Newly discovered footage from a 2007 presentation has revealed that Demon's Souls was once considered for a first-person perspective. The unearthed material, brought to light by Elden Ring dataminer Lance McDonald, offers a glimpse into the early development of FromSoftware's influential action RPG.
McDonald shared the gameplay footage, images, and presentation materials on August 7, 2026. The content originates from Gameshare 4, a Sony Computer Entertainment event where developers showcased their projects for feedback.
The presentation, created by Japan Studio PD#3, used the working title Demon’s Souls, which remained consistent throughout development. It detailed the game's premise, describing an environment filled with "ruined castles, lone wastelands, and other cursed locations," populated by "enemies, twisted mutants, and creatures."
While many mechanics are recognizable from the final product, the camera system notably differed. Demon's Souls features a third-person perspective with an unfixed camera, allowing players to freely adjust their view and track enemies, with an optional lock-on feature. However, the prototype footage shows combat from a first-person viewpoint, which McDonald suggests was intended as an optional mode to diversify the experience.
Furthermore, the initial third-person mode featured a fixed camera that followed the player. McDonald described this control scheme as a "deliberate" similarity to the third-person controls in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, with the left analog stick used for strafing and backsteps. This approach was eventually altered before the game's release.
The presentation also showcased creatures that did not make it into the final game, including figures with snake-like heads that would later appear in Dark Souls' Sen's Fortress, and a standard crocodile. The materials also delved into the ghost system, a mechanic that the studio retained and has since featured in subsequent Souls titles.
An unexpected detail from the presentation was a reference to the animated television series South Park. Japan Studio PD#3 apparently used a screenshot from the episode 'Make Love, Not Warcraft,' which depicts the character Eric Cartman addicted to World of Warcraft, as an example of a "stereotypical image of MMORPG gamers." The studio aimed to avoid such stereotypes by blending elements of offline and online RPGs for a more balanced experience.
This discovery follows McDonald's previous work, including the uncovering of an unused cutscene in Elden Ring's game files that added further depth to its narrative.