Demon’s Souls is arguably the game that revolutionized the Action RPG genre and popularized the Souls franchise formula that we know and love today. The PS3 exclusive influenced many other series, from From Software’s own Dark Souls series to clones like Nioh or other Action RPGs like Nier Automata. It is no wonder why fans are desperate for the game to be revived. Since the servers were officially shut down forever in February 2018 speculation has been rife that the game would be making a comeback via a current generation remaster. In this article I will lay out all of the evidence for a remaster and examine the rumors to see whether or not there is a legitimate chance of the remaster happening.
- The PS3 servers shutting down – Despite the fact that the servers weren’t highly populated due to the game releasing nine years ago, fans have taken the server closure as evidence that something new is on its way.
- Bluepoint’s next project – Bluepoint games have recently finished development and released an incredible remaster of Shadow of the Colossus. The PS4 exclusive version of the original PS2 release was built from the ground up in order to take full advantage of current generation technology and looks stunning as a result. Critics heaped praise on the work Bluepoint put into this remaster. Now Bluepoint’s president, Marc Thrush, has said that their next game will be another remake on a slightly larger scale than Shadow of the Colossus. Demon’s Souls is a longer game with more content so it could apply to this criteria.
- ESRB trademark – Demon’s Souls western publisher Atlus filed a trademark for the game with the ESRB only in the past week as of the time of this article’s publication. This could just be to protect the game from fan made recreations following the server shut down, it could also be to protect the trademark in the event of a remaster or rerelease.
- Miyazaki’s comments – The creator of the series has said that a remake is entirely possible without any input or collaboration from the original developer. The IP is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and therefore it is their decision on whether or not they’d like to revive the game.
- The series’ success – PS4 console exclusive Nioh quickly broke the one million sales barrier, as did Bloodborne. The Dark Souls series sales are well into double figures. This a genre that is performing well in the current market, a Demon’s Souls remaster would be a financial success based on comparisons.
The clues could all point exactly to a remaster. Next year will be Demon’s Souls’ ten year anniversary, a reveal at E3 with a release early 2019 would make perfect sense if we compare it to the Shadow of the Colossus timeline. Bluepoint working on a new remaster with a bigger scale and the trademark filing all potentially point to Demon’s Souls making a triumphant return to the spotlight. However I believe every point made could also amount to nothing. It could all be circumstantial evidence that appears to add up to something that fans like myself just greatly desire. Depending on development time and the scope of the project Bluepoint’s next game could be years away. There are many reasons to renew a trademark. The servers being shut down is completely common with online games.
With E3 less than three months away you can bet we will be getting more rumors and leaks by the day. To hear about the potential return of a classic stealth franchise or a certain purple dragon’s inevitable comeback keep your eyes and your bookmarks on thelootgaming.com.
