Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@Snatcher Yeah, Gravity Rush isn't anything like Mario Galaxy, apart from both involving concepts of gravity manipulation.

Surprised you heard people talking up the story. The first one is... well, it's sort of like a Nintendo game. The story isn't bad, but it's just sort of there. It's very gameplay-centered.

After catching up on the thread, I've been inspired to jump back into the fold myself with a recently beaten game that was worthy of the time and effort of a review..

Judg(e)ment

Version played: PS5 upgraded edition

Play time: 58 hours

Completion: Full game, all side cases, played most mini games (the game calls it 67% complete!)

Trophy completion: 72%

It's your boy, Yagami!

I may have mentioned once or twice on here that I’m a fan of the Yakuza series having finished the main series last year so it was time to finally check out the spin off series of Judgment!

Taking on the role of a completely new character, Yagami, who is an ex-lawyer who now runs a detective agency with BFF Kaito who mostly provides the muscle but Yagami can certainly hold himself in a fight (as you’ll find many many… many times through the game). He retains a close link with his old law firm where he was once the hot shot young lawyer after getting a client found innocent of murder only to find things turn sour, leading to him leaving this career behind.

No, that is what happened

The game quickly gets the story rolling with you being asked to help gather evidence by your old team to help defend a mid rank Yakuza on a murder charge and the plot quickly gather pace and intensity as you look to untangle a web of murder, blackmail, and political shenanigans. As you do.

The game does well to set up the new cast early on and like the Yakuza games there are a lot of characters thrown at you but they feel more memorable and distinct from one another seeing as it’s not just “yet another loud aggressive Yakuza boss/subordinate” for you to separate from another. The relationship with your buddy Kaito is good fun and there are a whole load of morally dubious character you’ll meet who will help or hinder your progress.

Umm.. okay?

Honestly, I think this is one of the best stories in all of the Yakuza games as it builds up really well ad has plenty of twists and turns. The game benefits from being able to tell a fresh tale without the baggage that Kiryu’s saga had towards the end. As well as the main story I also really liked the approach taken to the side missions. Instead of random sub stories, the vast majority of these are instead side cases. Some of these are encountered randomly but plenty are detective work that Yagami can pick up from a handful of places. These range from more obvious cases like tracking a potential adulterer through to slightly weirder ones like investigating a haunted apartment and then classic Yakuza ones like chasing down someone’s wig. Very few of these feel like filler and are all varied enough to not feel like you’re just doing fetch quests.

Another main feature is the friend mechanic. Throughout the game you can come across NPCs during side cases or just out and about in Kamurocho who you can befriend. This is via a whole array of tasks from finding unique items or buying gear from them through to finding cats or even answering questions about coffee. The most difficult for me involved having to win a game of MahJong under specific circumstances which meant I finally had to learn how to play the damn game. Your friends can then either give you items when spoken to, offer discounts, or even join you in random street fights. Once you get all 50 there’s a cool side case involving a number of them. It was nice additional content that again didn’t feel too onerous.

Kamurocho looking better than ever

But like all Yakuza games there is a hell of a lot of other stuff to do from the obligatory SEGA arcade games, the batting centre, and all the usual gambling games. There are some new distractions though, the biggest of which is drone racing. Your drone is used in the main story at times for gathering info but here it’s all about speeding your way round the city against a number of other drones. There are individual races but also Grand Prix covering multiple races which you will need to upgrade your drone for to have any chance of winning. I played all the individual tracks and the basic Grand Prix but was pretty much done by then.

Dating is also back but is different from before. You can meet a small number of female characters through the game who you can get into text conversations with and eventually ask on dates (like to play darts, go gambling etc) and then have conversations with afterwards. There are set events that trigger as you hit certain levels with the women and they all have their own little associated story. It all feels a bit more natural than the other games and doesn’t end up with Yagami sleeping with them like Kiryu did. The “end point” of romancing is the woman telling you her feelings and getting to that point you can actually turn them down, and Yagami does actually question himself if you agree to be the boyfriend to multiple women, although there is no penalty or rewards for doing either.

Explore the back streets solo or with your lady friend(s)

There is a lot of other similarities to the Yakuza games though with the obvious one being the setting as you spend all your time in Kamurocho (other than for very small sections of the game in limited areas or cutscenes). The city looks better than ever though, particularly on PS5 running at good old 60fps. The combat is also pretty similar with the standard weapons, quickstep, and then light and heavy attacks alongside the good old heat actions. Yagami does have his own styles and you can quickly switch between the two with crane for quicker crowd control situations and dragon for heavier hitting when needed. The XP system is thankfully one of the more straightforward ones with XP gained for almost everything and then this is simply used to purchase abilities which are unlocked as you go along or for finding items/QR codes around the city.

Despite the improvements in romancing, the game does still feel a little weird with regards to females in the game but this doesn’t seem quite as bad as the other games. It’s something I’ve not felt necessarily uncomfortable with but it does always seema bit awkward. The “Twisted Trio” are a group of perverts you take down as part of a series of side cases which at least has a bit of context but still falls into the awkward category (although the name Ass Catchem for one of them is fantastic).

An interesting job for the localising team here

There were a few other things I didn’t like in the game with one of the main ones being that the tailing missions really suck. I get that it comes with the territory as a detective but they are too numerous, too long, and just plain boring/frustrating as you slowly follow someone, occasionally diving into cover when they turn around (although the game isn’t particularly consistent with what it considers cover). There’s also the Keihin gang who pop up a bit too frequently. This mechanic sees an increased number of gangs roaming the street as well as a few mini bosses you unlock through the main story. When triggered, you get a threat level that slowly works it’s way down over time but goes down quicker when you win fights with the generic goons or even quicker if you take down the bosses. You can ignore the mechanic but you’ll still be running into more street fights along the way. Again, this popped up way more than it needed too and just became a pain (in fact, putting “Judgment Keihin gang” into google and one of the top suggested searches is “Judgment Keihin gang annoying).

Yay! A tailing mission!

Overall though I really enjoyed the game and would probably put it near the top of the list of “Yakuza” games. As I mentioned, it really benefits from not having to carry the baggage of Kiryu’s story and all the lore, characters etc that the saga contained. Combine that with a fantastic story and cast, and it really is a great game. If you’re one of those oddballs that has never played the main series, this game is a perfect way to try the series out and looks great on PS5 too. And if you’re not a fan of Japanese dialogue and subtitles, there’s even an English language option too. So really there should be only two type of people; those who enjoyed Judgment and those who need to get round to playing it.

@RogerRoger PS4 remaster.

@Ralizah I heard that from a gravity rush sub reddit LOL. How is part two 2's story? Is it better then the first?

@Fragile Thanks. I heard a few people say they didn't like the game after the Yakuza ones and I can't see how myself. I picked up Lost Judgment with all the DLC (eurgh) in a recent sale so that's on the list for later in the year.

Weirdly, this version of Judgment gave a load of bonus items which had unlimited use in battles and were ridiculously powerful. One I did use a bit towards the end rained down lightning on surrounding enemies for pretty much a one hit kill. Useful for once I got sick of the random fights.

@Snatcher Glad to see some love for Gravity Rush. I started playing it last year and enjoyed it. Never finished it for some reason (I think because I was trying to get multiple games finished in time for the PS5's launch), but I look forward to coming back to it at some point.

A real shame we'll never get anything like it again from Sony.

@KilloWertz I know, it sucks, I wish we would get more games like this from them.

@Thrillho Ace review, buddy! Although you'll have to forgive any smelling pistakes in this reply because, after seeing that penultimate screenshot, I had to go bleach my eyes. I mean, I know a picture says a thousand words, but that one asks a thousand questions, and I don't think I wanna know any of the answers!

Despite not being a fan of the Yakuza series (for no particular reason, I hasten to add; just never played any of its games, s'all) I like your description of the premise. Kinda comes across as a more mature, action-oriented Ace Attorney game, which I think I'd really enjoy! The side cases sound suitably bizarre in a fun and engaging way, too, as do the friendship events and drone races. The way you describe romance reminds me of Sleeping Dogs, in that it wasn't too overbearing; since that game was developed in Canada, though, it also managed to sidestep any unfortunate cultural weirdness.

And oh blimey, tailing missions. Don't get me started. I want to replay L.A. Noire at some point this year, but am dreading its tailing missions!

Funnily enough, that whole gang mechanic sounds like a similar issue to the one I had with TASM2 and its random crime system. At least the threat level slowly diminishes without your intervention in Judg(e)ment, so I'm sure it wasn't quite as overbearing, but it's still frustrating when a game assumes you wanna keep doing repetitive busywork, and hinders your overall progress with it. A sign that perhaps developers still haven't quite figured out the perfect balance with such things.

Really glad you enjoyed the game so much, particularly since you're such a fan of the wider series! I'm grateful for the write-up, and for the laughs! Thanks for sharing!

@Thrillho Fantastic Judgment review! Extremely well-edited and composed, and you did a great job with the screenshots. The game itself sounds like a blast, and an interesting evolution of the Yakuza formula. Particularly with the gang mechanic, more detective-y gameplay (especially with how it naturally integrates the side content, which definitely does sound better than the approach in your typical Yakuza game), etc.

"Ass Catchem" sounds like an amazing Pokemon porn parody name. I love it! Ditto with... ahem... "scrotum totem," which is about the most creative euphemism I've ever heard for that particular body part. Gotta say, with the sheer amount of weird humor, puns, etc. in Yakuza-related games, they must be a blast to localize.

I'm still gonna replay (and actually finished this time) Yakuza 0, but at this point, I'm kinda questioning if I even want to bother with games 2 - 6, when you have the turn-based Like a Dragon and the fresher action-based spinoff Judgment out there as well, both with new protagonists to play as (although I assume Yakuza 7 probably benefits at least a little bit from having played earlier Yakuza games, whereas Judgment sounds like it doesn't reference the mainline series significantly at all).

Gonna jump right into Lost Judgment, or give yourself a bit of space from the series before finishing it out?

Also, have you played the Yakuza-esque Fist of the North Star game?

@RogerRoger Thanks for reading! And yes, I did debate whether to use that image but he is the most bizarre of the members (ahem) of the Twisted Trio. But if you have ever been interested in the series but overwhelmed by the number of Yakuza games, it's a great one to jump in and try.

There are other courtroom/detective mechanics I didn't mention like having to decide what evidence to show to prove your point or using the right dialogue choices (one trophy is for nailing the final court case) so there is more to detective life than just following people endlessly.

And the gang mechanic just wasn't fun. You did get rewards for taking down the mini bosses but they were crafting materials I never used so it find a bit pointless, even if taking them on was the quickest way to get the mechanic over and done with. For five minutes.

@Ralizah Thanks to you for reading too! I did like the side case mechanic and it meant that there were a few semi-regular clients you pick up as well but it just gave a bit more structure to it all. And the Twisted Trio really are peak Yakuza for names and overall ridiculousness.

I know what you mean about the main series though. I picked up Zero as I'd heard such good things about the whole series and it was on sale. My first trophy for that was Sept 2018 and the Y6 platinum pinged in August 2021! I thought I was going to have to dig out my PS3 and find the old games on eBay to play the whole series but luckily the 3-5 remake was announced just before I started Kiwami 2. It's been a fun series to have in the library to pick up with a few other games between instalments.

So I'm not quite dedicated enough to plug in an old console for Yakuza Dead Souls and I've not heard great things about Fist of the North Star. There's also the historical setting games (with some familiar looking faces) that never got localised as well!

Like a Dragon and Lost Judgment are both on the PS5 hard drive ready to go at some point though but not quite yet..

@Thrillho Heh, honestly, no worries! It's probably for the best that you included the most extreme example of your point (...good grief, everything sounds wrong now) because it'll help curious potential players and reassure them that, if they can handle that shot, they can handle the whole game.

Oh wow, then it definitely does have some Ace Attorney vibes, for sure! That sounds pretty neat, and I'm grateful for your Yakuza layman's recommendation, too. If I could tolerate the frustrating crimes for Spidey's sake, then I'm sure I wouldn't mind the gang mechanic here, either, not as part of a new and interesting experience. I won't brush past it when browsing future sales, put it that way. Thanks!

Platform: GameCube and PS2 (later ported to PS3 and PS4; version played)
Release Date: November 2002

***

As twin suns set on The Book of Boba Fett, I've been thinking a lot about the Fett family legacy and, by extension, Boba's appearances in various videogames. For years, one of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunters only featured in cameo form, often acting as a surprise boss thanks to his apparent status as a villain (which always kinda confused me; after all, his biggest crime was trying to rid the galaxy of Han Solo, something I'd happily pay him to attempt again). Opportunities to properly play as Boba were few and far between and, outside of the LEGO games and any given Battlefront, still are.

And yet, there is a game in which you inhabit an armoured badass, tracking targets for money and chasing them down with your jetpack. Following hunts across multiple exotic worlds, you have complete access to every trick in Boba's book, and more. The whole thing's even set during the vastly superior prequel era. The only catch is that you're not playing as Boba, but rather his father, Jango.

Jango Unchained: It's the same armour, and arguably even the same man wearing it, plus the silver, blue and purple colour scheme looks way more sleek than green.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was part of the second wave of tie-in games released by LucasArts in the wake of 2002's Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and fills in some of the mystery surrounding Jango's involvement in that movie's events. Ten years previous, Darth Sidious instructs his new apprentice, Count Dooku, to find a suitable template for the Clone Army. The problem is, Dooku is also plagued by a former padawan of his, Komari Vosa, who's gone off the deep end and become the leader of a dangerous drug-dealing cult called the Bando Gora. Dooku reckons that anybody strong enough to take down Vosa would make the perfect cloning candidate, and so places an elite invitational bounty on her head, clearing his to-do list with a single, simple solution. Jango hears of the hunt, but so does his nemesis, Montross, and the pair begin to compete for the same prize, oblivious to the contract's true purpose.

The key to making such shenanigans compelling is always presentational, and Bounty Hunter excels in this department, allowing its story to shine. Temuera Morrison reprises his role as Jango, as does fellow Episode II cast member Leeanna Walsman as the shape-shifting assassin Zam Wesell. For its original characters, the game casts veteran voice actors, with Clancy Brown as Montross and Lucille Bliss as Jango's only friend and maternal figure, Rozatta. All of the audio design is handled by Skywalker Sound, whilst Industrial Light & Magic consulted on over a dozen sumptuous pre-rendered cutscenes to bookend each chapter. The results don't look as impressive through contemporary eyes but, during the sixth console generation, this was pretty much the pinnacle of interactive immersion as far as Star Wars was concerned.

Over the course of events, all the necessary fan service boxes get ticked; we come to understand why Jango requests a son from the Kaminoans, and we also help him obtain Slave 1... oh, sorry, I mean his "Firespray Gunship" (urgh). The game also appears to have inspired the production artists of today, with Jango's original ride boasting a configuration which'll look familiar to fans of The Mandalorian.

This Is The Way: Funny how this comparison is the opposite, as Mando's Razor Crest ended up being the sweet chrome-plated version of Jango's plump, brightly-coloured bucket o' bolts.

Scattered throughout most of the game's levels, Jango can detect and collect secondary bounties which have been posted on the heads of NPCs both passive and belligerent. These are fun distractions for the curious, especially when exploring the crowded streets of an urban sprawl; it's in areas populated exclusively by enemies where stopping and scanning each and every one of them becomes much, much more tedious. This mechanic is at its worst when you spot somebody who's worth more alive, but they're standing amidst a large group of their trigger-happy friends, half of whom are guaranteed to catch the other half in a crossfire as soon as they notice your presence. Claiming bounties is relatively simple (you mark them on your HUD and then, once they're captured or killed, you just run up to them and press Triangle) and reading the flavour text for each target can lead to some laughs, but it's probably a good thing that this whole feature is totally optional.

Gotta Catch 'Em All: Proof, if proof were needed, that there's nothing more offensive than a soiled public convenience, no matter what galaxy urine (bad-dum-tshh).

When it comes to action, Bounty Hunter wants to be a fast and furious arcade-y shooter more than anything else. This is evident in the fact that, even though he's clad in beskar steel, Jango can perform gymnastic leaps, backflips and standing somersaults without the aid of his jetpack. This unrealistic athleticism never stops being unintentionally hilarious but, when analysed alongside Jango's fast running speed and skittish directional movement, make sense for a certain style of gameplay. It's just a shame that said style doesn't really compliment the dark, grounded story kicking off around it, s'all.

Jango is rarely without his iconic WESTAR-34 blaster pistols, which come with unlimited ammo and no cooldown, and the R1 button can lock them on with pinpoint accuracy, fostering a temptation to simply spam anything and everything in front of you to death. It's a strategy that works 95% of the time, which unfortunately renders the rest of your imposing arsenal (sniper rifles, plasma chainguns, flamethrowers, heat-seeking missiles, whipcords and toxic darts) somewhat redundant. You're free to mix things up, of course, and later levels will test you with their overwhelming odds, but it's much more prudent to retain your fanciest weapons for the game's numerous boss battles. What these encounters lack in tactical variety they make up for in spectacle, so it feels appropriate to use Jango's best tricks to send 'em off in style.

Krayt Expectations: Despite this young dragon's clear talent for pantomime theatre, you'll still need to feed him a brace of warheads if you wanna continue.

What is kept fresh is the game's environmental design. There are six locations (three planets, a space station, an asteroid prison and a creepy, horror-esque moon) and each one is divided up into three separate levels, but then a real effort has been applied to give those levels their own unique identities, making them more memorable as a result. A trip to Coruscant starts with Jango entering the neon nightclubs of the planet's underworld, before he visits its haphazard industrial sector and ends up scaling a senator's opulent skyscraper. Tatooine temporarily robs our anti-hero of his jetpack, because flight would make a mockery of Mos Espa's maze-like layout, but then he's wearing it again in order to navigate the precarious, claustrophobic canyons of the Dune Sea.

And speaking of that famous accessory, the inclusion of the jetpack allows for some wonderful verticality in the instances where Bounty Hunter remembers that it's also supposed to be a platformer. Its usefulness is limited; the pack's regenerating fuel burns out quickly, and there's a ceiling to its elevation, relevant to wherever you take off from. This means that, when you come to a yawning chasm, you can't just tap a button to bypass it, and instead must carefully consider how to proceed. LucasArts clearly took tremendous pleasure in playing with this idea, presenting you with plenty of occasions to whisper "How the heck...?!" as you survey vast expanses of narrow walkways or constantly shifting surfaces. Sometimes, experimentation will be required, and you'll be forced to watch as Jango's jetpack (quite literally) lets him down at the worst possible moment.

Falling With Style: This is one of the game's greatest obstacles, letting you figure out how to cross by using any combination of jetpack, cargo container, support wire and controlled drops.

Alas, such trial and error isn't limitless, as you're only allowed five checkpoint respawns per level before you're forced to start over from scratch. Between this arbitrary restriction and a predilection for sneaky snipers in the fourth quarter, Bounty Hunter can become cruel and unforgiving. This further exposes its split personality, with its well-written story slowing to a crawl as you struggle to overcome a couple of bottlenecks and get Jango across the finish line, at least during your first playthrough. It's a hangover of retro pacing and structure which some might find charming, but the fact that almost all of the plot payoff is saved for the final act could try the patience of those only interested in soaking up a nice bit of Star Wars atmosphere (because, as I'm sure we're all acutely aware, losing your last life right at the end of a forty-minute slog can spark a special kind of gaming rage).

That becomes Bounty Hunter in a nutshell, then. It's an incredible boon to Jango Fett fans and, when I was younger, helped solidify his position as my third-favourite character from the entire saga, a position he still holds to this day... but, as an enjoyable action-adventure experience, it's tough to wholeheartedly defend. All of the necessary pieces for potential perfection are present, but LucasArts chose the wrong type of glue when sticking them together, leaving us with a product that looks amazing from a distance but which can, and will, break apart upon closer inspection.

There are some brilliant outtakes included as an unlockable bonus and, in one of the best, Temuera Morrison spoofs an on-set conversation with a George Lucas soundalike. He pauses, turns to the camera, shrugs and asks, "What's my motivation?"

Yes, what indeed. If only the developers had asked themselves the same question, eh?

Gun Gun Pixies (Steam. Also available on Switch)

• Playing as one of two (very similar) pixie (technically alien) protagonists, you must explore the rooms of a girls' dorm in order to learn more about Earth culture. Along the way you'll (clumsily) platform your way around collecting "Picoins" (which can be spent at the shop in the main menu on upgrades & new clothes, mainly lingerie), blasting squid-like baddies, and collect information (by examining sparkly areas in the room & by using "happy bullets" to shoot the girls in certain areas...), all while you make sure you stay out of the girls' line of vision (this can be trivialized with a tap of the d-pad, which causes you to strike a "pixie pose", becoming invisible to them even if they're looking right at you, the presumption being they see you as an anime figure).
• Each of the game's 8 chapters is broken up into three "Orders", the first two of which consist of the exploratory gameplay mentioned above. While sometimes the collecting of info is the mission clear requirement, most times you'll have to do something specific, like find a specific item, shoot a specific spot (like a window to open it), or kill all the squids. As you're graded on how many Picoins & info you gather, try to get everything before clearing the mission objective (while you're graded on time to clear as well, there's no defined time limit). Partway through you'll obtain a "Hookshot" that makes scaling the rooms easier, but from my experience there's no place you can't reach beforehand, with a well timed jump from the right spot.
• The third "Order" of each chapter is always a boss fight referred to as "Maiden Suppression". One of the girls will be overwhelmed by emotion & get lost in some sort of exercise (such as Yoga, Treadmill, or even Pole Dancing...), and you'll have to avoid the various "Auras" (different bullet types) she produces during the activity & eventually calm her down by shooting her in various "areas" causing her to go into ecstasy. There is no stealth requirement during these sections, and sometimes things are made extra hectic by the presence of the squid enemies.
• Each chapter is capped off by a bonus "Bath Time" segment, in which the "boss" of the chapter will be taking a bath and you have the chance to make some major Picoins by again shooting her in certain areas & even getting the chance to jump on & physically scrub her (which nets ridiculous Picoins). There is no stealth requirement here, and you can replay them in free play allowing you to cheese enough money to buy whatever you want in the shop (especially considering the further you get, the longer you can make the segment last).
• Essentially half the game is a visual novel (with it's fair share of translation errors), which you'll be exposed to for lengthy periods in between chapters & orders. While there is an endgame narrative revolving around a "Phantom Thief" stealing buildings, it's mostly fluff surrounding the girls & at no point is it something you'll take particularly seriously. Apparently there are different possible endings, but whether or not it's influenced by the choices you make (you'll get like one multiple choice question each chapter), by how much info you gather during the exploration segments, or by a mix of both I don't know.
• Once you complete the game you unlock a suite of options, such as a 3D character viewer, gallery of all the 2D art & videos, costumes to purchase for the dorm girls, and even the ability to disengage stealth & damage altogether.
• Also as a side note, there's one early chapter that's just a Hyperdimension Neptunia crossover.

Conclusion: It's very much a clunky "B grade" Japanese game with extremely narrow niche appeal, but that said I don't think it's as bad as the "3" NL gave it, as it's not really broken in any sense. If you like quirky Japanese games & don't mind the (very) saucy material, it might be worth a look.

@RogerRoger I had no idea there was a Boba Fett game (sort of) like this. It's pretty cool they actually featured a bounty hunting element (however rudimentary it may have ended up being),

While it does sound a bit clunky by modern standards, it also seems like they put a lot of work into making this as authentically Star Wars as possible. The puzzle-platforming with the jetpack sounds like a pretty good addition to the gameplay as well.

Also a pity they didn't balance the combat better. Shame to have so many weapons that you don't feel the need to use because your blaster can be spammed on the majority of enemies.

Great review as always!

@RR529 A friend of mine grabbed this game. It's... odd. Like Mister Mosquito filtered through the lens of a C-tier fanservice anime.

Also, it's interesting how Hyperdimension Neptunia seems to keep crossing over with these properties. Both this and Senran Kagura, off the top of my head, and probably others as well. Presumably to boost sales, since HDN games seem to sell fairly well. That IP is like the biggest fish in a very small pond.

Most of the saucy anime games NL and PS have given ridiculously low scores to are still better than they're given credit for, in my experience.

Good write-up.

🛡⚔️ DEMON’S SOULS REMAKE ⚔️🛡

Experiencing the Beginning

“A good beginning makes for a good end.”
-Louis L’Amour

True watershed moments in gaming don’t come everyday. Seminal games that completely change the landscape of our beloved hobby are rare indeed. This is true especially in recent generations where monetization and profit overshadow innovation and risk; where sequels, ‘me-too’ clones of popular franchises, and annualized reskins pepper the charts month after month.

In Demon’s Souls Remake, we have the opportunity to experience the beginning of a gaming movement. What the original Demon’s Souls game ushered in has been one of the most shifting sensations in the industry. The first in what has become a long line of “Souls” games and “Soulsborne” clones, who would have guessed in 2009 that Demon’s Souls would become the trailblazer for a new gaming sub-genre.

To be fair, the “Souls-like” sub-genre of action RPGs has actually developed in more of a gradual evolution (even now expanding into the open world with Elden Ring ) In fact, Demon’s Souls was loosely based on FromSoft’s earlier King’s Field series. Furthermore, the very intention of Miyazaki, Kajii and Co. at FromSoftware when they developed the game was to recapture some of the lost aspects of older retro games. Nevertheless, there was enough unique aspects which Demon’s Souls brought together that I believe most would consider it to be the “first” of the modern “Souls formula” gaming phenomenon.

Looking at it thusly, when I decided to play Demon’s Souls, I expected it to be rough around the edges — akin to maybe trying a chef’s first attempt at a new dish before he’s had time to experiment, adjust ingredients, and finely season the flavor. And, although this is a remake (and an excellent one by BluePoint), the unaltered core of the game has left me quite impressed. The foundation of the Souls gameplay, the intricate world building, and inventive ideas were really ahead of their time.

A Tumultuous Development

”Frustration is fuel that can lead to the development of an innovative and useful idea.”
-Marley Dias

As with most trailblazing new IP’s, development was rocky, and the project was near collapse when Miyazaki came to take over the faltering initiative. He later said that he felt little risk if he failed since the game’s development was already headed towards collapse.

Compared to other games at the time ( Uncharted, Mass Effect, and Assassin’s Creed ) which focused on blockbuster narratives and cinematics, what FromSoft was proposing was certainly a horse of a different color.

The game didn’t demo well, and was unconventional, difficult, and cryptic enough to give Sony cold feet. Apparently Shuhei Yoshida spent several hours while demoing the game and never made it out of the opening area. In fact, in the end, Sony decided to not publish the game outside of Japan (later it was picked up and published by Atlas in NA and Bandai-Namco in PAL territories). It was a decision Sony later regretted (and probably has tried to atone for with this BluePoint remake).

Of course one of the chief concerns was the game’s difficulty. Ostensibly in the early pitches for the game, Miyazaki even hid details about gameplay (such as the loss of progress upon death) due to concern Sony would force them to change the game to make it easier. Miyazaki and Kajii agreed to not reveal the unforgiving death mechanics until the game was ready to release. Yet, for the record, Miyazaki has stated his intent with the game was never to make the game hard for mere difficulty’s sake, rather to make it feel satisfying through overcoming challenge, and to foster a sense of accomplishment.

The Legacy of the Game

”Legacy is not what I did for myself. It's what I'm doing for the next generation.”
-Vitor Belfort

In the end, the final product has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades. It’s certainly not overstatement to say that Demon’s Souls is one of the most influential games of it’s time.

For starters, (interestingly and somewhat ironically) Shuhei Yoshida stated the very design of the PS4 was directly influenced by Demon’s Souls. Specifically, the share button was a feature directly related to Yoshida’s enjoyment of watching video and streaming clips of gamers playing Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. Furthermore, the game’s approach to asynchronous communication and sharing features inspired some of the PS4’s share functions.

Another aspect of the game which influenced the future of gaming was it’s use of the shoulder buttons for attacks, a new idea at the time but a mechanic subsequently so oft copied that it feels hardly novel now 13 years later.

In the end, the game has spurred dozens of imitators and homages, even creeping into huge franchises like Star Wars with Jedi: Fallen Order. It’s safe to say we may not have games with asynchronous messaging such as found in Death Stranding without the success of the Souls series.

My Experience with the Game

”You cannot write out of someone else’s big dark place; you can only write out of your own.”
-Anne Lamott

The history and accolades of the game are well documented, but but what about my review of the game?

In a word, I found the game impressive. One might even say it was monumental (😉 Easter egg pun intended). After the build-up I cited above, it would be difficult for any game to live up to such hype. Nevertheless, if anything, Demon’s Souls Remake surpasses expectations.

World Building, Aesthetics, Level Design

”Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.”
-Henry Van Dyke

For me, the most breathtaking part of Demon’s Souls is the game world. Taking place in a fictional kingdom named Boletaria, it’s swimming in ambiance. Based on a European Middle Ages backdrop, steeped in dark fantasy with knights, mages, and archers; enemies like gargoyles, slugs, underground golem-like creatures, and dragons. The game just oozes with atmosphere. Each archstone, or sub-world within Boletaria, is it’s own unique art style with each having a splendid array of dark artistic panache.

The level design is really good. It has a touch of 3D Metroidvania to it, but also has an openness whereby things can be done in varied sequences. Each archstone can be relatively linear to get to the boss, but there are a lot of side routes to take along the way, short cuts, and secrets to find. Sometimes there is more than one way to get to the boss, and if you take the quicker routes then you’ll likely miss out on a lot of the adventure. Certainly you miss some of the pick-ups, but more critically, you’ll miss out of some of the beautiful architecture, environmental nuance, and clever set pieces and enemies.

The Souls Formula

”Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.”
-Napolean Bonaparte

Much is made of the very specific gameplay recipe that has made the Souls games such a rage the last 13 years. This involves the collection of the Souls of enemies as currency, the use of these to level up and become stronger, yet the fact you lose all access to these if you die and don’t make it back to your blood spot to retrieve them. Effectively this means you have a “high risk - high reward” dilemma when fighting through a level. It is very possible to spend hours trying to make it through an archstone, only to die and have nothing to show for it. The frustration of such deaths are only magnified when its something silly like walking off a cliff accidentally.

But the Souls games have a lot more going for them than merciless game design. Somehow, the more you play, the more you want to keep exploring. The satisfaction of besting an enemy, and the elation of conquering a level boss are the dopamine junkie’s best fix.

Although the storyline was better than I expected, honestly the narrative was not compelling enough to push me forward. It was the ability to soak up the disturbingly beautiful landscape, to find satisfaction with beating enemies and leveling up, and the push to see what the next boss was like.

The asynchronous online component to the game is a key piece as well. There’s undeniably a the feeling of loneliness when trudging through a dark dungeon and fearing what cheap-shot is around each corner. Well, Demon’s Souls has a solution to your despondence. Through the genius of online communication, messages can be left by other players and these are often key to knowing the danger that lurks around the next blind spot, or the hidden treasure underneath a bunch of wooden boxes. And sometimes the messages are simply words encouragement. Not only that, the ever present shadows of other players around the world are constantly playing randomly, and you can see a blood spot where someone has died and click on it to see the last few seconds of their mortal struggle. Sometimes this helps you learn from others’ mistakes and avoid them yourself.

In addition, there is co-op. I personally didn’t take advantage of calling on other players to help with bosses or levels, but that is also available to lessen the blow of despair. The co-op capabilities apparently can really lighten your load should you find the going too tough.

Whether alone, with friends, or with random people online, the game is amazingly innovative and the Souls formula is still unmatched in how it drives players both simultaneously insane and gleeful with joy.

Replayability

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
–Winston Churchill

Yet another hook that Demon’s Souls has set in each of its fans is the near endless replayability of the game. The various classes add a variety to the gameplay, above and beyond the already built in openness with which the game can be approached. Even in the middle of my playthrough focused on being a magic wielder, I was already wondering how the game might feel if I was a thief, hunter, knight, or priest. Being one class does not lock you out of experiencing some aspects of the other classes, but each Soul point spent is a lost opportunity to spend it elsewhere, and using your souls leveling foolishly will definitely make the game harder. So you have to save some of you experimentation with skills and weapons for another playthrough.

That said, the length of the game is just about right. I could have spent more time if I wanted to, but after 60 hours and progressing to Soul level 83, I was plenty strong enough to take on the final bosses (certainly a more skilled player than me could have got by with much less of a build). There was a great satisfaction when I completed the game, and it definitely didn’t overstay its welcome. And like I say, I could have finished it sooner if I really wanted to.

PS5 performance

I think much has been said regarding the quality of BluePoint’s remake and I won’t dwell on it only to say the game performs admirably on the current gen machine. Beautiful sharp textures, stable frame rate, great audio… basically all the stuff. The haptics are well done, although the absence of adaptive triggers for anything outside of shooting the bow was disappointing. Being a mage meant I didn’t really get to experience bow and arrow combat. Ah, like I said above — there’s always the next playthrough.

I do think the load times are a wee bit longer than I expected from a PS5 game. They aren’t intrusive by any stretch, but I never felt they were particularly snappy like I’ve experienced in other games like FF7R Intergrade, R&C Rift Apart or Astrobot’s Playroom.

The Downside

”I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens.”
-Woody Allen

Speaking of disappointment, what are the game’s failings?

Well, first of all the World/Character Tendency mechanic is a bit too obtuse for its own good. I appreciate the incredible depth and variance of the game, but adding this whole piece of background trickery was just a little too much for my taste. For those who’ve not played the game — basically the world will turn more “white” or more “black” depending on actions you take. Likewise your character has a similar yet independent moral rating. Many games have used this character morality choice system (paragon vs renegade in ME, honorable vs dishonorable in RDR2, or good Cole vs evil Cole in Infamous) but in Demon’s Souls not just that but the whole game world changes based on your actions. If you move more toward a black world then enemies get harder and more demons show up. If you move toward white then the opposite is true. And, more importantly, you are purely locked out of many side quests if the world isn’t pure white or pure black. Again, it adds to the replayability of the game, but it kind of did my head in.

Which leads me to another complaint — sometimes the game is just too cryptic for its own good. Certain parts to the game really require a guide to get through or understand. For example, there is a certain boss whereby if you don’t kill an certain NPC beforehand then the boss will just continually respawn when you defeat it. The game doesn’t really tell you or even hint to this trickery. The NPC isn’t even very near to the boss. That level was one of the toughest levels to begin with and if a person isn’t using some online help, it just might drive them to the brink of DualSense destruction. If there is one thing I’d tell newcombers, it’s that you should have no shame in using the internet for this one. And when a game can’t be enjoyed without an online wiki, I’m not sure that’s entirely a good thing.

And really, the learning curve is just too steep at some parts. Even within an archstone, one can be making nice progress and just slam into a brick wall of difficulty. Likewise there is a lack of balancing from boss to boss. I’ve hung around these forums long enough to know other Soulsborne games have this ingenious design whereby some bosses are easy for some players and hard for others. One player may struggle with a certain boss where another will beat it on the first try. However, in Demon’s Souls it’s pretty common that bosses are universally hard or easy for most players.

And finally, I think the game needed more consistent and more effective shortcuts. Opening shortcuts within a level is a staple of the Soulsborne games and yet another method to help the player keep their sanity when they die in the boss fight. There was too much variance with how useful the shortcuts were and a few of the worlds had too long of a trek back to the boss. I think FromSoft might have become better at rewarding a player for opening a shortcut in subsequent games, just like they have become better at boss balancing.

Conceding to a Fitting End

”When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.”
-Tecumseh

To say Demon’s Souls is an RPG both retro and visionary is an accurate oxymoron. It’s surprising and impressive that it stands the test of time and symbolizes a milestone in the gaming domain. The Remake is an excellent way to experience this foundational masterpiece, whether for the first time, or as a returning slayer of demons.

8.5 rage-quits out of 10

@Th3solution
Excellent write up Sol, thank you. Not sure it'll convince me to play the game but interesting food for thought. I especially enjoyed the quotes you include to begin each section, thought that was a touch of class.

@Ralizah Thank you! I briefly toyed with the idea of doing "A History of Boba Fett in Gaming" but decided against it, not least because it would've caused you a giant directory headache!

I think the simple fact that Bounty Hunter stars Jango, and not Boba, caused the game to fly under a lot of radars. Even though there are plenty of people out there who still mistakenly assume that Boba is Jango, I'm surprised by how often folks lament the loss of 1313 and dream of a game based on The Mandalorian without realising that Star Wars has kinda been there already.

It's a game that sounds perfect on paper, and looks incredible on the back of its box, but that lacks a certain something in the execution. If you're a diehard fan, then you'll get plenty from it, and can come away feeling like you've inhabited a badass for seven hours.

Otherwise, it comes across feeling like an unfortunate example of how games from the sixth console generation would often allow lofty ambitions to overwhelm the available technology.

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@RR529 Great review, thanks for sharing! Admittedly it's not a game I'd ever try for myself, but that just makes it all the more interesting to read about, so I'm grateful for your fair assessment. Sounds like some thought has been put into its gameplay, which I gather is not often the case when dealing with this kind of subject matter. If a game isn't objectively broken, it definitely deserves higher than a three!

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@Th3solution Superb stuff, buddy! Love the structure of this piece in particular, with the sub-headings and well-chosen historical quotes; made it really flow, and yet also easier to digest in chunks. The quality of your writing has never been better, either! You've done the Soulsborne legacy justice!

As somebody who'll probably never play anything made by FromSoftware, I really appreciated the context and breakdown of said legacy in your opening sections. As much as some of it made me recoil in horror (intentionally concealing a game's difficulty before release only seems like a charming anecdote now because the risk paid off) I have great respect for the popularity of the challenge these games provide, and for the diversity they bring to the samey landscape of modern gaming... and heck, if I owe 'em for the introduction of the Share button, then that's an extra nod from me, too!

For the remake to surpass your expectations, it must've been something real special. Even when you're honest about things like the narrative's lack of compelling motivation, it comes with the caveat that you still found it better than you'd imagined, and I find that quite telling. The fact that you openly think about and reference future playthroughs, despite being somebody who hardly ever replays games a second time, further reinforces your obvious admiration for the experience.

And, even though you end with plenty of detail about the parts you didn't like (obtrusive morality systems would appear to be the flavour of the month in this topic!) you're right to note how we're all enthusiasts around here, and understand certain truths about certain games, whether we've played them or not. That's such an important distinction that I reckon many of us forget. You, me and a dozen other PushSquare peeps aren't gonna decide the success or failure of a game; it's up to casual gamers and the general public, people who don't know where all the best online guides are, or even that online guides exist. In that light, the runaway success of the Soulsbourne sub-genre is all the more impressive.

In fact, it's almost as impressive as your review! A thoroughly enjoyable read! Thanks for sharing!

@Sorteddan Thanks and I would definitely say that the game, although exceedingly well crafted, isn’t for everyone. But hey — there was a time when I thought these games weren’t for me, so you never know.

And I’ve always been a sucker for a good quote. Glad you enjoyed them.

@RogerRoger I appreciate your kind words and your positive feedback.

It is true that a lot of the history of the game is amusing in retrospect, but things could have easily gone south. And it’s easy to look from the sidelines after the fact and wonder why Sony dropped the ball and let the game go to other publisher initially. But for every classic that they miss out on, there’s a disaster they avert when they back out of a project. It’s just funny to look back in retrospect and think that they had a gold mine right under their feet with the Souls idea.

And part of the low expectations I had for the game stemmed from my attempt to play the first Dark Souls back on PS3. I found the lore and the narrative direction to be off-putting at the time, so I expected something even more underwhelming in Demon’s Souls. In actuality, I think I just wasn’t ready for the style of storytelling and gameplay that these games encompass. I imagine it would go better now if I tried DS1.

And I do suspect that these FromSoft games wouldn’t be in your particular wheelhouse, given the slight horror vibe they have. This game is certainly not on the level of Bloodborne as far as creepiness, but there is plenty of white knuckle fear going on during some of the levels. There are a few really disturbing creatures in the game, and one very ominous spider that I’m sure would cause some distress. But the photo mode is a pretty nice feature! I tried to take photos throughout and by the end I only ended up with about 8 screenshots. It felt like I took way more, but I didn’t. If the blasted picture uploading feature to the app was working properly then I would have included my own shots in the review, but I had to make due with grabs from the internet.

@Th3solution Oh yeah, you can't blame Sony for not being able to predict an unpredictable trend. As great as the Soulsborne sub-genre's success has been, I'd still describe them as kinda niché games (at least from a very broad, general public perspective). At least Sony are doing right by FromSoftware now, and making a lavish remake of Demon's Souls one of the PS5's launch titles was a big deal.

Interesting, that that's how you approached the series. Do you think you'd ever go back to your PS3 and play the first Dark Souls again? Or do you reckon it'll get its own remake soon enough?

Thanks for the personalised recommendation. After my unfortunate experience with Jedi: Fallen Order at launch, I think I'm best steering well clear of games which set out to be deliberately punishing anyway, so I was already keeping my distance before I knew how, er... "atmospheric" FromSoftware made these games. Still, I'm grateful for the warning, and the mention of a scary spider most certainly seals its fate! That's something I would never stop to capture in Photo Mode!

I forgot the remake came with one of those, by the way. Sorry to hear the app's playing up. I wonder if any of the shots you've captured will end up being contenders, come December...?!

@RogerRoger So actually… there is a Dark Souls Remastered for PS4 already, so that would definitely be the way for me to go in the future if I decide to return to the game, rather than try to play it on PS3. I doubt a full remake will happen anytime soon. But I had picked up the complete edition of Dark Souls 3 for PS4 a while back, and I think that might be the next Souls I play, even though there is apparently a loose narrative thread that links the three Dark Souls games together and I would be jumping into the last entry. I believe DS 3 has a patch that has the game playing at 60fps on PS5, but I’m not sure is DS 1 has such a patch. And well, DS 2 is the most maligned of the group so I’m unlikely to play it unless I get desperate.

The photo mode for DeS is relatively bare bones, but it has all the basic features necessary. My screenshots don’t do the game’s visuals justice, but I did like the looks of the character I created, so maybe I’ll use one of those to enter into the annual competition. Like most of my screenshots, I miss the most epic and cinematic moments while I’m playing, and only remember to use it when I’m at the quiet places between.

@Th3solution thanks for the tag about this review buddy… I waited until I had sometime spare as I was really looking forward to the read. It didn’t disappoint either, I think you hit on a large number of points that are intrinsic to the From Soft alchemy there, so congrats. Also, congrats on seeing this through to the end, I know there were moments where your dual-sense almost didn’t survive… you you made it 👏.

Also, I couldn’t help but chuckle at you including a Vitor Belfort quote. As a huge MMA fan, Vitor is an absolute oddity. Almost unbeatable at his TRT-drenched best… and also impossible to fully comprehend due to the genius of his derangement… or his deranged genius. An apropos yet quite random person to quote for this review… my favourite part! 🤣