After the success of Bluepoint Games' Shadow of the Colossus remake for PlayStation 4, fans have been eager to find out what the studio could be working on next. Rumors have been swirling around the internet for months claiming the studio was working on at least two PlayStation 5 exclusive remakes (a rumor that's yet to be debunked), so when Sony confirmed Demon's Souls would be getting its own from-the-ground-up remake during the PS5 gameplay reveal event, the announcement was met with loud applause.
With credits including Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, Flower (PS4), and Gravity Rush Remastered, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Sony would look toward a studio like Bluepoint Games to handle such a high-profile remake. Bluepoint has spent the last decade making a name for itself developing some of the highest-quality video game remasters and remakes in the industry, and fans couldn't hope for a better studio to handle the remake of a property as influential as Demon's Souls.
A History of Bluepoint Games
Despite its strong relationship with Sony and the PlayStation brand, Bluepoint Games is an independent video game developer from Austin, Texas, and was founded in early 2006 by Marco Thrush and late Andy O'Neil, two industry veterans. In November 2006, Bluepoint released its first and only original game Blast Factor, a top-down shooter which served as a launch title for both the PS3 and the PlayStation Network.
In 2009, it was announced that Bluepoint Games were developing remastered ports of God of War and God of War 2 for the PS3 as part of the God of War Collection, followed by the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection for PS3 in 2011, and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for PS3 a few months later. By 2012, Bluepoint Games were developing a strong reputation in the industry for developing high-quality ports and went on to develop the PlayStation Vita version of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, the PS4 and Vita versions of Flower, and the Xbox 360 version of the original Titanfall.
The Shadow of the Colossus (2018) Remake
Bluepoint Games had become very well-known among the major publishers and was quickly designated as one of the top studios for handling video game ports and remakes. It wasn't until the PlayStation 4 era that the studio started to make a name for itself throughout the industry and player base, though, starting with Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and followed by Gravity Rush Remastered. With the announcement of the highly anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, fans were desperately hoping for the original trilogy to come to PS4. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection was easily the highest-profile project the studio had taken on at that time, and Bluepoint Games put its name on the map by delivering its best port to date.
In 2018, the studio stepped away from remastered ports with a complete from-the-ground-up remake of Shadow of the Colossus. Bluepoint had previously handled the PlayStation 3 port of the game, but wanted to create the definitive version of the classic PS2 game, remaking all of the assets for the game, introducing a whole new control scheme, and delivering one of the most impressive looking games on PS4 at the time. Shadow of the Colossus received universal acclaim from critics and currently sits at a 91 on Metacritic.
Why Bluepoint Games is Good for the Demon's Soul's Remake
With Shadow of the Colossus, Bluepoint Games proved that it was more than capable of taking a beloved classic game and reinventing it for a new generation, making the experience feel new and modern while retaining the feel of the original. Like Shadow of the Colossus, Demon's Souls has a powerful legacy behind it, and it requires the same level of love and respect in order to do the game justice.
Unlike the PS4 and Xbox One generation, the next-generation of consoles have been designed with the idea of backward compatibility in mind, moving away from the need for remastered ports. However, complete remakes of fan-favorite classics has proved incredibly popular in recent years from Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy to Destroy All Humans!, and the upcoming Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 & 2. If there's anyone that can do justice to the legacy of Demon's Souls and From Software, it's Bluepoint Games.
Demon's Souls is currently in development for PlayStation 5.