Adrian has been writing, critiquing, and thinking about games since he first picked up an N64 controller many years ago. These days he writes reviews, news, and features for Game Rant and believes games should be held to the same artistic standards as books, movies, and television shows. When he’s not writing for Game Rant, Adrian writes even more reviews for Sirus Gaming and likes to get nerdy about tech and retro games at HackerNoon. Outside the gaming world, he spends plenty of time enjoying movies or listening to every genre of music under the sun. Follow him on Twitter for nonsense tweets likely related to Dragon Ball Z, or check out Breadhouse Records for some tunes.
FromSoftware historian Lance McDonald has uncovered a 2007 Demon’s Souls prototype that shows the influential action RPG experimenting with an optional first-person camera nearly two years before release. As one of the games that established the blueprint for the Soulslike genre, Demon’s Souls would establish many of the ideas that FromSoftware later expanded upon through Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring.
Demon’s Souls Prototype Reveals Scrapped First-Person Mode
The newly surfaced Demon’s Souls prototype was uncovered and shared by well-known FromSoftware historian and dataminer Lance McDonald, who uploaded his findings to YouTube. According to McDonald, the material comes from a presentation prepared for Gameshare 4, an internal event held by Sony in May 2007, and includes two minutes of early gameplay alongside development slides. Several portions of the prototype showcase a first-person mode reminiscent of King’s Field, though it appears players could toggle between perspectives rather than be locked into one. Even the prototype’s third-person view differs from the final release, remaining positioned more directly behind the main character instead of offering the freely rotating camera players eventually received. As of now, McDonald’s footage shows cut content in Demon’s Souls and the earliest footage that fans have ever been able to see.
- Released
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November 12, 2020
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence