I had my first remake clear, 30-ish Demon’s clear last weekend
Demon’s Souls was always the best Souls game. I’m tempted to turn off the comments so you can’t “at” me! I mean, I’m not going to do that, but I’m tempted.
Whether you started up this weekend and threw your case across the room in frustration, or you’re aiming to go for your second playthrough this week, here are a few tips. These are battle-tested with the remake in mind from a clear this past weekend.
- You’re going to assume that the “knight” class is the right pick at the start, and for some playstyles, you assumed correctly! I cleared my first Demon’s Souls run with the knight.
But for newcomers, you may want to pick the royal[ty] class. It starts with a powerful spell and several (very) late-game pieces of gear that will help you clear some early hurdles. It’s colloquially referred to as the “easy” class.
- Don’t skip/speed through the tutorial: grab everything and comb through it while you can.
- You can restart exactly where you quit in any part of the world, so long as you press the start button, then save and exit from the menu. You don’t need to go back to the Nexus every time.
- If you’re using a shield, have it up when rounding every corner. If you don’t, enter blind spots slowly or preemptively roll. In that same vein, you can potentially ambush enemies before they see you with a bow and arrow or spell.
- Try to stay at around 50% equipment weight at a maximum so you don’t “slow roll.” You can mix and match equipment at will, like a heavy plate chest and a leather helmet, arms, and legs.
- As soon as you start the first level (1-1, the only option), grab the “cling ring.” Head to the left path, then up the spire, then around past the Blue Knight, then down the spire: the ring is there.
You’ll be using it for a good chunk of the game, as it increases your maximum HP when you’re in soul form (read: after you die in human form, which might be a lot). You can also grab the thief ring right next to the door where you passed the Blue Knight. Just roll from the stairs down into the glowing item on the wooden scaffolding.
- You can’t level up until the first boss (1-1) is dead. Likewise, you cannot level up after you kill the last boss you have left until you start NG+.
- So what’s with this “1-1” business? Well, that’s what Demon’s players call each zone, a term that originated with the Japanese guide back in 2009. Levels are broken up by bosses, with 1-1 denoting the area before the first boss, with 1-2 signifying the area after the first boss, and so on.
- “Grass” can be farmed rather easily by purchasing them from the main vendor in the Nexus. You can hold 50 at a time of the basic healing grass, which is more than enough for general gameplay as you survey each zone and attempt to find the path to the next boss. Try to save your advanced healing items for bosses or situations where you have a ton of souls and need to survive on your way back to the Nexus to spend them.
- Speaking of “the path,” take things one boss at a time. If a zone is giving you trouble, move to a new one: you might find it to be easier on multiple levels. Then kill that boss, level up, then move back to the area you were having issues with. Don’t bang your head against the same brick wall.
- Need a quick, powerful head start? Pick the royalty class, then head to 4-1 early on. Defeat the skeletons blocking the path to the castle, then grab the crystal falchion (to the left, as soon as you enter the castle, make a U-turn and run past the red skeleton and loot all of the items) and compound long bow (up above in a tower in that same keep). With a good melee weapon, a spell, and a bow, you should be in good shape to handle a lot of what the game throws at you.
