Demon’s Souls in PS5 Low Power Mode Leak Hints at a Real PlayStation Handheld

Sony might be inching back into true handheld territory. A fresh leak claims Demon’s Souls is running in a new Low Power Mode on PS5, and yeah, it looks exactly like the kind of behind-the-scenes tech test you run when you’re tuning games for a portable. If Sony is actually doing this, it would be a very different thing from the PlayStation Portal and more of a real, play-on-the-go machine.

What leaked, exactly

• Leaked screenshots, posted by Reddit user u/Midnight_M_ in the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit, show a Low Power Mode icon sitting right on the Demon’s Souls main menu.
• There’s also a Power Saver Mode toggle inside the game’s graphics settings menu.
• The gameplay shots look intentionally dialed back: softer resolution, pulled-back effects, the whole works. That screams performance-saving profile rather than a visual bug.
• The obvious read: the mode throttles GPU demands to simulate portable-level hardware, letting Sony test how a PS5 title behaves when you cap power and scale fidelity.

Why people are buzzing

If this is real, it points to Sony testing a handheld that can actually run games rather than just stream them. That would be a big shift away from the cloud-focused PlayStation Portal, which is essentially a remote play accessory tethered to your home PS5. A native handheld would put Sony in the ring with Nintendo’s Switch lineup, Valve’s Steam Deck, and the growing wave of Windows handhelds that lean on Xbox and Game Pass integration, like Asus’s ROG Ally.

The split reaction

Fans are split down the middle. Some are thrilled at the idea of a proper PlayStation handheld and are already handing Sony points for chasing portability again. Others are nervous this could create a new development hurdle: the fear is that targeting a lower-power profile could echo the Xbox Series S situation, where studios had to spend time optimizing for weaker hardware, arguably muting next-gen ambitions and slowing releases.

Reality check

None of this is confirmed by Sony. There’s no announcement, no wink, nothing official. It’s a leak. Treat it like a maybe until the company says otherwise.

The bigger picture

The handheld space is having a moment. Nintendo keeps ruling the sales charts with the Switch family. Valve proved there’s a massive appetite for portable PC gaming with the Steam Deck. Microsoft has been cozying up to handheld makers through Windows and Game Pass, most visibly with Asus’s ROG Ally. If Sony shows up with a portable PlayStation that’s reasonably priced and powerful enough to run PS5-caliber games at smart settings, it could be a real inflection point for them and a jolt to the rest of the industry.

Whether Sony calls it a PS5 Portable or invents something brand new, the takeaway is the same: the handheld wave is still building, and Sony looks like it wants back in. Would you actually buy a PlayStation handheld that runs games locally, or is streaming-only good enough for you?