Dark Souls Reloaded - Thousands of dead, and wanting more

Dark Souls Reloaded - Thousands of dead

Explaining the path of the Dark Souls series in a nutshell is no easy task. The creations of Hidetaka Miyazaki have shaped the last ten years thanks to a large group of avid fans and unwavering supporters who have helped to project them into the Olympus of video games, making them excel on titles with an imposing authorial depth.

Nel his very long journey that began in 1986 and matured up to Tenchu, which would have inspired Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, FromSoftware has not yet committed a false step. It is a developer famous for having an out-of-scale consistency and creativity, thanks to the merits of Hidetaka Miyazaki, who became executive president in 2014 after the successes of Dark Souls and its sequel.

These two productions, which have become real mass phenomena for many lost souls in search of the Ancient Flame, have given way to a rosy period for the Japanese team, making it one of the most renowned, appreciated and loved by gamers around the world.

Much of this success can be traced back to Demon's Souls, which gave rise to the intricate storylines we experienced in the darkest and most frightening adventures within the first title of the franchise . A game that had the readiness to come out at a time when fantasy was still a genre able to amaze anyone who was attracted to it and that, even today, manages to enchant.

Artorias of the Abyss is probably the best DLC made on a Dark Souls character. Its story is touching and offers unique reflections and emotions. The success, which became unstoppable, however, is due to the golden age of YouTube and the arrival of Twitch, the two iconic platforms that have pushed many content creators to produce the most disparate videos dedicated to the franchise, from those focused on the lore of the three games, up to difficult but interesting speedruns that entertained an incalculable number of spectators.

At that time there was talk of the accessibility of the first Dark Souls, which proposed a high level of difficulty by the standards of the time, where story driven experiences were the most popular. Released on September 22, 2011, a few months before Skyrim, Dark Souls was a surprise that came at a time certainly not lacking in titles to play. Victim of a careless optimization, the graphics of the time did not give particular emotions, although the artistic direction filled this gap thanks to an inspired and enveloping setting.

When you come into contact with Lordran for the first time, it becomes difficult to get out of it as if nothing had happened: you can't really say to finish the first Dark Souls if you don't explore every corner of the game map. Thanks to a level design that is the quintessence of originality, the first title represents a starting point that has expanded with Artorias of the Abyss, a DLC (or a cut content) that tells the story of one of the four knights of Gwyn, known for trying to cross the Abyss, failing in the enterprise.

We could spend hours talking about the mythology of the first Dark Souls, how it fits in with the third chapter and what meaning does the flame that it revives the world, generated by the only light capable of feeding all the others. And we're not talking about a hero without blemish or fear, but about the players who have traversed the lands of Lordran and uncovered its mysteries and turbulent past in the frayed clothes of the Chosen Undead. Dark Souls Remastered, released for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, is the full version of this experience that has written an indelible page in FromSoftware's scrapbook.

A thorough analysis of the Digital Foundry that has carefully examined Dark Souls Remastered, raised for the occasion to sixty frames per second.

Watch on YouTube. Approaching sixty frames per second and ensuring a more defined and improved image quality, the experience is enjoyable and appreciable to the eye, as opposed to what it was in some parts of the original on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In our memories are The merciless frame drops within the Infamous City are still imprinted, a place that deserves this insulting term because it is a complex section full of despicable enemies ready to do anything to stop us from advancing.

It was then the multiplayer, both in the form of invasions and above all in the asynchronous nature to have changed the cards on the table. To communicate, in fact, all that was needed was to write messages reserved for all players in need of help, although the more experienced have enjoyed deceiving newbies by leading them very often to death.

Leaving Lordran, we traveled through lush yet scary territories, awakening in the middle of a meadow covered with conifers and conifers. Dark Souls 2, released on March 11, 2014, is the only title in the series not to have been directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, and is the most talked about by the community because it is often considered the worst of the series.

In reality, the second iteration of the franchise is a noteworthy work, which in some cases improves what was good in the first chapter, modernizing the graphics to refine the visual impact of the predecessor. While limiting himself to filing the polygonal models, improving the ambient lighting and carrying out a more careful optimization work, the final result was pleasant. But while not making who knows what major changes in gameplay, Dark Souls 2 was not connected to the predecessor except by a few very well hidden tracks.

An image of Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin. Drangleic, the fallen realm in which the events are set, is a fascinating place full of mysteries. Visiting it, however, is as lethal as it is demanding: moving in these lands has led to the death of the most curious travelers, those inexperienced who had not experienced Lordran and even the most mature. Scholar of the First Sin, the definitive edition of Dark Souls II, has fixed optimization flaws and integrated the three DLCs that came out between July 22, August 26 and September 30, 2014.

Non we're talking about the usual fillers, let alone minor additions: the full version of Dark Souls II indeed has the great merit of having expanded the dark fantasy world of Drangleic with accuracy. In addition to having filed down the smallest details such as the positioning of the enemies, it has quintupled the longevity, reaching even the one hundred and fifty hours of play.

It is difficult not to talk at length about the three dedicated expansions, which not only have offered many hours of fun but they managed to carve out a space so relevant as to lead fans to grab the definitive edition rather than the main one, because it is very different and richer than what today we would consider a director's cut with attributes.

And what else about the additional content dedicated to Dark Souls II? Crown on the Sunken King, Crown of the Old Iron King and Crown of the Ivory King are three episodes that tell the journey of our protagonist intent on reuniting the three lost crowns. After a year of silence and many hours of gameplay, FromSoftware reappeared with great fanfare at E3 2015 with the announcement trailer for Dark Souls III, the final chapter.

The teaser trailer for Dark Souls 3 in all its splendor. At the time, many got up from their chairs!

Watch on YouTube. Building on the success of Bloodborne, released in the vintage of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Batman: Arkham Knight, we thought it would take some time to get our hands on the third episode of the series. It actually came on March 24, 2016, marking Bandai Namco's biggest hit ever and selling more than three million copies worldwide in just the first three weeks of launch.

This time we're in another kingdom in ruins. called Lothric, where the five Ash lords formerly bound the Flame. When they come back to life after the tolling of the bell of the Sanctuary of the Bond of Fire, a new protagonist awakens from the tomb ready for a new journey in a fascinating land, full of stories and ancient secrets; so ancient, if we think about it, to reconnect to the lands of Lordran and its dark, terrifying past.

The aesthetics offer incredible glimpses of real beauty. Thanks to an inspired artistic direction, this time more defined, the third work of the franchise is the one that makes the most of the potential of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Although initially there were optimization problems, nothing prevented FromSoftware from releasing updates to make the experience more enjoyable than it already was, correcting precisely the smallness of the framerate.

Ariendel is a dangerous place , full of pitfalls and deadly enemies. Not even such a broadsword can prevail. A few months after its launch, Ashes of Ariendel was released on October 25, 2016, the first DLC, which took us to an icy land inside the Painted World of Ariendel. In addition to new armor sets and new spells, the additional content featured new bosses and meeting other NPCs. An interesting journey, sure, but really complicated due to the clashes with some of the most dangerous creatures of the entire saga.

The same happened with The Ringed City, the latest expansion that has definitively closed the adventures related to the Dark Soul. Compared to the previous DLC it offered more additional content and gave a more marked narrative imprint at the end of time. Covered in a pile of ruins and decaying places where ash made the air unbreathable, Lothric was doomed to death. Her light, once shining, had gone out.

Dark Souls III, too, later had its own GOTY Edition including all the expansions released, an edition that even appealed to owners of the base game. Dark Souls, today, is part of the FPS Boost list on Xbox, which allows many titles to run at sixty frames per second in backwards compatibility mode. On Series X / S the visual impact is well defined, but the best way to enjoy it remains on PC due to the many mods available.

The community, in this sense, in the course of these ten years has created a page on Nexus Mods dedicated to Dark Souls, with all the most interesting and strange mods ever made. It is not like that of Skyrim, of course, but there are some that made us smile and others that are downloaded by many fans also to improve the gaming experience.

One of the most anticipated announcements of the 2014 was just that.

Watch on YouTube. If you're not happy playing as Solaire, the man who "Praises the Sun", you can play as Black Iron Tarkas. Alternatively, you can change the difficulty by adding a selector, a useful mod for anyone unfamiliar with such complicated titles but want to enjoy a nice role-playing game.

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Other mods improve graphics and framerate, while still others offer dubbing in Italian. Yes, fans have made one - obviously unofficial - of the first title in the series.

According to official data from Steam Charts, it seems that Dark Souls Remastered is the most played title ever, followed by Dark Souls III and Dark Souls II. It seems, however, that players prefer to live the three experiences on PC. Still, there are many players on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, not even counting the owners of PlayStation 5 and Series X / S, who play in backward compatibility.

According to the analysis of Digital Foundry, only one platform manages to keep Dark Souls Remastered on sixty frames per second, which is the PC version. The same happens for Dark Souls II where, despite some points in favor of Sony's past flagship, the Direct X 11 for PC offers unique elements, as we explain in this article.

Needless to say, Dark Souls III is also better optimized on PC, despite Series X / S's FPS Boost and those sixty frames per second that are coveted by Redmond console owners. And what about the Dark Souls Trilogy, the definitive edition with games and all expansions?

The Dark Souls series is among the best known and most loved of the last ten years. It does not matter whether you are passionate, owner of the three chapters or just a novice: just know that it is absolutely worth the ticket price.