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I died. I died again, oh, and again. That will be how Demon's Souls pans out for you. It took me about six hours to beat the first real level of the game and get my first boss soul. The game's moody atmosphere constantly made me feel uneasy. Still I kept on dying. Yet, I continue to play this amazing game.

Demon's Souls is created by 'From Software', best known for it's Armored Core franchise. To say this game is hard is an understatement. It's such a unforgiving adventure that it will probably turn off many a gamer. But, if you are willing to put up with the insane difficulty and like to actually work at playing a game, with real fighting, you'll discover that Demon's Souls is such an incredibly rare game.

Right from the off, the game's intro paints a very bleak picture. In the kingdom of Boletaria, a power hungry king figure's out for a way to channel souls. This was all good at first. Then of course, it all goes to s**t. The kingdom then gets cut it off from the rest of the world by a strange fog and is now in the cold dead hands of the OLD ONE, a powerful demon that was less-than-pleased at the idea of someone dicking about with the dead on its spiritual turf. Naturally, countless adventurers have ventured into the fog, hoping to save the kingdom, but are never to be seen again. We are just like one of those ill-fated heroes. But what makes us different?. I'll tell you what....we've been granted aid by the mysterious Maiden in Black, who rescues us from the jaws of death its self during the game's opening sequence. She is our 3^rd party in the nexus (the in-between world), we offer our hard forged souls to her, in exchange to upgrade our stats.

From the moment you begin your one-person Rambo like war against the forces of darkness in Boletaria, you’ll quickly realize that the country is completely overrun by demons, dragons, soulless soldiers, skeletons, and other nasty beast's from our worst nightmare's. Everything in this unforgiving world is hungry for our blood. In other words, it’s just you vs the monsters.

But overwhelming odds are just the start of the ass-kicking that Demon’s Souls will give to you many, many times. It’s not uncommon to die as you progress through a level. A lot. This is especially true when you first try to pause the game and then realize that it won't actually pause. Instead, a menu will appear over the screen, but the action continues in the background at full-speed where enemies can still kill you. A mistake I made on my first play through.

Being dead is not the best state to be in when playing this game. Dead players will re-spawn at the beginning of the level you are currently playing, in phantom form, with their health capped at 50%, with every enemy returned to life, and the player's soul points abandoned at their bloodstains which they must fight towards, and touch to recover. Yes, Demon's Souls has brought the corpse run to single-player gaming. Failing the corpse run causes the accumulated souls to be lost...permanently. Death hobbles a player with less health, leaving him penniless (soul-less) and more likely to succumb to the challenges that killed him in the first place. It encourages a farming and grinding behaviour, demanding repeated returns to completed areas to harvest the soul points required to finance the ever-increasing costs of leveling up attributes, weapons and armor.

Fortunately, dying is also where Demon's Souls also gets interesting, as it constitutes the core of the game's online options. When playing online, players will often see white ghostly silhouettes scampering about the area. Those represent the other players as they move about in their own worlds, inspired by the 'Albion orbs' of Fable II I'm sure. Additionally, players can leave messages on the ground that others can see. The available messages range from combat hints "Spells work well here" to the not so helpful humorous messages. Messages can be rated, which will reward its author with an automatic health-refill. Thus, you will often see the spots before boss battles littered with glowing messages stating: "I'm in trouble, please rate this message."

Demon's Souls' cooperative play is also similar to that of Fable II. Phantom-form players can put down summoning sign stones that allows living players to invoke them into their game as "blue phantoms"; to work together to pass a stage or beat a boss or tough area. Helping a living player defeat a demon boss automatically rewards blue phantoms with their bodies and a return to their own world.

However, unlike Fable II, the phantom-summoning isn't limited to cooperation, and also extends into the PvP space. Phantom players can invade a random player's game as a black phantom, where the task is to stalk and kill that player. Managing a successful assassination rewards the black phantom with a free revival; being defeated transfers the would-be assassin's soul points to the intended victim.

This kind of cat-and-mouse play feels incredibly tense, particularly since both characters still have to deal with the already-formidable hazards of the level itself. In fact, fighting another player is the core of one boss fight, where another player is automatically summoned and forced to be the boss in a one-on-one , Thunderdome deathmatch style. It's crazy crazy stuff. But I wouldn't change it one bit.

So, because the challenge is thishigh, the reward's are all that much greater. Every tiny victory is amplified, bringing with it a sense of elation and enjoyment. Before you know it you are practically speed-running through the lower levels, despatching previously difficult foes to harvest those much needed souls. Once opened, doors stay open. Once sprung, traps no longer bother you. At times, you will get a random health boost if somebody has read and recommended one of the messages you left in the world. You will also see the aforementioned ghosts, and will learn to use them as a guide of sorts. They leave behind their own bloodstains, and touching one shows you how that player died.

Admittedly I am doing this review after still not completing the game. I have put in over 25 hours on the game, so I feel I know the ins & outs enough to warrant this review.

The game is a huge adventure. An adventure in which you have to choose your initial class and plough through the game. There are no restrictions for class or level on any of the equipment in the game. You may need 30 strength to use a shield properly, but you can still wield it in a limited fashion even if you only have 5 strength. All classes can use magic, just as long as they have a Catalyst with which to cast spells. All classes can dual wield.

All in all, Demon's Souls is one of the most unforgiving experiences this generation has to offer. It won't be to everybody's taste, but it's a game that KO's all opposition.

This review would be never ending if I was to try and cover everything you need to know to get the idea of the game. All I can say is buy this game. You wont ever forget or regret it. It's a true gaming master piece, and just one of those game everyone has to play.

Yes you will get frustrated playing it, but you will keep wanting more and more.

Demon's Souls is my favourite game of 2010 so far, and also one of the greatest gaming achievements this generation.

Everything from the outstanding graphics and endless animation combination's for your character. The awesome sound effects and soundtrack. And the eerie story and locations.

Truly awesome.

Demon's Souls gets an official Game-Pad 10/10

Average Press Score according to TestFreaks: 9.2/10