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Product: Demon's Souls
Company: Atlus
Date: 06/12/2009
Avaliable On:

There’s a lack of good action RPGs on the PS3. Sacred 2 is great, unless you’re not much of a “loot whore,” leaving games like Oblivion to try and fill the void. Atlus is well aware the PS3 needs a good action RPG and is responding with Demon’s Souls.

As I’ve mentioned in other E3 stories, E3 isn’t the best place to get cozy with RPGs, action or otherwise. From what I was able to glean from the Atlus rep and press material, Demon’s Souls takes place in the kingdom of Boletaria. A power hungry king has somehow managed to awaken a number of souls (many of them demons). You are one of these souls and it’s your job to travel the kingdom in search of other souls.

Demon’s Souls is a single-player RPG, but you’re never alone. Unless your PS3 isn’t online, you’ll always have thousands of people helping you with your quest. However, you’ll never physically encounter these players and any help they offer will be indirect. As you work your way though dungeons, you’ll stumble upon bloodstains on the floor. Activating the stains will unlock its “memories,” short animations showing how another player died. You won’t see what killed the player, but you’ll get a hint about what to expect in the area. Players can also leave cryptic messages for other players, pointing others in the direction of secrets of warning them when trouble is ahead.

Though it probably speaks poorly of my personality, my first instinct was to ask if you could leave “false” messages to trip up other players. The Atlus rep said it is possible, but also pointed out that all messages include a rating system. If the tip isn’t helpful, other players could vote it down and eventually cause it to disappear.

On the RPG side of things, Demon’s Souls is a third-person action game. Everything about your character is fully customizable and you can choose from 13 classes at the start of your adventure. Gameplay is, of course, action-oriented and gives you numerous magic, attack and parry options. The controls are different (most core actions are mapped to the shoulder buttons), though it took only a few seconds to get the hang of it. Now surviving… that took longer.

Atlus had a rep for releasing games that are just a little different on the PS2 and it's great to see they are keeping it up with the PS3. Look for Demon’s Souls this Fall.

Starscream aka Ricky Tucker

GameVortex PSIllustrated