Brilliant game -- if you like challenges, enjoy action RPGs, you should not miss this or its predecessor. Between the wide options of character design and PvP, should provide 100s of hrs of fun.

My all-time favorite game, but not without flaws. Dark Souls is deep, and immensely rewarding, even after 400+hours. The combat is weighty and strategic. The atmosphere is dark and foreboding. And no game offers such a sense of satisfaction as your advance through each level and boss. However, there are a few flaws. 1) Online suffers from lag, which rears its ugly head in the form of lagstabs during PvP. This can get frustraing. 2) Sometimes your attacks get queued at the worst moments (Your press "Attack" button, only nothing happens. A few moments later, your attack finally registers at the worst possible time, leaving you open for counter.) 3) Camera can get janky and lead to deaths, although this can be fixed in the settings. 4) Bed of Chaos.... enough said. Overall, the lag is my biggest complaint to an otherwise fantastic game.… Expand

Many people in their reviews talk about how these games' (Dark Souls and Demons Souls) difficulty take them back to an older age of gaming, when every game was either nearly impossible to beat or simply never ended. In many ways this is true. But these two games, and especially Dark Souls, harken back to that time in more ways than just their difficulty. They don't pride themselves on their complicated stories or their beautiful graphics or their hyper-realism like some games do. They take you back to a time when you didn't need millions of dollars worth of graphics and cutscenes to enjoy the simple pleasure of just playing through a videogame. They give you a short movie explaining the backstory of their world and the premise of the game, they let you create an avatar of your ideal character, be it someone who looks just like you or completely different, they present the basic gameplay mechanics and controls that you'll need, and then they take you to this dark, beautiful world they've created and just let you play. And for that reason this is, in my humble opinion, one of the best examples of videogaming as an art form. It is a game that you can immerse yourself in for hours, simply because of the joy of playing, and exploring a new world completely unlike your own, without constant interruptions by NPCs and cutscenes trying to shove more of the plot down your throat. In short, this is a videogame, and a damn good one.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Demons Souls became one of my favorite games - to me its real old school - it reminds me of the really old school top down video games where you have to make your way through an endless maze and if you make a wrong turn you blow up - you have to memorize every step to win. Of course this is done in 3D with a third person perspective.

Dark souls is really similar to Demons souls and I've already put many hours into it and am enjoying every death. I wish the multi-player was more crowded so I could get and give help more often -and there is some noticeable lag when the area gets crowded and the battles fierce - otherwise I'd give it a 10. I can understand why players may not appreciate the level of attention, thought, and persistence required to beating the different areas and bosses, it can be extremely frustrating at times, but thats what makes the victories so rewarding. Another thing I like is you can build any type of character - a tank with sorcery, pyromancy and healing spells is just not possible in most other games.I'd really like to see them turn this into a cooperative MMORPG! it would be a hit - Kudos to the developers!… Expand

Casual gamers stick to prancing around your living rooms with your girlie Wii games because this game requires you to seriously MAN UP and is a must buy for any Hardcore RPG fans .Dark Souls gives you nothing, tell you nothing and shows you nothing at the beginning but persistence and determination reaps rewards and satisfaction like you wouldn't believe..... love it. ( hate it sometimes) ... Masterclass… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ok, I will start with that Dark Souls is defiantly not perfect. But I can't seem to give it a lower score than a 10. I guess maybe it's because any game that can keep you indulged for over 300 hours is worth a 10 in my book. The game isn't all THAT hard, it's just people are use to easy ass games that we have today. The game is challenging that is for sure. You can't just mash the R1 button and get away with it. You will die. Some parts of this game ARE cheap however. These parts are not difficult but very cheap. But for the most part it's just difficult with some cheap areas. You will never truly feel powerful in this game no matter if you are level 1 or if you are level 600 hundred. I'm not sure but I killed an online player and I got like 300 million souls and it was weird because I leveled my character with these souls and the enemies seemed to be just as strong if not stronger than they were before. I tested this as well. I made a new game and leveled up only to level 13 and I fought Orinstein and Smough and it seems to me that the first time I fought them I was level 40 and when I was level 13 it felt the same. Another thing I don't like is when you kill someone online and receive millions upon millions of souls, it was because they cheated to get those souls, and when you kill them and get those souls it kind of breaks the game, because it's not like you are going to not use the souls that you received, and this kind of pissed me off because it happened to me many times where I'd kill someone online and receive a ridiculous amount of souls that when I leveled my level 50 character I was able to level him from 50 to like level 300 hundred and even one time I received the max souls for killing on online person so now i'm at like level 6 hundred and something. But the funny thing is that, even though my character is almost maxed out, it is still a hard game. Ever since I spent these souls and almost maxed out my character, it seems enemies can kill me in like 2 hits. So in a way it's actually harder than it was when I was at level 50. Leveling up to me doesn't really do much. The best way is to level up your armor and weapons, because leveling yourself up seems to make the game harder. Which is good. The only thing that matters is if you have enough strength to even hold a certain weapon that you like and upgrade it. People say the Drake sword is good.. yeah it is, but not for long. The Drake sword actually sucks even if you max it out. On New Game+ the Drake sword is useless. But by the time you are at New Game+you should have way better weapons anyway. The enemy that I hated the most was those skeleton wheel things. They aren't so bad in the catacombs but in the painting of aramis(or whatever) they are a real pain in the ass. I'm not going to lie this game WILL at some point frustrate you, and you will hate it, but it's a hate that you will love ( yes that makes sense) I don't know how many times I wanted to throw my PS3 controller, but then you laugh at how mad this game will make you. Like I said there ARE cheap deaths in this game, but for the most part it's just challenging. Don't go into Dark Souls and think you are tough **** The first time you get cursed you will feel like killing yourself.lol. That's what I like about this game though. In other games you get cursed or something and it doesn't really matter because it will wear off. If you get cursed in this game you are actually cursed... You will get only half of your health bar until you find a cure. This can be a **** because if you kill the guy in New Londo ruins ( to get the key early) he's the only one in the game that can heal your curse, and you can buy purging items from the guy at the first bell, but he only has 4 items that will release this curse. there is also a ring that you wear that if you die it will undo the curse. But if you kill the new londo guy and run out of curse items, then you will have to do the rest of the game with only half of your health bar... So yes the game will punish you if you do stupid things. which is good. If you haven't played the game yet I suggest to you that if you DO play it to not kill any of the NPCs the first play through because you might regret it... I killed the first merchant in undeadburg because I thought he was weird, and I regretted it because I couldn't buy the things that I needed to. Defiantly don't kill any blacksmiths because that you will no doubt regret.
The story itself is amazing, that is if you read item descriptions ( they don't hand the story to you) However both the endings of this game are weird, because it doesn't explain much, but you may understand it if you take the time and read and listen to NPCs. The first play through I didn't know what was going on. The 2nd play through I understood almost everything.. You have to buy this game just to experience it. it is an amazing game that is no doubt a great experience...… Expand

A very good game, actually in this year, you can hardly find such a game like this with an awesome gameplay, epic boss fights, tough enemies, and more over, just one mistake and you are dead man! If you don't care much about the storyline (which is ambiguity), only care about fighting and wander around, this game is your type. But another thing: If you are seeking for a casual game, this is definitely NOT for you.… Expand

The gameplay is brutal but rewarding. If you go into this game paying attention to nothing, you will die repeatedly. This game is about learning and mastering the combat. Anyone who has any issue with the game should just keep playing it, and stay calm. They'll get better at the game without knowing it, and before they know it, they'll have finished it already. The graphics are amazing, and the way all the locations are linked is amazing. It's like an open-world dungeon crawler. And while you do lose your souls and humanity on death, you don't necessarily have to repeat the entire level. There's bonfires inside the levels, and shortcuts can be unlocked. The boss fights are amazing too, most are unique (3 are practically the same boss, but that's for a story reason), and the story is all Side-Quests but amazingly deep, leaving ti to the dedicated fans to search for the story, unlocking the full depth of the game along the way, with the main quests being a basic summary. The multiplayer in this game is the best out of any game I have ever played (When it works). Unlike Demon's Souls' +/-10 + 10% SL, Dark Souls uses +/-10% SL for their Multiplayer, which SEVERLY limits the people you can play with. Even worse, the game uses P2P functionality instead of dedicated servers, which limits the player count further. However, joining certain covenants (factions) lets you bypass these limits. Another problem is failed connections, 1/4 of the times I've tried to either PvP or Co-op, the invasion/summoning failed. However, From is working on some patches, so I'm assuming they'll fix it, however, for now, the game isn't perfect due to these issues and it's still my favorite game of the year.… Expand

I dont often review games, but there are some outright incorrect statements being made about the negatives of Dark Souls. This is no harder than mario brothers, if you get to the end of the level in mario brothers you can move on, otherwise you start over. Now Dark Souls is an open world and there are lots of ways to go, but if you don't get to another bonfire, you start over. This is not hard, and anyone over the age of 25 should be used to this sort of game mechanic. However it is hard, and if you button mash you will die. If you run into an area and agro everything, you will die. If you use a two handed sword while balance precariously on a narrow ledge you will die, if when a boss appears you stand there and think wow he's kinda big I wonder if....you will die. But all of these things are easily countered by using weapons and tactics appropriate to the situation (although the bosses can take some working out). Now graphics, they are stunning anyone who says otherwise is being obtuse, Anor Londo takes your breath away and will stay with me forever. However there are negatives, there is a problem with frame rate, in one boss fight and at the start of one area the frame rate drops, enough to possibly cause you to die because the combat is challenging. But this is possibly for 30 minutes of gameplay over a 100 hour game. There is a more annoying bug which none of the negative reviews have pointed out, therefore I would question whether they were in full control of their characters. I am a turn based guy, I like time to think about what I am doing, I like to be meticulous, but I am not particularly patient person, but this game has bought on a certain level of stoicism. One of the reviewers said there is no explanation of the stats, this is factually incorrect pressing select and moving over the stats tells you what they do, pretty simple really. Also truth be told until you get a stat to over 40 you cant really make a mistake anyway (and that is at SL35+ if you just spent on one stat). I am over 50 hours in and never seen a teleporting skeleton (although I did *once* clip through the floor). BTW if you are starting and you are running into skeletons, turn around you are going the wrong way the catacombs is not the place to start, you will die and the skeletons wont (they resurrect when in catacombs, worse you get no souls for killing them). I spent maybe 2 hours at SL8 trying to get into the catacombs before I got it through my thick head there must be something easier to fight in this "open world". Doh! off to the undead burg, life was easier. Also you do not die out of nowhere, you go charging around a corner and there is someone stood there with a big axe, what do you expect? a gentle tap on the shoulder and a deceleration of intent to attack you! no, look where you are going for goodness sake! Not once have I had a trap come out of a wall and kill me dead. I have hit pressure plates that I had not seen and taken serious sums of damage, I have tried out running a giant rock wearing plate mail, I have rolled backwards off ledges, I have been picked up by a boss and thrown off a ledge, but none of these deaths came out of nowhere!
This game is not for everyone, you will not become the best player just because you have the time to pump 100 hours into it. You are rewarded for success and punished for failure, if you keep fighting resurrecting skeletons for 10 hours you will remain where you are not progressing. But if you are attentive, thoughtful and stoic every minute you spend with the game will be a joy and you will find yourself dreaming of this flawed masterpiece.… Expand

Coming from a person that really only likes FPS, I have to say... for me, this is the greatest game of all time! This is a major step up from Demon Souls. I have never played a sequel that absolutely squashes the first game in every way. MUST BUY!

This game is simply amazing and is the purest game I've ever played. From Software didn't cut corners, and provided us with an experience like no other.

I feel that Dark Souls has one of the best melee combat systems ever. You don't just fight enemies, you duel them to the death. Every little mistake can be crippling or even fatal, which creates uniquely tense moments as you're fighting enemies. Every new area has a treacherous feel to it, and the further you get in to the game, the worse it gets (in a very good way). The game is true to itself and holds no punches in the difficulty. There is no difficulty to choose from, and you are simply tossed in the world. The only tutorial you are given consists of the basic controls via readable messages laid on the ground in the beginning of the game. After that, you are absolutely at the mercy of the of the game's brutal world.

Your character's level doesn't determine your combat prowess, it depends more on your equipment. You have to equip your character according to the area you are in, or what boss you are about to fight. There is a HUGE selection of weapons in the game with a pretty extensive upgrade system to back it all up. If you gear up right, you can save yourself a lot of grief (but you will still probably die a few times).

The learning curve for Dark Souls is very unforgiving. New players will often be frustrated and give up after dying over and over, but it never hurts to take a break. That's the most provocative thing about this game for me; despite its brutal difficulty, I always want more.


While Dark Souls is a very challenging game, there are a couple of aspects in the game that create "unnecessary" difficulty. Extremely wonky player collision often causes you to fall to your death over the stupidest reasons, and the occasional unresponsive or delayed input during fights tends to get you killed. The recent patch to the game claims to have fixed the issue of delayed input, but as far as I can tell it just made it worse. Though it's been mentioned in probably every other review, there are also some areas in the game that experience nasty framerate drops which can detract from the experience at times. Blighttown and Lost Izalith are the most notable suspects for bad frame rates, but it's tolerable. I've seen a lot of console games that have slight frame rate drops in very complex areas, like Halo Reach, but they're not as noticeable.


The lack of tutorials isn't missed in my case, but others will be at a total loss when trying to figure out character parameters like strength, dexterity, etc. Certain weapon types require a specific parameter. Large weapons like great swords require a higher level of strength, whereas spears and halberds (and bows) require higher dexterity to wield. There are even a few weapons that need some in both. Lastly, spells need intelligence, and miracles need faith. There's a lot to examine when looking at weapon/armor stats and your character's stats, but you will pick it up in time. You can actually hit the select button when in a menu and it will highlight elements in the menu and give a simple explanation for what it means. I highly recommend you use that if you're confused.


The only real issue I have with this game is the PvP. I honestly hate the fact that you can be invaded at any given time by other players if you've reverse-hollowed. 99% of the time I get invaded by someone who has WAY better gear and is WAY higher level than me and I just get rolled. There's no level-matching involved so someone with the best gear can invade someone who is just starting. It wouldn't be as bad if back stabbing wasn't so frustratingly buggy due to latency. I've been backstabbed when the person invading me was standing directly in front of me, and another occasion, they were 10 feet behind me and magically teleported behind me and back stabbed me and killed me. They honestly should have completely disabled backstabbing in PVP in my opinion. It doesn't help that there was a glitch in the game originally that allowed players to duplicated souls and max out their character and upgrade their gear all the way, so now there's all these level 500+ players in their first playthrough running around with incredible gear and spells, invading other players and destroying them.


Anyway, this game really isn't for everyone. It's a hardcore RPG rather than an action-rpg like Dragon Age. If you just game to have a little fun, then don't buy this game. If you want a rich experience that's really challenging and rewarding (yes, it is rewarding, despite what the negative reviewers say), then Dark Souls is your game.

And if Dark Souls is too easy for you, then play Demon's Souls. It's much harder, and arguably better. It's too bad they're shutting the servers down for Demon's Souls later this year.… Expand

This game really is as difficult as they say, but it is fair. It reminds me of games on the NES, obviously with much prettier graphics. The story is there, it's just not handed to the player - you have to piece things together yourself which is a very unique way of story-telling not often seen in video games. For any true gamer, this game should be a very strong contender for Game of the Year. I put over 200 hours into the game in just a month of it being out, and I generally don't spend that much time playing on console. This game alone justifies owning a console, even as a PC gamer.… Expand

I'm gonna write this review in pros and cons. Pros: +Very challenging +Very Satisfying +Visually Stunning +Great combat mechanics Cons: -Occasional frame-rate drop -Matchmaking currently broken (going to be patched) This has seriously been one of the most entertaining games ever for me. I enjoy reading the few bad reviews out there because its obvious that they don't enjoy challenges, and can't handle being killed.… Expand

This game is **** king. It shall give you a boner if you finnaly killed a boss and you can go further on the other way it lets your dick shinks because its **** hard and it it gonna eat you dick off. Firts of the graphics are really good for a open world RPG. Lighting shines beautefull at your armor and the environments are really detailled and different from each other. You need to survive in scary caves or fight trough enemies at an abandon castle where dragons and other creatures are now boss. Also the enemies are verry differtent and detailled that you never got boring to slice these **** if you succed ofcourse:P. The gameplay is also fluwed and how your character swings the sword or cast magic is verry realistic. it is also a long game and it cost you at least 50 hours if your take your time and enjoy the wordl and not as that **** that completed the game in 90 minutes LOL. The only flaw that was iiritated me that sometimes enemies are dumb and fall of cliff or different. Also irritated but verry well done is that your souls are important so dont lose them if you die. A masterpiece and im gonna play now LATER .… Expand

This is one of the best RPGs I've ever played. This is one of the best games I've ever played. I love this game for it's deep game play and immersive atmosphere. It's quite a long game despite the fact you will die a lot. It is very challenging but incredibly rewarding when challenges are met. It kind of has an arcade feel as well with enemies respawning and trying to find patterns and weaknesses of enemies. I call this game and Demon's Souls the Mega Man of RPGs. I can honestly say this is one of the best games I've ever had the pleasure of playing.… Expand

this game's difficulty is overrated.... It's not so difficult as everybody is saying.. It just has it's own original style, pace and approach to a gamer and gaming itself.. If You're the fan of God of ar style games where You rush through the game with your brains not involved in the process but only buttons snapping - this game is not for You..
To be successful and enjoy the process You have to think and plan the route and tactics - and as a result You will be awarded with the great joy and sense of achievement.
10 with no discussions!… Expand

Dark Souls is one of the best games ever - sure its challenging - but better balanced than Demons Souls - Demons Souls had me stuck on the opening fight scene for three days until I learnt how to play properly - but in both games the reward is a fluid and satisfying combat system that takes patience and intelligence and good reaction times. The game can be slow to start, but there is still progression. The reward is greater than most 'easy' games for kids -Dark Souls is rated for mature audiences for a reason.
If you are looking for an easy ride, look elsewhere, but for real oldschool gamers, this is like a throwback to the old days when games posed a challenge and only the finest could clock them!… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I waited until I could fully digest the game to give it a review. Rather than a knee jerk review based on the sense of adoration I've felt for the game since the start or the frustration that some of the levels provide I wanted to give it a fair shake. After fully playing the game I feel it was an adventure well worth taking. On one hand I don't think it is harder than Demon's Souls, but easier at points thanks to the well thought out Bonfire system. Later in the game, however, there is one area (Tomb of Giants) that is utterly frustrating. Having to swap out a shield for a lantern in a tomb filled with giant skeletons that deal quite a bit of damage is just sadistic. This is the only portion of the game that I felt could have been designed better.

The graphics are improved upon and the world is a pleasure to explore. The overall design of the world reminded me of the intertwining levels of a Metroid or Castlevania game. In Blighttown I did notice a considerable frame rate drop however. It didn't kill the momentum, but it was frustrating when having to fend off numerous and annoying mosquitoes.

The controls still feel just as tight as in Demon's Souls. I never had a problem with the combat mechanics. The targeting option is still just as finicky though sometimes leading me to my own doom much the same as it did in Demon's Souls. After plenty of practice with it you should be fine, but it can lead to disappointing deaths especially in areas where you are in combat on very small ledges.

All that being said I enjoyed my time with the game quite a bit. Between the wonderfully designed world to the myriad of combat options I had a blast finding a combination of weapons and magic that suited my play style. There are a few sections of the game that stand out as some of the most gorgeous and rewarding levels in any game let alone any released this year. Some people may fault the game for it's minimalist approach to preparing you for the challenge lying ahead, but that's where the fantastic Dark Souls community comes in. Much as I did for Demon's Souls when I reached a point I could not figure out for the life of me I went to find the answer online and I found it with the help of other intrepid Dark Souls players. While for most gamers this may be considered a travesty because I found answers for my questions outside the game understand that this is not the same type of game most people have grown accustomed to recently. There are no arrows pointing you to your next objective. No minimap with little icons for all the npcs. And certainly no little exclamation points above their heads for new quests. It's a breath of fresh air in an industry catering to the masses by holding your hand throughout the entire game. To some this may seem like a reversion to an older state of gaming, but it is one I welcome as most games move toward a very short and easy campaign sacrificed in the name of monotonous multiplayer. I'm already on my second play through and I'm still not bored. I can't wait to see what From Software has in store for us next.… Expand

Firstly I would like to say that I was very disappointed at how Dark Soul's multiplayer will now work in different servers. Which means, no coop with FRIENDS, and no more organized PVP...

That aside; The open world worked much better than I expected. In this case, the term "Open World" used loosely as in essence, it is just going from one checkpoint to another on a linear-esque path with a few stray areas to explore. The world however has been designed perfectly with shortcuts that end up with the reaction of; "ohh, so that's where it leads to". Combat is still second to none, each swing needs to be thought out. Whether you have enough stamina to block after your swing, whether your swing will leave you open for an attack, whether it would be more efficient to block a certain incoming attack or dodge it. All this will be second nature once you have played Dark Souls for a while. For all the low reviews complaining it's too hard; deaths are caused due to your OWN fault, the game is never unfair. Over-exertion will often be the reason for your demise. The game in no way demands perfection in your play but it takes no hesitation in punishing you for your mistakes. The "Souls" series is the epitomy of action RPG. It is a beautiful game without the big, flashy graphics. There is no dodge or block percentages. You are in control of every aspect of the combat. This game is not for everyone, but I do recommend atleast giving it a shot, because there hasn't been another game that has given me as much satisfaction as Dark Souls has.… Expand

Next to the Elder Scrolls Oblivion this is THE best RPG you can get on PS3. The combat system is flawless and unique. Weapons carry a real feeling of weight and impact. New enemies send a chill up your spine and give you a good challenge, but are easily defeated at higher levels (like any solid RPG). Immersive, creative, damn near flawless fun. However some frame-rate issues in blight-town (maybe patched in the future) and little to no documentation of core game mechanics (except for user wikis) are both factors that hold this game back from its full potential.… Expand

There's a type of atmosphere that exists in Dark Souls and Demon's Souls that I have yet to feel in any other game I've ever played. This atmosphere is difficult to define but I think it's a result of the bleak and twisted, awe-inspiring, almost surreal-like environment that you trudge through in Dark Souls. There are certain moments in Dark Souls where my jaw literally dropped in amazement, and for this reason alone this game is a gem in my book. For example, when I was first brought up to Anor Londo (one of the later areas) for the first time I put down the controller and stared at my TV screen in utter marvel as I observed the most amazing view I had ever seen in a video game before. There are quite a few of these, but this one really stood out to me. The scope and size of Dark Souls is unbelievable, and nearing the edge of a cliff or walking across a narrow beam at the very top of a gigantic church while trying to fend off assassins gives you that "fear of heights" feeling. The shortage of guidance, friendly characters and story gives you the somber hopelessness that most modern-day survival horror games fail to convey. Dark Souls is extremely reward-oriented, often throwing daunting challenges at you, but if you overcome them you will get something worth the effort. It could be a sweet set of armor, a powerful weapon, a ring, a bunch of souls, or just a really useful item (which there are hundreds of). In my opinion Dark Souls in superior to Demon's Souls for a few significant reasons. The biggest I think is the interconnection of all the areas, making Dark Souls one huge world, instead of a couple level portals in Demon's Souls. I thought that seeing the transition between an undead church and a dark forest was much more natural and immersive than entering a portal in the hub-world which teleported you to that level. Dark Souls also requires the player to think hard about different routes to take to a destination and forces the player to map out the world in their head which is appealing to some RPG exploration fans. Another difference and huge improvement is the diversity in environments. Demon's Souls lacked any great diversity, consisting of mainly the undead and meloncholy themes, whereas every area in Dark Souls is something completely different, whether its a modern looking castle in an orange sunset, a dark forest, ruins flooded with lava pools, caverns, etc.

I consider Dark Souls more of an action-adventure game than an RPG, and for a game of that genre Dark Souls is massive. If you are a player of average skill and intelligence it would most likely require at least 60-70 hours for the first playthrough, and these are all quality hours, not fill-in hours. Dark Souls is very open-ended, with very little guidance, or idea of what to do next. There are a few limitations that guide the overall game (such as not having access to later areas in the beginning), but for the most part the player chooses their own play style and goals. Dark Souls isn't perfect, however. Low framerates seems to be a pretty widespread issue, significantly affecting one specific area of the game. I had some issues with button responsiveness, which is rare but when it happens it's usually really inconvenient timing. For example (sometimes my character wouldn't immediately drink the potion after pushing square, he might wait 2 or 3 seconds). Also, I've come across 2-3 glitches in my 70 hours of play so far (each time killing me). I found the combat system, camera, controls, lock on system, and most other technicalities to be fair, so death is usually the player's fault, not a faulty system. Dark Souls does so much right, overshadowing any flaws it might have. It brings you into its twisted world and punishes you until you master it. It's immersive, addictive, ominous and unforgiving, challenging, diverse, and dismally beautiful. If you give it the patience and time it deserves, you'll find yourself with one of the most enjoyable, rewarding, and gripping games this decade has to offer.… Expand

A fine champagne of a game. I describe it as being kind of like Ocarina of Time with the difficulty of Zelda 2. Steep learning curve and requires a level of finesse that is missing from most games. You will die. It's no big deal. You will lose souls and "progress". Some gamers will turn the game off at this point. If this is you, don't bother with Dark Souls. To Dark Souls your concept of progress is illusory... the only progress that matters is the progress of your skills.… Expand

This game took me by surprise. From the other reviews I was expecting a very tough game with mediocre content, with no one admitting the content was mediocre because hey, if you don't like hard games, you're a pansy. Boy was I wrong. It's a very tough game with EXCEPTIONAL content. The art direction, atmosphere, creature design, combat, levels, items, unique multiplayer, every gameplay aspect is exceptionally polished. Triple A, must play game.

Almost ironically, Dark Souls is empowering. Most games coddle you, pampering you with replenishing health, soothing you with infinite lives, but this one kicks your ass and tells you jack squat about how to do anything, forcing you rise to the occasion, learn it yourself, and feel like someone for whom these kinds of challenges are meant. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And it is challenging. Boss fights typically range from ten to twenty tries before you memorize the weaknesses and play without messing up, sighing with relief as you watch whatever fatty (in joke) evaporate into souls.

I haven't rapped it yet, about forty hours in and level thirty-five, but I highly recommend Dark Souls. It's one of the few games that feels rewarding because you actually have to earn the rewards. The only must play of the year so far for me, and I'm a jaded gamer. Expect a bit of an adjustment period as you get used to the game's pace and difficulty, and I recommend checking out IGN's guide which shows you how to get the Drake Sword and recommends the Master Key gift for your character (get it). Dark Souls is awesome. If you like RPGs at all and enjoy a challenge, can't get a better bang for your buck.… Expand

Love the atmosphere of this game. Very immersive. I wish the character advancement was a little quicker. For me, most of the difficulty results in forcing me to play carefully and learning what is going to happen through trial and error which can feel a bit tedious and repetitive at times but also pretty satisfying when I successfully get past a difficult scenario.

Dark souls is a very deep and intense unique game. A truly must experience game or at least try it out a few hours , you will not regret the moment you start playing it you will start to feel something you have never experienced before in gaming, truly awesome i don't even need to tell you how amazing it is , but I'm sure you will not regret even trying it out since it's just uniquely different and awesome. Too lazy to review but really just give it a try you will not regret. : )… Expand

Awesome game, exactly like demons souls to the point where this could be the 6th archstone and you'd never notice it was a different game.
I'm about 120 hours of playing time in and am about half way I'd figure, this is mostly due to the fact that I try not to seek out hints or tips on the internet and try to figure out the mechanics and secrets myself (I find this is one of the most enjoyable parts about this game since there is almost no explanations without diving right in).
The difficulty rating everyone is talking about is a bit exagerated, I don't count myself as a great player but with a little soul farming, learning from your mistakes, understanding game mechanics and weaknesses of enemies you can make it through fairly easily.
Some say it is much harder than demons souls, I'd say that it is very similar in difficulty. If you find the game too hard then you are going the 'wrong' way.
One of the things often not mentioned about this game are all the little secrets thrown in, tons of secret weapons and items, interactions with npcs and actions will affect your game in many ways you dont understand until later, you can fight and kill any npc in the game kill the wrong one and literally the sun will die and the world will go dark forever.
Interactions with other players is unique with the ability to write messages on the ground from a huge list of hints and tips, you can invade another persons world or help them which is an awesome way of showing off your equipment and skills to other players.
I'm giving this game a 9/10 for one reason...I think I've accidantally killed half the npcs in this game by swinging my weapon at the wrong moment and it is very frustrating that they dont de-agro or come back lol but seriously other than that it is an awesome must-have game, and demons souls too if you haven't played it.… Expand

A good open ended RPG with a solid story, that improved on its predecessor in every way, if you can take the emotionally abusive relationship and rare bug (soon to be patched).

There is nothing really bad to be said about the direction of the game and every aspect feels very professional. The only complaints I can muster is 1) yes, it can be absurdly hard 2) there is the occasional bug, which they have obviously been patching, and 3) some enemy's life bars are far too large and makes some sections tedious. That said, this game is one of the years best.… Expand

Personally I'd like to thank From software for giving us a gem in an era of regurgitated, mindless crap. Not since I was a kid 25 years ago have I been so moved to press on after hours of repeated death and failure. When I die, I always know exactly what I did to get myself killed, and the rush of learning (THINKING) your way to success in such an awesome real-time combat system is unparalleled IMO.

If you like a good challenge and put depth and precision of gameplay (combat) far above all else, you have to play this game.

I've been looking forward to nothing but Skyrim for over a year, and am pleasantly surprised to find myself thinking that Bethesda will have to pull off a miracle to make my game of the year. First time in years that I did not want my $65 back after a week.… Expand

Dark Souls is the definition of a hardcore game. This separates games from real games. If your a man and are tired of story driven games and lame characters and a stupid plot and ending along with how easy a game can be, check this game out! it has none of those! There is not even a story, you get thrown into an area and can do whatever you want, its a well thought out and addicting dungeon crawler that takes skill to master. And you will die, the games slogan does not lie about that. But you never feel like your deaths were unfair, you understand why you died and how you can fix it. I recommend also getting the guide, dark souls is a rough and amazing adventure, and to do well and know everything about the areas you are in feels awesome. i have already invested about 30 hours of gameplay and beat the game, and starting a new game with your same level and items makes you waste even more of your time in this one of a kind world. Truly one of my favorite games of all time!yet i didnt really care for demon souls that much haha… Expand

Dark Souls is a great game. Tight combat that punishes mistakes. Gorgeous visuals and atmosphere. Fun, challenging boss fights. A few bugs and glitches, but nothing game breaking. I give Dark Souls a 10.

I just don't understand.
People that are hating on this game should just go return it. If you did not see any of the trailers your a dumb ass for not doing so. In the trailers it says "PREPARE TO DIE". If you can not handle how tough it is then you should go back to your own style of games because this game is not for you. EX.)Horrible. That is the best way to sum up this game. Extremely difficult to the point of complete insanity. Make one mistake and you have to repeat an hours worth of play to get back to the same area. No story line what-so-ever. No explanation of what different symbols, stats, etc mean on your character. The game was definitely banking on previous reputation. Controls are very buggy with multiple button combos almost pointless because you can never get them to work.

Posted by Neian

Well if you actually pay attention there is a story line to the game and you can call your self a dumb ass if you can't figure out what each of the stats does. It does get buggy when online because of people invading and getting companions takes up a lot of bandwidth. It also gets buggy when you have a giant area that takes up a lot of data. EX.) I had fun setting up my character, and starting thru the tutorial... That's about it. After I escape the first dungeon, I meet a knight and decide to fight him and take his soul (I'm a thief in the game after all...). He kills me in 3 hits... Fine, try again. Respawn/reload the game, he kills me again! The fighting is so lame... He hits me, and my character has to go thru this delayed reaction/animation, realizing he's getting hit, and by the time I regain control, I'm hit again, then dead... again. Fine, can't fight him, I'll reload the game and run away. Nope, he just follows me no matter where I go, and how far I run. My hits are so weak, they barely register, and of course, he has no slow down from my hits, just continues thru his attack motion as if I'm not hitting him multiple times. 9 Deaths later, and screaming at he TV, i quit. Not fun. Why not at least "reset the scene" if the player is killed? If it was a mistake to fight the first character I meet, why not let me learn that, and leave him be. Do i have to restart the whole game, and go thru the tutorial dungeon all over again? How many similar situations would ruin my evenings if I decided to keep this torture session disguised as a video game? I would have loved to play with a friend to help me, why restrict me from doing so? Muliplayer i random and can't be coordinated. Not fun. I gave it a rest and tried again the next day, still not fun. At all. Trading it in for Batman Arkham City. Posted by KletassVanDam

Well you sir are a dumb **** for trying to take on one of the hardest enemies in the game. If you think you can just run in there and expect to kill him instantly, I think you should go back to CoD. This game requires skill and patients, and not just a mass killing.… Expand

BEST RPG game ever!, sooooo underrated too, i mean how the **** can an AMAZING game like this get a 7 or 8 while other **** games like Skyirm get 8 and 9, believe me.. you MUST buy this game.. Its so much fun, the story is also AMAZING! You will really like this game, I highly recommend this game to everyone with a PS3

Dark Souls, a game not for the weak!. This game can be really hard for new comers, hard as in you will not have a fun time in the first few hours or days, you will need to practice a lot if you want to be good here. While it can be hard at first, it is totally worth it, this game has been such a great experience, you cannot pass out on this one.

This game shocked me so much. Its probably the hardest game i have played since some of the old side scrollers but dont let that put you off. the game is never unfair and is always fun. there is no other game out there that is as rewarding as Dark Souls

Great all around game, its a throw back to a time when games just challenged you and didnt have 5 difficulty settings so you can just walk thru the game like watching a movie. This game will teach you how to play it better by killing you every time you make mistakes. I still prefer Demons Souls for some reason, I cant explain it .. but Dark Souls is a wonderful game and a 9/10 in my book.

Dark Souls is a classic hack&slash game with RPG elements. Its most defining characteristic is that it tries really hard to be more than your typical modern walk-in-the-park RPG. This game celebrates death, especially yours, and preferably as often as possible. Even if you don't know its predecessor, Demon Souls, you'll love Dark Souls if you loved the challenging games we used to have one or two decades ago. The satisfaction to be gotten from finally beating a hard boss, or even a hard normal mob, after two hours of trying different strategies is something that most modern games can't offer. Technically, the RPG elements vary between very strong (character development via skills and equipment) and fairly weak (not that much story, not that much choice beyond "do I kill this NPC or do I let him live" and "which boss do I take on next or do I prepare some more"). Combat is very well implemented. In many RPGs, melee combat feels like you're just standing in front of the enemy and waving your sword around in the air. Not so in Dark Souls. It's genuinely fun to figure out how to use your weapon efficiently and watch the hit animations when you manage to pull it off. Dark Souls is also an open world title, unlike its predecessor. The world isn't entirely open, you won't find many large open spaces. Instead, you'll find a non-linear maze of twisted passages, not at all alike, and each a challenge to get through. The checkpoint mechanic is somewhat different from most similar games in that resting at a checkpoint revives all enemies (except bosses). This makes each section between two checkpoints a puzzle where you actually have to figure out how to survive through to the end, you can't just run in with metaphorical guns blazing, die, and continue from where you died. Unlockable shortcuts that lead you back to earlier checkpoints make traveling easier once you have solved a section, but until you do, each next bonfire is almost on par with a boss fight in how satisfying it is to reach them intact. The death mechanic is fairly strict but not frustratingly so: You only lose souls, the game's currency for which you buy skill upgrades or items, and stored humanity, a currency for some more exclusive things. Your equipment remains intact, not breaking the flow of the game, you can immediately try again with no major maintenance required. You have one chance to make it back to the location of your death to reclaim the dropped souls and humanity; if you fail, they're lost forever. This makes it very satisfying to make it back, and is a strong incentive to play carefully as opposed to rushing through.


Multiplayer is kind of nice, but works different from most other multiplayer games I've been playing lately. I really enjoy reading the messages other players can leave in my world (by choosing from combinations of specific words, so no immersion-breaking language there). Receiving and leaving hints works very well and is a nice touch. Another other side to multiplayer is invasions. When certain conditions are met, you may invade other players' worlds and slay them to gain their humanity. This is actually more varied than it sounds right now, since there are many different reasons the game gives you to do this based on choices you make, e.g. which covenant you join and so on. Yet another side to mp is that you can offer help to other players by putting down a summoning sign in your world. Other players who are in human form can then summon you before taking on a boss.


One last point: The art direction and overall design is fantastic. Especially if you're like me and have played a lot of western RPGs. Dark Souls's dark atmosphere and brilliantly executed level design is a very rare gem in the post-Tolkien-movies world we live in today.… Expand

Great game, definitely not for the faint of heart or those looking for someone whose looking for a quick pick up and play game. Great art style, game play mechanics, and implementation of online makes this game stick out amongst the other great games of 2011.

Deceptively simple controls but devilishly difficult to master. Sure you will die, a lot. But the charm of Dark Souls is in learning from your mistakes and overcoming the enemies that the game puts in your way. When you finally do beat one of the bosses it feels like a real achievement and it's been a while since a game has made me feel that way about overcoming an enemy. The game has it's faults the rag-doll corpses can be extremely distracting and the amount of work that needs to be put into levelling up can put off a lot of players. But this is a game that is worth every one of the many deaths that you will inevitably encounter.… Expand

I have put in over 180 hours into this game and I am still loving it. I beat it once already and I am about half way through my second play-through. I really struggled on my first play-through, this is a hard game, but is also extremely rewarding to conquer. The second time through is much easier and is fun in a different way. I can solo most of the bosses at this point. It is still hard, but easier. I plan to beat it at least 3 times and I hope that it keeps getting easier. It is rewarding to completely dominate an area/enemy that you really struggled to get through the first. I love this game, it is the best RPG I have ever played.… Collapse

Best game of all time period! In my mind I feel like I'm getting a similar feeling that when I first played Zelda back in nes days.... You are left on your own and you have a vast world to explore with tons of secrets... Multiplayer adds infinite value to the game. The game truly not as hard as they say if you learn from your mistakes.... Mainstream games dev should take notes and try tto come up with new originals ideas in the future !… Expand

I didnt played demon souls but Imust say Dark Souls its one of the best games i have played ever... It took me back to my childhood when I started playing videogames in 1986 because I didnt wanted to stop playing. This game will suck you in, kick your ass and live you wanting more. Yes its hard but cheap hard, you always learn more.. What to do, what not and how. Im 100+ in it on my 2nd playthrough and hat to put it aside to leve time for other games (and my wife).… Expand

great game didn't play the first one but I'm gonna pick it up today , and it.s not that hard you just have to be play carefully. I am on my third play trough and I'm still enjoying it.

After completing the game twice and starting multiple other characters all adding up to a playtime of about 140 hours I believe I am ready to write a review. Let's begin with the graphics: they truly are beautiful. From the terrifying demons to the dark fantasy setting, everything looks simply awesome and completely fits the game. The controls are precise and easy to understand and very responsive. Gameplay is simply fun in its great variety and multiple playthroughs of the game always feel different if you go for over character builds. The story is told rather subtly but is definitely there and very interesting if you decide to dig a little deeper into the game. Online interaction is a lot of fun, though there are connection problems sometimes at the time this review was written. However Fromsoftware is working on patches to fix such problems.
This game is a definite and full recommendation for people who truly love games. Every success you have will make you feel great and you will be craving for more. Your first playthrough will last you about 70 hours and replay value is huge. In my opinion a possible GOTY.… Expand

This game it the best rpg ever! So much fun, and it's so challenging. It never gets old. I haven't finished it yet, but the bosses have been very creative and intense.

Best game ever!!! Loved Demons Souls and i am loving dark souls. Really good game, full of new things to explore and improve. Its not like games today that you just go and win, you HAVE to improve your skills, to chage strategy, to discover new ways to beat the game.

I started off playing this game and hating it. I constantly compared it to Demon's Souls, which was not the proper way of looking at it. When I realized that the game instantly started getting more enjoyable. The start was a little slow and uninteresting, but once you start finding newer and better gear, it becomes far more enjoyable. The boss fights are generally simple and will most likely require you to fail the first time, but once you pick up what to do it becomes very simple. I didn't enjoy some bosses as I found some strategies spoiled them i.e Repeatedly performing plunging blows (an attack that requires you to jump from a height and stab the enemy, dealing enormous damage). Regardless of that, the majority of boss fights were tedious in a good way.

The weapon system in the game was very annoying at the start. I had to restart because I built dexterity high and I hadn't come across ANY weapon better than the drake sword (a strength requiring sword you get at the 2nd area) after completing 4 (4 areas) bosses. I was dissatisfied that I couldn't build dexterity and only ended up building my strength for melee. That probably would of had me lower my score, but Dark Souls is meant to be a challenging game and I can't consider something more challenging to lower its score. I was satisfied with the adjustments they made to magic and miracles from the previous game. In Demon's souls miracles were good, but they were nowhere near the abilities of magic. Magic was an easy way out of game, but in Dark Souls magic has been split to sorcery and pyromancy. Miracle s can now be some competition for them. That's not the only thing though, miracles have a much larger variety of spells to select. It was disappointing to find a small variety in pyromancy flames, because it ended up having no cons with no competition for other flames.

The gameplay is well done, but has some small tedious issues. Locking-on a target is risky and can cause you to die. If you are locked on, you may ending up walking back and falling off a ledge to your death. If that is not the case, you may end up being swarmed from behind and find it hard to escape. Other than that, the controls are perfect and the reaction times are well done. The game looks amazing and has possibly the greatest textures I have seen on console. No doubt they are better than many of it's competitors for RPG of the year i.e Skyrim. The environment really immerses you into the game and it feels dark all the way through. The animations for the player are excellent. There are a different variety of weapon animations for the same type of weapon i.e Some greataxes will swing differently. The bosses also have good animations and really help with you with your timing in understanding there attacks.

There was no real compelling the story in the game. There is only some plot at the start and some in the last third. It was very disappointing that none of the 4 lords and final boss spoke, but I knew I wasn't buying the game for the plot.

Although there were flaws, the pros outweigh them tremendously. If I bought the game unaware of what I was getting I would probably rate it 9/10, but I already knew there would be no compelling story.… Expand

After playing Demon's Souls nothing could quite match it for its difficulty and solid game mechanics. Until now. Dark Souls takes everything I loved about Demon's Souls and just makes it that bit better. The combat is just as good, the graphics are much improved and the bosses are even more imaginative. This game isn't for everyone, it is difficult, extremely difficult, but only difficult because people underestimate it. Most games nowadays just require a random mashing of buttons to defeat enemies but in the case of Dark Souls if you rush into combat you're more than likely dead already. The game rewards patient play and that's they key to getting through the game. Studying the opponents moves and not rushing into it.

Overall it's an incredible game but buy it with the knowledge that you will struggle and die on many occasions but that's not a reason to at the very least rent this game and see what it's all about.… Expand

After completing an import version of Demons Souls i was in love.It was a modern game in the style of games back in the 16 and even 8 bit era. Where careful progression and trial and error resulted in massive satisfaction at nailing a section flawlessly and defeating a boss that had given you so much trouble, that when you finally plunged your weapon into his evil soul, it results in physical elation. Dark Souls in my opinion, grows on this massively. The atmosphere, scenery and level design keep you hanging on a knife edge of survival and fight or flight decisions. The enemy design is unparalleled, with each new encounter forcing you to change your tactics and weapon set to overcome the seemingly unsurmountable challenge before you. For the uninitiated this may seem unfair and/or frustrating but careful study of your enemy and a considered approach will eventually end in victory. At times it is disheartening and the loss of tens of thousands of souls that you wanted to spend on whatever your right hand is wielding is crushing but, i kept on and it just keeps on keeping on. You will get there and when you do victory will be all the sweeter. In an age of games that hold your hand, tell you where to go, what to do it is difficult to describe how important a game like Dark Souls is. It does have its glitches, mine seem to be either complete freeze, forcing a hard reset or a delay in button press to action taking place which at the time, in a game based on split second attack or defend mechanics, can be wretched. And as everyone says, framerate issues, especially in Blighttown. I still keep playing though, and for me there's not anything that even comes close to it in modern gaming. Well done From Software, youve made winter bearable.… Expand

Super dalsia game for two years juhuuuuuuuu: D: P but the inac paradne hard to me when I skip paci cour game of skill: D so I will. This year the vysli and also vydu vela dobrych critici's games fest esta I mat tazke: D.

I have never written a review for a game before but I feel that in this case I need to. If nothing else than to lower the user score of this game ever so slightly so that someone else won't have to go through what I did. In short the game is unplayable and I would like to explain why so as both not to get flamed and just banished to the bottom of the pile as another person who says "its too hard waaaaaah". I do not deny that the game is hard and I have no problem with difficult games, I went through battletoads, Ninja Gaiden Series and Devil May Cry on the hardest of difficulty settings. However Dark souls is not a game end of. There is no reason this game has a score as high as it does but I suspect that it is where it is on metacritic because of very clever marketing ie One guy says this game sucks his friend says no its just hard you are being a **** its the same as saying "I can't punch my way through this wall" "well clearly you aren't trying hard enough and are just too weak". Thats what Dark Souls feels like to me. One of the main things is wrong with the game is the controls and the lag from pressing buttons to the character actually doing something. There is simply no reason for this kind of lag not on a console game. I have designed games before and the point is to make the character an extension of the player, the closer you come to that point where the player ceases controlling the character and the character becomes an extension of that player the better. Please take a look at this game and ask yourself why is it difficult is it because it requires me to think more about my actions, requires me to have lightning nay superhuman reflexes, or is it simply because the games bad game mechanics shoe horn you into a play style that goes against every natural instinct.… Expand

A great game, very addictive, will keep you entertained for hours if you have the patience, it can be frustrating at times but this game is hard not impossible. just dont around killing everyone like i did..

Dark Souls is the second installment in the "Souls" series, being the predecessor of Demon souls, I expected a lot of rage induced logging off, and pure joy when finally defeating a Boss. This game simply delivers. Absolutely stunning graphically, with fantastic game play. There does not seem to be a disparity in the class system this time around.

The world is massive, and at times easy to get lost going from place to place. Bonfires keep the game interesting, and each mini boss defeated leaves you wondering how the hell the game could get any more creative with the next boss.

The multi player element is very well done this time around, and being summoned takes on additional responsibility and reward.

I highly recommend this game IF: -You consider yourself a hardcore gamer looking for the challenge of old, ruthless gaming where dying actually had consequences. -You truly enjoy a challenge, and dying 100 times in the same area does not get to you after a while.

-You enjoy a massive yet beautiful gameplay environment with many challenges.

-You are a massochist… Expand

I **** love this game, i played demon's souls for a very lot hours and I think that it was amazing, in all the aspects, and when I heard about dark souls i was very exited. It is like a demon's souls, some of the sounds and the movements are the same in the two games, but bigger, stronger, harder and much better, more weapons, more armors, more rings, more magic, more attacks, more enemies, more bosses.... it is **** AWESOME, and the online is perfectly adapted to the game, it works fantastic. the only think i don't like, is when you are a **** zombie, you're so ugly, but this not afect to the game. Sorry for my english and thanks!… Expand

Oh my frickin' God! I love the hell out this game. I think that a lot of video games now are becoming too "casualized". Allow me to explain. When I say casuallized, I mean that games are becoming more focused on making things easier for the player just so the casual gamers can feel accomplished after spending a few hours on a game and beating it. This game seems to look at these people and say "I dare you to play me," and most will run away screaming like little girls (I would be a bit scared if a game box started talking to me too). The game has some pretty awesome controls and handles very well. The graphics are damn near amazing at times and are only hindered by a few drops in frame rate. Demon's Souls was an amazing game, so naturally this game is in the same league as it's predecessor. The only issues are with the lock-on system and the rediculous difficulty. Demon's Souls had a very capable lock-on mechanic that allowed you to switch between targets on the fly. Dark Souls requires you to unlock-on to your target and lock-on again just so you can target a different enemy. This is extremely frustrating when enemies are constantly moving and getting infront of each other and you want to attack the closest one, but your locked-on to the one that's in the back. The game can be extremely punishing at times, throw multiple enemies at you in a small space. Demon's Souls emphasized taking enemies one at a time and this game doesn't. But it almost works to this game's benefit in a way, because the game is still just as fair as Demon's Souls, it's just harder. But when the player can go through the entire world he/she has explored and kill every enemy without using a bonfire to replenish estus flasks, it should be obvious that the game has taught you something. If nothing else, it is a worthy edition to this franchise and can't recomend it enough (just make sure you aren't afraid to die... a lot).… Expand

So many complaints about its difficulty. People cant play games anymore theses days! I remember sidescrolling platformers where you must finish the entire level with 1 life. DarkSouls gives you bonfire save points and the chance to recoup your last run throughs progress, and open up shortcuts that dont reset etc..I remember shooters that had bosses that were invincible until 1 tiny opening revealed itself every minute for 5 seconds for you to shoot. DS bosses/all enemies have attack patterns/weaknesses vs certain elements/weapon types. Theres no cheapness about them. People arent smart enough to work things out these days. they run in, spam attack and expect to win. btw there is block and evade in the game!! "cluncks controls" - pfft. dark souls has the most viceral and fair control/combat mechanic. staggered you say. too long to recover?durr, thats because you have poor armour, rubbish sheild, low poise.etc..oh i forgot, you want to run in hammer attack and win, with out any sort of reaction from enemy attacks, you want to survive 50 hits from 50 foot demons with massive axes instead of 3 hits. you want to kill said demons with 3 hits.… Expand

This is a game that any previous lover of Demon's Souls will enjoy. At the time of posting this, I have played over 80 hours and have completed Dark Souls. Dark Souls is a very rich game, filled with content. The combat is fluid, and requires timing and precession. The story is present, but it is more of a community effort to piece together. The environments are arguably better than in Demon's Souls, with a game world nearly 4 times the size. There were some issues upon release, which will probably have been patched by the time you read this. Framerate drops and an imbalanced PVP system have been quite an annoyance for some time. Nevertheless, this skill-based RPG is a must-have for some of the best online Co-op and overfall experience for the diligent player.… Expand

Let me start off by saying, I never played Demon Souls, but I certainly plan too after I'm finished with Dark Souls. I'm really enjoying this game I have invested easily 40+ Hours and I just got it 2 weeks ago. Now let me get in depth. This game drops you off in the beginning teaching you the basics of the game by orange messages on the floor. After the tutorial other players will leave messages making them vital, messages are really helpful they tell you whose ahead, if there's a treassure, a bosses weak spot, etc. but you also got your trollers telling you there's a bonfire(get into that in a lil), or a treassure ahead and it ends up being a black knight chasing you half way across the map. This game doesn't hold your hand one bit. In the tutorial you face a boss right away whose 20x's your size! And there is no way point, you need to invest some time exploring and farming a couple of souls. I honestly don't think this game is as hard as some people say it is, it's just challenging and a learn curve. I believe people say its hard because this generation of gaming developers hold your hand too much. This game does have some flaws which made me drop it a point. In a city named blight town the frame rate drops alot because of the city's environHment, I don't wanna give any spoilers so that's all I will say. But I recommend this as a must buy if your into RPGs. This should be scored a 9.0-9.5 easily… Expand

Improves upon the fantastic template set by Demon's souls in almost every way. Only for seasoned gamers who can commit to a challenge.

Very satisfying.

It's everything a game should be, but hasn't in years. It's challenging. Extremely challenging. No game has offered a feeling of accomplishment like this one has in a very long time(excluding Demon's Souls). For what it's worth, this game is nearly flawless. Not for the casual gamer, proving that some people aren't falling into the trend of "gaming for everyone".

Great game, expands on Demon Soul's in just about every way possible. Expect it to be difficult and unforgiving, only issue is the online multiplayer, it is very difficult to find others to play with and invading is not scaled well.

it is admirable to see games which send a clear message of "don't **** up" rather than "here is how to jump". this is absolutely one of those games.

Simply point you have NEVER played a game like them as Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are on another level. The bad news is these games are so long and good, they ruin other games.

Great game and although a hard game, it is playable... if you are an old school gamer you will not have any hard time with Dark Souls, you may die a few times but nothing out of ordinary, don't listen to the plethora of new school gamers who arent used to playing a challenging game... those ducks will die constantly as this game requires patience for things to work out and they are all brainwashed in playing fast paced action games like GTA, Modern Warfare, Gears of War, Uncharted or God of War.… Expand

I love this game, and I didn't think I would.

Let me explain. When this game was released, each review followed a similar pattern: praise the game, but warn people they may not like it. It's a fair warning--this game is difficult, and it ostensibly wasn't made for gamers like myself. I'm entering middle age with a demanding job and newborn daughter to whom I can't help but want to devote all my time. So when one critic warned, "If you just play games for fun, this isn't for you," I dismissed this game as unreservedly being not for me.

But something kept nagging at me. Maybe it was nostalgia for the days when I'd spend hours playing Ninja Gaiden, or Castlevania (for the NES). I remember honing my skills every play through, perfecting the timing on jumps, memorizing the location of enemies, figuring out boss patterns, all to die for the third time and have to start over at the beginning. Sounds sadistic, I know, but my friends and I had so much fun trading tips and secrets (I was the first on my block to find the upward thrust in Adventures of Link--no one believed me). And when someone beat a game, we'd all go racing to his house to see him repeat it. Out of adversity came triumph. I think in the end I wanted to experience this feeling again.

And that's exactly what I got out of Dark Souls.

Yes, this game is difficult, but I cannot stress enough how fair it is. Each time I die I truly feel like it was my fault. Plus, if you stick with it things do get better. The first few hours may seem impossible, but gradually you'll learn to play the game. Enemies that seemed impossible become remarkably easy. On more than one occasion I died in a boss battle several times before getting the pattern down just right. Once I learned the bosses timing and attack cues, I beat the it without getting hit--easy! And let me stress something--I am not very good at videogames. Seriously! I'm not! I think I used to be, once upon a time, but I just don't play games enough anymore. Yet, despite a lack of time and skill, I've been progressing through this game at a pretty fast pace (relatively speaking, of course). To be fair, having spent an entire childhood perfecting games like this is an advantage, but nothing compares to having time and total devotion. What I'm saying is that if I can succeed at this game, you can too.

The critics were right--Dark Souls isn't for everyone. But if, like me, you cut your teeth on the NES, and the only thing holding you back from getting this is a lack of time, you may want to go ahead and give the game a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.… Expand

I finished Dark Souls and then wandered around in Skyrim for a while before I developed this profound respect for From Software. I may not have enjoyed either one of them too much but at least I feel like I accomplished something after completing Dark Souls...like I broke through a major plateau and finally gained a personal level in gaming that I have been stuck on for years. I beat Dark Souls offline with no spoilers (for me that's good). My left eye twitches a little bit every time someone who hasn't played Dark Souls mentions how majestic Ornstien and Smough look....BUT I BEAT IT!!!! I rerolled three characters just to get through Andor Londo but in the end I magicked their fat and skinny asses to death then sat in the corner giggling hysterically before proceeding to finish the game. If the two games (Dark Souls and Skyrim) were thought of as a music concert; Dark Souls just set the piano on fire and rocked the house leaving Skyrim with a very awkward silence for an introduction. Everyone's going to say, "you can't compare....you can't compare". They are correct, you can not compare perfection with mediocrity...it's apples and oranges. (Dark souls 10) (Skyrim 7).… Expand

One of the best game of the year for me. I spent a lot of time, and i still playing and i'have not finish this game at this time after 95 hours. I love it and i take my time.

READERS....BE CAREFULL...EXTREMELE ADDICTED GAME....This game is a brilliant surprise...with unforgetable enemies.., amazing landscapes..i dont have words to describe it.i ll say that the only negative for me,i think that graphics are very good but not excellent..

This is an amazing game with great combat and well designed encounters. Most boss fights are an extreme challenge and I enjoyed the equipment upgrade system. I'd say the only flaw is the lack of ability to reliably co-op with friends. The co-op system is weird and the messaging system seems to be completely broken. That keeps my score from being a 10.

Dark souls has got to be a contender for rpg of the year 2011.
It is an action adventure rpg with online drop in drop out co op plus pvp were you invade another persons game. The game may not be to everyones taste as the difficulty curve is sharp and very little is explained about the various ingame mechanisms. But a quick darksouls wiki search will tell you all you need and more as a support website for the game it is invaluable. After just under 300 hours yes you read it right 300 hours ive finished the game once and started game plus were all youre items and stats carry over. And im still finding new story threads new suits of armor and the final rare weapons. There are 9 covenants or clans you can join for online play some encourage co op play others invite player versus player and more others offer objectives like fighting for rare stones that are needed to rank up in the clans. A beginner clan would be the forest clan which you join by talking to a cheshire cat and equip the ring she gives you this activates the online and you hunt for players in the forest. the game is not linear and you can take any route you want if you feel you can get past the enemies in that area. If struggling with the boss you can summon co op help easily. Before the latest patch there were a few problems with lag ala skyrim but after patch 1.05 darksouls runs great never any difficulty using the online multiplayer and there is no longer any lag. i could write a book about this game. But if you like rpgs and want to try a game thats a little different then pick up darksouls you wont regret it.… Expand

This game is epic,

if your an RPG fan and also have alot of time on your hands to get sucked into this Masterpiece then go for it this game won't let you down one bit.I also gotta add this comment,THIS GAME IS NOT EASY, OR FOR THOSE WITH ANGER PROBLEMS,you will die allot in this game and it will make you go nut's when you loose all those souls and Humanities you've collected,this game is for true JRPG gamers who have alot of experience.the only thing I have to say is bad is that some times there is alot of frame rate drops when there are alot of things on screen and when you summon 2 people into your game,other than that Dark souls is my game of the year.… Expand

Everything that was great about Demon's Souls is amplified in Dark Souls. The addition of an open world instead of the Nexus makes the game a thousand times more enjoyable. I can see how people new to the series view it as overly challenging, but its really what games should be. In Dark Souls you feel like crap when you die, where as in a game like Fallout all you need to do is reload your save file. The unforgiving nature of the game makes its a perfect 10 for me.… Expand

This game rocks period. I won't blah blah you to death with why. Gameplay this, graphics that. Who cares. This game rocks. You don't rock. This game does. Play it.

My personal GOTY. Do not let the comments of difficulty scare you off. The combat is deep and punishes you, but it is never unfair. If you are dieing repeatedly, try different weapons and elements, or try going somewhere else and coming back later. I consider the souls games the new Castlevania games. The map is very large and lets you roam it pretty unrestricted, especially if you start with the master key. The areas and bestiary are very varied, and each monster fights differently so you need to learn all of their attacks. While there are classes, It only affects your starting gear and stats, you can play the game however you want too.

The combat is incredible. Each attack feels real and heavy, and you never feel like you are safe. The online is pretty good except for the failed to connect invasions. These have been improved with the patches and will continue to be improved as well. My only big complaint is the FPS slow down in busy areas. Specifically in blighttown, this can be really annoying, but compared to all the things this game does right, its rather small.… Expand

Never thought i would still fall for a game that demands so much time (as i have really little free time) from the player. The graphics ain't spectacular, the story ain't clear but still the game sucked me right in. Ok got to go and repeat The Wolf for the 50'th time...

This game is very good with many play styles and weapon choice as well as armor and spells/ pyromance. Now their are some bad point the frame rate drops in blight town and various other places sometimes make the game difficult or easy depending on the circumstance, but in no way or there cheep death you. You may get ganged up on you may get over whelmed by something your not ready for. It is the player actions that cause his or hers deaths. The online system is innovative and very well thought out as well but it is very hard to communicate with other players this can become a problem when in a area like the catacombs. Over all this game is one of the best i have played this year… Expand

I played Demon's Souls, so I can't say how easy it is for someone to get used to the controls, but they are very much the same. R1/R2 for weak/strong attack, L1/L2 for block/parry, and O for dodging/running/running jumping. Personally, I feel right at home with them. During online PvP, however, there is always a certain amount of lag that will often be the death of you if you don't have some sort of star-crossingly fast connection. During the normal single-player aspect of the game, the game can be very difficult and even frustrating, but not because of the controls. It's your fault if you don't try to master the controls of ANY game before going out to later areas. The undead and monsters that you fight are difficult, but each one has a specific moveset that can be blocked, dodge, or parried depending on the attack. Some enemies require you to use a special tactic, such as some fireball-shooting undead that spew poison upon death and need to be killed from a distance or kicked away at the end of a backstab. Learning these nuances can be frustrating, but fist-pumpingly awesome once you take down something that had squashed you like a bug a couple deaths ago.

The story of the game is there for those who look for it. Like everything in the game, it doesn't hold your hand with the story either. Talk to NPCs after every major battle and they may say something different. Look for pieces of the lore in item descriptions and piece them together yourself. Depending on which of the two endings you pick, it may be underwhelming, but you can always begin the game anew in New Game + and take a different route.

The graphics can be absolutely phenomenal, but only when looking at an area from a distance; up close, they can be sub-par. It isn't an open-world game for nothing, and damn if From Software doesn't provide us with some great views. The character customization... sweet Jesus the character customization. The face and skin tone choices at the beginning are not the greatest, but there is armor traditional for any and all builds, whether you're a magic-user, a warrior, a hybrid, or a holy cleric chucking lightning bolts. There is a way to craft any weapon to suit the needs of your character, although there are some game-breaking upgrades that the community generally looks down upon. Finally, there are more that sixty spells, divided into three different "schools" of Sorcery, Pyromancy, and Miracles. You can basically build any sort of character you want, from a healer focusing on cooperation with other players, a tank-like warrior, an nigh-invisible stealth fighter, a magic missile-firing sorcerer, a magic knight focusing on spells to enhance his melee combat, a half-dragon monk, or even a silly bugger who duel-wields SHIELDS.

I got this game on release day and have been playing it ever since. It isn't perfect, but it doesn't deserve any of the 0/10 scores that users have been giving it. If you can handle it, then it can most certainly handle you.… Expand

Dark Souls is a nice improvement over its predecessor and stays true to its original formula and takes you on an epic ride through a dark and beautiful world that will have you hooked for weeks. If you loved Demon's Souls then there is no reason for you to miss out on this fantastic game. Prepare to die my friends.

A welcome change. I enjoy a good challenge. This is a hard game, I played demons souls but didn't really like it cause it was more annoying than challenging, this game fixes most and is a welcome change from games being scared to offer challenge. It also doesn't try to be like a movie! Which I really liked. Even death means victory cause you learn about that opponent, how he fights and his strategies. You'll always feel powerful, well at least I did, especially after upgrading my character. The co op and pvp works great (see other reviews for more info) The world is vast and feels never ending (in a good way). If you like challenges buy this game. This game doesn't like when it says "Prepare to Die" it means it. But this is an awesome game and I hope we see a third entry to the franchise.… Expand

Some games are good for cathartic entertainment, with a bit of challenge thrown in. Sure, you can die a little, and there's no consequence. The game is there for your fun and entertainment. Dark Souls is not that kind of game. This is one that demands your attention. It's a lesson on mortality and how to avoid your untimely doom. It's strict. It's brutal. It will make you cry and then shout in your ear to "GET THE F*CK OVER YOURSELF." And that is why it's amazing. The game is totally dependent on how you, the player, learn from your f*ckups. Unlike most games, you lose all of your souls if you die. Ergo, you have to desperately find a way to avoid it for next time. It's a simple formula, and it works fantastically, with each dungeon being a desperate bid to avoid dying horribly. Granted, some areas are just plain old infuriating (Blighttown can go to hell), but for the most part, it's a nice learning experience. Now, word of warning, don't expect the game to go easy on you. If you're not prepared for a challenge, get the hell out of dodge, lest you end up a bloody smear on the floor. Literally. Now that the gameplay's out of the way, I can talk about the presentation. Thank god it's gorgeous; the landscape is amazingly crafted. The monsters are varied and are, occasionally, terrifying, if just because they're as dangerous as they look. Then come the bosses. Good god, the bosses. The music's nice as well, as even Ornestein and Smough's music will make their fight worth dying through over and over again. If you're in for a beautifully crafted challenge, dive right in. If not...well...you're completely boned. Sorry.… Expand

Dark Souls is a fantastic beautiful dark fantasy action role-playing game that requires patience and time to progress. The satisfaction you'll get from killing difficult enemies is unlike anything in any other game. The visuals and art design are detailed to the max and if you played the previous Demon Souls then you'll be surprised by the huge graphical overhaul this game has. Before I end this review.. It's my strongest opinion that this game should of beat Elder Scrolls for the best RPG of the year.. Just Sayin'… Expand

For all Demon's Souls players [and most RPG fans i believe] Dark Souls was last year's most expected game. We all knew what kind of hardships we'd have to endure but i'm sure every single player died at least 30 or 50 times no matter how cautious...

Dark Souls is an Action RPG mostly focused on surviving and learning to fight with caution and technique. The game punishes [really badly] hasty gamers and you will die hundreds of times if you think you're playing a hack n' slash RPG. You can tell From Software has worked [A LOT] to improve Demon's Souls and many great ideas were put into Dark Souls. There are many more weapons, spells, armors, enemies, items and equipment. They improved the on-line mode with covenants and different ways to play against and along players from around the world. Also you can upgrade armors this time along with weapons and shields. There are new character classes like pyromancer, secret areas and a big [REALLY BIG] world connected in every way.

To this point, there isn't much i can say about Dark Souls that you couldn't find browsing reviews on your favourite review sites, but I can tell you this: If you consider yourself a "hardcore gamer" there's nothing more hardcore than Demon's Souls & Dark Souls. If you love RPG's and you love the challenges, you'll surely fall in love with Dark Souls.

My favourite 2011 game, no doubt about it.

If you're looking for a challenge and a game to play and replay dozens of times, you should buy Demons & Dark Souls.… Expand

This game is just breath taking with the amount of creativity that has been put into it. Outstanding fighting system that will keep you engaged in every enemy encounter. The only down fall is the story for which it doesn't really provide you with one except that your a chosen hollowman who has a chance in gaining humanity. Definitely worth checking out.

I was skeptic about this game at first, especially with all the comparisons to Skyrim. However I bought it and started playing it. This is one of the best gaming experiences I've had since the days of the NES. They just don't make quality games like this anymore. If you are a real gamer who enjoys the challenge of games, this is for you. Not for the casual gamer. You'll need lots of strategy and enemy analysis to get through the whole game. The game is fun, immensely satisfying, and addicting! I'm 70+ hours into this game and not quite finished (on my first playthrough). Go buy this game!… Expand

i find it impossible not to compare dark souls to demon's souls, and find it ultimately falls short - but only just. still got some great gameplay and music - but i found the game's atmosphere feels less spooky. still better than 99% of the games out there, just a little duller than the "prequel"

The first true succesor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. That's not a compliment given lightly, since it was to date the best game I've played. All Dark Souls' other small flaws can be forgiven for its brilliant gameplay, sense of immersion and replayability.

What a glorious experience. This game is the first to make me feel surprised, clueless, exhilarated, terrified, anxious, depressed, frustrated, unbelievably pissed off, ecstatic, gleeful, immensely relieved, and utterly content all in the span of an hour. Often all these feelings happen in the exact order listed above and make for a pretty unforgettable experience. If you don't mind dying often, chasing down your fallen corpse only to die along the way and lose all your experience, and having to learn fights the hard way then this is the game for you. Dark Souls is an epic experience with incredibly streamlined and functional controls, a rich and immersive world, awesome enemies and bosses, and way more to do and explore than you could possibly figure out on your own. It also features a constant auto-save feature and will not let you make multiple saves of one character. The saving is functionally identical to WOW's save system, anything you do is permanent. This means no saving before a boss and loading it for a quick rematch. It also means no saving before killing or talking to an npc to ensure you make the right choice. You also cannot save before crafting or spending your souls (the game's experience and currency) to make sure you don't screw up. This causes you to really think and debate about simple decisions like whether or not to make a special weapon; you may after all find that special weapon worse than the base weapon used to make it. Ultimately it makes you emotionally invested in your character and what you do, something very few other games manage to accomplish. Bottom line, if you can handle dying repeatedly and some pretty severe subsequent frustration, you will experience an incredibly immersive world and intense satisfaction only the hardcore games of the past could bring (for example Super Mario bros, Mike Tyson, and Megaman).… Expand

Great game. Requires skill and not stats. A truly superb game in a time of very easy and non rewarding games. The game doesn't adapt to you. There is not an objective marker or map, you are on your own.

Dark Souls is in my opinion the best game of this generation, a current day realisation of the classic gameplay experiences of the 8-bit era. It's a game that pervades your psyche; you'll find yourself running through levels and boss fights in your head as you go about your daily business wishing you were playing it with the curtains drawn.

It is a difficult game, sure, but not unfairly so- rather it rewards player discipline and mastering of the tight combat controls. If you are a new player who is considering picking this or it's predecessor Demon Souls up, if you can get through the initial despair of dying multiple times before the controller has even warmed in your hands, you will find one of the most rewarding and memorable gaming experiences of the last 15 years.… Expand

Prepare to die. Prepare for the storm of the century because once you've seen the trailers you know that you're in for a real, Challenging, nerve racking RPG. Even if it's not as hard as they make it out to be. I have played this masterpiece of game for 200+ hours playing different classes and such and i've got to say that this game is what Role-playing games should be like. This game is puzzling at first but once you get to know the controls, the mechanics and the game itself, you'll get to have some real fun with dark souls. The bosses are beautifully rendered and somewhat hard at first but you do seem to breeze through them without worry once you strategize how to kill them. The real boss that you come across to be remotely harder then the others is Dragonslayer Ornstein and Executioner smough. These guys atleast for me were hard on my first try but once you've defeated them and other certain bosses you can't help to feel a bit of accomplishment and rush after killing them. Especially the infamous twosome. After seeing the "You defeated" pop up whenever you kill a badass of a boss it gets you excited for the next and very indulged in the game. It makes you think you can take on the damn world. The environment, characters, Voice work, Music, Art of this game is astonishingly beautiful. I can't seem to just rush into certain mobs without looking at it's wonderful scenery, and look at the epic game design. You also feel compassion for some of the other bosses, especially for poor Sif, the great grey wolf. When you strike him down to the last bit of health and he starts to limp, fighting unconsciously. Then you know that he was loyal to the end, protecting that grave with his life from trespassers and enemies. I think I've never wanted to kill a boss as much as I did at that moment. Especially with the beautiful violin in the background playing at his sad demise.. The online for dark souls is also very well done. I love the fact that they didn't stray too much from it's predecessor, demons souls' for it's online invading - get invaded, co-op quirk. Other then the chain backstabbing of course (which i really hate sometimes.) This game atleast to me is a perfect 10 and is a perfect sequel to demons souls. Anyone that's second guessing on getting this game, just get it. It's worth every penny for this wonderful Masterpiece.… Expand

This game is so good, everything about it is purely amazing, the visuals, the gameplay especially. It is so addictive and challenging and the feeling you get when you finally beat a boss that has been killing you over and over feels so good that it makes Dark Souls and Demon's Souls easily my favorite games of all time. The online is also very fun, it feels so good to kill that black phantom that breaks into your world. I wish Dark Souls and Demon's Souls were ported to the Vita because I would love to be able to play them on the go and I would be happy to buy them both again.… Expand

Possibly the greatest game I have played in a long long time. The game play is so deep that you literally feel like you are fighting for your life. The graphics are amazing (some beg to differ) and the game seamlessly connects to every other area in the game without loading screens. Every boss fight is like a 1 on 1 death match, its him or you, leaving you the sweet taste of victory or the bitter taste of failure. Every piece of armor/shield/weapon changes how your character moves around and attacks based on your play style. Its worth the 30 bucks for sure, but be warned, this game is not for the faint of heart. At times this game can be brutally hard and can seem downright unfair. 10/10… Expand

Dark Souls start out in a similar manner to Demon Souls, but unlike Demon Souls - Dark Souls is rife with frustrating deaths and cheap mechanics that lock the player to play the game the way the designers intended instead of being open ended like its predecessor. No longer does the play have the choice of which challange to tackle next, instead we have an RPG on rails due to the design scaling enemies by area. Thus if the player is stuck in a specific area he or she can no longer try a different challenge instead the game forces you to try the same long sequence over and over, which can lead to frustration and annoyance. When you have to run the same 15 minute sequence in order to fight that boss that you keep dying with no option of game progression, the game become an exercise in repetition instead of exploration and progression.

Also, a year after release the game is still rife with frame rate drops, graphical tearing, enemy glitches, and bad clipping. It is incredibaly frustrating when fighting a single skeleton and the game locks up or a two ghosts and the game drops down to single digit fps causing you to miss that roll. The worst though is enemies hitting the player through foliage or solid objects that should be impenetrable.… Expand

We have a title that separates the common players, being a totally hardcore experience essential for those seeking challenge and innovative proposals without leaving aside the depth. More than 60 hours of natural incentive to campaign, holding and a DC voltage, which serves as motivation for the player to continue enjoying this memorable work. As if not enough, we have one of the most interesting of this generation systems online and that definitely will serve as inspiration for the coming games. Dark Souls may not be a game for everyone, but if you leave, he quietly sugará their soul. Prepare to die.… Expand

Dark Souls is an amazing game, but it is definitely not for everyone, especially those easily discouraged or frustrated. The older gamers who grew up during the 8 & 16-bit days will likely find the most appreciation for this title. Dark Souls throws you into an amazingly well crafted world with a very short tutorial, then leaves you to it. There is a lot of risky exploration and trial & error learning that needs to be done. Bosses and even normal enemies are unforgivably brutal, so as you've probably heard already, you're going to be dying a lot. But nothing you've played for years will give you the feeling of accomplishment when you finally complete a goal. This is the first game for a long time where I actually danced a jig after defeating a particularly nasty boss that was killing me for over an hour.

Combat controls are fluid and fairly easy to pick up, but difficult to master. There's a ton of different weapons to use and spells to learn. There are many different ways to build up your character, and a deep gear upgrade system, offering a lot of re-playability. The only problem here is that game doesn't offer you a lot of information regarding certain player stats or how certain game mechanics work. You will figure everything out eventually but it would be nice if they gave you just a little more information in the game itself, or in the woefully bad manual.

Dark Souls is an extremely pretty game. Even after playing it for so many hours I can still marvel sometimes how great it looks. But the cost of this is sometimes the game is reduced to a horribly low frame rate, bad enough to affect gameplay and sometimes reduces it to an unplayable state. I've noticed however this may be more to do with bugs with the AI than anything else. When there are multiple enemies having trouble finding a path to your location, you'll notice your frame rate reduced to almost nothing. Hopefully this is patched.

The only other complaint I can make is that when you die on bosses, and you will die a lot. Sometimes you have to wade through a lot of content over and over to make it back to the boss to try again. This adds a lot of extra unnecessary frustration and boredom to a game that's otherwise full of excitement.… Expand

Perfect. I give Dark Souls a 5/5. Never have I felt so accomplished from beating a video game. The world of Lordan is a terrifying place to explore, danger is around every corner. I wish more RPGs would draw inspiration from this game. I cannot praise it enough.

This is how to do a sequel..... All the core mechanics of dark souls have been tweaked and tuned and the experience is an in depth, highly complex and rewarding experience. The atmosphere is beautiful and bleak, creating a game that makes you feel like you are truly alone, with no hand-holding guidance from the developers. Evolving the Demon Souls formula of a central hub into an open world experience has worked perfectly, allowing the player to experiment with the world rather than be tied to any linear quests. That said, the online mechanics remain fairly similar, relying on other players on similarly lonely quests to help you through the game. Here the multiplayer does an excellent job of allowing players to interact and help each other out through a novel and understated set of game mechanics which are perfectly suited to the Dark Souls world. Without giving too much away, the multiplayer is a must for this game,since without the hints and occasional help from friendly phantoms your experience could be a very frustrating one.
For some players this will be a confusing and irritating experience. With no guidance and an exceptionally high difficulty level I can imagine controllers being thrown through TV screens. However, this is a game of patience, endurance and reward - something that is rare in console gaming of late.… Expand

So to start off, this game is amazing. It took me a very long time (about 3 months after i bought it) to get into Demon's Souls but once I got into it I REALLY got into it. There were a few flaws though that made me dislike the game, and there is where Dark Souls comes in. Dark Souls takes the issues that I had with Demon's Souls (the tutorial, general early-game flow, magic OP as balls, difficulty gaining human form early on) is all fixed in Dark Souls. The gameplay is solid and refined since Demon's Souls. The boss fights are a lot of fun and generally less frustrating due to it being more straightforward as to how to defeat them. The bonfires mean that you generally aren't set as far back when you die and the covenants add a whole new level of additional depth to the game (such as revenge invasions, killing invaders of the forest and so on). But the one reason this game is not getting anywhere above an 8 is: the online. In Demon's Souls if you wanted to play with a friend all you had to do was put down a mark and then tell them where it is. In Dark Souls since the players are divided up into smaller servers it is near impossible to play with someone you know. The other issue that comes with this smaller servers is that sometimes you just end up on a near empty server. This can lead to no one responding to your summon sign or not being able to find anyone to summon for help. This can become very frustrating when you want to help people with a boss, or want help on one yourself.

Overall the game is great, I really enjoy how the game all flows together (back to the Firelink Shrine) so it really feels like everything is linked. Some people may complain about random things killing them, but anyone who played Demon's Souls will know most of the tricks. Not to mention, if you know everything the game is going to try and kill you with, where's the fun in that? It's hilarious when I open a chest and it turns into a mimic that devours me XD. A must have for any hardcore gamer!… Expand

Simply put they advertised a game with Co-Op and Multiplayer. The game has none of that. Once again peer to peer networking is the bane of gaming,. They say the multiplayer is working as intended. Here's my stats.
72 Hrs of gaming I have summoned someone twice and I have been invaded once. My friends all have the same issue. This is pretty much a single player game. It is no Demon Souls. Ps3 did it right the first time with DEDICATED SERVERS.… Expand