3.5/5 ★ – RGB_Toast's review of Demon's Souls.

A really tough one to rate; I’ve marked it 3.5/5 stars…and yet it’s also on my abandoned list. Objectively this game is absolutely stunning in a way that few games have come close to competing with. We’ll never have a better demonstration of “next-gen” graphics in my opinion. Subjectively the gameplay just isn’t for me. I massively respect Bluepoint’s commitment to leaving gameplay completely untouched here, and faithful to the original Demons Souls, but I’ve just become too accustomed to the comparative accessibility and QoL of any souls-like released in the many years since. This game revels, as it did back then, in feeling ‘unfair’. Now, this isn’t novel for souls games, including any of Fromsoftware’s recent releases, but in those the unfairness serves to provide some kind of hurdle which adds to the satisfaction of conquering your goal. Here though, thin slivers of progress are hard fought and the overwhelming feeling after beating an area and its boss is “glad that’s over”. Lots of people love this game, and I’m so happy for that; whether this is them reliving an old classic, or their first time experiencing Demons Souls, this is THE game that started the souls genre we all know and love today. Maybe I’ll love it too one day, but it’ll take a stupid amount of morbid curiosity, defiance, and maybe even boredom for me to pick this up again.