The Demon’s Souls remake for PS5 uses a similar multiplayer system as the rest of the games in the series. Unlike many traditional online games that feature an easy way to invite and play with friends, Demon’s Souls makes you work for it. You’ll absolutely want to summon help to defeat a tough boss, or — when you’re ready — invade another player’s world to keep them on their toes. Either way, here’s everything you’ll need to know about playing online in Demon’s Souls.
How to Play Cooperatively
You’ve been stuck on a boss for hours, you don’t have the Souls to level up, and have exhausted all your options to proceed. What do you do? You could grind for Souls to overlevel yourself, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, we recommend summoning another player for help. Typically, even if your co-op partner isn’t the greatest player in the world, having an additional player can make all the difference in the world when attempting to defeat a boss.
There are two ways to go about playing cooperatively: You can summon a player for help, or you can request to be summoned to assist in defeating a boss.
The thing to keep in mind is that you must be around a similar level of the player you’re looking to join. In other Souls games there was a formula to figuring out the required summon range level and Demon’s Souls is no different. You must be within 10 levels of your co-op partner and plus or minus 10%.
For example, a level 10 can play with anyone who is approximately level 1-20, while a level 100 can play with anyone from level 80-120 or so. This is for balancing purposes, so you can’t bring in an overleveled player to help you out. Keep in mind, this formula does not apply when using the password system to play with specific friends (more on that below).
Additionally, for every person you summon, the boss will gain more health. So, depending on the skill and level of the players you want to summon, it may actually be beneficial to only bring one person in. We’ve seen players across the Souls games bring in as many co-op partners as possible, only to be met with an extremely powerful boss that is way tougher to kill than expected.
Demon’s Souls supports up to six players at once, four of whom can play cooperatively, while two can invade.
How to Summon
To summon a player, you first need to be in Human form. This is the form you take after you’ve defeated a boss or when you consume a Stone of Ephemeral Eyes. Being in Human form alters the world slightly and grants you extra health. Remember, if you die while in Human form, the World Tendency of a particular level will shift to Black.
Once you’re in Human form, stand close to the fog by a boss and look on the ground for Summon Signs, which will appear as blue markings on the ground. Each of these signs represents a player who can be summoned. After you interact with the sign, the game will tell you the name of the player and you’ll be able to summon them into your world.
From here, wait a few moments and assuming both players’ internet connections are strong enough, the summoner will be joined by a co-op partner. You’ll now be equipped to take down the boss! Do note that if you want to send a player back to their world, you’ll need to use the White Eye Stone, which is acquired from the Maiden in Black at the beginning of the game.
How to Be Summoned
In order to be summoned, you must be in Soul form, which is the form you take after you die. This will diminish your total health, but can be slightly mitigated by using the Cling Ring. Once you’re in Soul form, you’ll need to place your Summon Sign on the ground using the Blue Eye Stone. This is acquired from The Maiden in Black at the very start of the game and cannot be missed.
Keep in mind, you cannot place your Summon Sign everywhere. For best results, try placing it right in front of the boss fog. You cannot place it in boss arenas and other various locations. If the game won’t let you place your sign, try moving farther back from the boss fog.
How to Play With Friends
Demon’s Souls on PS5 uses the password system introduced by Bloodborne. Any players who have matching passwords will pair up with one another, regardless of Soul level. To utilize it, head to the options menu, then Settings, and Network.
From here, you can turn on Password Requirement so you can set the password you’d like. Once you and your co-op friends have the same password, follow the steps listed above and you’ll be able to specifically match with your buddies!
To change the game’s Launch State to offline or to select a different server, you must be at the main menu instead of from the in-game menu.
How to Invade
Invading works similarly to playing cooperatively, in that you must be within a certain range of the person you pair up with. You can only invade a player who is in Human form, again, as a means to keep the game balanced.
To invade, you must use the Black Eye Stone, which is granted to you at the beginning of the game by killing the first Black Phantom you come across. As an invader, the enemies across the game will not attack you, nor can you attack them. If you eliminate the person you invaded, or if they die from another enemy, you will be sent back to your world. The same can be said about triggering the boss; once the boss fight is started, you’ll be sent back to your world.
You can use the same password system as above to match up with specific players. This is great for those who want a friendly fight against a certain player.
From our experience, higher level players often tend to hang around the later portions of the game, like 1-4 or certain areas of Valley of Defilement. Remember, much like being summoned, you can only invade a world if you’re in Soul form, so keep that in mind. After you’ve taken out a player while invading, you’ll spawn back into your world as a Human (kill your character to come back in Soul form).
If you want to be invaded, hang out in an area in Human form and wait for someone to come into your world. Remember, the Soul level system applies so if you’re a higher level, you might want to stick to the late game areas. Killing an enemy invader shifts your World Tendency to White, while invading and killing a player will shift it to Black.
There’s also a certain etiquette Souls players have come up with over the years. Typically, players will bow at one another before attacking. Likewise, players will often opt to not use healing items during a duel as a form of respect. This is optional, of course, but recommended.
