Demon's Souls Online Services Die One Last Time in February

You Died.

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There have been far too many player deaths to count in the Souls series. But even with the Dark Souls trilogy still killing players in new and aggravating ways, there's still an affinity among the series' fanbase for the game that started it all: the PS3-exclusive Demon's Souls. But an era is about to end for Demon's Souls, with online services for the 2008 adventure set to come to an end.

Publisher Atlus made the announcement via the Atlus website:

"It's with mixed emotions we say goodbye to the service. Countless players have enjoyed Demon’s Souls and the functionality it introduced to players when such things were rarer. If you've played the game then you understand the feeling of dying multiple times in the span of 10 minutes or dealing with a boss fight so difficult that it took you a week just to figure out the best way to attack. The unforgiving nature of the game has provided countless enjoyable moments of frustration and anger, but also the elation felt from beating something so challenging. This difficulty and grit helped pave the way for even more punishing games such as its spiritual successor Dark Souls, the 2017 hit Nioh, and the landmark PS4 title, Bloodborne."

The game itself isn't going away, since there's still ample life in Demon's Souls' offline game modes. But players will no longer be able to find other players as shades, search for player death locations, or use anything relating to World Tendency. So don't look for any spirit assistance and don't look for any new lives to steal. There are still plenty of ways to die in Demon's Souls, but getting killed by another player won't be one of them.

The countdown is on, as Demon's Souls' online servers will go down three months from tomorrow. Enjoy them from now through February 28.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 27, 2017 9:50 AM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Demon's Souls Online Services Die One Last Time in February

    • reply
      November 27, 2017 9:55 AM

      Could this finally mean a port?

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      November 27, 2017 10:01 AM

      So what you're saying is "break out the ps3 and play it one last time"

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        November 27, 2017 12:00 PM

        I have officially put my next new game on hold.

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      November 27, 2017 10:17 AM

      Noooooooooo

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      November 27, 2017 10:19 AM

      This news hit like a punch to the gut. I fully intend to continue playing Demon's Souls and all of these games solo. However, I have so many fond memories of multiplayer in Demon's Souls in particular. From playing with my wife after we got a second PS3, to huge threads with Shackers, and even fighting another Shacker who took control of the World 3-3 boss in one of my playthroughs, Demon's Souls holds so many multiplayer-centirc memories for me.

      Amie and I just agreed to play through it together at least one more time before 2/28/18. I hope a PS4 port is forthcoming, as Borzoi suggested. Even if it does, this news is sad. Demon's Souls defined last-gen hardware for me, and made the PS3 the must-own console between 360 and PS3.

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      November 27, 2017 10:21 AM

      Sucks that the messaging won't be preserved, that's a major part of the game even if you only play solo.

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      November 27, 2017 10:59 AM

      Bummer. I still need to platinum it. Was planning on it after DS2 and 3.

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        November 27, 2017 11:07 AM

        Demon's Souls is notoriously brutal to platinum because you have to craft certain weapons but can only do it with materials you have to farm and the drop rates are like 0.001%.

        Also unless you cheat you have to beat the game a minimum of three times because one boss soul can only be used for crafting once per playthrough but some boss souls can make 3 different things and you need them all to platinum the game. It's rough and with the nature of the Souls games constantly saving one mistake can mean you've got to play the game a 4th time.

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          November 27, 2017 11:10 AM

          usb save backup bro

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          November 27, 2017 11:37 AM

          Yeah, I know what I'd be getting myself into.

          All the Soulsborne games require NG+ or NG++ to get multiple boss souls or endings, etc.

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            November 27, 2017 11:37 AM

            Really whatever that upgrade mat is that people have farmed for months for without seeing would be the motherfucker.

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            November 27, 2017 11:48 AM

            The shit part of it was farming stuff with absolute shit drop rates. It's a huge pain in the dick

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          November 27, 2017 11:49 AM

          Plus I think some stuff requires a specific world tendency?

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            November 27, 2017 11:51 AM

            The entire world tendency system was fucking garbage :(

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              November 27, 2017 12:06 PM

              I thought it was an interesting concept but the implementation was obtuse and completely opaque. I mean souls games are famous for not telling you anything but you have to be some kind of savant to figure that world tendency stuff out on your own.

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              November 27, 2017 12:33 PM

              completely disagree. could have used a bit more transparency on the mechanics though.

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                November 27, 2017 12:37 PM

                I also loved the world tendency and in a normal game I'd agree that transparency would be good but one thing I've always loved about Demon's Souls in particular is how little of a fuck it gives for explaining things to the player. It's the epitome of "here's the world, now you the community go figure this shit out". I wouldn't want to see that in every game but somehow with Demon's Souls it only adds to the charm for me.

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      November 27, 2017 11:07 AM

      the last time this happened like a couple days before termination some rich guy stepped in and paid to keep them going. I think that was at least 5 years ago. Time for another rich guy.

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      November 27, 2017 12:33 PM

      hmmmm..... tempted to jump in and play this again after Yakuza 0

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      November 27, 2017 1:11 PM

      Damn, so what's going to happen to world tendency and that boss that pulled an online player into the fight?

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      November 27, 2017 3:55 PM

      I got to review this game before the servers ever came online, and though I later found the online mechanics interesting, my experience with the game as a desolate wasteland was no less enjoyable.

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