Dark Souls: Prepare to Die

Get ready to put your gaming skills to the test once again with Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition. Bigger, meaner, and much harder than before, this is the ultimate way to play one of the most challenging action RPGs ever made.

Expanding upon a nearly perfect formula, Prepare To Die is more than a mere expansion for Dark Souls. Featuring some impressive improvements to the game’s PVP system, this is the best to get for players who are searching for the best way to play this FromSoftware classic.

Prepare to Try

Dark Souls veterans will find that the core gameplay of Prepare To Die Edition remains mostly untouched. Players will find that Lordran is still as unforgiving a place as before, filled to the brim with dangerous bosses and vicious enemies. A core concept of Dark Souls’ gameplay is dying, which might be why this enhanced version of the game embraces the game’s popularity of being tough as nails.

Unlike most games, where dying should be avoided at all costs, death in Dark Souls works a bit differently. Like Demon Souls, dying just means that players lose their “souls,” which they use to upgrade their characters. It can be a bit tiresome to go back to the place you fall each time you want to retrieve your lost souls, but that’s just part of Dark Souls’ masochistic brilliance.

Hidden Narrative

One of the most inventive parts about Dark Souls is the way it presents its plot. Players will have to piece together the story of Lordran through hidden pieces of lore found everywhere, from items descriptions to enemy designs.

However, while this approach to storytelling can be brilliant in its own way, some players might not be too welcoming of this idea, especially in a lore-rich RPG like this one. Voice acting can also be a bit iffy, with characters sounding like they’re reprising their roles rather than delivering dramatic speeches.

When it comes to presentation, Dark Souls proves to be the best grimdark fantasy we’ve seen in a while. Everything from the orchestral music to the armor and character designs looks positively fantastic.

Link the Flames

Among the many gameplay improvements introduced by the Prepare To Die Edition is a revamped PVP system that adds emphasis on arena battles. While the original Dark Souls had an interesting approach at multiplayer, this version upgrades the PVP to make the game more competitive.

Featuring an improved online matchmaking system, players can now visit some of the game’s new locations, specially designed for PVP combat, to train and face other players in a variety of game modes.

From 1v1 all the way to 4v4, the improved net code tries to fix some of the common problems players faced when playing multiplayer in the original game. That said, there are still some hiccups here and there that can make the online gaming experience a miserable one.

That said, the new areas and NPCs are as great as those in the base game, if not better. Veterans of the game might also find the epic conclusion to the story to be properly amazing, that is if they can keep up with what’s going on.

Pros:

• Satisfyingly difficult
• Nicely detailed characters and environments
• Responsive controls
• Beautiful presentation

Cons:

• Some online glitches