From Software’s spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls puts you in the shoes of an immortal. According to news from Japanese magazines, retaining your humanity will be a key part of Dark Souls. When you die your humanity is lost. It sounds like this how Dark Souls will shift players between phantoms and physical forms.

Dark Souls, like Demon’s Souls before it, will have a world where you can see other players online. They will appear as phantoms and some may try to harm your character. Hostile players appear red and have a new trick up their sleeves. Red phantoms can hide in a coffin and ambush another player.

In danger? It’s possible to summon NPCs in Dark Souls when you’re offline. We’re still looking for more details about this last note.

Dark Souls comes out in North America on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 7.