Demon’s Souls, produced by Atlus and developed by From Software, is an award-winning RPG released exclusively for the PS3 in 2009. Players create their custom avatar and explore the kingdom of Boletaria, where they fight the demonic hordes summoned by a mysterious fog that envelops the land. Demon’s Souls is typically praised for its difficulty and challenging gameplay.
What really separates Demon’s Souls from other role-playing titles is its unique online mechanism that integrates one player’s single-player campaign with another’s. While playing the game connected to the Playstation Network a player can come across bloodstains where other players have died. When the bloodstain is activated a ghost of the deceased player re-enacts their final moments. You can use these re-enactments to better familiarize yourself with your next adversary and to prevent yourself from meeting the same blood-curdling fate as those before you.
Last month Atlus announced that on May 31st of this year it would be shutting down its North American servers because, as stated by Tim Pivnicny, VP of Sales and Marketing, “Regrettably, the online servers cannot be sustained forever and now the end draws near. Thank you to the unparalleled passion and support of the Demon’s Souls community throughout these last two and a half years”. Shutting down the servers wouldn’t prohibit players from their single-player campaigns, but it would bring an end to the unique integrating mechanism that makes Demon’s Souls stand out from the crowd.
However, Atlus have recently had a change of heart and have re-announced that they will continue to sustain the North American servers until otherwise specified. Fans no longer need to bleed Demon’s Souls dry; they can sit back and slowly pick off each leg of the Armor Spider instead.
In regards to this twist of fortune Tim Pivnicny has said, ”We’re incredibly excited to be able to announce that the Demon’s Souls online experience will persist for a while longer. While it originally seemed as though it would be unfeasible for us to continue to sustain the servers, a number of developments have made it possible for us to continue to invest in and support our fans as they have continued to invest in and support us and Demon’s Souls. For all the gamers who have yet to discover the game’s amazing online experience, we’re happy to say you can still log on and find out why Demon’s Souls is still regarded by many as one of the finest games of all time.”
Demon’s Souls is available now, as part of the Playstation 3’s prestigious “Greatest Hits” library, for only $20. For more information check out the Demon’s Souls official website and the Demon’s Souls Wiki page.
