The Truth About Demon's Souls' Mysterious Door

In mid-November, gamers discovered a sneaky little addition to the PlayStation 5 remake of Demon's Souls: a devious door squirreled away in the labyrinthine alleys of World 1-3, nestled behind an illusory wall blocked by boxes. If Souls-like gamers hadn't declared war on every in-game container, the door might have remained undiscovered to this day. But, even after players found the door, the secrets did not end there since it was locked, pressing audiences to pry it open and relieve the door of its riches.

Demon's Souls fans joined forces to scour the game for a means to open the door, and their efforts recently paid off. The self-described "souls speedrunner" Distortion2 cracked the code (and the door), and he posted the results for everyone to see. At long last, gamers finally know how to open the mysterious Demon's Soul door and get a look at what treasures it hides.

Before Bluepoint Games developed the Demon's Souls remake, the studio created the Shadow of the Colossus remake. The dev team buried Hidden Coins in that game, and players who find them all earn a new sword. That was the first hint in discovering the Demon's Souls door's secret.

While Distortion2 can take credit for opening the door, he owes Reddit user MaledictuxNix a huge favor for discovering the key to the door. Well, the key to obtaining the key to the door: Ceramic Coins. These items are only available in the new Fractured Mode, in set locations, and in Pure White and Pure Black World Tendencies.

After collecting 34 coins — which required beating the game and starting New Game Plus – Distortion2 visited Sparkly the Crow, an NPC with an eye for shiny objects. The Ceramic Coins' flavor text states "the glimmer has faded," so there's still some glimmer. It was worth a shot. Distortion2 dropped 30 coins in front of Sparkly (although the Demon's Souls wiki says 26) and received a Rusted Key. Putting two and two together, Distortion2 rushed to the door, and lo and behold, he opened it.

Much of the excitement surrounding the door revolved around its stashed loot. Thanks to the Demon's Souls remake's new camera mode, audiences realized a new item lay waiting beyond the impenetrable wooden frame, but nobody knew what it was until Distortion2 opened the door. After he kicked it down with his rusty new key, he slowly approached the loot, savoring every moment. Suddenly, Distortion2 was ambushed by the game's most dangerous enemy: the "Item will exceed carry capacity" message. Undaunted, Distortion2 stashed some equipment and claimed his rewards, the Penetrator armor set.

The armor, as its name suggests, recreates the look of the famous Penetrator boss, and it pairs nicely with the Penetrating Sword. (It is the Penetrator's signature weapon, after all.) And, according to the in-game description and stats, each piece of the armor set defends against piercing and slashing damage — ironic since the Penetrating Sword excels in those damage types — at the cost of stamina regeneration.

Is the armor worth all the time spent acquiring it? Distortion2 is on the fence, but he's still pleasantly surprised because he "wasn't expecting anything crazy."