Demon's Souls was hands-down my favourite game of 2009- and 2010 as well, probably. Nothing since Metal Gear Solid 4 had been so thrilling, or, on Big Boss Hard, so tough a challenge. I can recall watching the IGN video review, which cited it as one of the toughest, yet most rewarding games to hit the PS3, and pondering whether me, who reset his console upon a single alert phase, would actually get any pleasure out of it. I did, and unlike MGS4, proning with the tranq gun was not an option.
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| How I miss you, Red Dragon... |
I won't lie, I struggled to begin with. I felt cheated when, without warning, a dog would leap out of the darkness, halving my health, or when I would tumble down a pit in the aptly named Valley of Defilement. I consider myself a pretty level-headed guy, but once that "You have died" message appeared (reflecting the no-nonsense approach of the entire game) and that ominous note sounded, I often felt like snapping my controller and hurling it into the wall before I could respawn, my wallet of souls empty.
But for the pain and suffering Demon's Souls brought me, the moments of joy easily outweighed them. I would finally best Armour Spider (yeah, I camped with a bow), and it would all seem worth it. No other game I have played could achieve this- it almost made me long for the days of insane 2D platformers for only the most masochistic.
Having made the switch to an Xbox 360, I knew that eventually I would have to man up and confront the inevitable exclusives of 2011 that I would be missing out on. And with trailers for not only Resistance 3 but Uncharted 3 as well airing this week, it's been tough. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when I found out that the "spiritual successor" to Demon's Souls, Project Dark, will be multiplatform (I can hear my friend Nick groaning already). Between Project Dark and Metal Gear Rising, I may just make it through 2011.
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