It was released in Japan in February 2009, in North America by Atlus in October 2009, and in PAL territories by Namco Bandai Partners in June 2010.

A collaboration between FromSoftware and Sony's Japan Studio, the game's early development was troubled due to a lack of coherent vision.

This aspect proved demanding for Miyazaki, partly because of his fear that Sony would ask the team to lower the difficulty in order to make the game more accessible.

Demon's Souls introduced many of the core elements that would define the eventual Soulslike genre and it has since been cited as one of the greatest games of all time.

[3][4][5][6] By defeating an enemy, the player acquires Souls, which act as both experience points to raise various statistics; and the game's currency for purchasing new weapons, armor and items.

Players can leave pre-written messages on the floor that can also help others such as forewarning safe or hostile positions, trap locations and tactics against enemies or bosses, among general comments.

Co-operative play allows up to three characters to team up in a host world where visiting players appear in soul form that can only be returned to their bodies when a boss is defeated.

In the game's present, Boletaria's ruler King Allant restored the Soul Arts, awakening the Old One and its demon army.

If the Slayer of Demons leaves the Old One, they are hailed as the hero of a restored, though damaged, Boletaria, becoming a new Monumental to support the world as the knowledge of Soul Arts is lost.

[1][12] Demon's Souls was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, who had joined the company in 2004 and worked as a coder on the Armored Core series.

Hearing about a high fantasy role-playing game which was considered a failure within the company, Miyazaki decided that if he took over the project, he could take it in any direction he wanted.

[13][16] The initial concept for Demon's Souls came from FromSoftware's King's Field series, with Miyazaki citing its dark tone and high difficulty as the main inspirations for the game.

[17] He wanted to create a game which would recreate the dark fantasy and hardcore feel of classic RPG titles (such as the King's Field and Wizardry series) on modern consoles, along with incorporated online elements.

[1] Variety was added to combat by changing how different weapons affected the character's movements, similar to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Unable to give his appreciation to the drivers before leaving the area, he wondered whether the last person in the line had made it to their destination, thinking that he would probably never meet those people again.

[17] This system proved difficult for Miyazaki to explain to Sony, with him eventually comparing his messaging to the brevity of an email over a phone call so executives could understand it.

[16] The team wanted to avoid the formation of questing parties between players; the multiplayer was designed more to enhance the single-player content rather than be a separate mode.

Direct influences included Arthurian and Germanic folklore, the fantasy movies Conan the Barbarian and Excalibur, and the artwork of Frank Frazetta.

[31] Due to its Medieval European setting, the team decided against using American English actors, asking Sony to handle that aspect.

While he never saw any art or video assets from the game, he interpreted the original text's tone to a "knights, dragons, demons-type action-oriented RPG".

[39] The North American servers for Demon's Souls were originally planned for shutdown in October 2011, two years after the game's release in the region.

Famitsu gave it 29 out of 40 (9/7/7/6), with an editor Paint Yamamoto scoring it a 9 and calling it "a game you learn how to play by losing – you'll face sudden death frequently.

GameSpot called the high difficulty "fair", saying players will "undoubtedly take a lot of damage until you learn the subtleties of fighting each enemy, but combat feels just right.

"[6] IGN echoed this view, saying that players who "can remember the good ol' days when games taught through the highly effective use of negative reinforcement and a heavy price for not playing it carefully should scoop this up instantly.

Eurogamer called Demon's Souls "stoic, uncompromising, difficult to get to know, but also deep, intriguingly disturbed and perversely rewarding"[4] while Edge explained their positive view on the difficulty by stating "if gaming’s ultimate appeal lies in the learning and mastering of new skills, then surely the medium’s keenest thrills are to be found in its hardest lessons", concluding "for those who flourish under Demon’s Souls’ strict examination, there's no greater sense of virtual achievement.

[60][61] According to Miyazaki, initial sales for Demon's Souls were slow in Japan, which combined with negative reactions from trade shows made the team fearful that the game would be a failure.

[65] In September 2010, Atlus announced that Demon's Souls would be released in North America under the Sony Greatest Hits label with a price cut following strong sales, higher than previously expected by the publisher.

While units sold did not reach hundreds of thousands at the time, Namco Bandai were confident in the game's future commercial success.

[67] Demon's Souls favorable review scores made the fiscal performance of the game unique because of the lack of a supporting marketing campaign.

Its success sparked a number of spiritual successors with similar gameplay by FromSoftware[83][84] including Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, which are also considered among the greatest games of all time.