Dark Souls Remastered

Even a decade later, "Dark Souls" can still be recommended as a solid action RPG with fascinating art direction and remarkable level design. I was planning to play it on Switch to make my train rides more tolerable, but I literally couldn't take my hands off it.

Exploration is what motivated me the most: figuring out how all areas are interconnected and playing around with the loot you find at each corner really makes you feel like you are allowed to approach the game the way you like. While "Demon's Souls" had six separate areas with their own linear progression, "Dark Souls" lets us enjoy free-roaming across a continuous map made of different biomes. Even though you are technically allowed to get anywhere, keys dropped by bosses are needed to open most locations, probably as a way to make sure you won't get into the most dangerous areas too early. I wish fast travel could be unlocked earlier, though. The only way to figure out the best way to go without a walkthrough is to travel across the map multiple times and assess the difficulty of each area, so fast travel would have definitely smoothened the process.

It would be impossible to objectively assess the game's overall difficulty, as everyone's hardest Souls game is always their first. It just takes some time to learn how to play and, especially, how to spend your experience points. Still, "Dark Souls" felt like one of the easiest in the series - I could tank the hell out of most enemies with the possible exception of the DLC bosses. For the most part, it's dodge, double hit, back off, repeat. The game requires trial and error and careful risk assessment, but most areas were relatively smooth to clear. Just make sure to buy curse healing items before getting into The Depths and farm poison healing items before Blighttown. Those debuffs nearly caused me a nervous breakdown.

The only thing that actually felt unfair is how enemies manage to hit you through walls and doors while you can't. The combat and gameplay are almost the same as "Demons Souls" (clumsiness included), with "humanity" acting as a more accessible debuff than the "soul" form, and the possibility to refill your healing flasks at checkpoints so that you won't need to farm for herbs and potions.

The setting and lore are incredibly fascinating, but there is not much plot going on as you play. The ending, in particular, felt a little too underwhelming after all the time spent on the game. The NPC quests are also way too hard to understand unless you search for tips on the internet.

The user interface is, as always, too cryptic. It's true that most people (including myself) wouldn't even bother reading tutorials even if they were available, but figuring out the meaning of each stat and symbol can really help overcome most challenges. Of course, it's never been a huge issue as lots of guides and resources are available online, but what if the Souls series stayed a niche sensation?

The Switch port was alright, even though I only played in handheld mode. The framerate is not rock solid, but it hardly ruined my experience.