Dark Souls is the new action role-playing game from the developers who brought you Demon’s Souls, FromSoftware. Dark Souls will have many familiar features: A dark fantasy universe, tense dungeon crawling, fearsome enemy encounters and unique online interactions. Dark Souls is a spiritual successor to Demon’s, not a sequel.
Prepare for a new, despair-inducing world, with a vast, fully-explorable horizon and vertically-oriented landforms. Prepare for a new, mysterious story, centered around the the world of Lodran, but most of all, prepare to die. You will face countless murderous traps, countless darkly grotesque mobs and several gargantuan, supremely powerful demons and dragons bosses.
You must learn from death to persist through this unforgiving world. And you aren’t alone. Dark Souls allows the spirits of other players to show up in your world, so you can learn from their deaths and they can learn from yours.
You can also summon players into your world to co-op adventure, or invade other's worlds to PVP battle. New to Dark Souls are Bonfires, which serve as check points as you fight your way through this epic adventure. While rested at Bonfires, your health and magic replenish but at a cost, all mobs respawn.
Beware: There is no place in Dark Souls that is truly safe. With days of game play and an even more punishing difficulty level, Dark Souls will be the most deeply challenging game you play this year. Can you live through a million deaths and earn your legacy?.
A bare-bones port can't sully one of the outstanding titles of this generation.
If you're not prepared to implement the tweaks and fixes mentioned in this review, then you should stay away from the game or hunt it down on its native consoles instead. If the previously mentioned 360 Review doesn't describe the sort of game you enjoy, then stay away altogether – not even bug fixes and gameplay tweaks will make this a game you like. But if you're willing to implement a couple fan-made patches and you crave a game that's beautiful, dark, cryptic, challenging and just plain unique in so many ways, grab this game and give it a go.
Underneath the port inadequacies is a masterful piece of design; intricate and drenched in woe. Dark Souls is infuriating, but well worth the investment in time and shattered patience.
This Prepare to Die Edition is far from what the game should have been on the PC, but it still is a masterpiece, a game designed for hardcore players.
Not often do you see a game that is equally rewarding as it is frustrating; and it's not because the game is unfair.
If you're a hardcore Dark Souls fan, or if you're confident in your ability to wring every last cent of value out of the game, the Prepare to Die Edition is the way to go.
This Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is not only the worst console port I've ever played (and I play most of them), it's also one of the worst designed. I mean literally, this game is one step above my character having "lives" and when I run out of those, I'm told to jam quarters into my PC to continue playing. If this is what constitutes a "good console RPG", then I'll sleep soundly at night with the knowledge that I'm not missing a damn thing by not owning a PlayStation 3. I guess I'm alone in understanding this, but supposed difficulty is not a substitute for intelligent design. Dark Souls proves that.
January 11, 2019
Dark Souls Trilogy could be coming to Europe, according to an Amazon product page. Read more
November 22, 2018
Diablo IV: Blizzard wants to make it gross and dark, more like Diablo II. Read more
November 19, 2018
Darksiders 3 unveils a new trailer and gets ready for release. Watch video
November 9, 2018
Hinterland delays The Long Dark Episode Three to 2019. Read more
October 19, 2018
Dark Devotion: delayed to 2019. Watch video
October 15, 2018
Darksiders 3 reveals two DLC packs ahead of launch next month. Read more
September 20, 2018
THQ Nordic acquires the licenses of Alone in the Dark and Act of War. Read more
August 22, 2018
Darksiders III presents a 40 minute gameplay trailer at Gamescom. Watch video
