4/5 ★ – Kalle_Deimos's review of Dark Souls: Remastered.

TLDR: Oh my god...I get it I say on my fourth playthrough Gameplay: For the longest time I was a Dark Souls denier. I started with II and then continued to III. Returning to 1 felt, clunky. Strange. Unnatural. Weapons were way too slow. Rolling felt bad. Enemies were too quick. No fast travel for most of the game. Blacksmiths scattered across the land and confusing progression. I wrote it off as frustrating and mid for a long time. But that hasn't stopped me from replaying it. Thinking "maybe this is the one". And finally, this was the one. I understand the love, the infatuation. I understand the obsession. I understand that the last third kinda sucks even. Maybe it's because I just came off the heels of Demon's Souls but Dark Souls feels freeing. This is the DS we know and love, the level design, the weapons, the sidequests. These are the staples that will be cemented into FromSoft history. And while it does have flaws, blatent ones, I adore Dark Souls after such a long time. Probably because I'm doing a parry / dagger build. Something I never thought I'd do. So what's wrong then? Well the bosses aren't all that. Some can be a good challenge, especially early game, but some are total pushovers. The later areas of the game once you get the Lordvessel are hit and miss. I like the Grand Archive's and New Londo. I did not like Tomb of the Giants or Lost Izalith. Lost Izalith especially is so bad and it's a shame because the aesthetic is awesome. But I loved it finally. And I may even play it...a FIFTH time. Story: The lore of Dark Souls is extensive and deeply intriguing. The actual plot in-game is much less so. What do I mean by this? Well the story of Dark Souls has basically ended by the time you show up. You're just here to clean up the scraps that were left behind. You go from area to area, bosses show up and you kill them. Basically besides Crestfallen Warrior and Kingseeker Frampt there is no characters that really tell you what to do besides hinting at some lore of the land. It's pretty realistic in that aspect as you are an outsider of Lodran and wouldn't really be filled in on what's going on. The joke is that the story comes from item descriptions but that's not even true either. If you can gleam any tangible information in those things then you are a prophet because they tell you almost nothing. The lore comes from inference and debate and interpretation of in-game myths and legends. Which is why we have entire groups of entertainers whose sole job is to talk about Dark Souls lore and goddamnit, it's some of the most intriguing story telling done in gaming. I love the world of Lordran and learning about it's history from it's conception to the fading of the fire. The Age of Dragons, The Age of Fire, the coming Age of Dark, it's all so cool. And then on top of that all the lore of the locations, enemies and even spells flesh out the world to absurd levels. Dark Souls has some of the best story telling...unless you are a passive player. If you're just playing the game and never looking into things outside of playing, the game is probably boring and confusing. But I haven't met many players who can resist their curiosity on what the hell is happening. Graphics: I used to believe that Dark Souls was an ugly game. But playing the remaster, I see the light. Many models can look a bit funky. Especially faces, faces on every character looks like ass. Which I suppose is why you barely see them. But the real draw to the visuals is the art design, the bigger picture of the world around you, not just the fidelity of the graphics in front of your character. Something that I love is that there is a real sense of accurate geography in Dark Souls. Areas feel connected to each other since they physically are. There is no seperation between worlds by fast traveling or elevators into the sky that bring you into a sinking lava castle. It all makes real life sense. And that's great. Sound: Your characters moans sensually whenever hit and it's always funny. Sound is really good. Probably my favorite music in the trilogy. The abyss has this ominous thunder bellowing from it at all times and that added so much to the atmosphere and ominous tension. Extra: Besides exploring areas, completing obscure character quests and some optional bosses, there really isn't much 'extra' to be found. Favorite Thing: Watch how Gough hunts Dragons Not My Favorite Thing: Bed of Chaos Boss Runback