Summary
- Demon's Souls' broken sixth Archstone leads to mysterious snowy lands and giants, hinting at a lost chapter in the game's lore.
- Speculations suggest the Archstone was broken in a battle against Demons or cut due to development constraints.
- Players may never fully explore the Northern Lands, as even the Demon's Souls remake did not include the enigmatic region.
As FromSoftware's first game, Demon's Souls is even more uncanny and enigmatic than audiences have come to expect from the developer. Demon's Souls' unsettling level design, dark and twisted lore, and grim, oppressive atmosphere combine to make it a singularly unique and puzzling experience, even in light of everything that it has spawned in the 15 years since its release.
Demon's Souls presents players with a world shattered into distinct realms, accessible from the Nexus via Archstones:
- Boletarian Palace - Archstone of the Small King
- Stonefang Tunnel - Archstone of the Burrow King
- Tower of Latria - Archstone of the Tower Queen
- Shrine of Storms - Archstone of the Shadowmen
- Valley of Defilement - Archstone of the Chieftain
Players will spend a great deal of time traveling back and forth between these five realms, but there is a sixth Archstone, broken and unusable, among the rest in the Nexus. In typical FromSoftware fashion, there is little to no explanation of this Archstone or where it is supposed to lead, as it is seemingly cut off from the rest of Demon's Souls' shattered world. That said, based on hints from the base game, data-mined information, and development context, certain conclusions and assumptions can be made about the sixth Archstone.
Demon's Souls' Sixth Archstone Is Enveloped In Mystery
The Broken Archstone in Demon's Souls Leads to the Land of the Giants
The most direct in-game reference to the sixth Archstone comes from a conversation with the Monumental, who resides at the top of the Nexus. This character details the state of the world, the reason it was partitioned into distinct realms, and what each realm represents.
The Monumentals "entrusted six elders with six precious Archstones" so that the world could be mended following the events of the First Scourge. Interestingly enough, the Monumental players speak to says that the sixth Archstone was granted to "the great giants of the Northern Lands," suggesting that control of the Northern Lands was not given to a single ruler, but a group of individuals, or even an entire society. During this conversation, the Northern Lands are listed among the Nexus' other Archstones, without any qualification or explanation of why it is inaccessible.
Data miners have been able to access these Northern Lands, but they are noticeably incomplete, as is to be expected. Nevertheless, the location players would have traveled to is referred to as the Northern Limit, suggesting that this is the furthest end of the Demon's Souls world, though whether this is a literal or figurative limit is unclear. The Northern Lands themselves are characterized by vast, snowy mountains, littered with long-abandoned stone structures. However, since these areas are clearly unfinished, it's impossible to say how much of their appearance is actually reflective of FromSoftware's plans for the area — the stone structures could simply be placeholder assets.
The snowy, mountainous aesthetic of the Northern Limits, and its connection to giants, may have been the inspiration for future FromSoftware levels, like Elden Ring's Mountaintops of the Giants.
Why Demon's Souls' Sixth Archstone Is Broken
It's long been speculated that the sixth Archstone was broken as part of a final stand against the encroaching Demonic threat that marked the beginning of the Second Scourge. This notion is supported by the opening cutscene of the game, which depicts some sort of large-scale battle between humans and Demons in a snowy land. It's possible that the Archstone leading to the Northern Lands was broken in an attempt to stop the spread of the Colorless Fog and the Demonic invasion.
From a development standpoint, though, it's clear that the Northern Lands were simply cut from the game, either due to a shortage of resources or for use in a DLC that never came to fruition. There was some hope that the Demon's Souls remake would include the sixth Archstone, but that turned out not to be the case. Barring the release of a Demon's Souls 2, it's unlikely that players will ever get to see the Northern Lands in their entirety.
Demon's Souls
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- November 12, 2020
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Bluepoint Games
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Dark Souls
WHERE TO PLAY
Entirely rebuilt from the ground up, this remake invites you to experience the unsettling story and ruthless combat of Demon’s Souls.
From PlayStation Studios and Bluepoint Games comes a remake of the PlayStation classic, Demon’s Souls. Entirely rebuilt from the ground up and masterfully enhanced, this remake introduces the horrors of a fog-laden, dark fantasy land to a whole new generation of gamers. Those who’ve faced its trials and tribulations before, can once again challenge the darkness in stunning visual quality with incredible performance.
In his quest for power, the 12th King of Boletaria, King Allant channeled the ancient Soul Arts, awakening a demon from the dawn of time itself, The Old One. With the summoning of The Old One, a colorless fog swept across the land, unleashing nightmarish creatures that hungered for human souls. Those whose souls were stripped from them, lost their minds – left only with the desire to attack the sane that remained.
Now, Boletaria is cut off from the outside world, and the knights who dare penetrate the deep fog to free the land from its plight, are never seen again. As a lone warrior who has braved the baneful fog, you must face the hardest of challenges to earn the title “Slayer of Demons” and send The Old One back to its slumber.
- Number of Players
- 1-6
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- How Long To Beat
- 23 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
