Demon's Souls

Demon's Souls (2009) is a fighting and exploration game where you take on monstrous enemies in tough-as-nails combat. You navigate interconnected locations while fighting enemies with weapons and magic, timing your attacks, dodges, and parries exactly. It stands out for its sheer difficulty, with its success spawning an entire genre of "Soulslike" games with an emphasis on unrelenting difficulty and precise timings.

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Set in a dark, medieval fantasy world, you play a brave hero attempting to rid a ruined kingdom of evil monsters. Enemies are knights, dragons, phantoms, and demons. You choose your character from a knight, a barbarian, a thief, and a mage, each with its own starting equipment and abilities. As you progress you develop this and gain new weapons.

Play involves using your weapons and magical abilities to attack monsters and progress. Combat is intentionally very difficult, requiring you to parry and dodge at just the right time and carefully look for openings to attack. Central to the game is that you have to die to learn how to react in hostile environments, and have to have the will and belligerence to repeatedly face the same foes, slowly learning from mistakes. When you die you are teleported back to a bonfire where you last rested, which can mean considerable progress is lost.

The result is a game where the fun lies in the overcoming of seemingly impossible challenges. Honing your skill and ability until you're finally able to conquer each new foe is immensely satisfying.

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Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked Demon's Souls 4 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 3 months ago.