Demon’s Souls Remake Coming To PS5

There are plenty of games that I feel don’t deserve the remake treatment. It seems that any game that managed to sell a million copies is now slated to be gussied up and pushed back out on the stage to do another lap until the whole franchise dies of exhaustion. But if any game deserves a remake, it’s Demon’s Souls. The little game that could, Demon’s Souls blew everyone (including From Software’s) expectations right out of the water. It gave birth to an entire genre of ARPG now referred to as Souls-likes. And yet, despite the legendary legacy, many series fans have still yet to play this iconic original installment.

Now it might seem contradictory to call a game a smash hit and also underappreciated. Keep in mind that I mean underappreciated for a Souls game. While Demon’s Souls has sold over a million copies, the Dark Souls franchise is now over 27 million units sold. The reason for Demon’s Souls comparatively obscure status is three-fold. First, the franchise had yet to establish itself as a gaming juggernaut. Reviews were mixed at the time of release. Hefty debate circulated around if the game was just bullshit for masochists. The second reason was availability. Publisher Atlus only shipped 15k copies for release. This is before digital distribution was big. Lastly, the game only ever had a PS3 release. No Xbox or PC markets to increase exposure. Add this all together, and a vast majority of players never had the chance to experience the flagship game.

Luckily, the good people at Bluepoint Games are here to remedy this. Revealed Thursday at the PlayStation 5 showcase, the Demon’s Souls remake is confirmed to be coming to PS5. It is unclear if this will be a completely faithful remake, or if Bluepoint will make some quality of life changes. There were some pretty massive flaws with Demon’s Souls. *cough cough item encumbrance* There were also some jankier mechanics like the overly generous backstab that made PvP more of a meme than an actual battle of wits. The biggest question is whether or not Bluehole will finish the content originally cut from Demon’s Souls. Fans will remember a broken 6th archstone that was supposed to lead to the land of the giants. This content was cut before launch, likely due to From Software’s lack of confidence in the game. This is the perfect chance for Bluepoint to right this wrong.

While there is no official date yet for the Demon’s Souls release, what we’ve seen so far looks great. Also no word yet if it will come to PC, or if like Bloodborne it will forever be absent from your Steam library.