10 Hated Video Games That Became Cult Classics

Demon's Souls is the precursor of the esteemed Dark Souls saga, the tentpole of FromSoftware, and the pioneer of the Soulslike games. Due to its legacy, it's easy to forget nobody gave a damn about Hidetaka Miyazaki's open-world IP when it came out. Even Sony president at the time, Shuhei Yoshida, thought it was "an unbelievably bad game".

Being the devil's advocate, it's not surprising to understand why Demon's Souls didn't gain traction straightaway. With its lack of tutorials and merciless difficulty, the majority of players gave up before breaching the starting area.

The world-building is so subtle, casual players couldn't make heads or tails of the detailed lore, nor could they get the hang of the trial-and-error combat. Since Demon's Souls came out the same month as Assassin's Creed II and Modern Warfare 2, it looked like the gruelling title would get lost in the shuffle.

Slowly but surely, the fantasy role-player started making a name for itself through the oldest method possible - word-of-mouth. Seeing its potential, the developers got cracking on its spiritual successor, Dark Souls, which launched the sub-genre into the stratosphere. Even though the original Demon's Souls is a bit rough around the edges, it's apparent how this medieval marvel shaped the modern world of gaming.