Summary
With how much DNADemon’s SoulsandDark Soulsshare as the start of FromSoftware’sSoulsborneseries, it can be strange to notice how different the earlier game’s bosses like Adjudicator can be from the titles that followed. This is a detail that helpsDemon’s Soulsstand out from its contemporaries, both among FromSoftware’s own titles andsimilar Souls-like titlesfrom other developers, even if it does lead to some of the most underwhelming bosses in the series.
It can be easy to lump many of the bosses fromDemon’s Soulsinto the category of “gimmick bosses” thanks to these fights relying less on fast-twitch reactions and more on understanding the necessary pattern and executing it. While that isn’t the case for some of the most Souls-like bosses like Penetrator and Old King Allant, this is unfortunately true for time-sinks like Adjudicator.
The Repetitive Gimmick of Demon’s Souls' Adjudicator
The worst thing that a Souls-like boss can be is boring, and centering a fight like Adjudicator around a central gimmick rather than a complex moveset is the fast track toward making something that will cause players to quickly lose interest. This is the case for other bosses likeDemon’s Souls' notorious Dragon Godand its elongated run through the arena, although there are outliers like the Storm King who is centered around the long-range Storm Ruler sword. When it comes to Adjudicator, however, the issue doesn’t come with a lack of active combat but instead comes from the repetitive nature of transitioning between preparation and damage phases.
To kill Adjudicator, players have to find a piece of the boss' own weapon that has been stuck deep within its belly, then hack away at that broken piece of steel until they reach a damage threshold. Throughout this phase of the fight, the player will be doing absolutely no damage at all to the boss' main health bar, only able to deal damage once the larger body kneels over and gives access to the small bird sitting at the top. On paper, the requirement to drop a boss to its knees before dealing any legitimate damage isn’t terrible and is used more successfully againstYhorm the Giant in the laterDark Souls 3.
It is the interactivity of the phase before the damage phase that makes Adjudicator one of the more boring bosses to fight across theSoulsborneseries. This is because, at the distance required to attack the weak point in the boss' belly, Adjudicator only responds with a single swipe that comes at regular intervals. The result is a fight that doesn’t require decisive use of mechanics like dodging, blocking, and attacking, but instead becomes a repetitive task that fails to live up to being the initial roadblock that eventually leads to the much more engagingStorm King deeper into the Shrine of Storms.
Alternate Builds Can Ease Adjudicator’s Boredom
Even though there is no way to make Adjudicator any more exciting, some ofDemon’s Souls' buildscan at least ease the burden of these bosses. Specifically, any type of distance build can take Adjudicator from being a slog of hacking away with little proper feedback to its health into a more manageable back and forth of dodges and counters. This can be anything from a full-on mage build, to something as simple as equipping a bow or picking up a handful of firebombs and throwing knives to get more out of fighting from a distance.
Of course, fighting from a distance isn’t a perfect solution, as the Adjudicator still only has one attack to worry about, a tongue whip with a difficult hitbox to master dodging. So, the fight is still lacking in variety, even when approaching from a different angle. However, it does still manage to show how well FromSoftware had already laid the foundation for thebuilds that would define titles likeElden Ringyears into the developer’s prolific career in the genre.
Demon’s 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.
