Summary
Even though the story isn’t at the forefront of the presentation inDemon’s Souls, this game is an excellent example of developer FromSoftware’s environmental storytelling and deep lore design directly into gameplay. The themes of this lore and the story being told across the stellar environments anddifficult bosses throughoutDemon’s Soulsare best expressed in the otherwise simple finale of the game.
While the difficulty ofDemon’s Soulsreaches a climax at Old King Allant, the game itself doesn’t end with just the hardest boss fight so far. Instead, players are tasked with heading into the game’s gargantuan antagonist, The Old One, and facing off against the True King Allant, who showcases every bit of decay that has previously been represented in Boletaria.
King Allant’s Fate Is Worse Than Death in Demon’s Souls
The True King’s Disappointing End to Demon’s Souls
With the reputation that FromSoftware and theSoulsgames have earned over the years for offering players some of the most difficult challenges in gaming, King Allant can come as somewhat of a shock. The boss himself is little more than a slug wielding a sword that attacks so slowly and infrequently that players may need to try to get hit to die in this fight. It’s a far cry from otherDemon’s Soulsbosses like Flamelurkeror the Maneaters who can easily create a difficulty spike that walls off progress for hours at a time.
While it is possible to die against True King Allant, it is unlikely for anyone who hasmasteredDemon’s Souls' combatand made it far enough to face off against the boss. From a raw gameplay perspective, this ending truly fails to live up to the promise of challenge that the rest of the game sets the player up for. However, from a storytelling perspective, this may be the peak for FromSoftware, in how it showcases the cost of succumbing to The Old One and even robs the player of the satisfaction of beating down an imposing force at the end.
King Allant Represents the Decay of Corruption
ThroughoutDemon’s Souls, players are tasked with traveling across Boletaria and its surrounding lands, marching through demon-cursed ruins and hunting theArch Demons like the Dragon Godat the end of each brutal gauntlet. While it’s true that there is little story in the more traditional sense with cutscenes and dialogue to motivate the player character towards the final goal of saving the world, the environment itself tells a story. For every Demon tracked and killed, the player has to traverse the grand structures and monuments of an old kingdom that has long since fallen into decay.
This decay in Boletaria and its neighboring kingdoms comes directly from the arrival of The Old One and King Allant succumbing to the promises of power by attempting to ally with the first Demon. That is the theme ofDemon’s Souls' incredible lorethat the decaying slug of the True King Allant represents when faced at the end of the game. He is a man obsessed with and consumed by a lust for power, to such a degree that the player character who has grown strong enough to defeat Arch Demons can simply step over the King on the way to claim their final prize.
The Same Fate Awaits the Slayer of Demons
To impact the story directly, King Allant also acts as a warning for what is to become of the player character, the Slayer of Demons, should they choose to continue hunting for the power of souls alongside The Old One. This leads to one of the more on-the-nose final choices for the developer, where many ofFromSoftware’s endingsare often much more ambiguous and muddle the ideas of “good or bad” when aligning with certain characters. Choosing to slay the Maiden and join with The Old One is not only the worst option for the world, but the lust for power will eventually warp the Slayer of Demons just like it did King Allant.
Demon’s Souls
WHERE TO PLAY
Entirely rebuilt from the ground up, this remake invites you to experience the unsettling story and ruthless combat of Demon’s Souls.From PlayStation Studios and Bluepoint Games comes a remake of the PlayStation classic, Demon’s Souls. Entirely rebuilt from the ground up and masterfully enhanced, this remake introduces the horrors of a fog-laden, dark fantasy land to a whole new generation of gamers. Those who’ve faced its trials and tribulations before, can once again challenge the darkness in stunning visual quality with incredible performance.In his quest for power, the 12th King of Boletaria, King Allant channeled the ancient Soul Arts, awakening a demon from the dawn of time itself, The Old One. With the summoning of The Old One, a colorless fog swept across the land, unleashing nightmarish creatures that hungered for human souls. Those whose souls were stripped from them, lost their minds – left only with the desire to attack the sane that remained.Now, Boletaria is cut off from the outside world, and the knights who dare penetrate the deep fog to free the land from its plight, are never seen again. As a lone warrior who has braved the baneful fog, you must face the hardest of challenges to earn the title “Slayer of Demons” and send The Old One back to its slumber.
