten up any mechanical failings such as bad platforming and a few questionable boss fights, the site loved that every technical bump in FromSoftware's first Demon's Souls game was nailed down and made rock solid — especially the camera.

Both Game Informer and TheGamer praised the remake's performance. Thanks to Demon's Souls' reliable framerate and the PS5's dazzlingly-fast SSD, combat and traversal were faster and smoother than ever before, which made for a less grueling experience but didn't diminish the much-lauded difficulty.

With reviews constantly rolling in, Demon's Souls' overall score might fluctuate a bit, but the game is already off to a fantastic start.