The Major Ways Demon's Souls PS5 Will Differ From The Original

FromSoftware's first foray into the brutally difficult Souls-like/Soulsborne genre (that it invented), Demon's Souls is a beloved, terrifying, classic once exclusive to the PlayStation 3. While the game was never ported to rival platforms like its younger Dark Souls brethren, Demon's Souls is being remade for the PlayStation 5 by the team behind the beloved Shadow of the Colossus remake, Bluepoint Games. And, much like the Shadow of the Colossus remake, the PS5 rendition of Demon's Souls won't be a one-to-one remaster.

Recently, Polygon sat down with Gavin Moore, who serves as the remake's creative director. Moore promised Polygon that everything players love about the classic will remain intact, but his team will also tighten up some frayed ends. Bugs, for example, are on the chopping block. It's no secret the original Demon's Souls houses a number of bugs, perhaps the most infamous of which is attacking bosses through fog doors. Moore's team removed these kinds of exploits and glitches from the remake, but they didn't touch the more benign and "meme-worthy bugs."

The Demon's Souls remake will also ship with numerous quality of life changes. For instance, the game will benefit from the PS5's SSD. No more twiddling your thumbs for three minutes after each death, waiting for the game to load. The remake will also take advantage of the PS5's GPU. The PS5 version will obviously look better than the PS3 original, but the remake will also sport two visual modes — not unlike Nioh or Ghost of Tsushima. Gamers can pick between a cinematic mode for native 4K graphics at 30fps or performance mode for dynamic 4K at 60fps.

Also, some good news for all you completionists out there: You will no longer have to grind through countless hours and enemies to acquire Pure Bladestones. You still need to work for that Master Slasher's Trophy, but the process will be expedited.

Demon's Souls' changes aren't all under the hood improvements, though. Moore previously revealed that players can expect new weapons, armor, and items, some of which are exclusive to the Digital Deluxe Edition. However, during the recent interview, Moore stated that his team hid tons of new content throughout the game, and it is up to players to seek them out. Moreover, Bluepoint is completely reworking player encumbrance.

For those of you who never played Demon's Souls, healing is a whole different kettle of fish from Dark Souls. Instead of guzzling a limited number of healing flasks, you chew on healing grass. In the original game, you could line your pockets with a bottomless supply of grass, which essentially bulldozed the sense of difficulty or tension. The Demon's Souls remake will completely rework how much grass you can carry — especially the more powerful shoots — to balance game difficulty and ensure players can't wade through giant demons like immortal, sword-wielding cows.

However, while Moore promised new items and weapons, that doesn't mean you will find them in new locations — mostly because there are none. Ever since the original Demon's Souls' release, rumors have swirled that the game housed a sixth, canceled world — which would explain why one of the archstones in the game's hub is destroyed. Moore has confirmed the door to that fabled level will remain closed.

The final notable additions to the Demon's Souls remake are not quality of life changes, under the hood improvements, or even new, semi-tangible assets. Instead, these inclusions are just good-to-haves that are by no means necessary but welcome nonetheless. Bluepoint Games re-recorded the title's music to provide a more orchestral soundtrack. The company also re-recorded all the game's voices (don't worry, most of the voice actors returned).

Gamers can also look forward to new visual filters to play around with. Demon's Souls will include a photo mode that, in a series first, will pause the game — as long as other players don't invade your world. Moore claimed the photo mode is "exceptionally amazing in-depth," so it might end up as yet another gaming photo mode you need to add to your bucket list.

This is only a small sampling of all the features coming to the PS5 port of Demon's Souls. Moore implied that more are on the way, but regardless of all the changes and additions, the game's core gameplay will remain intact. If you just want to treat the remake as a better-looking rendition of Demon's Souls, you can.