Dark Souls Remastered

Dark Souls Remastered is a remastered version of the first game in FromSoftware‘s Dark Souls series. It also marks the first appearance of any games from the series on a Nintendo platform. The remastered version also comes with the DLC, “Artorias of the Abyss”, in the base game. Originally released by Microsoft Windows in May 2018, it was released for the Nintendo Switch nearly five months later. Dark Souls employs minimalist storytelling to convey its plot and lore. Historical events in the world and their significance are often implicit or left to player interpretation rather than fully shown or explained.

Most of the story is given to the player through dialogue from non-player characters, flavor text from items, and world design; how players progress through the story can vary heavily depending on their actions. The world was once shrouded by grey fog and ruled by dragons. In this time period, Gwyn happens upon the First Flame and finds a Lord Soul. He and his allies use their power to defeat the dragons, beginning the Age of Fire. Over time, the flames begin to fade with the rise of humans, and Gwyn sacrifices himself and his soul to prolong the Age of Fire.

With the flame artificially rekindled, the undead curse begins to plague humanity, causing certain humans to continually resurrect upon death. At some point, a being known as Manus began to spread darkness in the form of the “Abyss” upon the land of Oolacile. The knight known as Artorias was sent to stop him, but failed, and was corrupted by Manus’ influence. Manus then searched for his pendant lost across time and space. Dark Souls is a third-person action role-playing game. A core mechanic of the game is exploration. Players are encouraged to proceed with caution, learn from past mistakes, or find alternative areas to explore. 

Dark Souls takes place in a large and continuous, interconnected environment, connected through a central hub area. The player character can travel between areas and explore various paths at will, although prerequisites must be met to unlock certain areas. A central element to the gameplay of Dark Souls is the bonfire. Bonfires are scattered throughout the world and serve as checkpoints for each level. By resting at a bonfire, the player character is healed to full and regains all of the healing charges of their “Estus Flask.” They can also level up and perform other functions, such as attuning magic and repairing and upgrading equipment.

However, resting at a bonfire respawns all of the world’s enemies, except for bosses, mini-bosses, and friendly non-playable characters. The player character’s interaction with the world of Dark Souls includes a great deal of combat. Combat includes melee attacks, ranged attacks, various forms of defensive maneuvering, and magical abilities. For melee attacks, player characters have access to a wide array of high fantasy, medieval-style weaponry—including swords, spears, maces, and fantastical weaponry such as magical swords, huge greatswords, and immense clubs. For ranged attacks, player characters have access to an array of bows and crossbows.

For defence, player characters have access to shields, armour, dodge rolling, backstepping, and parrying. For magic, which includes a wide variety of offensive and defensive abilities known as sorceries, miracles, and pyromancies, player characters do not use any form of mana as in most other fantasy RPGs. Instead, they gain a discrete number of uses for each attuned spell when resting at a bonfire. These various forms of combat all have tradeoffs, variations, and in-game costs associated with them. They can all be buffed or altered in some fashion through levelling, smithing, consumable items, magical rings, and new equipment.