Demon’s Souls’ Old Monk Boss Fight Is Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Favourite

Time Stamp: February 4, 2022 12:00 PM

In a new PlayStation Blog post, various developers have been asked what their favourite boss is from games developed by FromSoftware. Chief among them is creator Hidetaka Miyazaki himself, who explains the Old Monk encounter from Demon’s Souls is his personal favourite. The boss fight first appeared in the PlayStation 3 original before being remade by Bluepoint Games for PS5.

For those who do not know, the Old Monk boss encounter is quite unlike anything the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, or Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice have done since. Instead of fighting a traditional boss, the Old Monk summons a black phantom to fight on its behalf. That black phantom just so happens to be another real-life player, so your PvP skills are actually what’s being tested. If nobody is summoned then the fight isn’t nearly as special, but it’s cool when it does happen.

Miyazaki speaks of pushback on the encounter during the development of Demon’s Souls, but he was determined to get it in the game. “I wanted to get that boss concept into the game, both from a visual design perspective and gameplay perspective, including the multiplayer element. From both the implementation and fun factor, we got a lot of pushback, and no one believed in it at the time. But in the end, we came through, and I think it turned into an intriguing boss that the fans appreciated.”

The Souls creator then comments on how implementing the asynchronous online features was a real challenge during production. “I think the Old Monk encompasses those tribulations and how we pushed through and made something we were proud of.”

Elsewhere in the blog post, the likes of Great Grey Wolf Sif from Dark Souls, the famous Dragonslayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough encounter, and the Nameless King from Dark Souls III are all mentioned as other favourites. What’s your favourite FromSoftware boss fight? Share them in the comments below.

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