One of the most important and influential franchises in gaming is Dark Souls, which blazed the trail for other games that would not hold players’ hands, in an era when games were becoming more and more linear, and would basically play themselves. Titles as far ranging as The Witcher 3 and Breath of the Wild have cited Dark Souls as an influence.
And yet, Dark Souls itself was but a follow-up to Demon’s Souls, the cult-classic PS3 exclusive RPG from From Software that almost never made it to the west (but ultimately did thanks to Atlus saving it). Demon’s Souls ended up establishing a lot of the mechanics and paradigms that would go on to define the series- it is squarely the progenitor of the modern Soulsborne genre.
And now, a very major part of the experience will be coming to an end, as Atlus and Sony have confirmed that the game’s servers will be going offline worldwide on February 28, 2018. After this, you will not be able to engage in the game’s then pioneering multiplayer activities, and at least one in game boss, and all associated loot, will be unobtainable.
It’s a shame- but on the other hand, maybe we can hope that a Demon’s Souls remaster may come some day to the PS4. Maybe…