PSA: Demon's Souls Online Servers Shutting Down Soon

From Software's acclaimed precursor to the Dark Souls series, Demon's Souls, is set to lose some of its online components very soon. While the PS3 action-RPG will continue to remain playable offline, its online services will cease on February 28, which will render many of the game's unique features inaccessible.

Starting February 28, players will no longer be able to take part in online co-op or invasions when playing Demon's Souls. Additionally, leaderboards, wandering silhouettes, other players' bloodstains, and hints and messages written by others will all also disappear from the game, while a specific boss battle that involved fighting another player will function differently going forward.

News of Demon's Souls' server shutdown was first announced back in November on the official Dark Souls Twitter account. "It's with mixed emotions we say goodbye to the service," Atlus, which published the game in North America, wrote on its website. "Thank you to everyone who played Demon's Souls, and especially to those who still revisit its world from time to time. For those who haven't played in a while, we invite you to once again visit Boletaria while the servers are still live and celebrate its contributions with us."

Demon's Souls first launched exclusively for PS3 nearly nine years ago, back in 2009. The game was met with widespread acclaim from fans and critics. GameSpot awarded it a 9/10 in our Demon's Souls review and called it "an uncompromising RPG of the highest order--and a brilliant, atmospheric, and visionary one."

While Demon's Souls never received a proper follow-up, the game would go on to spawn several spiritual successors, including the three Dark Souls titles and the PS4-exclusive Bloodborne. Bandai Namco is releasing a remastered version of the first Dark Souls for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch on May 25. Ahead of its release, Titan Comics is publishing the first issue in its new Dark Souls tie-in comic series.