Demon’s Souls PS5 - A product of its time
Souls-likes are my favorite genre of games. I have beaten all mainstream souls-like, including all of FromSoftware’s titles and played dozens of lesser-known games in the genre. FromSoftware is one of my favorite developers, and I even completed the original PS3 version of *Demon’s Souls*. However, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the PS5 remake. Here are my thoughts.
A good game for its time, and historically important to the Souls genre, but after playing dozens of modern souls-likes, Demon’s Souls feels noticeably dated—especially in its gameplay structure and quality-of-life features.
The areas are visually distinct, but the level design is disconnected and straightforward. There is little sense of an interconnected world, and exploration rarely feels rewarding because the paths and objectives are usually obvious.
The combat was another disappointment. Compared with more recent souls-likes, it feels too simple and lacks variety. Enemy behavior is often predictable, and many enemies can be defeated using the same basic strategies. The bosses are even more problematic: most of them are extremely easy, gimmicky, or designed around a specific trick rather than providing challenging and engaging fights. Because of that, victories rarely felt satisfying.
The upgrade system was another reason I stopped playing. Improving weapons and equipment can be unnecessarily complicated, with specific materials, upgrade paths, and obscure requirements. Some resources are difficult to obtain, and the game does not explain the system clearly, making progression feel more tedious than rewarding.
World Tendency was probably the most frustrating mechanic. In theory, it is an interesting system that changes the world and influences events depending on the player’s actions. In practice, however, it is poorly explained, inconvenient to manage, and extremely time-consuming. There is no quick or intuitive way to change it, so getting the desired tendency often requires performing repetitive actions, dying in specific ways, or using external guides. This makes the system feel more like a chore than a meaningful gameplay feature.
The game also lacks several conveniences that have become standard in modern souls-likes, such as faster progression between areas, more flexible character development, better combat variety, and clearer explanations of important mechanics. The remake looks fantastic and preserves the original’s atmosphere, but its visual improvements cannot completely hide the fact that much of the underlying design comes from an older era.
When experienced after games that refined the formula, it feels restrictive, repetitive, and unnecessarily inconvenient. For me, the dated level design, overly simple combat, underwhelming bosses, and frustrating World Tendency system were enough reasons to stop playing.
OBS: I dropped the game with only the two bosses of the poison swamp area remaining (and the last boss). I even tried go through the area but I was bored and decided to stop playing.