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By: Gloam posted Feb 1st, 2011 - 1:18 pm
Demon's Souls is one of the best games to grace the PlayStation 3, and for that it's garnered much acclaim. Many website gave the game a Game of the Year award or PlayStation 3 game of the year, and yet, there's still something of a stigma surrounding the game. Many podcast pundits and games writers dismiss the game as being 'too hard', 'too archaic' or (my favorite) 'too Japanese'.
All three of these points have their faults. For a start Demon's Souls, is not too hard, it's just not overly easy, the game does not pat you on the back every step of the way but does encourage you to explore and learn as you do so, only through this process of exploration and discovery can you overcome the game's various challenges, something which proves itself immensely satisfying in the long run. Criticisms concerning the game's archaic nature are also misguided, the game is actually ingeniously forward thinking in terms of online integration and player interactivity but people will ignore this fact simply because they die a coule of times. Lastly, the game is said to be overly Japanese in style, this could be a synonym for 'hard' but instead often reads more like a stand-in for poorly designed, something which Demon's Souls is not. The game itself is a masterclass in Western RPG design, how quickly we forget the Gold Box AD&D adventures or the Wizardry series, and furthermore how fun it is to remember these games. Give the game a chance and it will reward you with what is perhaps the best Japanese developed Western RPG of all time.
With the announcement of Project Dark at TGS, a select few breathed a satisfied sigh and put aside money in their bank books, for what should be one of the more hotly anticipated releases of 2011. Still, only a whimper was heard amongst the enthusiast press. The principle reason for this is miscommunication, it would seem that the game's PS3 exclusivity (in Japan) read as exclusivity the world over, and thus the major sites and podcasters were uninterested in the announcement. It pains me to think that come the release of Dark Souls at the end of the year the blogsophere and gaming 'literati' will be up in arms over the 'innovation' and 'uniqueness' seen in Dark Souls... For the XBox 360. It seems odd to me that a game that was so heavily overlooked on PS3 will potentially see a second lease of life on 360, and while it annoys me that Demon's Souls continues to get the high hat as regards mainstream recognition and praise the thought of more people enjoying the game's formula due to the ubiquitous nature of the 360 only makes me smile.
