The Demon's Souls remake is one of the most highly anticipated titles for the PlayStation 5, and it'll be so true to the original that the 6th Archstone is going to stay missing, according to community modder Lance McDonald. The original Demon's Souls was released for the PlayStation 3 in 2009, and despite early and ongoing concerns about its now notorious difficulty, it quickly became a critical success in the Western market. Demon's Souls went on to spawn a series of sequels to even greater acclaim, although fans of the original still call it the series' gold standard.

Even with the franchise's success, fans continued to speculate about one oddity in the original game to the point of notoriety: the mystery of the 6th Archstone. In Demon's Souls, players access different areas of the game through the monolithic Archstones. However, the 6th Archstone is broken and inaccessible, piquing the lasting curiosity of players as to its origin and purpose. Hopes DLC would finally allow players to explore whatever realm lay beyond eventually faded, but were rekindled when the Demon's Souls remake was announced back in June.

Related: Demon's Souls PS5 Deluxe Edition Bonuses Anger Dark Souls Players

Now, it seems as if those hopes have been extinguished once again. Per Glitched, in a since deleted tweet, McDonald, who was behind the 60 FPS Bloodborne patch, stated the Demon's Souls remake uses the same exact file structure and system as the original game, with no additional areas, objects, or items. This means the remake is meant to be as direct a translation of the original as possible. As far as the 6th Archstone is concerned, in a conversation captured on Discord by Twitter user Jacob Z, McDonald quite succinctly claims, "There's no 6th archstone."

Lance McDonald Discord Screen Shot

That isn't to suggest the remake is completely without any new additions. McDonald claims a new entity, Fractured Mode, has been added. This is supposedly a permadeath mode that means if a player dies, they stay dead. This is a possible homage to the original game's reputable difficulty, but so far, it's the only deviation. However, the lack of cut content in the remake has done little to quell player anticipation.

So is the 6th Archstone destined to stay a broken mystery? For the foreseeable future, it seems that way, but it's highly doubtful that will be a deal-breaker to the legions of hardcore fans looking forward to the release. The question of the 6th Archstone certainly raises interest, but dedicated fans of the game are more excited about playing a beloved classic with next-gen graphics than they are to see what lies behind a broken monolith.

Next: Why Demon's Souls Is More Creative Than Dark Souls

Source: Glitched, Lance McDonald, Jacob Z