Dark Souls PS3 Review

Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to one of the worst games of 2009 that for some god awful reason received tons of praise and even awards even though it had the buggiest gameplay in the history of video games and was so broken it was laughable with enemies not even reacting to player combat. I played Demon Soul’s to death just to see why everyone loved it so much and came to realize that it was the addictive gameplay and the ability to coop with another player. Unfortunately, addictive gameplay should not be a carte blanche to overlook the bugs the game had that made it such a painful experience. Dark Souls basically fixes all of the horrible gameplay issues of its predecessor and introduces new ones in the multiplayer. Story will not be discussed, because honestly it barely exists and makes absolutely no sense when you look at the characters.

Dark Souls is almost identical in terms of gameplay and difficulty of the first game. I would have to go against what most reviewers have said and say that this game is actually easier than the first one due to the fact that I did not encounter any glaring bugs that caused unfortunate deaths along the way. Bosses were definitely more difficult solo, but could be due to the fact that I rushed through the game and focused on magic very late in the game. Much like Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls is easier if the player focuses on ranged attacks such as with bows or magic when playing solo or coop. The game is huge compared to the first game with 22 bosses and 16 mini-bosses, some of which are optional encounters.  There are also 22 areas, with Demon Souls only having 6. Players can now more easily play solo with checkpoints in certain areas allowing for the player to not have to play through entire levels after death. Also, for certain bosses, the player can now
summon an NPC ally much like the first game and summon up to two additional online players in coop.

Dark Souls also brings back invasions from Demon Souls, but now with a twist. Players can invade as easily as the first game, but now there are also factions the player can join that give bonus items for participating and allow for automatic summoning for invasions when equipped with certain artifacts. Normal invasions pit player versus player with a level difference of around 10% of the host’s level. When a player joins a covenant and invades a host, the level difference is discarded and it is possible that the invader could be fighting someone of an extremely higher or lower level depending on who is available. The factions part of Dark Souls is a bit broken because of the level discrepancy that allows for such unfair battles to occur. As a result, players traversing certain areas such as Darkroot Garden may need to play offline just to make it through the area without being overwhelmed by extremely high level invaders or hope for coop allies. Otherwise, online play is very fun when playing with one or two coop allies, especially defeating
the difficult bosses. Players start off choosing a character class, but ultimately decide on their own what stats to raise to truly customize their character to their individual needs and play style as in Demon’s Souls. Gamers will need to replay levels to gain experience as one play through of each area will not be enough to pass through the game without difficulty at the boss areas.

Dark Souls is truly a huge improvement over the debacle that was Demon’s Souls and is a game every RPG enthusiast should play. Playing either solo or coop is an absolute delight although PVP certainly is not as fun as it was in the first game unfortunately. It seems the single player of Dark Souls will need to be merged with the multiplayer of Demon’s Souls in the third game to create a truly perfect game. Dark Souls is a definite buy for people who loved or hated the first game, as the difficulty has been toned down and the bugs fixed. Avoid the PVP and the game is actually quite fun. We will definitely be looking forward to the sequel or next “Spiritual Successor”.