Happy and hateful birthday, Demon's Souls!
Atlus sent out a little note reminding us all that today marks the second anniversary of the release of Demon's Souls, spiritual predecessor of Dark Souls. In celebration of two years of mind-numbing, controller-snapping difficulty, the publisher has some special World Tendency events lined up for the rest of the month.
Starting today and running through October 17, the in-game world of Demon's Souls will switch to Pure White Tendency, which makes the game (somewhat) less difficult and even opens up certain paths and items. From October 17 through the rest of the month – just in time for Halloween – the world will shift to Pure Black which, you guessed it, makes the game even more difficult (okay, fine, it also opens up different hidden areas too).
To offer up a birthday analogy, it's like Atlus is giving everyone a cake topped with beautiful white icing and a filling made of pure evil.
Show full PR text
THE LEGEND ENDURES: DEMON'S SOULS CELEBRATES ITS SECOND ANNIVERSARY
ATLUS honors milestone with October World Tendency events; reflects on being part of one of the most significant games of all time
IRVINE, CA. -- OCTOBER 6, 2011 -- ATLUS today joined fans across North America in celebrating the second anniversary of the award-winning hardcore multiplayer action RPG Demon's Souls™ for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. Two years later, the game, which recently had support for its groundbreaking online functionality extended into 2012, remains one of the most influential, innovative interactive entertainment releases of all time.
In recognition of the title's tremendous accomplishments and in sincere gratitude to the fan community for two years of unyielding passion and support, ATLUS today revealed World Tendency plans for the month of October. Starting today until October 17, Boletaria will shift to Pure White World Tendency, easing the game's difficulty and unlocking otherwise inaccessible areas and items. From then until the end of the month, the World Tendency will become Pure Black, making the game more challenging and again, opening up otherwise hidden secrets.
"When people get together to talk about games that have forever changed the face of the industry, Demon's Souls remains one of the most salient titles to discuss," shared Shinichi Suzuki, President and CEO at ATLUS. "From the beginning, we were honored to be involved with so daring a project. We endeavored to pour every bit as much of ourselves into how we promoted, packaged, and supported the game as developer FROM Software obviously had. Upon its North American release, there was already a strong, growing community of fans. They received the game, its relevance, and its accomplishments with such great passion and earnestness; we made it our highest priority to not let them down. We are incredibly proud to continue to support the game's online functionality and host World Tendency events as long as we can. We're not just the game's publisher: we're fans, too."
"Two years ago today, Demon's Souls' launch day, was one of the most exciting, unpredictable times in our company's two-decade history," commented Tim Pivnicny, Vice President of Marketing and Sales at ATLUS. "We recognized the caliber of the game. We were certain that fears about it being too challenging for our market were unfounded. Still, we had no idea what to expect. Our modest launch was immediately exhausted, as was the physical pre-order gift at participating retailers, a collectible booklet containing a tangible 24-track, 71 minute soundtrack CD and 36 pages of full color artwork printed on deluxe paper. Our painstakingly designed and assembled Deluxe Edition--still the only place our official 160-page strategy guide was ever made available--disappeared before the month was up. It became a phenomenon, our biggest title ever. Most importantly, Demon's Souls has achieved a rare status of prestige, owed to the tireless support and promotion of the game from the best community of fans in the world. It's easy for some to take that kind of support for granted, but for us, it would be straight up 5-2."
Demon's Souls is out now for PlayStation 3 system for the bargain MSRP of $19.99. For more information, visit the game's official website at http://www.demons-souls.com.
