Dark Souls 360

Dark Souls is Namco Bandai and From Software's spiritual sequel to the critically lauded 2009 dungeon-crawler Demon's Souls.

It arrives early in Japan exclusively for the PlayStation 3, but has a 7th of October European release date for both PS3 and, new for this game, Xbox 360. Like its predecessor, it is genetically related to the '90s combat RPG King's Field.

The game touts 60 hours of gameplay and from talking to the developers, it is set to be even more difficult than its agonizing predecessor. Although, unlike the previous game where, upon death, the game scenario you failed at gets progressively harder, instead the smiling and sadistic series developer Hidetaka Miyazaki states it has a steady learning curve that will eventually end in tears.

 

Similarly, he says he wants players to feel a true sense of accomplishment when they get through these scenarios. By the same token, there are more ways than ever to achieve your tasks, which he demonstrates by using a sword to attack an unprotected part of an armoured giant boar, then contrasts it by using a lure item (essentially a kiting item) to attract the beast into fire.

The frustrating "World Tendency" system has been scrapped, but Miyazaki makes it known that it will be made up for in a fun but more difficult way.

A big new addition is bonfires. Stoking a bonfire replenishes your health flasks, which replace the healing herb system in the previous title and also serve as a checkpoint. Strengthening your fire allows you to get more health-flasks for a single session and also affects multiplayer sessions around you. The checkpoints aren't able to help that much. If you try and kill off enemies, then refuel at your checkpoint, the enemies will respawn and appear a lot meaner.

 

Unlike Demons' Souls, Dark Souls is no longer rigidly class-based. You can go about building your skills and spells however you please in this giant, seamless world. The gameplay is fairly similar to the original, but has received a graphical overhaul. The attention to detail is rather stunning; if you block arrows with your shield, they are embedded in it, if you then parry or block, they fall out onto the ground. If you have a long sword and start swinging it in a tight corridor, it will clash against the wall and reduce the damage of your swing. Additionally, the number of spells and items has been doubled.

Online play is similar to the original, a bizarre massively multiplayer game where the ghosts of other players (actually players playing elsewhere) fade in and out of view, their bloodstains showing how they died. You can leave notes for your fellow travellers that share vague tips about how to get past the next enemy. If your console is online, then you are online in Dark Souls, even if you don't want to be, which is a little terrifying in itself.

 

Eye stones, used for multiplayer purposes in the previous game, are out. If you drop a multiplayer sign, other players can join you in co-op or can raid your game. This is still not based around your friends list, instead matching and contrasting players based upon their in-game skills and general gameplay proficiency. However, there is an alignment system, currently called oaths and pledges, which allows players to pick a way that they play the game and be similarly grouped with other players.

This may tie into what Miyazaki mentioned regarding a "role-playing" element to the game, which may also influence multiplayer scenarios. At the moment, there is a maximum of four players in one world for multiplayer, in addition to the ghosts and bloodstains creeping out the place.

Much like its predecessor then, Dark Souls aims to offer a complex RPG experience with more than enough action to keep even the most cynical critics quiet.

October can't come soon enough.