Firstly. The quality of this port even with DSfix installed is horrendous. I've had multiple white screen crashes that even AFTER implementing the fix (add a 1 to the MOV folder name). The 60FPS breaks certain platforming sections and makes normal routes that would be accessed via rolling near impossible, sometimes it even causes you to slide through the floor while sliding down a ladder. With out DSfix the port is borderline broken. AA is only on and off, Vsync causes the game to minimize to picture in picture for some reason, sound looping is broken with footsteps still echoing for up to 4 seconds after stopping if wearing heavy armour etc.

The game does try and make attempts to fix some of the mechanics from Demons Souls that made that game far too easy. But these fall flat.

They made an attempt to curb players just grinding for healing items by limiting you to 20 Estus at a time, but not only is 20 more than enough due to estus being upgradeable, you can still stock up on healing items by farming humanities from rats. Which shows they presented the solution, but never executed it properly.

Stones of ehpemeral eyes in demons were ultra rare items. The player really had to weigh their options using one. But here, you can just farm humanities. Taking away that element of risk.

Magic is still insanely overpowered. Crystal magic has absurd damage and tracking and kills most bosses in 4-7 casts. Pyro magic like great combustion has super fast start up and melts most Boss health bars. There is no incentive for the player to even consider melee for any thing beyond mooks due to this.

Melee on it's own is fine but not great for the most part. Short swords have wonky extended hit boxes that weren't present in demons which I guess may be to make the game easier to get into for newcomers. Regular enemies themselves don't pose much of a threat. Since all the player need do is block and punish. This can become somewhat repetitive on repeat visits due to the way the world is designed before getting fast travel. But never becomes too annoying.

Where the game excels in gameplay is the level design. At least for the first half of the game. The short cuts are smartly placed and feel rewarding to find, and give a sense of satisfaction when used as you'll never want to go the long way again. Though you'll want to explore every nook and cranny, as not only do you get good items, it can also make boss fights easier. Such as killing a Channeler in the depths that buffs the area boss. Or killing a giant that will throw rocks at you during a boss fight on a high tower if you leave him be.

The infamous blight town is a great casual filter that punishes players who come unprepared. The game has a spider shield that protects against toxic in the area right before blight town. But if you rush through the area you'll be assaulted by toxic dart throwers and most likely die before finding the bonfire. The swamp smartly has all of it's items on the outer rim to avoid rehashing the tedium that was Demons Souls Valley of defilement.

Where the game peaks is Anor Londo. All of the effort clearly went here given how important it is lore wise. You need to think out side the box to progress and be careful and patient. Which culminates in an excellent boss fight that punishes players who have been ignoring the RPG mechanics and just trying to brute force their way through like an action game. Unfortunately, the games saving grace vanishes in the second half.

It's clear that from soft was running out of time when you start the second half.

New Londo ruins gimmick is being dark and being ganked by hard to hit ghosts. Which you need a special item to even damage. You then open a flood gate and meander to a mediocre boss.

Valley of Giants and the Catacombs are just confusing, the valley being even worse because it's pitch black.

Dukes Archives has more effort but is far to short, with only one real puzzle that only serves to further progress with no real secrets to find. it's followed up by the embarrassingly bad crystal forest. An area that takes at most 10 minutes to get through because the game out right shows you where the gimmicky invisible floors are.

Lost Izalith is where the game really ♥♥♥♥♥ the bed. It's just a gaggle of overly large and wide areas. Plastered with early game bosses as regular enemies to make the area artificially harder. The area even has a recolor of the tutorial boss and hides an essential ring behind an out of the way side path.

Izalith ends with Bed of chaos, a horrible boss. It's so rushed and uninspired that it even has checkpoints after cutting off a branch, this section was so bad even miyazaki apologized for it. The final segment is completely luck based. In my first PT I was killed near the weak point 3 times in a row. In my second I barely beat her on my first attempt but I still somehow got hit when she died.

I've yet to mention most of the boss fights in detail yet. And that's because they are really nothing special aside from Ornstein and Smough and Artorias (and the above mentioned bed of chaos for all the wrong reasons). All of them can be 4-7 shotted with magic and the game even lets you summon NPCs for help. The Summons break the bosses AI much like the Penetrator fight in Demons souls. These bosses are not designed to be fighting more than one Player character at once. So one can simply snipe the bosses from afar while the summon melees them.

Many of the bosses eat up the entire camera if they manage to back the player to a wall. Which can lead to some lame deaths. The lock on also has a habit of targeting the bosses head and chests to keep them in view. But the player also aims at those areas. So it's means you'll constantly be unlocking near their feet if you run out of magic . Which can make getting good reads near impossible near walls.

Gameplay issues aside. The story is quite interesting and is the main reason I decided to ride this game out to completion. The world building, like Demons souls is fantastic. And it treats the players intelligence with enough respect to expect them to piece the lore together on their own while not being pretentious.

Demons Souls OST was a dark experimental orchestral sound, done by a Television composer. For this game, veteran video game composer Motoi Sakuraba was brought in and this is some of his best work. Ornstein and Smough's theme stands out as the highlight. The final boss theme is reminiscent of his work on more conventional JRPGs like Tales and Star ocean and is quite memorable. You'll be remembering this OST for years if you decide to play this.

Graphically the game looks incredible. Most of the horrible bloom from Demons Souls is gone. The lighting, while basic, is implemented in such a stellar way that it makes even the dreadful second half feel truly otherworldly. The texture work is some of the best of the 7th generation. Every weapon and enemy looks fantastic and the art direction is so striking you will never forget any of the areas or enemies.

Overall Dark souls is a memorable, but mediocre game, held back by it's broken combat and horrible second half. To it's credit there are far, far worse JRPGs you could be playing. But I'd get this on sale.

5/10.