Praise The Swi … Sun!
Finally the time has come, the masterpiece of From Software, praised by many and hated by some because of the high level of difficulty has finally found its way to the Nintendo Switch.
This remastered version of the original from 2011 that has been out for a few months on the other well-known consoles, is now finally on the Nintendo Switch to play and that’s good news for anyone who wants to play the game portable and not a challenge go the way!
My Dark Souls experience
My first introduction to the Souls series was in 2016 with Dark Souls 3 on the Xbox One. Of course I had heard about the first three (Demon Souls) parts, but it never drew me to play this type of game because of the high difficulty. When I finally picked up courage and decided to give the third part in 2015 a chance, I played that game six times and since then I have been a big fan of the series that created a completely new unofficial genre in the world of video games, the Souls Genre!
These include Demon Souls and of course all Dark Souls also share Bloodborne and Nioh, both of which came out exclusively for the Playstation 4.
For anyone who just like me, now wants to start his first Souls game, has heard praise or simply does not know what I’m talking about, Dark Souls, the follow-up of Demon Souls is a third person action role playing game that is set in the dark, horror-like world called Lordran and consists of treacherous swamps, shadowy cities and dark catacombs where on every corner there is some lugubrious monster who will do everything to make you one or more cups smaller!
And if that is not bad enough there are also the many traps, self mis-timed jumps, narrow ridges and the occasional strange camera position so you do not see exactly where you end up making your life even more miserable.
The fact that you, as a player with a complete arsenal of well-cut knives, swords, axes and magical spells, have to send the most full-screen grotesque demons back to the underworld and have to provide the world with the necessary light also does not sound like a simple task. And let me tell you, it is not, at least not in the beginning.
That said, this is not a game for the casual gamer who occasionally plays some games of FIFA or Fortnite, every area, every enemy and every boss will regularly test your skills and show you that this game is not for everyone is put away.
This is a game that demands attention and dedication from the player. This is a game where the alertness of a hawk and the utmost concentration begin to become self-evident. This is a game that has no minimap, radar, objectives or pause button and where you really have to figure out everything yourself. This is a game where after ten failures you start thinking about how you could do better in a different way the eleventh time.
And whether that high level of difficulty comes now because the bosses in this game are often even bigger than an average city bus and have to instill a certain amount of fear into the player or because even a well-timed attack of three little rabid rats can end up at the same time for a fateful end worry, the fact is that you see the You Died screen much more often than you actually like.
Is that bad? No, not at all, because every mistake that lies at the basis of one of your inevitable endings in Dark Souls Remastered also has its learning momentum and that way you learn to adapt your tactics in such a way that you quickly become a lot more adept and easier. .
Perhaps the biggest weapon in this game is the attention and concentration you need to take in the attack patterns of your enemies in order to be able to parry them in a professional manner and to keep moving forward a little bit. can come into the world of Dark Souls ..
As you progress in the game and unlock more Bonfires (these are save points where you can level, assign other spells to your equipment or recharge your life vials you will unlock more and more areas.
Story
The story of Dark Souls is shrouded in mystery and if you wake up in an underground prison cell after a small intro video and your adventure is about to start, you have little or no idea what to expect. The story will progress as you go further in the game, and with the many NPCs that the world is rich it speaks a little bit better, but even then it is not all about what story wise is told.
Dark Souls challenges you to explore every area, unravel every secret location and often speak with the many NPCs several times to get the rich history that surrounds the world of Lodran. There are a number of youtube videos available that explain the story well so anyone who has no idea what to play while playing, I advise you to take a look.
Gameplay
What is of course a big plus of the Nintendo Switch version of Dark Souls is that this version can be played wherever you want in the handheld, in the train, at school between classes or at work. It all plays very smoothly, but I was bothered by the well-known framerate drops in both docked and handheld fashion at some points and it is also easy to see that the Nintendo Switch version can not keep up with the other consoles, which are really superior after all. are up to this version.
Where Dark Souls Remastered on the PS4 and XBOX One run at 60 fps, the version on the Nintendo Switch is limited to 30 fps (sometimes it dives at the screen with several enemies at the same time).
That is of course not a big loss that the framerate is halved, although I must honestly say that I have the XBOX version this year also twice passed and then I notice that for me personally something finer plays with 60fps. No big loss but I wanted to quote it.
Also for me this is the first game on the Nintendo Switch that I played with the button scheme equal to that of the other consoles and I mean that the function of the A and B button are reversed, this was not for me personally problem because I also play on the other consoles but for everyone who plays only on the Nintendo Switch this can get used to in the beginning.
Final judgement
According to some, Dark Souls is one of the best games ever made, whether I find that I leave in the middle, the fact is that this is just a good remaster of one of the better games on the previous generation of consoles.
Do you have a Nintendo Switch and would you like to know what is so good about Dark Souls then I can feel free to recommend this version, that you can also play it on the go is of course a nice extra that only the version on Nintendo’s console.
If you played the Remastered version on one of the other consoles earlier this year, you will experience little added value to this rather inferior version, except that you can play it in handheld.
Final Score
Game title: Dark Souls Remastered
Game description: Gather your courage, top up your Estus Flasks and prepare for tough challenges ahead in Dark Soulsâ„¢: Remastered for Nintendo Switch.
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Visueel - 70%70%
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Audio - 80%80%
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Gameplay - 80%80%
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Moelijkheid - 90%90%
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Content - 90%90%
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Extra's - 70%70%
Summary
Dark Souls Remastered, praised by many and hated by some for the high level of difficulty, has finally found its way to the Nintendo Switch.
