The new Demon’s Souls remake on the PS5 brought back more than just FromSoftware’s notoriously brutal cult classic. With the granddaddy of all Soulslikes back and better than ever (judging from the reviews for Demon’s Souls), it’s also revived the long-running question “Should Soulslikes have an easy mode?” It’s one that even the remake’s developer, Bluepoint Games, has seriously pondered.
Ever since the Dark Souls series popularized Demon’s Souls’ penchant for punishing gameplay, fans have been divided over whether Soulslikes should have an easy mode to make them more accessible, and whether even including such an option would undermine the intended experience. Speaking with The Washington Post about this, creative director Gavin Moore revealed that the team at Bluepoint did consider adding an easy mode to the PS5 version, but ultimately decided against it.
The reason being, he explained, is that the game is still “the work of another development team,” and while Bluepoint’s remake has changed a few things from Demon's Souls' original PS3 version, the entire product is still meant to honor FromSoftware’s original vision. “We ultimately decided it wasn’t our place — merely being custodians for this amazing game — to add something that would fundamentally alter its balance.”
That said, the development team did want to find other ways to help newcomers out more this time around. That’s why Demon’s Souls makes extensive use of the PS5’s Activities system, providing players with over 180 video guides that they can access without having to exit the game. According to Moore, these should give players who are struggling just enough of a hint to help them figure out how to advance through a tricky section. “And then if you still haven’t got it, you can look at the next one.”
Aside from the video guides, Moore touched upon the other features Bluepoint added to improve accessibility without sacrificing difficulty. Naturally, he brought up the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and how that can assist players to gauge the timing of attacks, as well as the PS5’s 3D audio support which can make it easier to tell when enemies are approaching. These are further complemented by a number of camera and UI options designed to make the game more accessible to colorblind and motion-sensitive players.
It’s doubtful that these options will cause the debate over the difficulty of Soulslikes to end anytime soon, but as far as Demon’s Souls is concerned, it’s not a bad way to make its challenge more bearable for those who’d normally quit after the one hundredth death.
Demon’s Souls is available for the PS5.
Source: The Washington Post
