Ok, so this game has been mentioned in the past, but it's been a while, and I figured why not put something up that isn't about SC2??

First off, I suppose I'll beat a dead horse here. The game is hard. Very very hard. Some enemies can easily one shot you if you don't watch what you're doing, there are traps and hidden enemies all over the place, and massive swarms in other places. Not only is the game hard, it's brutally unforgiving. Your form of currency in the game are the souls you collect off the enemies you kill. There is no bank to hold your money, and there is no selling of drops to get more money when you need it. When you die, you drop all your souls, change to "soul form" (which means your health meter is significantly decreased), and get sent back to the start of the level with all the enemies respawned. If you make it back to where you die you at least get your souls back, but if you die, they are gone.

No matter how careful you are, you will die. A lot. A lot a lot. There's really no stopping it. To get your body resurrected and a full health bar, you have to either beat a boss or use a special item. Not too bad yes? Well, unfortunately when you're in your body, your game can be invaded by other players who want to kill you in order to get their bodies back. It's a fun mechanic, but it's absurdly frustrating to get your body back only to be killed a couple minutes later by an invading player.

There are other interactions with other players, but these are mostly at your discretion. You can summon other players to your game to help beat a level, and other players can leave messages on the ground either giving you tips, or leading you astray. The messages are often very helpful, and occasionally a lie to mislead you.

Enough about the multi-player stuff and the difficulty, what about the game? The game has a rather simple plot that you could pull from just about any story ever. Kingdom taken over by ancient evil, you're the last person that can save stuff....blah blah blah. It really isn't anything new, anything super involved, or anything special. There's enough to it to keep you interested and give you an occasional break from killing the demon hordes, but beyond that, there isn't a lot to it.

The graphics are quite good, but I wouldn't call them exceptional, not for the PS3. They pass the test of a modern game, but they don't stand out or hold the game back. The environment is dark and dead, but it fits the story, so I'm generally pretty ok with that.

The game mechanics in general work quite well, they are intuitive, and the game lets you work your way into being a skilled player. The one thing that can be bothersome is the target lock mechanic. It is a bit wonky, and can cause some heartache and death if you aren't very careful with it. It will lock onto targets you don't want it to at the most inopportune times, and....well...see point one. The game is hard and unforgiving, if it happens, you have a pretty good chance of dying. The good news is that with a little time you tend to not need the target lock so much, and can use it in situations where you need it and know what it will do.

What else is there? The boss fights are fun, but fair, even though quite a few of them can be beat by using the terrain or a pillar to prevent the boss from hitting you while you take them out with arrows or spells. It might be a cheap way to beat the bosses, but it is effective and for some reason doesn't feel like cheating in this game.

There are points in the game where the difficulty and penalty for dying becomes almost too much. There is one area in particular where I probably lost well over 100,000 souls all told from dying. When those things happen it will either make you more resolved to win, or make you throw your controller across the room. It all depends on the type of gamer you are.

Anyways, that's pretty much it for the game. It's dark, it's hard, and it's incredibly fun because of the challenge. It is one of the better games I've played in a while, and if you're able to get past the minimal story, you're in for what I feel is a real treat of a game.