The master of the remaster is back as Bluepoint Games refreshes yet another PlayStation classic for a new era of players. Playing Demon’s Souls at this fidelity, and at a smooth 60fps, is transformative. You can see the rage in crestfallen soldier’s faces as they take wild swings at you, and you can almost smell the slop from the stables. It’s muddy, gritty, and moody - an incredib🔯le achievement.
The audio work Bluepoint has done here deserves as much credit as the visuals, though. That slop? You can hear it in every footfall - wet mud squelching beneath armoured boots. Walk through castle halls and those footfalls reverberate around, bouncing from the surfaces of 🅠every hollow and horror-filled corridor as your pauldrons clink into your cuirass with each stride.
When you step into the dark, rattling through hanging ch🅠ains as discarded bottles clang across the floor o🗹ff the tip of your boot, Demon’s Souls puts you on the edge of your seat. There’s nothing there - you know that, you just cleared this area - but you raise your shield still. All you can hear are your own footsteps echoing and the sound of your character’s breath struggling against the weight of their gear.
Then something happens - a guttural scream from ahead. More footsteps, but not yours. You catch the glint of two eyes glowing from the darkness. The steps come faster until the flashꦛ of a blade lunges towards you and clashes with your shield. You reply with a swing of your own as steel sings out of the DualSense controller - a high frequency thrum. The creatu🌄re who was once a man drops down with a thud and their sword drops a second after, clattering on stone as these once-more empty halls echo again.
Playing this with headphones - PS5’s 3D audio enabled - is one of the most intense gaming experiences you can have. The cries of the tormented send shivers down your back, and you can hear every foul creature slithering in the da🌠nk depths. Punt an enemy from a ledge and they scream as they fall, their final cry falling away with their body. Dodge a fireball and it crackles and whizzes by your e꧟ar.
Step into the dusty mines of the Digger King and you’re faced with the Fat Officials - grey-skinned demons who keep the workers chipping away at stone. These portly horrors slap their stomachs and laugh maniacally, even as you club them to death and wood cracks bone with a terrible crunch. In the Prison of Hope, your senses are assaulted by the sobs and pleas of inmates, the clatter of💮 chains, and a m💝ournful, angelic voice rising up in song from somewhere far below, fading out as you enter each cell to search for treasures.
This꧒ is a very long-winded way to say that you should absolutely play Demon’s Souls with headphones. Head into the PS5’s settings menu with your headphones connected and you might find they’re set up for 3D audio already - mine were, and they’re not the official set. It’s all-encompassing - the only way to play the game. Bluepoint Games has done it again.