Demon’s Souls is an often overlooked, but deeply important game from From Software. It not only served as the progenitor for the Dark Souls series, but also paved the way for a whole new genre of super punishing adventure games.
Bloodborne, Sekiro, Nioh, Ashen, Dead Cells – these are just a few of the titles that likely wouldn’t exist were it not for Demon’s Souls and its considerable influence. It’s a shame then, that such a classic is a PS3 exclusive, making it fairly difficult to play in this day and age.
Fortunately, Hidetaka Miyazaki – the man behind Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne – has recently opened up about the possibility of a remaster, though he made it clear he isn’t interested in developing such a remaster himself.
Speaking with Game Informer, Miyazaki explained that he’d much rather look forward than return to his earlier work. He’s currently getting the impending Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice ready for launch, for example.
He said:
It’s like when you write – when you’re younger, you look back on [previous work] and you think ‘Oh, goodness what was I thinking.’ It’s not that I’m embarrassed, I just don’t like to look at my previous works.
With that said, Miyazaki did note that he wouldn’t be against another studio taking on a Demon’s Souls remaster, provided they had a love and understanding of the original game.
He explained:
If it was a studio that really loved the original work and really put their heart and soul into realising it again, then that’s something I would enjoy. But it’s really complicated because I have these fond memories.
Unfortunately, as important as Miyazaki’s blessing would be to the fans, the developer did point out that a Demon’s Souls remaster ultimately lies in the hands of Sony, who own the rights.
Until such time as Sony allows a gorgeous PS5 remake of Demon’s Souls to launch alongside Bloodborne 2 (please), we can look forward to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 22.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.