Demon's Souls, formula for a perfect remake?
The reasons for this due recognition are clear: it is a makeover extraordinary, which manages not only to capture the atmosphere of the original From Software, released in 2009 on PS3, but also to improve it from different points of view.
Let's retrace the genesis of the new Demon's Souls, highlighting the strengths and general perception of what, without too many words, stands as the best launch game of PlayStation 5.
Hidetaka Miyazaki, evil genius
Raised in a poor family from Shizuoka, Hidetaka Miyazaki had to face a complicated childhood, so much so that he didn't have any particular ambitions. His parents couldn't buy him books and manga that fueled his extraordinary imagination, and so Hidetaka borrowed them from a bookstore.With a degree in political science, he began working as an account manager for Oracle's Japanese division Corporation, until in 2001 a friend opened the doors to the world of video games for him by making him try Ico. Fumito Ueda's masterpiece impressed Miyazaki to the point of pushing him to change his profession, looking for a place in the video game industry.
Joined the staff of From Software in 2004 as a game planner, the author is he was seen assigned the direction of a few episodes of Armored Core until he began to devote himself to the project of a dark fantasy action RPG that the company tended to consider as a possible failure: that game would become Demon's Souls.
Success did not come immediately: a first demo of Demon's Souls proposed at Tokyo Game Show in 2009 attracted a lot of criticism due to the high degree of difficulty, but then the situation changed radically and after the publication of the spiritual sequel Dark Souls Miyazaki became president of From Software. Never before in Japan has there been such an ascent in such a short time.
From Demon's Souls ...
"In the ghostly Kingdom of Boletaria, King Allant (... ) ends up involuntarily by awakening the Ancient Demon, a gigantic Beast that according to an old legend was imprisoned in the depths of the Nexus, the world of the dead, and that instead from that moment begins to move in that of the living with its army of demons below and various creatures, feeding on the souls of human beings. "Our Massimo Reina thus introduced the story of Demon's Souls in his review of 28 December 2009, clarifying how the narrative component of the game did nothing but re-propose the traditional clash between good and evil, putting the player in the shoes of the inevitable hero charged with saving the world from a terrible threat.
Needless to say, these aspects of the experience were secondary to his peculiar action system RPG, characterized by a woodiness it is still unknown today whether it was intended or not, which together with the very high difficulty painted the picture of a distinctly hardcore, evil and ruthless product, which punished the slightest inattention with a game over. > In concert with the extraordinary atmospheres guaranteed by a prestigious artistic sector, characterized by evocative scenarios and a bestiary composed of various disturbing creatures, Demon's Souls therefore kept us in a state of constant tension while we explored that gloomy and threatening world, which behind every corner could hide a danger and thus prevent us from reaching the coveted end of the level.
... a Demon's Souls
If it is true that the whole subgenre of soulslike was born precisely with Demon's Souls, making the PS3 exclusive a cult title for millions of fans, making a remake was no easy task. Who can you entrust with such a complex mission? Sony had no doubts: it was a job for Bluepoint Games.Undisputed experts in the field of remasters and remakes, the developers in question have worked over the years on various productions of this type: from God of War Collection to Ico & Shadow of The Colossus: Classics HD, from Metal Gear Solid HD Collection to Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, from Gravity Rush Remastered to Shadow of the Colossus.
A curriculum of absolute excellence , in short, which favored the Texan studio even when it came to the remaking of an iconic work like Demon's Souls. An important project from many points of view, with enormous potential: beyond the excellent quality of the remake, the exclusive PS5 aims to clear soulslike customs with an even wider and more varied audience.
It does so thanks to the incredible technical sector that the guys of Bluepoint Games have managed to pack, thanks to the great fidelity to the original atmospheres of the Hidetaka Miyazaki management and to a series of small but important tricks that bring that woody and difficult gameplay closer to the tastes of current generations.
The fundamental 60 fps graphics mode actually revolutionizes the mechanics, making them more precise than they have ever been without sacrificing much in terms of details and effects, while the work carried out on the animations is in many ways incredible if we consider those present in the 2009 version.
Excluding bosses who have not aged very well and some stylistic choices that could divide, in short, the remake of Demon's Souls was really a surprise: we expected an excellent product, but few thought it could put everyone in agreement, establishing itself as the best title in the launch line-up of PS5.
