Demon’s Souls
Yes, the 2009 role-playing game is monumentally influential. It’s approaching two decades of motivating callous, fantasy realms and one reverent remake, but, like any first attempt, its importance belies growing pains.
The complex gameplay that lives like a nut inside gray kingdom Boletaria—keeping track of collected Souls, waking up after death with a reduced health bar, staying locked into your white and black tendency, which influences enemy’s health and item drops—is what made Demon’s Souls a slow-burning cult classic. It’s also really fucking frustrating.
I think FromSoftware’s later titles strike more of a balance between challenge and reward. I rarely choose to replay Demon’s Souls over one of those, which are similarly covered in rubble and mystery but have the confidence that being a second, third, and fourth try warrants.
