Not as good as Dark souls, the game's equipment system and spell is very limited.
Equipment: the armor is like the same as each other, after defeating a neutral boss, I have his armor, but it doesn't better much from my starting armor, the punishing difficulty should be associated with nice rewarding system, including better armor, better equipment, but the only thing that Demons souls reward players is leveling up and upgrading weapon, I wear the same ring for almost all the game, which make me realize why should I continue to be punished by the difficulty if there is nothing rewarding ahead? Contrary to Dark Souls, the equipment is diverse and also have the nice rewarding
The spell: There is only lightning bolt and heal that is useful, others is worthless.
Difficulty: hard+not rewarding=super hard.
Visual: Demons'ssoul is ugly, it is blurry and the grey is the dominant color, which make the game even more boring.
Environment: Dark souls has variety of creature and enemy, whereas Demons souls only has limited number of enemy, the creatures and bosses also not interesting.
Conclusion: the game doesn't deserve the game of the year title, it is boring and hard, I am not the noobs who throw controller away after being beaten by the games, since I have finished Dark Souls twice, but I can't finish this game, because it is too boring, if you have a life and not a nerd, please don't buy this game.