Demon's Souls

I wonder if any of you are like me, in the sense that you think games are getting too god damn easy these days. In 99% of modern games, if you die, you just have to reload and try again. You can do it an unlimited amount of times, and it has no negative effect on your save. Not only that, but most games are nearly impossible to die in! If you have any amount of skill at all, you can usually get through games (even most FPS's these days) without dying more than a couple of times.

I find myself having to modify how I play the game in order to increase the challenge. My friend and I have went through Halo 2 so many times that we can do the whole story on Legendary in one night without dying more than 5 times each. That's sad. So, in order to make it more challenging, we now try to beat it only punching. No grenades or guns. What do you know, the game is actually fun now. (P.S. It is almost possible. We can get to the last boss, but he doesn't die from punches. You have to shoot him. This took us 38 hours to get to. Just an FYI :P)

It seems the people at Atlus felt my pain. Thus, they launched Demon's Souls; a Japanese game in western style for the PS3. I haven't screamed at my TV since I was nine years old, playing through Megaman II... until now. The game is beautiful, the customization of your character is limitless, the story is interesting, and it's SO FREAKING HARD! It saves all the time. There is no reloading to get away from death. If you die, you lose half your max HP, all of your money, all of your experience (both are the same. Souls, they call 'em), and you start back at the beginning of the level (All enemies respawn at this point, just for added effect :P). If you make it back to where you died and touch your blood stain, you get your souls back. However, if you die again on your way back (very possible, considering you only have 50% of your max hp), you permanently lose those souls. Not only that, but regardless of whether or not you make it back to your blood stain, you keep that 50% max hp cap until you kill a boss. And that is no small feat, I'll tell you right now. A regular enemy can kill you in three hits or so. Certain enemies can kill you in one. You can get stunlocked by multiple enemies and die instantly. You can walk down a dark hallway and the ground will give out and you will fall to your death if you don't roll immediately. Etc.

Basically, it is one of the hardest games I have ever played, and I love it. Walking around a corner into unknown territory is exciting, for once! You don't know if a sorcerer will be standing there hurling insta-kill soul arrows at you, and if they do, you'll lose a good hour's worth of work! You have to be on your toes at all times, with your shield up and a spell or attack ready at your finger tips. It has been a long time since I have felt this kind of excitement from a console game.

There's my makeshift review. Enjoy :P

\=-Vagnor-=/

You, sir, are fucking hardcore