gaming me

Demon’s Souls: the joy of dying October 23, 2009

If you have a PS3 and are a hardcore gamer, you have to try Demon’s Souls. It is a dungeon crawler that does not take you by the hand every step of the way. Dying and trying again is part of the game. And it is also the reason this game feels so rewarding.

I won’t make a review of the game or talk about its unique multiplayer. For those, you can check any of the reviews on the game, as they are all good. Instead I wanted to talk about how nice it is to see a truly difficult game on the shelves. Nowadays, even the so called hardcore games can be pretty easy. No one has any trouble getting to the end of GTA IV or Gears of War 2. Long gone are the days of trying the same level over and over again.

And that’s the scenario where Demon’s Souls comes in. It is a great game, it is really difficult and it does not feel broken. In a way, more than creating a real challenge, I believe the difficulty of the game has the capability of increasing immersion without any help from graphics or sound. In the case of Demon’s Souls it forces players to focus more, pay great attention to the environment, be careful about every encounter. Just like your character would do if it were a real person. And when you beat a level or major demon, the reward is also much bigger.

On a side note, I find it curious that platforms and business models created for casual games ended up as the media for some hardcore, old style games. Like Alien Hominid, Ikaruga or N+,  just to name a few. But that’s a different topic. For now, just go play Demon’s Souls.

See you space cowboys…