A gameplay trailer for the new Demon’s Souls remake recently dropped during the PlayStation 5 Showcase event. This gameplay trailer mainly featured the areas before the tutorial boss, Vanguard, as well as a few short clips of other locations in the game. Though the trailer only lasted a few short minutes, it revealed that this remake is going to be much more than a fresh coat of paint for the Demon’s Souls. Combat, art style, and draw distance are just a few of the noticeable changes that Bluepoint Games has made.
Even though the Demon’s Souls remake almost looks like an entirely different game from the original, the gameplay trailer shows that this isn’t the case. Though the remake has definitely revamped some areas, fans of the original Demon’s Souls almost certainly recognized the early parts of the game that were shown off. The Vanguard boss killing the player character in Demon’s Souls’ trailer might have helped jog some memories too. Despite these familiar scenes, the change in graphics between the remake and original is significant. The only question is, are all of these changes a good thing?
The graphics of the Demon’s Souls remake have received a major overhaul from the original, and they more than show off the abilities of the PlayStation 5. Buildings that were geometrical pieces of masonry in the original are now properly crumbled ruins, appropriately warped by the effects of time. Trees, plant life, and even the rocks on the ground are all improved and added details to Demon’s Souls. These changes are even further complimented by an increased field of vision, allowing the player to see details that, in the original, might have just been dark outlines. Despite how beautiful and detailed the remake is though, not every change to the original necessarily feels like an improvement.
What Demon’s Souls Graphics Change
Demon’s Souls was the Dark Souls before Dark Souls. The games certainly have their differences, but their difficulty and dark themes stand out as being quite similar. This is why a particular change to the games graphics in the remake might not be a great thing. Specifically, the graphics of the remake seem to remove some of the foreboding tones of the original. Bright lighting and vision unobscured by fog definitely plays a hand in this, but the main cause of a change in tone from the original seems to actually be how the color pallet of the game has changed. The original Demon’s Souls almost seemed to have a brownish film over everything, which helped it feel ancient, mysterious, and dangerous all at the same time. The remake seems to have brightened things up, which is great for showing off how good it looks, but it also means that some of the mystique from the original has been lost.
Bluepoint Games has definitely made a beautiful Demon’s Souls remake. Even if the death screen’s font seems a bit odd, almost everything that has been shown of the game so far looks amazing. When comparing the remake’s graphics to the original, there’s almost no question that the remake looks better in nearly every way. Despite how great everything looks though, the remake does seem to lose out a bit when compared to how the original’s graphics fit the game’s themes. This might be nitpicking somewhat, but the lighting and general color pallet of the remake just doesn’t feel like an improvement. Other than this, though, the Demon’s Souls remake has taken the graphics of the original and cranked them up to eleven. It’s definitely going to be an awesome game to play once it and the PlayStation 5 drop later this year.
