'YOU DIED!' ...and still loving it!
Demon's Souls is a game in which every aspect is a double-edged sword. And yes, you should take that literally since this game is set in a dark-fantasy medieval setting in which knights in shiny armour & sorcerers run around slaying dragons and demons. You'd be forgviven for thinking that this game is a fairly generic hack 'n slash since that is exactly what it looks and feels like initially. Yet its presentation belies its undelying mechanics of a heavy stat-based RPG. And this is the essence of the game; Killing demons and other creatures nets you souls with which everything is done is this game; from levelling up your stats to repairing your equipment to buying spells. Initially you will be running back and forth to spend the souls you have gathered because getting killed means you lose all the souls you had up until that point. The game offers you the possibility to return to the location where you got killed, but if you get killed while getting there, you lose everything. High risk usually means high rewards.
At the same time this is extremely harsh, but intensely rewarding when you do get it right. What I love is that this game plays with greed like you have never seen before. Every time you die, you'll know that there is something just around the corner to reward you in the form of a valuable item. And..thruth be told it does get 'easier' after you understand these core mechanics.
The online component is fun and innovative. Many times have messages left by other players saved my hide or led me to an item I wouldn't have found otherwise. Invading another players' game to kill them feels genuinely evil, also because enemies treat you as 'one of them'. Helping another player is equally fun. These play mechanics also affects the world in general, opening up different events dependant on the 'tendency' of the world (ranging from pure black to pure white).
Killing NPC's is allowed which was a shock for me. It has huge consequences if you do this in the first hours into the game. Can't remember any game in which key figures could be killed so easily even though this could make the game unplayable early on.
This game is such a strange beast that it's hard to describe it at all. I have been playing for over 30 hours now and I still have half the game to explore. It never felt as 30 hours....which says a lot about the quality of the game. It's definitely not for everybody but if you -like me- crave an old school challenge and are willing to put time and (especially) effort into it, this game will not let go.
Tough, sadomasochistic love it may be, but love nonetheless...