Even nearly seven years after it released, and a couple
of sequels later, the original Dark Souls is still the best game in the
franchise and the Remastered version only solidifies that status. The remaster
isn’t spectacular in terms of updated visuals, unfortunately, but the subtle
quality of life improvements added here to the already stellar base game still
make it more than worth picking up as the best version of the game for longtime
fans and newcomers alike. Continue reading our full Dark Souls Remastered Xbox
One review for more.
Game Details
- Publisher: Bandai Namco
- Developer: From Software
- ESRB Rating: "M" for Mature
- Genre: Action RPG
- Pros: Amazing gameplay; level design; cool bosses; great multiplayer; QoL updates in remaster
- Cons: Second half is rough compared to first half; remaster isn’t a huge visual upgrade
- MSRP: $40
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| Buy Dark Souls Remastered at Amazon |
I have a bit of a weird history with Dark Souls. Honestly, I
didn’t think it was so great back in 2011 when it released. It was too hard and
clunky and slow and I couldn’t get into it. I got to the bell gargoyles and
died a lot and quit. Then a couple years later I beat the gargoyles only to get
stuck at the Capra Demon and quit. Surprisingly enough, though, I loved Dark
Souls 2 and Scholar of the First Sin and Dark Souls 3 and didn’t have any
problems playing and beating them multiple times.
It wasn't until 2017 when I went back to Dark Souls 1 with
all of my accumulated knowledge and skill from playing DS2 and DS3 that Dark
Souls 1 finally clicked for me. Suddenly Dark Souls 1 went from something that
was too hard and I didn’t understand to a game I fell madly in love with. I
beat it 4 times in a row over the course of about a month and even recorded a
full new game plus Let’s Play (that literally no one watched ...) because I
loved it so much.
So what eventually made me fall in love with Dark Souls
after so many false starts to the point it’s not only my favorite Souls but one
of my top 3 favorite games ever? Fantastic enemy and boss design (look up the Gaping
Dragon or Quelaag or Ornstein & Smough). Satisfying gameplay that, while
seeming slow and clunky at first, is extremely strategic and varied and
ultimately very rewarding with a high skill ceiling while accommodating
multiple play styles and character builds. And awesome level design where the
whole game is fairly realistically interconnected and feels like one world
rather than a bunch of separate levels. The story, too, even though you have to
dig for it, is absolutely fascinating as well.
As much as I love it, I do have to admit that Dark Souls 1
does still have some problems. The second half of the game was clearly rushed
and isn’t nearly as fun or well designed as the first half. The second half
contains some of the worst bosses (Ceaseless Discharge, Bed of Chaos) and worst
areas (Lost Izalith, Tomb of Giants) in the entire franchise. So how can a game
with the lowest of lows also be my favorite? Because the first half is
absolutely brilliant. Almost everything up until you beat Ornstein and Smough
in Anor Londo is amazing so you sort of slog through the weak second half
knowing that when you beat the game you’ll be able to play the good stuff again
in New Game Plus. Don’t get me wrong, there are some bright spots in the second
half too, of course, but when people talk about how great Dark Souls is they
ain’t talking about most of the stuff after Anor Londo. For the first half to
be so good that it makes up for the second half should tell you just how
excellent that first half is.
I’ve mostly been introspective so far in this review, so
apologies if you expected more nuts and bolts descriptions of how Dark Souls
works. Maybe check out one of the hundreds of reviews of the original release
if you still don’t know what Dark Souls actually is. That’s enough about me for
now, though. What you’re really here for is to see how the remaster turned out.
First, the bad news. Dark Souls Remastered is not the big
graphical update a lot of people probably hoped for. It looks OK, certainly,
but these are still largely the same assets bumped up to 1080P so there are
some ugly textures here and there and it definitely doesn’t look like a proper
current gen title. It does definitely look better than the original release
overall, though.
Everything else, though, is good news for Dark Souls
Remastered. The visuals did get some upgrades, notably in the lighting engine
and things like fire and other special effects look really great now. The draw
distance got a decent bump, too, so you can see things with better detail from further
away than you previously could. Looking down into the flooded New Londo Ruins
from Firelink Shrine, for example, finally has the impact it was always meant
to since you can clearly see it and it isn’t just a blurry mess anymore. The
game also runs at a mostly smooth 60FPS rather than the sub 30FPS the original
version struggles with, which makes a huge difference. The game feels fast and
smooth now. It does struggle here and there to maintain 60FPS, however, and
certain boss fights such as against Seath the Scaleless and Gravelord Nito
noticeably chugging along (on a launch day Xbox One, at least). Blighttown,
which is notorious for running like frozen sludge, does maintain 60FPS, however.
Dark Souls Remastered makes some other key upgrades as well.
You can use multiple items at once now, for example, so you don’t have to pop a
dozen soul items individually anymore. A bonfire
was added by the blacksmith in the Catacombs, which makes runs down to the Tomb
of the Giants much less of a headache. Multiplayer has been boosted up to 6
players (3 co-op and 2 invaders) and it all runs on dedicated servers now. You
can also create a password in order to co-op with your friends, rather than
random players, which is a fantastic addition. In general the network features
work much better than they ever did in Dark Souls 1 previously, so covenants
like Blades of the Darkmoon (who punish other players who “sin”), or the
Gravelord Servants (who can call black phantoms into other players’ worlds)
actually function this time around. You'll also come across special enemies
called Vagrants (crab-like enemies created when another player dies and loses a
ton of humanity) that almost never appeared in vanilla DS1.
All in all, Dark Souls Remastered is easily the best version
of the game you can play on consoles. Some folks might be disappointed that it
isn’t more of a visual upgrade or that it isn’t remixed like Dark Souls 2:
Scholar of the First Sin, but there is no denying that the improvements here do
make it a better experience overall. Just having the multiplayer function
properly makes a huge difference, as does having the game run at 60FPS most of
the time. Dark Souls Remastered is a great jumping in point for newcomers to
the franchise and, assuming other players are like me and love playing through
these games over and over and over, veteran fans will find it worthy of a
purchase as well. Dark Souls 1 is awesome and Dark Souls Remastered makes it
even better. Buy it.
