I absolutely adore the original Demon's Souls, hands down one of my favorite games on the PS3, but it was not a good looking game. It was so, so obvious that the difficulty of developing on the PS3, as well as the limited time/budget Miyazaki's team had when working on the original kept it from being even remotely close to the concept art for the game.
This PS5 version is closer to that vision of the concept art, and is beautiful.
I'm 100% convinced that a lot of the nitpicking about this remake is due to some weird purist notion of a Japanese developed game daring to be touched by Western hands. It's not like Japan Studios hasn't also contributed to this remake, but even if they hadn't, Bluepoint knows what the fuck they're doing, and the love and passion poured into this remake is clear as day.
They also benefitted from having the necessary time and budget and resources to really go all out with this game. I'm not wasting my time giving Wired the click and attention they so desperately crave with this article.
Demon's Souls PS3 was a great game, despite its shortcomings. Demon's Souls PS5 is a great game, because it manages to stay faithful to the original, while also allowing it to really live up to the promise the original could only imply. I'll always have a special place in my heart for the original Demon's Souls, and the remake can't ever replace that feeling of when I first booted up the Chinese import version many moons ago. But here's the thing: it doesn't have to. It had to not be a shitty remake, and to the surprise of no one that's been following Bluepoint's work for the past 12 years, it delivered.
One of the things I love about this remake is that, even with the shiny new coat of paint, it's still unmistakably Demon's Souls. I was hit by so much nostalgia while playing through the game (I haven't beaten it yet, as I've been taking my time with it and just soaking it all in), and I've had the biggest grin on my face the entire time while playing it.
This could have easily have been a Silent Hill HD Collection disaster, yet it's not, and some folks still bitch about it. It's unbelievable to me, to be honest. Gamers are spoiled as fuck these days...
There's nothing wrong with not liking some of the aesthetic choices made in the game (hell, there are definitely a few tiny things I prefer from the OG DS, myself), but have we really reached a point where the jank ass character models, piss filter, and over-indulgence on bloom effects is now looked at fondly? Like, really? Nostalgia goggles are a helluva drug.