It is time to visit a true classic for the first time. I am a huge fan of From Software's Soul series and my first clash with this franchise was Dark Souls. That entry still has a special place in my heart and might even be in my list of top 10 best games of all time.
But true game historians know that of course it all started with its predecessor in the form of Demon's Souls. Now this game received a remake a couple of years ago which I also will archive on the channel someday, but for my first playthrough I wanted the raw experience of the PlayStation 3 version.
And so I managed to get a copy of the game and finally see where it all started. The most impressive thing about this game is that it does so many tropes that have since been copied again in the other games. From gimmick fights where you use a special sword in order to beat the boss to locations that clearly inspired games like Bloodborne later on.
Many of the boss fights actually revolve around a certain gimmick or solving a sort of puzzle. This is actually quite cool since it makes many of the boss fights feel unique. Instead of just going toe to toe with them, you need to figure out its weakness and how to exploit that. This can be a certain body part that the boss is vulnerable at or maybe a certain npc you have to take out before starting the boss fight.
The game does feel rough around the edges with way more sluggish controls and environments that look blurry and repetitive. There are some areas that are beautiful to look at, but this is by far the least impressive Souls game visually, which makes sense since it is the first one.
All in all it was great to witness another From Software game for the first time and learning all the tricks and traps that the developers had set up. Not yet knowing that a decade later they would make their masterpiece known as Elden Ring.

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