Demon's Souls (Greatest Hits) - PlayStation 3

Unlike its predecessor the PS3 hasn't been known for its extensive library of great RPG games however, in the last couple of years titles such as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Dragon Age: Origins, and the PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls looks to change all of that. Demon's Souls might not appear to be anything special but like the old saying goes "don't judge a book by its cover." Demon's Souls puts you in the dark fantasy themed Action-RPG world of Boletaria, a kingdom that has crumbled, been besieged by demons, and where the sane have become insane and have allied themselves with the horrors of the land. This game is classic good versus evil and though the story might again not seem like anything special it is portrayed very well and it eventually all comes together. The game's difficulty at some points can be punishing but once you get the hang of how things work experienced RPG fans will find Demon's Souls to be quite rewarding. The main object of Demon's Souls is to slay demons and collect demon's souls which are the unusual currency of Boletaria. You can use these collected souls to buy weapons, armor, items and even spells but once you die in demon's souls you lose all of your souls and start from the beginning of the level though you do have the chance to find your body and reclaim your lost souls. Once you start a new game you will not only be able to choose from 10 classes but you will be able to fully customize the look and name of your character and there are several customization options. You also have the freedom to take your character in any direction you please because the classes only dictate what stats and equipment your character will start with. Once you complete or skip the tutorial (it is highly recommended that you play through the tutorial) you will find yourself in the Nexus, a sort of hub world where you will first be in "Soul Form". Throughout the game you will discover two forms in which your character will either be in, these are body and soul form. While in body form you have max health and you can active glowing blue runic writings which appear on the ground known as "Soul Signs". You can use these to summon Blue Phantoms while online (co-op). These phantoms are in soul form but once you and your ally or allies have destroyed a lead demon your phantom friend will be revived to body form and he will return to his or her realm. Now it sounds like being in Body Form is the way to be however, Black Phantoms (Player versus player aka PvP) can invade your game randomly and once there they will try to assassinate you because your death is their body form revival so be careful when you get an onscreen warning that you have been invaded. Soul form is a little different than body form. While in soul form your HP is halved however, you do more damage and you can join other players' games as a Blue Phantom and attempt to get revived, or you can enter a player's game as a dreaded Black Phantom. Now back in the Nexus you cannot be invaded by a Black Phantom and you cannot summon a Blue Phantom, it is sort of a safe haven and where you can enter 1 of the 5 worlds through portals called "Archstones". Each of these worlds are vastly unique and feature their own environments and enemies and each world features plenty of hours of play time. Now this game can have a crushing difficulty but if you are playing online there things that can aid frustrating players such as Blue Phantoms, which I talked about earlier, bloodstains, messages and apparitions. Bloodstains show the location of where another player has died and if activated they will show the deceased player as a red apparition in his last moments offering a warning to players online that danger is around. Messages are glowing pink runic writings found on the ground which are similar to Soul Signs. These are left by other players and offer hints but always beware because some messages may be false. Last but not least are apparitions which are players from other realms in a ghostly form who fade in and out between your realm and theirs. Sometimes watching them can provide helpful hints. Online Demon's Souls is definitely a bit less hard and a lot more fun but offline or online any RPG fan will find that Demon's Souls is brilliant masterpiece RPG and is a proud and welcomed edition to the PS3's library.

I finally came around to purchasing this game and I am so glad I did. I used to play RPGs a lot growing up, but lately as my gaming time has been severly shortened I pretty much only play online FPSs (COD, etc). With those i can easily get 4-5 games in under an hour. Yet I still missed the occassional good single player game, so i decided to take a chance on this game after hearing endless praise for it. Here are some things that I found helpful to know / wish i would have known before buying the game (some of these contain "spoilers" ... these things all happen in the beginning of playing and I highly recommend knowing them before playing): - EDIT*: I just wanted to let people know that the community is still pretty alive for this game!! For example, last night I decided I wanted to help people in World 4-1. ... laid down my blue stone (lets people summon you to their game) and I was immediately summoned. THroughout the night I was summoned 5 times, each with very little downtime waiting in between. Atlus has said they will keep the servers open until 2012 (did not give an exact date), so hurry up and play! :) - the game saves CONSTANTLY. Do anything of significance (use an item, kill an NPC, whatever) and it saves. This is good because you can literally quit anytime and when you come back to the game it loads you at the exact moment you stoppped playing...it is also bad because you can't really undo anything! (no going back to previous saves). This is great for me b/c I have limited game time so i can stop whenever i want (no playing until i hit a save point) - when you first start the game, you will play a really simple tutorial. You'll probably think "this game isnt as hard as everyone says it is!" ... You will reach the boss of the tutorial (Vanguard) and immediately die. (you are supposed to die...there are hardcore players who can beat him though). Once dead, you will go to the "Nexus" which is sort of a safe haven where you can talk to NPCs (and kill them...but you dont want to do that so be careful where you swing your sword!) or choose which world you want to travel to. - You can NOT use your souls to level up your stats UNTIL you beat the first true boss (world 1-1, Phalanx). - Once you beat the 1-1 boss, return to the nexus, talk to the maiden in black. Then go up the stairs in the nexus until you reach the upper level with all those bodies sitting around in a circle. Talk to the one with a candle in front of it. (I had to press talk twice for some reason). She will tell you a story, then ask you to say "yes" to something. THEN, you can go back to maiden in black and use your souls to level up stats. - When you die, you lose your body and go into "soul form" ... your guy looks the same (same armor, etc) but has an unhealthy green glow and outline. You have 50% of your HP (that sounds bad but its really not...just think of this as your normal HP). To regain your body, you either have to defeat a boss or help another player out online. Lots of people recommend always keeping soul form, so once you get your body back just go to the top of the nexus and jump off to suicide. - Playing online -- you dont have to if you dont want to. Just hit "cancel" when it asks you to sign in. Playing online enables you to: see messages left by other players (some helpful, some not), join another players game to help them, invade another players game to annoy them - Playing online -- you can NOT be invaded by another player if you are in soul form. You can NOT summon another player to help you if you are in soul form - starting at the first world portal (world 1) going clockwise around the staircase is how people refer to the worlds. Then each boss marks the "end" of a world level. (Phalanx marks the end of "1-1" ... once you defeat phalanx, a pathway opens up and you can either continue to "1-2" or go back to the nexus) - If you want an "easy mode" - start the game as character type "Royal" ... they are equipped with a magic spell "Soul Arrow" right away, which kills most starting enemies in 1-2 shots. - This is not your traditional (or in my eyes traditional) RPG where when you increase a stat you see immediate effects. For example, if you increase your strength stat by one point, you do NOT necessarily see an increase in damage done in this game. In this game, equipment primarily determines how much damage you do / how much defense you have / etc. Your stats enable you to USE the equipment. For example, a sword might require you to have 11 STR (strength) to equip it. The sword's damage will not change whether you have 11 STR or 20 STR. There are however some weapons that have damage bonuses that scale with your stats, so in that regard increasing a stat CAN have an impact, but not always. - my tip: read a FAQ for the first world (1-1). It will enable you to get two very important items you may have otherwise missed (Cling Ring -- 75% HP in soul form instead of 50%, and Thief Ring -- harder to detect by enemies). It will also give you some sense of how levels work/shortcuts work/etc. If you dont want to read a FAQ, well let me just tell you --- dont go through the first fog gate you encounter unless you have found the cling ring. If you encounter a knight with RED eyes, go the other way -- you are not ready to fight him yet. Once you get a feel for how 1-1 is laid out, etc...you can play the other levels with no FAQ and only refer to a FAQ if you are stuck. Well i hope those tips helped you. There is one final tip i will put at the end b/c it happens a little later in the game. THis is a great game, but there are a few cons. Here they are: 1) Equipment stats are shown in confusing symbols instead of words (why can't you just say STR, DMG, MAG, etc?). You will probably have to refer to the manual multiple times before you get the hang of what they are trying to show 2) If you die at a boss (and you will), you have to go back to the start of the level with all enemies respawned. Lots of levels have shortcuts to the boss, but this is still really annoying. Not annoying b/c it is hard necessarily, but annoying because it is time consuming and makes boss fights less enjoyable. Some of the bosses are fantastic looking and unique, but you dont really get to appreciate them because a death in a fight can cost you a lot of time in the game. 3) Camera angles / targeting system can be wonky, especially if you are in tight spaces. Sometimes this can lead to an annoying unjustified death. 4) Not really story-driven. This is not a con for me, but i know lots of people appreciate good story-telling and cutscenes. I particularly like that there are not really any long cutscenes to break up gaming, but just FYI. All in all, even with the above cons, this game is worth your time if you have any remote interest in RPGs. Highly recommended. *** the next final tip is for a little later in the game, but still is one of those things that if you never heard about it before, you probably would never have known to do it *** - in world 3-2, there is a mean looking dude in a cell you can free. He has black armor and horns on his head. He is Yurt the Silent. IF YOU FREE HIM, he will return to the nexus and start killing NPCs!! Either do NOT free him, OR once you free him KILL HIM right away. If you kill him you get his armor too which is pretty cool.

Demon's Souls is not a game for everybody. That being said, if you're up to the challenge, it's one of the best games of its kind to be released in recent memory. Most game review sites gave it high marks, and Gamespot recently awarded Demon's Souls its 2009 Game of the Year award, so it's clear that this game is doing something right. Demon's Souls is basically a combat RPG. You run around and kill all sorts of different monsters with lots of different weapons and spells, get currency called "demon's souls" (hence the title of the game), and use that currency to level up, upgrade your weapons, buy items, learn spells, etc. The game takes place in five different worlds, each of which has its own style, both artistically and in terms of gameplay. The game world is one of the most atmospheric in any game I've ever played. There isn't really much of a story (don't expect anything like Dragon Age or Final Fantasy), but you really do feel like you're in a kingdom being overrun by chaos and evil. The gameplay in Demon's Souls is spot on. There's a great sense of progression, since you slowly but surely become more and more powerful throughout the course of the game. A huge amount of the progression doesn't actually come from any statistical boosts, but from simply going through the game, dying a lot, and learning from your errors. As you learn how to beat different monsters and bosses, you really do feel like you're accomplishing something nontrivial. There aren't a huge number of weapons (maybe a few dozen?), but they each have a distinct role in combat, and the game really forces you to think about which weapons and armor you want to use. You'll find that there isn't one best answer; rather, the best equipment and spells to use will depend on your playstyle and the monsters you need to fight. One of the great things about Demon's Souls is that there are all sorts of different ways to progress through the game. The boss fights in this game are fantastic - they involve lots of different sorts of crazy, mostly huge, monsters, some of which seem overwhelmingly powerful at first, but which upon closer inspection have their weak spots. Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Demon's Souls is the multiplayer system. It's kind of hard to describe, but it involves you either helping or fighting other players by invading their worlds as a "phantom", or by leaving notes on the ground. You can also touch other players' bloodstains to see how they died, which might serve as a warning for you. You can't chat with other players, but this really adds to the atmosphere of the game. One of the most frequent complaints about this game is the difficulty. It's true, this game is hard, but not unfair hard. There are ways to beat every monster in the game using the tools available to you, and if you take the time to be patient and learn from your errors, you'll find that the game isn't unreasonably difficult. That being said, Demon's Souls is more demanding than almost any other game out there, and probably isn't appropriate for more casual gamers. If you're unsure if your skills are up to the task, try playing the game at a friends or renting it first. The first few levels are pretty indicative of the difficulty of the rest of the game. Demon's Souls isn't a perfect game, but the flaws are all minor. I don't know if this is the best game I've ever played on the PS3, but it certainly is one of the best games currently available for the system. If you're unsure about whether this game is for you, rent it first, but I'm sure that many people will be pleasantly surprised with Demon's Souls.

Sad to say some people will never experience this game. It is one of the best I have ever played and I have played a bunch, from Oblivion, DAO, RFOM to R2 to COD4, 5, MW2 to Killzone2 to Uncharted 1 and 2 to Halo to LBP and the Ratchet and Clank games and many many more. It is unlike any you will ever play should you decide to try it and yes it is hard, but to say that simply doesn't explain why this is important to the game. One only has to look at the wikidot wiki on it to see how deep the game is. It's good to address complaints a very few people have had with the game: No checkpoints No saves Lots of dying Ok, the game doesn't have a menu that allows you to save anywhere you want, but that means menus don't interfere with the game-the game is about immersion. It does save after you kill enemies, when you reach certain points (it autosaves a lot), and when you die. It also saves when you quit the game and any baddies killed where you quit will be dead when you reload. Certain traps will reset, though. The other thing to note is there's no pause in the game, so if you have to run off to do something, you probably want to quit so as to avoid having some other player invade and kill you-because one innovative feature in the game is that other players can enter your game (at certain times) to help or to hurt you. The online feature is amazing. The game does involve a lot of dying on your part, some of it is even required, because certain situations are only created due to you dying. As well there are certain ones that only come up if you are fairly perfect in an area. The fact that the game is rather harsh due to the dying a lot part, and the fact that you lose all the souls (the form of currency in the game) you've accumulated and have to start the level you died in all over again with all foes having re-spawned and made harder to kill helps to create a certain edge of your seat experience. When you are up on some extremely high ledge with very little room for error or when you've gotten the message that some player has invaded your game when you have just fought some tough foes and have to replenish health and mana, you will feel the game and some sense of fear and anxiety. No other game today can do that for you. In most games if you die, at worst you start the area over again, no real penalties other than having to go through some small part again and try not to die at it. Demon's Souls creates real consequences for dying in the game and really makes you sweat everything. To say it isn't fun is only true for those who want a game that coddles them. This is a game that will bring out true fear and sense of accomplishment like no other. Yes, foes can one hit kill you, even some of the lesser foes, but I find this refreshing after playing games where multiple shots from a shotgun only slows an opponent down. Games today usually allow you to go hide and wait for your health to replenish after being shot by a machine gun. Demon's Souls causes you to be more tactical in your thinking. What works for one opponent will not for another. Watching, listening, walking and evading, and ultimately thinking, not charging in blindly are paramount. Character creation allows you to choose a certain class (each one has its benefits with unique abilities and/or items that you begin with), but you can change your mind throughout the game and choose level ups that turn your mage into a melee specialist if you choose. Spells, miracles, special weapons, world and character tendencies, as well as online hints, bloodstain replays, PVP and coop play make this one very special game. I, like many others thought it was way too hard at first-hated it, but a few hours into it and I can't put it down, months later.

This is my first review for a game ever but I will do the best I can: GAMEPLAY: Its best to mention this first because most people might just read this first statement. THIS GAME IS HARD! And there is NO PAUSE BUTTON If you can remember those days where games were actually hard then this game will make you feel right at home. ( VERY MINOR SPOILER: This game is set up in levels. (i.e. 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-2, etc.) If you die in the middle you do not just go back to a save point you go back the beginning of the level and do it all over again. ) Like it says on the cover, this game gives you souls each time you kill somebody by taking the enemies souls. Here is the catch.. THEY CAN DO THE SAME THING TO YOU minus the fact that you can recover them but YOU ONLY HAVE ONE CHANCE and if you fail your souls are gone forever :/. ( Dark souls veterans know what I am talking about ). STORY: I am not going to reveal any story here but this game has a story that is quite different from most RPG's. It is very DARK! BOSSES: This game specifically deserves a section dedicated to the boss fights. Each and every one of the them have a unique way of attacking and getting killed. They are always going to be pretty long and difficult so don't start a boss fight with 5 minutes to spare and think you can pause it because that wont happen. You start a fight, you better end it or that boss will end it for you. GRAPHICS: Graphics are above par! This game definitely surpasses most RPG games of this style. Some objects are not as detailed as much but it still balances with the visuals. NOTE: Those who have tried Dark Souls, this game plays at a steady frame rate with no frame drops. SOUND: The sound could be better but I can say its pretty darn good. I have gotten sound glitches but they were so minute that you could barely notice them. Some of the enemies sound funky when they die but I guess that adds a bit of humor to this considering this is a hardcore RPG that can get on your nerves pretty quickly. CONTROLS: For those who have never played a single FromSoftware game, this game has very easy controls but what makes this game so great is that they are very easy to learn but very hard to master. ( For Dark Souls ( I & II ) veterans, the controls are just about the exact same minus jumping ) So if you like to explore the map by jumping around everywhere ( I hope not ) then this game might get on your nerves. OVERALL: Minus a few glitches here or there ( You'll barely even notice them ) this game is a great game to have in ones library. Not only is it a challenge for you, maybe a few friends could come over and you can see them rip their heads off. Its not a game for everyone but if you're into the challenge and you are not afraid to die several times then this game is perfect for you! FINAL SCORE: 9.5/10 :D

Demon's Souls is a very interesting alternate take on the typical RPG. I found the actual gameplay to be surprisingly different from what I expected in the many reviews. It is certainly true that you will die a lot, and often unexpectedly. However, there are many ways to actually exploit this for your own benefit. The plot itself is vague, perhaps purposefully. But generally you select a player class, and then try to hack your way through various levels of foes, culminating in eventual boss battles. Along the way, any foe you defeat will result in "souls" -- the game's equivalent of gold or Zenny -- accumulating in your pocket. The souls you gather are used to buy, repair, or upgrade equipment, or eventually purchase stat increases for your character. However, you gain souls even for enemies you don't kill yourself. In 1-player, as far as I can tell, any time any hostile foe dies anywhere on the level, you get their souls. This is true no matter how far away you are at the time, if you had nothing to do with their death, or even if they somehow managed to kill themselves. This is a neat feature, as I'll discuss further below. The rub with soul-gathering is that if (and when) you die, you lose all the souls you gathered and typically reanimate at a respawn point at the beginning of the level, with all your non-Boss enemies revived as well. You'll also be a "ghost" with 1/2 or 2/3 (if you have a certain ring) of your regular HP, making things a bit more challenging. If you make it back to where you died without dying a second time, you may recover your soul loot, but often you don't and it is lost forever. Sounds painful, right? Well, anyone who has played Diablo II or Borderlands or the like is already sensing the good times: this means that once you die the first time and are a ghost you can farm any level you feel like for souls. Nothing stops you from only clearing 1/2 a level, taking the souls back to the Nexus to buy more equipment or stats, and then rinsing and repeating all you want. You don't lose any of your equipment, only your "soul" money, so if you don't have much money at the moment there's little actual punishment for death. Better still, any friendly NPCs you free that remain on the levels will often be there when you come back, and will wander off on their own killing foes for you -- and you get all the souls. And even better yet, there are often many different ways to kill your enemies. The environment itself is often a tool. Keep an eye out for traps you can trigger that will destroy foes for you. You can also exploit the violent tendencies of your enemies. Only a fool will charge straight into a group of enemies -- instead, use narrow stairways and blind turns as chokepoints to take them on one at a time. The elaborate 3-D environment of platforms, open staircases (think Mines of Moria-ish), switchbacks, and other devices provide both cover and ways to stage extremely gratifying ambushes. The very first level (known as 1-1) consists of an elaborate castle with one area guarded by an extremely powerful, red-eyed knight with a spear. He's almost impossible to hurt, let alone kill, at low levels. So why do it? Instead, just lure him past the trebuchets into the adjacent tower, which has a huge open air staircase descending many stories. Harrass him from a distance on the corners, and eventually he'll charge at you, miss a turn, and fall to his death. Bam, 2000+ souls. And he'll respawn just like everyone else if you reset the level. Another great thing about Demon Soul's is that the designers were not completely heartless. It is indeed challenging to push into new, unknown areas and then die far from help. But often you will find switches that will open gates, start elevator devices, or make other structural changes to the level that are permanent regardless of respawns. These often establish short cuts through the level, so if you die later you can just go through the newly opened gate instead of tediously hacking your way the long way around. Given that you have effectively infinite lives if you don't mind losing a few "souls" from your money stash, you can even make mad banzai charges towards switches or gates when you have little to lose. If you do get out of your depth, you can try to retreat as far along your path as possible before you die, making it easier to get back to your body on the next try. If you go into Demon Soul's with a Conan the Barbarian me smash style, you will be humbled a lot and probably give up on it. But if you adopt a more Lord of the Rings-y approach to the plot as well as a healthy paranoia, you will keep your shield up, peek around corners before taking them, and keep a close eye on your surroundings to watch for potential ambushes, traps, or switches. The game soon becomes extremely satisfying, if never easy. You have to think both strategically and tactically, and there are often ways around an "impossible" problem (such as plugging a resting dragon full of crossbow bolts so he doesn't show up later to burn you to death on an exposed walkway). The game is a nice mix of typical RPG features such as using healing items and finding new and exciting loot, and more adventure themed games that are not hack-and-slash. In a way it reminds me of the old ASCII games like Rogue or Angband in that you have to be very careful about how you push into new levels, and need to maintain discipline at all times. But at the same time, the gratification level when you do succeed can be well worth the trouble.

First off this won't be a complete review as the games been out for so long and reviewed so many times I don't really see me adding much to what's already been written. This is more to support the titles I enjoy. Moving on... I waited a long time to purchase this game because it seemed so off the wall to me and unlike any other game I'd played before. When I started playing I was absolutely right about my assumptions and absolutely wrong for waiting so long to buy it. This game is truly intense. It's truly unforgiving, yet also rewarding experience for those up to the challenge. The story (I should say atmosphere) is not as light as some of these reviewers make it out to be. The Demon's Souls universe doesn't really care if your there or not. It treats you more like an uninvited guest than an invader, or like an annoying fly on the wall waiting to be swatted. The tidbits of story you do get are voice acted well and fit in with the ambiance of the game. But I won't spoil any of it. As for the gameplay, it's pure genius. The controls are tight and responsive, although the aiming for the bows felt a little too jumpy to me. It's hard to move the cursor just a hair without overcompensating. But still very well done overall. In light contrast I very much enjoy the melee combat. I've just starting delving into the magic system but so far it's very well done. It's little imbalanced but really that's just nitpicking. I'm having loads of fun and that's what matters. I started as a thief because I like the agile nature of that class. I don't like playing tank characters because they just feel to static. I like the idea of an enemy attacking me only for me to roll behind him/her and land dagger to their back while they're still swinging in the opposite direction. And thanks to Demon's Souls tight gameplay I can do just that, as long as I'm focused that is. This title is unforgiving for those not bringing their A-game. You have to think on your feet or die. And I have had many deaths haha! However, cheap deaths are extremely rare, and nearly all of mine so far have been from me trying to multi-task while playing. And being sent back to the last checkpoint (archstone) when dying is in my opinion a great idea. It gives you death more weight, and tightens your focus. Going back to play my other favorite games was like night and day. Demon's Souls really challenges you like very few games do these days. However it's not overwhelming either as long as your willing to push yourself. As gaming goes, Demon's Souls makes you a warrior. It's definitely one of my favorites now, and as soon as I beat it I will be picking up Dark Souls. Way to go From Software, you guys earned my money.

You've probably heard and read that Demon's Souls is punishingly difficult. You've probably also heard that it's incredibly fun and rewarding. And maybe you've heard that it's an absolutely gorgeous game and is very dark with a very creepy atmosphere. Well I'm here to say that everything you've heard is true. All the good stuff that is. I agonized for a week before buying Demon's Souls. I read about how hard it was. I read that it wasn't for the easily frustrated. I read that it took awhile to adjust to the difficulty but that it was very rewarding. Because of that I wasn't sure if I wanted to submit myself to that kind of game. Everyone who's played it says it's great. Even those who initially hated it grew to love it after a few hours of play. Since it was in my Amazon cart for a full week I finally took the plunge. Demon's Souls is officially the sleeper hit of 2009 for me. I started playing in 1-1, the only level available at the start. After 10-15 minutes of play and a few hundred souls collected I died. "Ok," I thought, "You knew this would happen. Get back to your bloodstain and try again." I got to my bloodstain, regained my souls, and shortly after died in the same place. That happened at least 6 times. Now you might think that would be incredibly frustrating. And it is. But you're having so much fun learning how to fight these creatures that you don't care. Learning how to deflect an enemy's strike with your shield then striking with your sword to get a critical hit is something you'll be learning, and you must learn. Ranged attacks (magic or with weapons) come in very handy as well. I finally passed this part when I discovered my soul arrow spell. It's true what other reviews say; if you die it's not because the game cheated. You simply screwed up. Demon's Souls is the most rewarding game I've played in a long time. And the Demon's Souls Wiki online helps a ton with strategies and maps to help you through the tough areas. The game is hard but not impossible. As you level up (using the game's currency, souls) and buy more powerful equipment (also purchased with souls) and you start getting the hang of fighting effectively and the battles are incredibly fun. The online portion is subtle at first but very cool. You see ghostly images of other players in their respective "realms". I've seen at most 2 or 3 in a similar area, but it does help an otherwise lonely world feel a little less lonely. I haven't had anyone invade my realm, and I haven't invaded others, but you can. You can also summon people to help you with boss fights. If you're on the fence worried about how hard the game is, don't be. The tutorial gives you the basics in a realistic environment (you can die), and the first enemy in the game won't kill you in one hit, although a group of them will if you don't use your shield. It does get hard pretty fast but nothing unbearable. So I guess I would take back one thing from the beginning. If you play smart, it's not punishing. The game is very hard, but it's fair. I spent a good amount of time (approx. 3 hours) in world 1-1 and got very comfortable to where new areas, while intimidating, aren't impossible. You just have to play smart. I can't recommended this game enough!