Atlus revealed that after 8 years, Demon’s Souls’ PlayStation 3 servers will be shutting down on February 28, 2018. The game will be fully playable from start to finish, but all online functionality will be turned off, including in-game messaging, player death locations, and World Tendency features.
I remember picking up Demon’s Souls in late 2009 for the first time without fully understanding what it was exactly. That’s strange to think about now considering so many modern games use elements that were laid out by what this game created. I’ve always considered myself to be decent at playing games; as someone who could pick up any game and encounter very little trouble with the basic controls. However, I don’t think I was ready for the slap in the face that Demon’s Souls hit me with as I marched up bridge of Boletarian Palace only to get killed by some no name skellington who popped out from behind some wood. Or should I say that I would have been killed had it not been for a blood stain on the ground that informed me an ambush up ahead.
Over the years, Demon’s Souls’ servers contributed hours of different types of assistance to many players, but now that will come to end. To honor the game, Atlus staff members wrote their personal memories of playing Demon’s Souls in a blog entry:
“Beating double Maneaters for the first time. F*** those guys. It’s also my proudest and most frustrating Platinum trophy to date.” – Nate Harris, Sales Administration Manager
“I played Demon’s Souls back in high school and it was one of the first games I had played in a long time where I felt a major sense of accomplishment after tackling a tough boss. I remember beating the Tower Knight and thinking, ‘Man, a boss fight hasn’t made my hands shake like that since I was a little kid.’ Plus, not knowing what was going to come next was always a thrill. You never knew what might be lurking around the corner.” – Jacob Onofrio, Quality Assurance
“Blighttown was the not-so-fond memory for me, haha. On top of an already difficult game, I had to worry about poison? And it wasn’t like you could just cure the poison, ‘cuz that area was just nothing but poison and you’ll get re-poisoned immediately. There was no getting around the poison. Did I mention the poison?” – Daryl Le, Quality Assurance
“My most memorable experience with Demon’s Souls was listening to Richard’s deluge of profanities while he was testing it, lol.” – Rob Stone, QA Lead
“I played like I lived, foolishly rolling off cliffs while trying to dodge skeleton enemies.” – Sara Chan, Product Marketing Specialist
“Every boss fight in Demon’s Souls was memorable, not necessarily because they were difficult, but because all of the bosses had a creative way of defeating them. The three moments that stuck out to me the most are when another player invaded me as the Old Monk, Maiden Astrea killing herself and when I found out that the last boss was a gross, bug jello thing. Demon’s Souls is a huge reason why I chose to work at ATLUS.” – Izumi Thorn, Translator
What are some of your own personal Demon’s Souls’ memories? Please Share them in comments and we’ll see you in Boletaria until the servers shut down.