Here is a quick rundown about this
PS3 game if you are interested:
Quoted from: Wikipedia:
Demon’s Souls is an action role-playing game where players engage in combat with demons across a variety of fantasy worlds. Players take control of the main character in a third-person view who, at the start of the game, can be customized in their gender, appearance, name and starting class.[6] There are up to 10 starting classes ranging from knights and barbarians to thieves and magicians, each with their own set of statistics, starting gear and weapons and type of magic used that emphasize certain approaches to combat depending on the player’s preference.
As players kill demons, they gain souls which are an all purpose in-game currency that can be used to buy, repair and upgrade weapons along with increasing player statistics such as strength, luck or endurance.[8] Along with souls, players can also retrieve items such as weaponry and ore for upgrading. When a player is first killed in combat during a level, they are sent to the beginning of the level once with all non-boss enemies re-spawned, with the player returning in a soul form with lower maximum health and loss of all unused souls.[9] If the player manages to return to where they were last killed, they regain the lost souls, but if they are killed before then, the souls are lost permanently. Upon defeating a boss, player can re-spawn where it was, further into the level than before its defeat. When not engaged in levels, players reside in the Nexus, a realm of souls that acts as a hub where players can exchange souls, store items and move between regions, along with major developments in the story. After completing the initial portion of the first region, player can choose to progress through any other of the newly available regions.
Gameplay can change depending on both the World and Character tendency, which can be either white or black. Tendency depends on the actions of the player such as helping or killing NPCs. When white, enemies are easier, yet the soul and items rewards are less, yet when black, enemies are stronger and give greater rewards. Players can manipulate their tendency to suit their current needs. Character tendency affects the player throughout, while World only affects the region where an action was taken.
Online
When connected to the PlayStation Network, online play is integrated into the single-player experience. Throughout levels, players can briefly see the actions of other players as ghosts in the same area that may show hidden passages or switches. When a player dies, a bloodstain can be left in other player’s game world that when activated can show a ghost playing out their moments, indicating how that person died, potentially helping the player avoid the same fate in advance. Players can also leave messages on the floor that can also help others such as forewarning safe or hostile positions, trap locations and tactics against enemies or bosses, among general comments.
When playing with other players, co-operative play allows up to three characters team up in the host’s game world where visiting players appear in soul form that can only be returned to their bodies when a boss is defeated. In competitive play, players can invade a player’s adventure as a Black Phantom to engage in combat with the host player. If the Black Phantom kills the host, they can be returned to their body in their own game whereas if killed themselves, the host gains a portion of the Black Phantom’s souls
All that said; this game is hard. You will die over and over and
over again. You will have to start from the beginning each time you die and you will have to kill all the demons again and again and again and again...
You will hate the game at times and think about never playing it again. You will lose all your souls when you die and if you die again trying to make it back to your corpse to reclaim your lost souls you will lose them all forever. You'll spend much time being frustrated and consumed with anger and then on that 75th time through the same fucking dungeon; you will complete it and feel a sense of accomplishment that few games have ever provided before. Very few games by today's standards. This game is hard like the old school games of 20 years ago.
Death is a double edged sword. On one side you lose your mortal body and take spirit form (losing half of your health permanently - until gaining back your mortal body) and on the other side you lose all the souls you've worked so hard to collect. these souls are literally used for everything. From upgrading your stats (vitality, dexterity, faith, magic, strength, luck, endurance, intelligence etc) to repairing your weapons and armor, purchasing items, upgrading weapons, buying weapons and armor and whatever else there is in the game.
When you get several thousand souls collected and part of you wants to head back to the Nexus to trade them in for valuable supplies, repairs and stat increases (knowing full well that if you return to the Nexus you will have to completely restart the current world) and the other part of you wants to push forward just a bit longer and collect some more souls...maybe see what beast lies around the next corner; it can be a huge decision on your part...one that you might grow to regret. Here is one example:
I had on me around 3800+ souls and I needed to upgrade some stats but I decided to push forward just a bit longer. I came across this very long and narrow walkway on top of a castle wall that connected two large buildings. I noticed a message on the ground which read: 'Safe ahead'. I started walking out and about half way between the two builds I heard the sound of powerful wings beating through the air and when I looked to see what it was I was treated to a view of the most massive Dragon ever! It came down of me with a fury and though I ran I could not escape his fire. I died.
(I'd like to note that the player that wrote that note stating this was a safe area should be facking killed that bastard!) Now not only did I lose my 3800+ souls but I was in mortal form at the time. So now I'm left in spirit form, half my health gone permanently while in spirit mode and when I worked my way back to where I was killed that same dragon was now moving up and down the wall spraying fire and tearing chunks of rock out of the ground. I could not make it to my corpse with only half the health of my mortal body...I had to try though. I of course failed. My character just not strong enough to withstand the Dragons fury. In my Mortal form with full health I can withstand one hit from the dragon but not in spirit form and so i died; losing not only the 3800+ souls connected to my corpse but also the 500+ souls I had taken while getting back to my corpse. I walked away with nothing. That is what makes this game so frustrating....and fun. Knowing how much can be lost at any given time. It makes you actually care about staying alive.
I can honestly say that my first 10 hours of this game I was pissed. I was yelling at the TV, swearing that I would return this game for a refund because it JUST WASN'T FAIR!!! I came within and inch of returning this facking game but then something happened; I made it past that one Major demon that's been kicking my ass for the last 3 hours and I felt a satisfaction that I don't think I ever felt before while playing a game. next thing I knew I was pushing on past that Demon and even though I died 20 more times I never had that much of a problem with that Demon again and eventually made it to the final boss. That Boss fight took me about 30 minutes and in the end I stood proud for one of the first times in my gaming history. I walked in the house, told my Wife all about it (who I'm sure ignored me the entire time. and then back to the game and loaded up the next world...where I immediately got my ass handed to me and realized that I might be better off just running the first world over and over to grind souls and build up my stats.
Oh and by the way...you can't pause this game...ever. You can't reload a saved file because you do not have access to saves. The game auto saves so often that you can never go back. You can only load your profile when you boot up the game; once loaded anything that happens while playing is saved and you have no choice but to live with the consequences.
This game is hard. But I have grown to love it. And it also has one of the most original multiplayer systems ever placed in a game. I have around 20 hours into the game so far and I'm a lowly L18 still with starter equipment. I think this game will easily go 80-100 hours for completion. More depending on how good or bad I play.
These screenshots do not do the game justice but they will give you an idea of what it looks like.