It was recently revealed that the brutal difficulty and trial-and-error gameplay.
The original Demon's Souls released in 2009 as a PlayStation 3 exclusive by FromSoftware under the direction of Hidetaka Miyazaki, and its unique mechanics and tone spawned an entire extra items and hundreds of "free" Souls (the Souls series' most important resource, which can be used to upgrade characters but must be retrieved upon death or risk permanent loss) for $20 more atop the base $70 price.
However, Souls series enthusiasts recognize the Demon's Souls Digital Deluxe Edition not only as a bad deal in of basic value, but also because it's essentially asking PS5 players to pay more to get less out of the game. On the dedicated Dark Souls subreddit, NomadBrasil vented their frustrations with fellow players, stating simply that "this does not belong in a [Souls] game" in their opinion, to the resounding agreement of other s. They also point out the marketing scheme is made even more egregious by the fact that an additional extra, the Reaper Scythe, comes free with pre-orders of either edition of the game, and all of these quasi-pay-to-win bonuses will presumably be available right out of the gate.
If that assumption proves valid (and why wouldn't it?), there's little doubt that these profit-motivated additions run the risk of throwing off Demon's Souls pacing and difficulty. That consequence would be especially ironic, as the game's atmospheric sense of despair with brief, powerful moments of hope is primarily derived from the highs and lows of gameplay, an unforgettable balancing act struck by FromSoftware that ultimately has led to the 11-year-old game being remade in the first place. Difficulty isn't everything in gaming; that said, a version of Demon's Souls where players never get sucked into Boletaria's harsh but semi-fair world because they breezed through the opening sections does far more to undermine Miyazaki's intentions than simply adding difficulty modes would.
At the very least, Bluepoint Games' remake of Demon's Souls appears to be remaining visually faithful to FromSoftware's vision for the original game while taking cut Northern Limit area will be restored in the re-do, which would further point to Bluepoint's love for the Souls game that started it all. That's all great to see and imagine, but handing out Souls and items - most of which weren't even present in the original game, further threatening balance issues - might deviate too far from the original title's vision and well-earned legacy. If this is Sony's and Bluepoint's move to compromise in the great Soulslike difficulty debate, including a difficulty slider and actual accessibility options rather than these half-measures sound like far better alternatives.
Demon's Souls will be available for PlayStation 5 on November 12, 2020.
Source: NomadBrasil
