Review -- Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition

After the release of FromSoftware's game Dark Souls for the PS3 and XB360 in October 2011, many fans of the game and interested parties clamored to have a PC port made so that they may indulge in this incredible title known for its unforgiving difficulty and dreary atmosphere.

On August 24th, 2012, they got their wishes. Namco Bandai released Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition -- A direct port of the original content with a few extra areas, items, bosses, and balance changes tossed into the mix.

The computer port succeeded, for the most part, in bringing all of that original content to the soul-thirsty PC gamer demographic without flaw. On a competent rig, the game runs as well as it does on the console, with the occasional frame rate chug that plagued some areas of the other versions. As long as you have a 360 or PS3 controller to play this port on, the controls are identical, and there really is no sense in playing the game without a controller.

Many PC gamers were upset that the frame rate was locked at 30 FPS for the port and that there were limited resolution options, but there have since been fan-fixes for those problems. The console versions were capped at 30 FPS as well, so I have a hard time striking points from the score for that.

My new Wanderer wielding the Demon Great Hammer after fisting the Asylum Demon to death.

As far as the original content goes, I don't feel it needs a great deal of explanation. If you're familiar with Dark Souls on the consoles, then this is identical aside from a few things, primarily balance changes (ultimately for the better) and a new item and enemy, allowing you to access the additional content.

If you're not familiar with the original content, I'll try to keep it brief. The atmosphere is lonely, grimy, dark, and utterly gorgeous. The items are many, allowing for a massive character customization; though some items are markedly better than others. And the difficulty -- Well, the difficulty feels like if Super Ghouls'n'Ghosts were made for the consoles of this generation. At first it's hard, and frustrating, and sometimes you just want to quit but you don't because you know it's worth your time to continue. But after you've familiarized yourself with the controls and the general gameplay mechanics, you realize that it's really not that hard, it just tests your patience and intellect. Step back and analyze the situation before you continue and you'll do much better.

Well, there are a few areas and bosses that can prove to be truly difficult and brutal, but you'll just have to suck it up and L2P for those segments.

Also, despite the game having little to offer in the way of traditional story-telling, it is rich in lore. The dialogue, item descriptions, item placement, and even the locales themselves all tell the story. And that feels refreshing since I'm an adult and I can gather context from those kinds of things. It isn't always necessary to force feed your audience with story and I think that FromSoftware should be applauded in this endeavor.

But that's enough about the old content, the real reason for the review is to talk about the new stuff.

FromSoftware was kind enough to give their PC audience early access to new areas, items, and bosses; Perhaps as retribution for withholding the sweet, sweet nectar that is Dark Souls.

The content, officially called "Artorias of the Abyss," takes place several hundred years ago in the Oolacile Township (and other, familiar and not-so-familiar areas.) And man is it awesome.

Straight chillin' in some garden.

 It is clear that just as much love and devotion went into making this additional content as the original game. The areas are memorable and invoke exactly the right emotions, the items are all interesting, even if they aren't all terribly useful, and it all just feels... right. The atmosphere, especially in the Oolacile Township is nothing short of incredible; Sometimes harkening back to The Tower of Latria from Dark Souls' spiritual predecessor Demon's Souls.

Catatonic from the sight below, our beloved hero is helpless; and loading his trousers.

 The entire area is frightful, nerve-wrecking, and entirely unforgettable. The background audio accompaniment is, perhaps, the best part of this new area. Full of shrills, laughs, and blood-curdling screams -- It's best experienced through a nice pair of headphones.

There is a very natural progression to the atmosphere of the new content, it starts light and gets darker and darker yet the further you venture into the Oolacile Township. It is truly a testament to the FromSoftware teams devotion to quality in the series. As a bonus, the lore attached to it all is just as interesting.

But perhaps the greatest part of the new content, something that all Dark Souls fans should be proud of, are the new bosses. Fantastic in design and harder than many of the existing Dark Souls bosses, these enemies should be a real treat to fight, both for the Dark Souls veterans and the newcomers to the series. The final boss of "Artorias of the Abyss" may even get my vote as hardest boss in the series.

FromSoftware has also included a new 1v1, 2v2, and free-for-all PvP arena for those who want to satiate their thirst for griefing and human competition. The format is a bit strange, but also very promising, since organized PvP can occasionally be a pain in the original game if you don't roll with the right crew.

Surely with all this good, there must be evil. Well there is, just not much. The absolute worst part of this entire experience is that FromSoftware decided to use the Games for Windows Live servers for this port -- and they're atrocious. Connections to other players for a bit of jolly co-operation are unstable at best, so the game feels a bit like a ghost town, where it is livid and exciting on its PS3 counterpart. You can also only save your game and play with the same characters while you're online, where in the console versions you can use the same character in both online and offline play. Those are, truthfully, my only complaints.

Okay, I lied, the 360 controller d-pad was atrocious as well, but that isn't FromSoft's fault.

In summation, I think that this port is worth every penny -- but only if you do not have access to the console versions. Since Games for Windows Live servers just don't mesh with this title, I really recommend just waiting for the console DLC due out in late October, if you can. Otherwise, buy it and fall in love, just as many others have.

I give it 9 out of 10 Estus Flasks, because that's how many I had left after I punked out Ornstein & Smough.

Score: 9 out of 10.