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[Bartski]

A newly uncovered 2007 internal Sony presentation (from Gameshare 4 in Tokyo) of an early Demon's Souls prototype and planning materials. The video walks through the original PowerPoint slides with the accompanying English voiceover script, plus a short prototype demo movie that was meant to be shown during the presentation.

Key points from the content

• Presented by Daisuke Ishidate of Japan Studio PD3.
• High concept: "In the depths of lone darkness, feel the warmth of life." Solo exploration of dark ruins to recover souls of dead companions, with photorealistic environments, twisted enemies, and gigantic bosses.
• Core innovation highlighted early: the ghost/network system. Death scenes of other players appear as reusable guides; dead players continue as phantoms that can be summoned for help and potentially revived. The goal was a single-player action RPG that still feels shared and unique per player ("Game 3.0").
• Contrast with pure online MMOs (too time-consuming/group-dependent) and pure offline RPGs (more linear/story-following).
• Prototype demo footage shows:
  • An option for first-person perspective.
  • A different control scheme (character always faces the camera direction; left stick for strafing/backstep, similar to Oblivion third-person).
  • Unused creatures and enemies in what later became the tutorial area.
  • Early "Prototype Knight" armor and other visual differences.
• Graphics described as 60–70% of final quality at that stage; prototype phase had just finished in March 2007, with room for regional feedback.

The presenter notes how the free-movement + lock-on system that became a Souls hallmark replaced the earlier movement paradigm, and points out various cut or unused elements still visible in the early footage and files.It's a detailed archival look at how Demon's Souls was pitched and prototyped, emphasizing the online-asynchronous multiplayer ideas that defined the series from the start.

 

[abysswatcher]

What a find! The alligator is hilarious and the Kings Field influence was strong in the beginning. I played through the OG Demon's Souls again a couple of months ago and it has such a unique atmosphere. Will always be one of my favorite Fromsoft games.

 

[Majukun]

Always fun to see the firsst steps of a project...especially when they are this early and you can compare them with the final product.
It is funny thatrt the very "revolutionary concept" the pitch is based of, ended up being reworked...understandeable as it would have been impossible and probably not that fun to implement as presented

 

[Sticks]

 

[Zacfoldor]

Still love the game and every form I've ever played it in, it has so much character and atmosphere and there is no letting up. 10 out of 10 and may God have mercy on their souls, lol.

 

[Radical_3d]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that coughs that. I thought I was going bananas.

From the times we got Japan Studio. Good times.

 

[mindfreak191]

Lol, didn't' expect to hear John Linneman.

 

[Hudo]

Fucking jump scare, man. Spoiler that shit.

 

[Bartski]

Were those snake men from Sen's Fortress?

 

[falconhoof]

So IIRC the story was that the game was originally developed more inline with King's Field but lacked a vision and the team were floundering, which was when Miyazaki came over from Armored Core. I guess in part that he didn't have the baggage of King's Field having only joined after King's Field IV had shipped.

I wonder what that version looked like? I think I remember hearing that they had assets and stuff built by the time Miyazaki joined and part of his job was to rework the content into what became the final vision. I suspect it would have looked much closer to King's Field, maybe even first person. That would also make sense given that Sony were looking for their answer to Xbox's Morrowind with the project.

 

[Moses85]

Epic and the framerate was already From Software Style

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Its still an amazing game that holds up quite well. Out of all the soulsbourn games, (I always exclude Sekiro from that category) I still think this one is the most punishing (Bloodborne might give it a run for it's money) since you can have quite a trek if you die at the boss. 4-2 being the worst.