Author: Trafficblast

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

After acquiring Fox’s entertainment assets, including Home Alone, Disney announced plans to reboot the iconic Christmas movie for its streaming service, Disney Plus. The original movie’s director, Chris Columbus, has now shared his thoughts on that as part of a 30th anniversary interview with Insider.

In short, Columbus does not think it’s a good idea. Disney hasn’t asked him to be involved, the director said, and he believes the new film is a “waste of time.”

“No, nobody got in touch with me about it, and it’s a waste of time as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “What’s the point? I’m a firm believer that you don’t remake films that have had the longevity of Home Alone. You’re not going to create lightning in a bottle again. It’s just not going to happen. So why do it? It’s like doing a paint-by-numbers version of a Disney animated film–a live-action version of that. What’s the point? It’s been done. Do your own thing. Even if you fail miserably, at least you have come up with something original.”

Columbus said he has been guilty of this, too, by making Home Alone 2, which he said was “basically a remake of Home Alone.” He said he enjoyed the stunts in the sequel, but he’s still not excited by Disney making a reboot.

Columbus also commented on the Ryan Reynolds adaptation of Home Alone, a stoner movie called “Stoned Alone” wherein Reynolds gets blazed in his house and becomes paranoid that someone is breaking in. Of the new Home Alone-related projects in the works, Columbus said, “Listen, have fun. I just feel, do something new. Life is short.”

For what it’s worth, Stoned Alone was pitched as an R-rated film before Fox’s sale to Disney. Whether or not the project is still going forward with the family friendly Disney is unknown.

As for the Disney Plus reboot, it will follow a similar structure to the original film. Here is the official description of the plot:

“The new Home Alone film will follow a husband and wife who go to war with a young boy, Max, who has stolen from them. Max is an energetic, witty nine-year-old boy with a mischievous side. He feels wise beyond his years and has the personality to easily converse with adults–plus the uncanny ability to relentlessly push their buttons. But, he also displays a sense of innocence and a kind heart, much like the original protagonist.”

Dan Mazer (Dirty Grandpa) is set to direct the upcoming movie, working from a script from Saturday Night Live veterans Streeter Seidell and Mikey Day.

The new Home Alone movie stars Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live), Ally Maki (Toy Story 4), and Chris Parnell (Archer), along with Archie Yates (Jojo Rabbit), Rob Delaney (Deadpool 2), and Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt).

Dust off your 3DS and plug it back in the start charging–Nintendo’s beloved handheld has received its first firmware update in nearly a year. It’s not a major or important one, though–just a nice little reminder that the 3DS exists.

The new update, which takes the system to version 11.14.0-46U, contains a single update line that will be familiar to Nintendo fans: “Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience.”

The wording, which is slightly different from the Switch’s equivalent, appears many times throughout the 3DS update log.

The previous firmware update for the console arrived on December 2, 2019, and focused on a StreetPass issue. The last “stability” update was on November 4, 2019.

In September, the 3DS was officially discontinued, meaning that Nintendo is no longer producing the portable console. The system sold just over 75 million units over the course of its lifetime–about half of what the Nintendo DS sold.

The 3DS had a lot of late-life great games that you might have missed after moving to Switch, including WarioWare Gold, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, and Persona Q2. For more, check out GameSpot’s 3DS game review page.

The upcoming “Snyder Cut” of Justice League (now called Justice League: The Director’s Cut) is set to run for four hours, but the original plan was for an even longer film–or, depending on how you look at it, two much shorter films. In an interview with The Film Junkee, Snyder reveals that at one point he wanted Justice League to be two films, released a month apart.

Zack Snyder ultimately left Justice League following a family tragedy, and the film was completed by Joss Whedon. The finished film changed many details from Snyder’s planned film and ran for under two hours. “Even the director’s cut of the movie was shorter than my cut,” he reveals. “Yes, this is my cut of the movie, but there was a cut that I created that I said, ‘this is too much for the studio.'”

While Snyder’s movie was meant to be two hours long, the original version he planned would have run for four hours, which he knew Warner Bros. would not let him do. “I did have this idea,” he says. “Oh, maybe we could just split it in half and make it into two two-hour movies.”

“My first idea was like, you showed two hours, and then there’s like, maybe a month, and then the next two hours come out,” he continues. “That was one of my ideas.” Ultimately, that did not happen.

Reshoots have taken place for the upcoming cut of Justice League, although they reportedly only add up to a few minutes of new footage. Much of the film’s huge $70 million budget will be spent on post-production for footage shot before Snyder left the film.

Jared Leto’s controversial Joker will return for Justice League, and Ezra Miller recently shot new footage of his character, The Flash, from the set of Fantastic Beasts 3.

For more on the upcoming cut of Justice League, here’s everything else we know about it.

The PS5 remake of Demon’s Souls retains one of the original’s more complex gameplay systems and it remains just as enigmatic. The World Tendency system in Demon’s Souls alters the state of the many realms of Boletaria based on your actions, and the challenge they present, for better or worse. Depending on your choices and mistakes, you could find yourself exploring a dungeon that has increased in difficulty, yet also yields more significant rewards.

On the surface, World Tendency may seem like an odd take on a videogame morality system. But it helps to know what it involves as you may want to make some drastic choices in order to shift the balance from one side to the other. In this quick rundown on World Tendency, we’ll break down just what’s going on with Demon’s Souls’ more complex systems and how this intricate framework can greatly alter your game.

What Is World Tendency In Demon’s Souls?

In Demon’s Souls, your actions and performance will determine enemy aggression, rare item drop-rates, and even instigate encounters with hidden characters. All of these elements are tied into the World Tendency system. Each Archstone for the game’s five realms is assigned parameters that shift between White and Black Tendency, along with the other shades in between. Depending on your interactions with key characters, the circumstances in how you die, or even how you can help or hinder other players online, you’ll see a difference in the realm’s world state. This change is shown off as an icon on the HUD in the top left or in the remake’s new World Tendency sub-menu that shows each realm’s current state and your character’s tendency.

How Do World Tendencies Change The Game?

From the beginning, it won’t seem like World Tendency has much of an impact on your game. But over time, you’ll notice that it can potentially make or break adventures through the realms in the late game and once you meet more of the critical figures of Demon’s Souls’ story. When you start the game, your World Tendency will be set in the neutral state between White and Black. Once you die during your ensuing runs through the world while in body form, you’ll enter soul form. Soul form is when your character has a faint blue glow and when your health is cut by half. When you enter soul form, the current influence of the realm you’re in will see a slight shift towards Black Tendency. If you keep dying in body form or make evil choices when it comes to the fates of key characters, you’ll dip further into Black Tendency.

To put it simply, World Tendency can influence how difficult the state of a specific realm can be and what kind of rewards you can get out of it. If you aren’t careful and keep running into repeated deaths as a human, you could see your current realm dip further towards Black Tendency, which will increase the aggressiveness of foes and lower the drop rates of some items. So, being reckless and dying repeatedly can potentially make your game all the more difficult.

Another side-effect of the dueling tendencies is that events occur during a specific shift towards either Pure Black or Pure White. One of the earliest World Tendency events you can find in the game appears on the first stage in the Boletarian Palace. If you have Pure White Tendency, you can find a gate downstairs from the first checkpoint open. This pathway will lead to an encounter with Executioner Matilda, who will be hostile towards you. Defeating her will award you with some rare items, adding some incentive to shift the balance from one side to another.

What Are The Tendencies And How Can I Change It?

Both White and Pure Black World Tendencies represent the various threads that will influence the world of Demon’s Souls. Each side of the extreme has its pros and cons, and in some cases, you’ll want to dip further towards one side to trigger some encounters and gain some added perks. Here’s a quick explanation on how the different tendencies work.

Neutral: At the beginning of the game, you’ll start with Neutral influence on each of the five realms. Within neutral tendency, which shows up as a grey icon on the HUD and in the Tendency menu, you’ll receive no bonuses, nor will you trigger any encounters. This normal tendency is the game in its standard form. While this can undoubtedly be preferable for many of the game’s more difficult realms, you’ll often be faced with instances of death or will have to make an important decision, one way or another, don’t get too comfortable with staying neutral for long.

White: This the tendency you’ll more than often want to stay in. Enemies will be the least aggressive and will have less health, and drop rates for healing and crafting items will be more common. Dipping further to Pure White tends to trigger character-specific events and open pathways to some closed-off sections. To shift to pure white, you should remain in body form as long as you can while defeating bosses, helping allies as a blue phantom, kill invading players (who only appear while you are in body form), and defeating bosses in the game.

Black: Pure Black is Demon’s Souls at its most brutal. Not only are enemies more challenging to fight, drop rates for some items are significantly lower. Once you shift closer to Pure Black, the changed state will also put you in a position to be invaded by enemies at a more regular rate while in body form. The upside to putting yourself in Pure Black tendency is that certain items and equipment can drop, and there will be a boost to souls gained from fallen enemies.

Final Advice

The most challenging aspect of the World Tendency system is coming to grips with how unusual and often unclear its messaging can be. It’s a strange system, and thankfully, the remake makes certain aspects a bit more clear. Still, it can be tough to keep track of the meta-changes to the world while also dealing with deadly traps, powerful foes, and seemingly harmless NPCs who might have some evil intent. The sooner you can come to grips with the system, the easier it will be for you to understand your odds of survival in Boletaria and how you can manipulate the systems to shift the balance in your favor.

Godfall makes a good first impression. Even if you’re playing on a moderately powerful PC, as I did, it’s clear from the opening moments that developer Counterplay Games has endeavored to show off advancements in visual fidelity, no doubt in light of new hardware such as the PlayStation 5. From the way sparks fly to the myriad particles that coat every inch of its action and the reflectiveness of its gaudy gold and marble halls, Godfall wants you to know that next gen is here. Beyond the visual spectacle, however, lies a game that’s immediately familiar and over-reliant on an amalgamation of loot-driven games from the past eight years or so.

Godfall’s mixture of loot progression and third-person melee combat has been described by Counterplay Games as a new type of genre: the looter-slasher. The name holds up insofar as you loot and slash things, but there’s nothing about Godfall that feels intrinsically new. Diablo, Monster Hunter, and Warframe make up a portion of its overt inspirations, but it manages to avoid feeling completely derivative by pulling from so many different influences at once. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, especially since it mixes in a few of its own ideas as well. The issues Godfall faces occur outside of combat, where its structure and gameplay loop are decidedly uninspired.

The whole game takes place across three distinct realms: Earth, Water, and Air. Upon entering each biome, you’re given a brief tour of the area before being tasked with finding some kind of door that’s locked by a specific number of MacGuffins. From here, you have to return to previously visited locations and defeat a number of mid-bosses–some of which are unique, but most of which are repeats of fights you’ve already had. Once you’ve slain each of these enemies and acquired the requisite amount of MacGuffins, you can open the door and fight that realm’s boss. Then you simply ascend an elevator and repeat the whole process again in the next realm.

As you can imagine, this rigid framework quickly devolves into tedium and wears out its welcome long before the final credits roll around nine hours in. To make matters worse, Godfall’s endgame revolves around yet more fights against the same bosses you’ve already clashed steel with before. There are some new wrinkles to this endgame content, including ways to earn new loot, a reward system that grants temporary buffs, and the prospect of failing and having to start over, but the core conceit of repeating battles to unlock loot to repeat more battles is not an enticing one when that’s all there is to it.

Part of this tedium is due to routine level and quest design that does little more than shuffle you from one battle to the next. Your objective rarely deviates from the basic task of killing everything in sight, aside from a select few outliers where you might have to destroy an object as well. You have no interaction with the world around you, and there’s no nuance to indicate a sense of history in each locale. Enemies simply mill about waiting to die–their entire purpose served by being vanquished at your hands–and the environments, for as good as they look, end up feeling like hollow set dressing. The threadbare story provides little context either, offering just enough of a reason for all the bloodshed. The end goal is to kill your brother before he can become a god and bring about the apocalypse. At one point it looks as though the narrative might add some depth by musing on the potential for power to corrupt those who have no need for it, but this is dropped just as soon as it arrives in favor of a predictable sequel tease.

Godfall is a game built on monotony that would fall apart completely if the combat weren’t there to prop it up. Your melee repertoire consists of light and heavy attacks, a snappy dodge, and a shield that can both block and parry incoming attacks. There’s the usual assortment of gear rarities, with common, uncommon, rare, and legendary loot to find, while your weapon arsenal features everything from giant greatswords to nimble dual blades. Each weapon type is diversified by the range, speed, and cadence of its moveset, but they all share the same four-button combo and an array of abilities that can be unlocked via a modest skill tree. Whichever weapon type you opt for will come down to personal preference, particularly since Godfall’s combat is meaty and satisfying no matter which one you choose, with a palpable sense of skull-crushing weight behind each and every blow.

It can also be surprisingly measured due to the fact you can’t interrupt attack animations if you need to block or dodge. This works well on paper, forcing you to learn enemy patterns and be deliberate in your actions, but it belies Godfall’s emphasis on aggression. Being patient works against bosses and in one-on-one encounters, but you spend the vast majority of the game fighting mobs where speed is of the essence. You need to quickly cut through ranged enemies or healers before dealing with anyone else, and this approach is antithetical to the way defending works. There’s even a Rampage mechanic that rewards you for staying on the front foot with a 20% damage increase. However, these mechanics are undermined by the fact that dying in Godfall is so inconsequential that it’s actually advantageous a lot of the time. Falling in battle simply respawns you back where you died, with all of the enemies right where you left them, whether that means they’re dead or damaged. Doing so also replenishes all of your healing items, so there’s little reason to avoid letting your health bar reach zero unless you want to keep hold of any of the energy you’ve built up. This changes during boss fights, but even these are generously checkpointed each time you deplete a chunk of the boss’ health.

Fortunately, there is some meaningful depth beyond the combat’s familiar basics. Every weapon type has two unique variants of special attacks called Southern and Northern Techniques. You can execute these by spending energy that’s gradually accumulated during the heat of battle. Performing a Northern Technique with the longsword, for example, will launch you into a rapid flurry of strikes that cuts through any foes around you, while the polearm’s Southern Technique sends you into a leaping ground slam that functions similarly to an AOE attack. Aside from being flashy displays of power, these techniques are also a vital part of Godfall’s Soulshatter mechanic. By using light attacks and Northern Techniques, you can apply Soulshatter buildup to an enemy’s health bar before switching to heavy attacks and Southern Techniques to bank all of that volatile energy and dish it out in the form of destructive Soulshatter damage.

There are a number of other abilities you can unlock throughout the game as well, such as a Weak Point skill that lets you aim the cursor at highlighted enemy weak spots to deal extra damage. This adds an element of finesse to those moments when you’re simply wailing on a group of enemies, forcing you to course-correct and hone in on a specific point. There are also Polarity Attacks that encourage you to swap between both of your equipped weapons in the midst of battle by rewarding you with a shockwave attack and extra damage for a brief period. It’s these physical abilities that really stand out during the chaos of Godfall’s combat. Some loot has a chance to apply different status effects like bleeding, or add fire and electric damage on top of your physical attacks, but none of this is particularly noticeable. You know when you’ve killed an enemy using Soulshatter damage because they explode in a bright dust cloud, but status effects just get lost in the noise.

Godfall is a game built on monotony that would fall apart completely if the combat weren’t there to prop it up.

As a result, Godfall’s loot is defined by basic number crunching–where gear is equipped according to the highest digits and little else. Your preference for a particular weapon type will factor into this, but finding a legendary warhammer is only exciting because your damage numbers grow in size. A legendary weapon doesn’t function any differently to a common one; they both still have the same combo and rhythm to their attacks. There’s still an inherent endorphin rush that comes from seeing that golden orb burst forth from a defeated enemy, but this mostly feels like muscle memory that’s accrued from playing other loot-heavy games. Seeing numbers grow is always a good thing, but it does nothing to change or evolve the flow of combat.

Valorplates are similarly disappointing. These armor sets come with slightly different stats and various Archon abilities–which are essentially ultimates–but the stats and passive buffs they apply are still barely perceptible, and there are only three Archon abilities split amongst its 12 Valorplates. They’re varied from a visual perspective, offering different styles on Godfall’s cosmic knights aesthetic, and this does allow you to look different from one another when playing in co-op. The game is naturally better with friends–even if there’s little synergy shared between your attacks and abilities–but you will need friends if you want to play cooperatively, since there is no matchmaking.

Even if you can play with others, Godfall’s meaty combat eventually begins to wear thin after the umpteenth version of the same fight. This is a shallow game bolstered by decent combat that struggles to bear the weight of an entire game. Uninteresting loot mixed with a monotonous and grindy structure is not a good combination, and for as satisfying and fun as it can often be to hack your way through one battle after another, there’s not enough here to sustain that enjoyment for more than a few hours.

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Earlier this year, Microsoft made waves with a $7.5 billion purchase of Bethesda, the company behind Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, Doom, and many more huge franchises. Since then, it’s been unclear if future Bethesda titles beyond Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo (both announced as PS5 exclusives ahead of the deal) would be console-exclusive to Xbox consoles. Now, some new comments from Xbox chief executive officer Tim Stuart give us some more insight into the thought process behind this purchase–and it’s not necessarily about exclusives, but about having the best versions of the games available.

Speaking during the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference, which was transcribed by Seeking Alpha (and then picked up on by Gematsu), Stuart talked about the Bethesda purchase, and how it fits within their larger plans. Stuart said that they “highly encourage cross-platform play,” and that it’s better for them if everyone is succeeding: “classic rising tide lifts all boats,” he says.

Stuart digs into some long-term plans, and says “we don’t have intentions of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise.” However, even if these games come to other systems, he believes they’ll be at their best–and sometimes arrive early–on Microsoft platforms. “What we want is, we want that content, in the long run, to be either first or better or best or pick your differentiated experience, on our platforms,” he says. “We will want Bethesda content to show up the best as–on our platforms.”

He says that it’s “not a point about being exclusive,” or having an adjusted content road map compared to the competition. “But if you think about something like Game Pass, if it shows up best in Game Pass, that’s what we want to see, and we want to drive our Game Pass subscriber base through that Bethesda pipeline,” Stuart says.

“So again, I’m not announcing pulling content from platforms one way or the other,” he continues. “But I suspect you’ll continue to see us shift towards a first or better or best approach on our platforms.”

Because this purchase will not be finalized until 2021, Microsoft and Xbox staff are currently limited in what they can say about future plans–it’s likely that more details will come to light in the new year.

Earlier, Bethesda’s Todd Howard said that it was “hard to imagine” Elder Scrolls VI being an Xbox exclusive–and now it sounds like it might not be. Microsoft has also suggested before that this purchase was not about exclusive games, and there’s been speculation that Microsoft was interested in Bethesda’s Orion streaming tech.

The Xbox Series X/S are available now. Check out GameSpot’s coverage of Microsoft’s new machines below:

There’s much to praise about the remake of Demon’s Souls. It’s a remarkable technical showpiece for the PlayStation 5; a gripping gameplay experience that oscillates between exhilarating, nerve-wracking, and downright heartbreaking; and a faithful recreation of the seminal title that birthed the Souls-like subgenre. But developer Bluepoint’s greatest achievement is that it took something I’m intimately familiar with and made me feel like I was venturing into the unknown.

Fundamentally, Demon’s Souls for PS5 is what it has always been. Barring some small tweaks, the design of the game is identical to From Software’s original. The core mechanics are unchanged, the enemies are placed in the same positions and behave in the same ways, the devious tricks and traps are still there, ready to catch the unfamiliar off-guard.

And yet, while retreading a well-worn path through the kingdom of Boletaria, I find myself without the confidence I should have. I’m cautiously approaching basic enemies with my shield raised, knowing their every move and how to overcome them, but fearing them still. I stand paralyzed at the end of narrow stone tunnels ominously lit by flickering torches, knowing exactly what awaits in the darkness, but still needing to will myself forward. And as monstrous demons step into arenas in which I’ve bested them dozens of times, I begin to doubt my chances at victory once more.

Yes, Demon’s Souls is undoubtedly an impressive technical achievement. But what makes it special is how Bluepoint has applied its own creative vision to From Software’s original to remake the game not just as it was, but as it was meant to be, realizing its full potential. The result is a title that pays homage to From Software’s work, but at the same time stands as brilliant in its own right.

In breathing new life into Boletaria, Bluepoint has taken some artistic license with From Software’s work, for better or worse depending on your perspective. While the body of the game may look vastly different, its soul remains intact–I could feel as much as I stood in familiar places and absorbed the overwhelming amount of new details. As a result, it was as if I were experiencing the game all over again with a fresh pair of eyes, and in doing so, the emotions I felt on my first time through were stirred once more.

Stepping into The Nexus, the hub area for the game, felt like coming home, but what I once perceived to be an abandoned prison for the souls of wayward warriors now felt like a welcoming place of respite. Candles bathed the cold otherworldly architecture in a warm glow, statues were shrouded in brilliant, hopeful white light, and a fuller, richer version of the orchestral theme played to drive home the melancholic mood of the hidden temple.

Every facet of the environment is rich in detail, from the rippling water in the central pool to the intricate stone carvings and metal detailing on the archstones used to transport you to distant lands in search of demon’s souls. Even the people who occupy The Nexus have more detail, which in turn gives them greater depth. Stockpile Thomas, a forlorn figure who sits in a nook of The Nexus and offers to look after your excess items and equipment, tells his story in a way that wasn’t possible before. His wife and child were killed and his ineptitude in battle meant he was unable to save them. This is the first time in many hours of playing Demon’s Souls that I’ve been able to read the expressions on Thomas’s face, and the pain is visible as he recounts his tragic loss. His eyes look reddened and puffy, as if he’d just been crying.

Though their lines may be brief, the voices of these characters sound familiar–some have been re-recorded with the same actors, while others are new. The way Blacksmith Ed chastises you for not making use of his services, the Maiden in Black’s oft-repeated prayer whenever she uses her abilities to strengthen you, Patches’ insincerity as he tries to hide his deceitful nature–it all sounds right, and where new or tweaked writing and vocal performances appear, they still evoke the intended effect.

That is true of every area in the game. Each of the five archstones takes you to locales that are jaw-dropping visually and distinct atmospherically. The Boletarian Palace lies in ruin, with battlements barely standing or entirely destroyed. Mindless dreglings wander around, attacking you on-sight with a frenzy of sword swings ending in an exasperated sigh of exhaustion. This is a game that, in numerous ways, serves as a showcase for all of the PS5 signature features, and hearing Demon’s Souls is as gratifying as seeing and playing it. Thanks to the 3D audio through headphones, the heavy and threatening breathing of a Blue Eye Knight told me it was nearby before I could even see it. Buzzing flies and the ragged caws of pecking crows made the sight of a decaying horse carcass all the more unsightly. And as archers fired arrows, the sound of them whizzing by my ears revealed just how narrowly I had escaped.

Unlike Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro–From Software’s follow-up games–Demon’s Souls has a loose structure to progression. It encourages, and sometimes by way of insurmountable enemies, deadly bosses, and locked doors, forces you to travel to locations on other archstones until you are equipped to forge ahead again. This means it can be difficult to get comfortable with any location–it’s always ushering you toward dangerous unknowns, and Bluepoint’s technically and artistically stunning graphics mean each new area is an absolute joy to behold, as well as an anxiety-ridden nightmare to venture through even for veterans.

[Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake is] a title that pays homage to From Software’s work, but at the same time stands as brilliant in its own right.

Crucially, in each location, the new effects, beautiful lighting, and gorgeous modeling never upend From Software’s intent and, in fact, create a truer representation of it. Advancement in technology and game design have given Bluepoint tools to do what From Software couldn’t on the PS3 back in 2009. The maze of tunnels in Stonefang feels even more claustrophobic and as you venture deeper, the rippling steam coming off lava makes the sweltering hot environment feel oppressive. The Valley of Defilement’s wet wooden scaffolding looks perilous to walk along, and torches burn bright blue, violently moving as if agitated by an unseen toxic gas–you feel gross just standing there.

Bosses are treated with the same kind of care, either true to the original or changed to more closely embody the spirit of it. The Vanguard looks less like one of those rubber Monsters In My Pocket toys from the ’90s and more like a disgusting demonic executioner. The Tower Knight looms above you, striking a presence that is both heroic and terrifying, and when it hurls a soul spear in your direction, the booming sound and the screen shake accompanied by the DualSense’s arresting vibration will make you think twice about stepping out into the open. The Flamelurker fight, because of how good the animation work is, made me feel like I was a matador trapped in a lava pit with a demonic flaming bull constantly bearing down on me. The thundering sound of its erratic movement coupled with the intense visual feedback turned it into a desperate, panicked battle for survival.

Technically, Demon’s Souls is astounding. On Performance Mode, it displays gorgeous visuals rendered at 1440p and upscaled to 4K at a consistent, smooth frame rate. Cinematic Mode runs at native 4K, but this seems to come at the cost of performance, as I found the frame rate to be much less consistent. I stuck to Performance Mode, and did so with the new offset camera view, which I found to frame the game in a more cinematic way. Features such as the ability to make the UI dynamically fade in and out do a great deal to improve immersion. There are also multiple graphical filters available, including the more muted, greener palette of the original PS3 release (although I think Bluepoint’s version, with its richness and vibrancy, should be the way you play the first time through). If it wasn’t clear, Demon’s Souls on PS5 is one of the best-looking and -sounding games I’ve ever played.

Outside of its presentation, Bluepoint has employed a defter touch. As mentioned previously, Demon’s Souls on PS5 plays very much the same, mechanically speaking. However, Bluepoint has clearly spent a great deal of effort on improving the feedback so everything is more impactful. There’s a weightiness and heft to the game that is communicated visually and through audio. Everything from movement to attacks, evasion, and even consuming items has a physicality to it. There’s a real sense of inertia and momentum as your blade cuts through the air, and noticeable resistance as it meets the steel of armor or the flesh of an enemy. Heavy weapons come crashing down in an incredibly satisfying way, and you’ll be thankful for your shield every time an enemy’s attack bounces off it. If you pick a magic-based build, you can send your spell off into the distance and watch as it travels, lighting up everything it passes before erupting like a little star going supernova.

Even though enemies haven’t changed as far as the kinds of attacks they do, when they use them, or how much health they possess, the visual feedback instills a greater sense of danger. You don’t want to get hit by things because it looks and sounds like they hurt, on top of actually taking massive chunks out of your health bar. The physicality now supports and reinforces the deliberate, methodical nature of Souls combat. And that’s what stripped me of some of my confidence; the difference in the way it feels–along with actually being a little rusty–has forced me to once again respect Demon’s Souls, because it is as ruthless as it has ever been, and in many cases more ruthless than the Souls games that followed it. New additions such as unique attack and finisher animations give weapons more of an identity then they had in the original, and landing ripostes is such a rush that you’ll want to try and parry every enemy.

But by sticking so closely to From Software’s framework, Bluepoint has also carried forward some of the more idiosyncratic aspects of the Demon’s Souls gameplay experience. Although World Tendency is explained a bit better and more readily visible to the player, that doesn’t make the underlying issues of it any better. It’s still, for all but the most learned players, quite obtuse as a concept. World Tendency can skew the state of the various locations towards white or black, depending on certain actions that you take or happen to you, though these aren’t ever explained. Most players will notice their health is capped while in Soul form and use an item to restore their human form to access the restricted pool, not knowing that dying in human form makes the world skew towards black tendency, where enemies hit harder. The idea of a player struggling, dying, and the game becoming harder as a result is suspect, but it is nonetheless intact in the remake.

Demon’s Souls for PS5 also features the same finicky multiplayer system that it had on PS3, and that From Software’s games continue to have. There are specific conditions that need to be met and items employed to enable jolly cooperation, but the information around this isn’t surfaced in a clear, visible way for newcomers to understand. It then falls on the player to figure it out through a frustrating process of trial and error, seek out guidance from someone in the know, or go hunting for information in a sea of forums and threads written around the 2009 version of the game.

But I can’t fault Bluepoint for leaving it untouched, warts and all. The studio is in the unenviable position of remaking one of the most beloved games of all time, which has an incredibly passionate and vocal fanbase. And what might seem like a reasonable change to one person could be an undermining of what makes the game unique, distinct, and memorable to another. While the dissonance between the game’s modern look and feel and some of the more outdated aspects of its design is noticeable, it doesn’t impact the experience significantly. Although I would have liked to see Bluepoint address the more obviously flawed elements, playing it safe and honoring the work and legacy of From Software and Demon’s Souls was the right move.

Quirks aside, Bluepoint’s remake is an unmitigated success. It is a technical tour de force and a true showpiece for the PS5 and the power of Sony’s next-generation console. But, more importantly, it’s also a creative marvel coming from a studio that is clearly showing the world it has its own voice. Bluepoint has taken From Software’s original game and expressed it in a richer and fuller way, and in doing so given me something I thought was impossible: the opportunity to relive the experience of falling in love with Souls games for the first time.