For Madmen Only
Well if you're like me, you do ask for more. Why? Because I'm not just a gamer, I am a Madman Gamer. Some people call this being "Hardcore", however, there's nothing hardcore about grinding for 100 hrs in Final Fantasy 7 just so you can get and kill everything. No it's madness! It's OCD; it's banging your head against a brick wall thinking it'll feel good someday and for us it eventually does feel good.
This is where Demon's Souls comes in. A game that spits in the eyes of current game development wisdom. This game is not very accessible. This game, although it may look familiar, is not familiar. This game is not gamer friendly. Even gamers who consider themselves "hardcore" will not like this game. The reason for this is that this game is designed with the idea that actions have real consequences.
I know most games have "consequences". But, aside from feeling a little frustrated and being knocked back to the last checkpoint, most games generally pat you on your head, tells you it's okay and to try again - and that's it. Oh, you need to use the bathroom, no problem, just pause the game, go, heck make yourself a sandwich, relax and comeback anytime. Save the game just before the big battle so if something goes wrong, you can just re-load and try again. You will not find any of these "consequences" or options in Demon's Souls.
Death has Consequences (with a big C) in this game. Not only do you lose half to a quarter (w/ an item) of you maximum hit-points when you re-spawn, you also start at the every beginning of the map you are on. Add to that all of the "souls" (the currency of the game needed for almost everything including leveling up) are dropped at the place of your death and by the way all of the enemies you killed have also re-spawned, so you'll have to kill them again. And now if you think that's tough there's more. Here's the icing on the cake: if you can't get back to place you died to collect the souls you dropped without dying again, you lose all of the souls you dropped Forever!
There is no option to save. The game auto-saves when you die, enter a new map or quit. There is no pause option. You need to go to the bathroom, find a "safe" spot and either go offline or hope someone doesn't "Invade" your game and kills you while you on the John.
Now here's the part of the review were I go on about the atmosphere, the tight game play, the great visuals (if you're into gloomy visuals), great sound design, innovative online co-op and p. v. p., re-play value, thin story and etc... But I'm not. You want to know about that go read someone else's review (didn't you read the title of the review?). What I will tell you is that the game is really NOT that difficult. It is, however, very unforgiving and that is the real challenge.
So why is this game something you want to play? Well, ask yourself this: Are you a Madman Gamer? If you've read this and think to yourself, "this is something I'd want to play," and get giddy about the prospect of dying a lot... You might be a Madman... I'll see you in the Nexus.