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Video Game Demon's Souls Review
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.

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

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Play OverviewPlay Overview

Demon's Souls 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.

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.
 

BenefitsBenefits

This game is good if you want to:

This game has helped players develop their Identity as part of the following pathways:

Play StylePlay Style

This is an Adventure and Fighting game with Action, Narrative and Role-Play elements. You can play this by yourself or as a 6-player online game. Although a single-player game, you can briefly see the actions of others as ghosts. Players can leave messages on the ground for each other to help or hinder. You can also summon up to 6 other players to play co-operatively for a while using special summoning signs.

 
You can play this game in the following styles:

DurationDuration

Play Time: This game will take between 28 hours and 55 hours to complete. Time is for the first Demon's Souls, but all these games can take many hours. Many never finish them because of the skill and patience required.

Age RatingsAge Ratings

Content Rating

Rated PEGI 16 due to frequent moderate violence. The game features the use of a variety of medieval-type weaponry that is used to kill the enemy characters. In use, the sword will deliver a killing blow in one or two strikes. Each strike will result in a splash of blood; the use of firebombs is prevalent throughout the game and when they explode they will emit a large plume of fire. Although the characters can be enveloped by the fire none suffer any visible damage from it. The game features online playing capability which may involve real-time interaction with other players.
 
Users Interact: The game enables players to interact and communicate with each other, so may expose players to language usually associated with older rated games.

Skill Level

13+ year-olds usually have the required skill to enjoy this game. Still, it's important for parents and guardians to consider the maturity required to process the game content. The game is very hard and requires perfect reactions and reflexes, as well as determination and persistence in the face of overwhelming challenge. Compared to later Souls games the enemies are easier to trick and you can collect unlimited number of healing herbs.

Our Game Pathways reveal how 39-year-olds play this game:

Account Rating

  • You need PlayStation Plus to play online with PlayStation 3.
  • You need be 18-years-old to subscribe to PlayStation Plus for online play, but can create sub-accounts for younger players of 7-years or older to play online with PlayStation 5.

CostsCosts

Demon's Souls usually costs £69.99.
 

Demon's Souls

There are the following additional costs associated with this game:
  • In-Game Purchases: Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.
  • You need a subscription to play online:
    • You need to purchase a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online with PlayStation 5.
 
The 2020 remake on PlayStation 5 has two editions; the Standard and Digital Deluxe Editions. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes extra cosmetic items and the game's soundtrack, and can be bought as an in-game purchase. 
 
It's important to set up your accounts and devices appropriately. More information is on our Financial Resources page.
 

DetailsGame Details

Release Date: 05/02/2009

Out Now: PS3 and PS5

Content Rating: PEGI 16

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Players: 1 (6 online)

Genres: Adventure, Fighting (Action, Narrative and Role-Play)

Accessibility: 19 features

Components: 3D Third-Person

Developer: From Software PR (@FromSoftware_PR)


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Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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