Atlus bringing Demon's Souls to US

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 May, 2009

Wonderful game, worthy of translation.

Sony America brings word via Twitter that Demon's Souls is on its way West this autumn.

"Our friends at Atlus [have] just informed us: they're bringing Demon's Souls to North America this fall. Look for updates at E3!" reads the post.

Demon's Souls, which picked up a 9/10 review on Japanese import, is a vast action RPG developed by From Software.

Or, as we put it this time last month, "Demon's Souls is absolutely compelling; dark, detailed, unforgiving, creatively cruel. It gets under your skin and becomes a personal obsession, daring you to probe further into its worlds, fall for more of its traps and overcome more of its impossible challenges; it slaps you in the face with your own incompetence and dares you to overcome it."

There's no word on a European version - Atlus doesn't publish directly over here - but the absence of region-locking on PS3 games means that anybody whose interested was pique by the Japanese release can start counting the days anyway.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Squire #1 3 years ago

    Isn't it pretty much all in English anyway?

  • Darkjinxter #2 3 years ago

    Only the Asian version is in English Squire.
    The japanese version is in Japanese, hence importers were buying the Asian/Hong Kong version.

  • Malek86 #3 3 years ago

    Good news, though for europeans, importing the US or Asian version won't make any difference. Maybe the US version will be a tad bit less expensive.

  • Les #4 3 years ago

    Am very tempted to get it. Not that I need any more games right now, but I'm still tempted. Which will probably mean I'll get it sooner rather than later and play it later rather than sooner (somewhere around the time that the game is discounted in the US adn thus dirt cheap...) Capitalism is such a bitch...

  • Rirekon #5 3 years ago

    Bring it to Europe please!

  • grimmace #6 3 years ago

    not much like onimusha I don't think.

    I'm about 5 hours in and I can best describe it as Hardcore Ico for adults.

  • man.the.king #7 3 years ago

    Good news for me! I was hoping to get this game - I'm in the US - and wasn't really looking forward to importing it and discovering "language" issues. But hopefully the US release will be suitably localized.

    Great news indeed!

  • toy_brain #8 3 years ago

    "not sure about that boss monster though - didn't like the way it clipped about 50% through a wall - considering the apparent quality of the rest of the game - and how exactly is anyone supposed to kill that thing - it looked like a one hit kill, even in armour"

    That thing is supposed to kill you. In fact the game pretty much revolves around you dying, hell you'll probably spend 90% of your time as a 'dead' phantom. The game hates you that way, and that's what makes it awesome.

  • krudster #9 3 years ago

    Just buy the Chinese/Asian version off eBay. Fully English, no region lock.

  • GamesConnoisseur #10 3 years ago

    I ve imported Asian version, hardcore game for the hardcore gamer maybe offputting, but its darned worth it, its as addictive as Ninja Gaiden 1 (Black) was, the whole theme of game is based around you dying a lot and learning from them! I mean no death is really wasted unless you ve cocked it up and made it too hard to regain the souls you collected. However since when is that a worry when THERE are a darned lot of souls about to make up for any you lost!

    Import either Asian NOW (fully English) or wait to import much later for the US version, but the main difference probably would be just the booklet in English?!

    I didnt had much impressions in the previews, but glad that I listened to EG review (Those annoyed with Infamous review and accusing EG of anti-PS3 bias?!!) which dealed the deal for me importing the game.

    Worth it and Go for it!

    ...

    Go on then!

    ..

    Chicken!!!

  • ZuluHero #11 3 years ago

    i wonder if they'll make the US version slightly easier for us pansy westerners?

  • Malek86 #12 3 years ago

    ZuluHero: that would force me to get the Asian version instead.

  • ZuluHero #13 3 years ago

    i dunno - i really love the premise of this game... in my youth i would have relished the difficulty. But now, i just don't have the time or dedication for uber-hardcore. Plus modern games have spoilt me rotten...

    Death these days is only as bad as your last checkpoint or last quick-save... Even the last bastion of hardcore - MMOs - cater for the more casual playe these days...

    In my world, every second spent gaming is precious - and i just can't justify being caught in some groundhog day style limbo for hour after hour, while i learn from my mistakes. Sad, but true...
    Edited by 4 at 20/05/09 @ 23:30

  • psousa #14 3 years ago

    @ZuluHero:
    My thoughts exactly :D

    With 9-10 hours of work per day, a 7 month old baby, a wife, every gaming second has to be wisely used :p

  • feistycheese #15 3 years ago

    daggnamit! i just ordered this game from our eastern friends last week thinking it would never get released in the UK or US. Oh well, I shall just have to get really good at it, buy the US version when it comes out and go online and beat the living 'souls' out of the yankee noobs. There, I feel much better already!

  • Malek86 #16 3 years ago

    I know what you mean, but still, by no means they should just make the whole game easier. That would be a disservice for all those who wnat to play this game in its original form.

    What they could do is include a selectable lower difficulty level. "Selectable" being the keyword here. So everyone is happy.

  • Ezzekhiel #17 3 years ago

    This game is absolutely Awesome. From the concept to the multiplayer system, everything is well thought. Yes, there is magic, ranged weapons, and sneak attacks. And you WILL need all thre to face the challenges brought to you. I Imported my version from Hong Kong on eBay (50 €) and I don't regret it. As for the chinese manual, which is a pain, here's an excellent link for all the infrmation you need on the game :

    [link url=http://demonssouls.wi kidot.com/
    ]http://demonssouls.wi kidot.com/
    [/link]

  • BraveArse #18 3 years ago

    ^what Krudster said ... the asian version is entirely in English ( aside from the manual and the internet now has more than enough info to cover that )

    @zuluhero and psousa: I'm in a similar boat ( job, 3 yr old kid, partner doing a professional qualification which means even less time for stuff etc ) but for some reason - I just craved that difficulty when I saw DS for the first time and had it on preorder before the Asian launch ( in fact I did it within hours of stumbling on an enthusiastic EG thread fuelled by Disc et al ). People get put off by the amount of times they'll die without realising that death is by far the most important game mechanic in DS. It drives everything and motivates everything within the game. Without that difficulty and the frequent death it brings it just would not be the same game.

    In it's current form it's the very best game of this gen imo - I'd be sad to see it changed and I don't think Atlus will ask FROM to do it. And this is from someone who thought that Fable 2 was a work of genius in terms of it's forgiving nature. Demon's souls completely changed my opinion of what a truly great game is. Turns out as long as the gameplay is really good it doesn't matter how hard it is ( to me at least ).

  • Ezzekhiel #19 3 years ago

    I am a father of 2 and full time employed, my wife isn't much of a gamer at all BUT she actually begs me to play this one. she will just sit next to me (once the kids are in bed ofc, not suited for - 12 i'd say) and just yell at me every time i'd die, saying i wasn't paying attention.

    But every boss that dies, every new corner explored results with a true smile on her face, and I can sense the excitment when she tells me to attack those three black knights frontally, which is a veru bad idea btw. And that makes me happy, because maybe she understands better what video gaming is about : overcoming a challenge. And Challenge, is what Demon's Souls is made of.

  • ZuluHero #20 3 years ago

    @MR.Me

    seeing as Psousa was agreeing with me i'll respond. Playing a game on easy means that its more lenient, you can make more mistakes and get away with it - meaning you will still make progress. Having a very active 21 month old myself means i can only play in spurts. If i play a game for say 30 mins or an hour and die. That means the next time i sit down i have to sit through the same section, the same 30mins to an hour if you will, of the game again. And sometimes even a third or a fouth time.

    Now to some people thats only 4 hour hours of their evening, but to people like me thats almost a week worth of gaming. It means i turn of the game not feeling fulfilled that i've made progress and it also means it takes me longer to move through the game and onto the next (although if this scenario happens i usually just give up because of the next shiny thing on the horizon).

    Please remember, this isn't about game length for me. I don't mind if a game takes 50 hours to complete - as long as its a 1:1 ratio. The moment it becomes 3:1 or 4:1 or more then that becomes a problem.

    Like someone said earlier, a 'selectable' difficulty option would be a good compromise? These days if a game has an "easy" i'll always pick that these days.
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/09 @ 08:31

  • systems #21 3 years ago

    Atlus don't publish in the UK? I've got a couple of PAL games published by Atlas (Persona 3 FES and Persona 4).

    Anyway, I was a release day importer and this game is the best game of this entire generation, on all platforms including PC. It's not easy, it's not 10/10, but it's excellent.

  • Ezzekhiel #22 3 years ago

    @ ZuluHero

    The levels are not long, they just benefit from a perverse design. Most Bosses for instance have a "spawn point" right before them, meaning that, at least in the first 2 worlds(haven't played the other ones yet), you can chain your attempts to kill them.

    And there is a difficulty selecter, since when you finish the game through you get the New Game+ option, which is a Nightmare mode. So the normal game is already the "easy mode" :p

    Seriously, having an easy mode wouldn't make any sense in that game. Death is part of the mechanics, is not resetting everything. As long as you are able to return to the point you died, you will be able to recover your previously lost souls, which is usued as currency and XP for leveling up in the game. So each time you die, your souls add, allowing you to gain levels quickly to overcome the difficulty of an aera. For instance, if you die with 200 souls and get back to the place you died, battling the same opponents again for 200 souls, you'll have 400. If you die again at the same spot and come back, you'll have 600 and so on. So you learn the tricks of that area but you keep the benefit of each attempt.

    Besides, for some characters the game is far more easier in the first levels than others. I suggest magic or ranged builds for players who find it too hard to get throught the first sections of the game with a close combat character.
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/09 @ 09:07

  • dominalien #23 3 years ago

    Uh, did I read the review wrong or do you keep playing after you die? Meaning you don't lose progress, you learn and play as a ghost? This strikes me as not quite the same thing as dying, going back to a far away save and losing 30 minutes of progress?

    EDIT: Ezzekhiel explains it so much better. Probably because I didn't play it. ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/09 @ 09:12

  • dominalien #24 3 years ago

    @systems

    My European version of P3FES was published by Koei.

  • Meho #25 3 years ago

    Time to buy that PS3 it seems.

  • breedob #26 3 years ago

    Bought this off yesasia last night. Says it can take up to 30 days for it to ship. Anyone bought the game off this site and know if it will take any less time to arrive. I'm in the UK.

  • Ezzekhiel #27 3 years ago

    @ Breedob : I received my copy from a hong kong guy on eBay in 10 days.

    @ Crofto : about your MP concerns, please note that this is completely optional. You DO NOT have to play online. Wether you join an online game or accept help from other players is completely up to you. Messages left by other players are visible, but no one forces you to read them. So you CAN play the game just by yourself, but the MP elements offered are a real plus in some situations. The only downside, for european players, is to actually find people to play with due to the time difference with Asia.

    I was able to play a couple of online session and I learned alot about other character builds and levels I had a real hard time to get pass through.

    Note : you can only summon people to help you whilst in physical form, and since most of the time you are not, you won't be able to until : a) you kill a boss b) you find an item that resurrects you (very rare) c) you allow yourself to be summoned by other players and help them defeat a boss (you get the souls for the kill + your body back).
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/09 @ 10:05

  • ZuluHero #28 3 years ago

    @Ezzekhiel

    I hear you. It sounds like you always make progress. By your argument if you can make it to the point you died once, you should be able to do it again and again, until you over power yourself to allow you to push further (unless you are silly and try to push yourself too hard into an area that you have no hope of beating at your current level). Do i understand the concept correctly?

    If so, then that sounds very much like an mmo mechanic and something i can associate with as an avid mmo player. Even gaining experience is making progress in my eyes - even if you don't complete the level. It sounds a bit similar to Dead Rising in that regard and i loved that too :)

    Maybe i will import the US version when it comes out after all - esp. after some of the testimonies here! :)


  • Ezzekhiel #29 3 years ago

    @ZuluHero

    Yes, the mechanic you described is correct. You can do the same parts of a level several time to gain souls, but the costs for upgrading your stats increases dramatically for each point spent. Here's another particular aspect of DS: unlike most others RPG, a point spent in a characterictic makes the price for ALL the other go up. Put plainly, regardless where you spend your point, the cost of the next one will be higher.

    So, if I take my previous example of farming 200 souls at the time, you will find it a bad idea after a leveling up 1 or 2 levels, as the next one will ask you for 2000 souls for instance. Making that section 10 times is really not worth the time.

    The way I see it, players are encouraged to go deeper in the levels, fight more dangerous foes but get more souls. The only thing you shouldn't do is go to completely unexplored areas with tons of souls. Did that yesterday, lost 50 000 souls cause I died before getting back to my previous death point. Don't run around with high number of souls, try to get back to the Nexus and turn them in for equipment or levels.

    Because what will get you killed most of the time is the "I know this guy, I know how he fights lets kill him quickly so I can get my souls back" feeling. Thats the best way to lower your guard and die horribly. Understanding your ennemy is the beginning, the rest is made of concentration, concentration and concentration. And a bit of clever character building too and "choosing the right weapon".
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/09 @ 10:22

  • Darren #30 3 years ago

    You've got to love the PS3 and region-free gaming. It has meant that I've been able to play awesome games like the last two MLB The Show games for example.

    @Crofto - I can't see why you're concerned about importing games, it's no different from ordering any other game online really, it just takes a little longer to arrive that's all. I've imported four or five PS3 games now from Canada, all have been £33 or less and they've all taken approx. a week to arrive.

  • krudster #31 3 years ago

    Just got King's Field IV! For £2. I suspect this will now become uber collectible.

  • Pac #32 3 years ago

    One great way to progress through the game is to join another player's game as a (friendly) phantom.

    This way you can accumulate lots of souls (experience points) and even when you die the souls are not lost.

    I do not think this process is made very clear in the tutorial so worth bearing in mind for new players.

    Also read the Demons Souls Wiki. I do not usually read guides but this game is so hard it really does not feel like cheating!

  • Les #33 3 years ago

    "You've got to love the PS3 and region-free gaming. It has meant that I've been able to play awesome games like the last two MLB The Show games for example."

    + 1000

    The one reason that made me get a PS3. Good to see there's more baseball nuts in Europe :)

  • Les #34 3 years ago

    "I certainly hope the game is released in Europe; I'm not fond of importing and the like."

    It can save you significant money if you're in a Euro country

  • Ezzekhiel #35 3 years ago

    @ Pac

    Yeah, I'm like you I never ever read a guide unless completely stuck. But due to the chinese manual, you don't really have a choice if you want to understand the crafting system and the multiplayer.

    And yes, joining another game as phantom can be great, but can also spoil the exploration of a level. I usually go blue if I need souls to get a level in order to equip a particullar item.

    For those who don't own the game, here's a quick explanation on the MP aspect of DS.

    When you are in soul form, you can put a blue marker on the ground. Players in physical form will see the marker in their game and will be able to summon you as "blue phantom" so you can help them. If your party kills a boss, you will return to your world in physical form and can keep all the souls gathered as "blue phantom".

    Once in physical form, you can summon other player via the blue markers placed by them that will appear in your world. Be warned, when summoning other players your world becomes vulnerable to the intrusion of "Black Phantoms". Black Phantoms are players aiming for PvP that can join your game and hunt you down. Afaik, there cannot be more than one "Black Phantom" at the same time in your world.

    NOTE : Bosses will not count as "cleared" if you beat them helping another player as "blue phantom". You will have to defeat them in your world. Same story for all the special events.

    So helping out other players as "blue phantom" basically has 2 main purposes:
    - You can replay bosses you previously defeated in order to regain your physical body and farm souls (bosses give a lot of them).
    - You can watch and learn techniques to defeat a boss you're having problems with, or getting past a specific zone you were stuck in.
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/09 @ 11:52

  • BraveArse #36 3 years ago

    @zuluhero - that mmo mechanic comment is nailed on. I've often described the whole game as being like soloing an mmo. Not just the death/levelling part of it either. The online features really make it feel communal. Even just seeing the ghosts of other players briefly in front of you or out of the corner of your eye does it. The co-op and pvp ( you can only be invaded in full body mode ... so it's relatively rare ) stuff adds to it too... the sense of community, camaraderie and even a tiny bit of threat from fellow players is so MMO that it really turns the idea of a single player game right on it's head.

    I've played through it twice and just reading this comments section has me itching to go again now that i've had a wee break from it.

    edit: just to add - the difficulty really comes from the attitude you have when you start the game. Charging in gets you killed nearly every time... as a result it took me a long time to get through the first stage. A friend of mine who is much more cautious by nature eased through that stage in a couple of hours with only about 2 deaths. Once you learn that charging in is rarely appropriate ( but sometimes necessary ) the game eases up on you.
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/09 @ 11:56

  • EvilBob_leeds #37 3 years ago

    ** Rubs hands together, Mr Burns style **

    Eeeexcellent.