1. madgoblin

   10

   This game is an amazing game. Really, it is. It puts you into a world of endless impending doom, which is great for getting into the game. The game gives a tough challenge, and even though the game gets slightly bad in design near the end of the game, it still gives you a great atmosphere and a great experience, with heaps of re-playability.
   
   Don't be scared of the difficulty, and don't be scared of the PC port. You can easily either download a mod or just play it, it will only hinder the experience slightly. The game also has great graphics, with good textures and some very good models, with detail in every inch of the environment.
   
   Even though the console port is sloppy, it really doesn't hinder the experience much. Play this game, and love it.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 2 users said Yes.
2. FarscapeSDC

   8

   Having played the original Xbox 360 version of Dark Souls, I find myself feeling just the tiniest bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I was exceedingly happy to finally have my beloved Dark souls on my powerful PC, but the problem with it is despite my Desktop having superior hardware, the bad design choice when "From Software" was porting it over makes me a bit regretful.
   
   To start with, Dark Souls was designed to be a console game, which means that the controls were designed with consoles in mind. The game is almost unplayable on a Keyboard and mouse set-up. If you want to be able to play the game, one must have an Xbox 360 or a PS3 controller plugged into their PC.
   
   The second main complaint is the awful frame-rate and pathetic resolution. By default, the game is locked at 30 FPS (Max) and 1280x840 resolution. This is utterly unacceptable. Thankfully there is a mod called "DSfix" which allows you to kick the resolution up to a lovely 1900x1300 (although you cannot increase the frame-rate without pissing off Games-For-Windows-Live, which can get you banned from playing the game online)
   
   My third main complaint is about the game's main demon, one far more frightening than any of the actual in-game demons -- Games For Windows Live (GFWL). The game runs with GFWL taking care of its online component, making the online component worse than playing on Xbox Live or the Playstation Network. Finding players to help you out (Cooperative PVE), or players to invade (PVP) is unreliable at best, and downright awful at worst. If you plan to play the PC version of Dark Souls online, you best have a strong Internet connection and a lot of patience.
   
   I shall now list my other, less important, complaints.
   - The Dark Souls tutorial worked well... on the console. From Software made the awful oversight of leaving all the in-game prompts in the Xbox 360 format, so anyone who is trying to play with a Keyboard will have no choice but to memorise the controls or learn through trial and error.
   - There are infrequent but very annoying graphical glitches.
   - The game crashes more often than I would expect.
   
   Despite my complaints, Dark Souls has a lot of good things going for it.
   
   The game is challenging while never feeling completely unfair. At no point did I feel like the game was just killing me for the hell of it. When you fight a difficult enemy and die, you learn its patterns and its tells, and then you go back and try again, and you succeed, because you have gotten better, which is something few games really do.
   
   The variety in the enemy design keeps the later stages of the game interesting. As opposed to the same creatures with increased stats, or just more enemies, you actually encounter different enemies with different attacks and different weaknesses.
   "Oh, you've beaten the zombie-warriors? Here's some Zombie-knights! Oh, you've beaten the zombie-knights? Here's some lightning-spitting lizard-men!" the game seems to cry as you transition seamlessly from area to area to encounter completely different atmospheres and enemies.
   
   The variety in enemies is further reflected in the level design. from abandoned asylums to ruined churches; from a glittering city of the gods to a murky swamp filled with poison-spitting mosquitoes; each area looks and feels different and atmospheric. And the best part? Almost no loading screens! With the exception of when I died, I didn't see a loading screen for the first six hours, which is very impressive. Instead of smaller areas connected by transition-screens, Dark Souls feels mostly like a massive, singular area that loops back in on itself t create shortcuts that you couldn't have anticipated until you reach them.
   
   Combat is slow and methodical, forcing you to un-learn some of the things other games have taught you. Running in and whaling away at an enemy with your massive cleaver is more likely to get you beaten to death than it is to get you victory. Taking your time and feeling the enemy out is more important than playing aggressively.
   
   Conclusion
   
   Dark Souls is still - despite all my complaints - an excellent game. It is challenging, fun, and entertainingly frustrating. However, if you are not willing to put up with the lower frame-rate, having to mod it to get the resolution up, and GFWL wreaking havoc on the online component, then you might want to get the game for Xbox 360 or PS3.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
3. llamayarmybar

   7

   Even with the mods available to fix most of the terrible things about this port, it still hardly does it any real savory justice. The crippling thirty frames per second cap is hardly worth bending your will around (with mods of course) and alters none of the tedium, aside from adding some completely game breaking glitches if you choose to set it any higher than thirty. One salvation touted as truly "re-defining" the Dark Souls PC experience, is the support of new textures from the community that can be used in the game. Of course every time you utilize this feature to load up a nice new high definition texture you get a very unwelcome frame drop of five to fifteen frames per second over a course of ten to fifteen (or much longer) seconds. Though a wonderful attempt at remedying so many of the vast problems, mods alone do not fix this game. Having only played the single player game and gotten all the way through to the ending, one has to ponder what exactly comes after Dark Souls. The fact that new game plus opens up hardly anything much different than before is rather embarrassing. Sure the difficulty is padded and most of the enemies are much tougher than before, but that's hardly fun really. Anyone can tell you that souls stop mattering after new game plus two or three. Their were also far too many weapons that could basically get you through the entire game without much trouble (and not surprisingly could be used on new game plus). Couple all of these negative features with some tedious boss fights and you have yourself a game that is much worse than Demons Souls. Its certainly far less original, though it may be survived simply because of its online base which naturally- loves the game to pieces. And how could I blame them? Its an incredible experience. Online of course.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
4. EddyHan

   3

   The worst port ever for PC! No advance graphics settings and no way of changing the controller inputs around. I like the punishing and brutal gameplay, but the controls need to be changed.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 3 users said Yes.

See all 344 User Reviews