Developer FromSoftware’s Dark Souls series has continued to please—and anger—action gamers for quite some time now. There have been several titles released but the original Dark Souls is considered by many to be the best of the series providing a challenging world for players to enter and die…many times again and again. Now after seven years and on the newer age of consoles, we see Dark Souls return in Dark Souls Remastered. With updated visuals, the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, and several technical improvements, Dark Souls Remastered brings gamers back into the beautiful anger they have loved in the past. Unaltered, Dark Souls Remastered remains a faithful port of the original and many will find this the best way to experience the beauty of Dark Souls once more.

Dark Souls Remastered takes players through dangerous settings as they do battle with undead beings and various monstrous creatures. Death is a never ending cycle in Dark Souls Remastered meaning it will challenge players to learn from their mistakes and equally gather courage to constantly retry after several failures. Arm your warrior with a multitude of weapons, magic skills and prayers to stem the tide of death for a brief moment longer. If you love challenging games that test your gamer skills, then you’re the targeted audience for Dark Souls Remastered. Whether you’re a series veteran or a newcomer, Dark Souls Remastered will offer you an experience you’ll not soon forget.

The Age of Fire was brought to the kingdom of Lordran after a long battle with the Dragons that held power. Upon their defeat at the hands of various warriors, Lordran entered an age that would change the landscape in ways that were both glorious and terrifying. Years have passed and the fire has begun to wane as Lordran sinks further into darkness. Men and women have forgone death and find themselves trapped in life as beings forced to continually decay but never perish. You are one of these people who has been locked away for what should be an eternity. However, after a chance encounter you find yourself released and your destiny to rekindle the fire begins…

If you ask action gamers what the hardest gaming series ever made is, then you’ll probably hear a lot of them say Dark Souls. Since 2011, Dark Souls has had several titles come out and each one has made players jump for joy at success and want to bash controllers on walls when they fail. Dark Souls 2 and 3 were amazing games in the series but many fans—including us here at Honey’s Anime—always found the first Dark Souls to be the perfect blend of action, horror and challenge. That’s why when Dark Souls Remastered was announced and released to the world, you can bet we got our controllers—and safeguarded our walls—ready for a return to the kingdom of Lordran. Here is our review of Dark Souls Remastered where we ask the million-dollar question. Should you endure the pains of the past once again?

Dark Souls Remastered tells the story of a doomed warrior—you in this case—who has been tasked with either rekindling the fire that keeps life alive and cursed or letting it diminish forever. Regardless of your choice, the adventure itself is the same. You’re going to arm yourself with swords, spears, magic, bows, shields and various other tools to survive against various beings that sometimes can tower over your small hero. Dark Souls Remastered will test your gaming prowess as you overcome adversity and better yourself by earning souls to level your hero—or have to regain them if you die and can’t return to the area you perished at—and powering up by gaining new weapons and armor as you progress. It’s important to mention that Dark Souls Remastered doesn’t change any of the major mechanics found in the original game but only adds some minor tweaks and gameplay visuals which we’ll describe in a second.

Bosses, enemy locations, item locations and the various other secrets of Dark Souls have not been tampered with in Dark Souls Remastered. This is the same game as the 2011 version which is very important to mention. If you were hoping for new content, new DLC or maybe new enemies then you’ll sadly be disappointed by Dark Souls Remastered’s lack of changing anything besides an easier way of choosing covenants, better online components—that are similar to the newer Dark Souls games—and faster frame rates to avoid the plagues of horrible areas coming to a crash like Blightown. However, even with these improvements, we still had some slow downs here and there when the action ramped up too much but it was far and few between. The take away from everything we mentioned though is that again, this is Dark Souls original with the DLC added but nothing much more than that. We could dive into every little element of Dark Souls Remastered but because it’s the same game ultimately as the original, it would be kind of pointless seeing as how this is an almost 8 year old game at this point.

Graphically, Dark Souls Remastered looks…dated. Sure, we can clearly see some polish has been put into environments and enemies but character models and cutscenes show their date of release and it’s a bit unfortunate as this makes Dark Souls Remastered feel legit more like a port than a remastering. Though the sound remains strong and even with the dated visuals, the sheer scale of Lordran and the various areas you’ll explore still impress even after all this time. It might be old, but Dark Souls Remastered is a game that’s aged quite well.

Now let us end our review by saying this: Gameplay wise, Dark Souls Remastered is the same beast it was back in 2011. This means you’re not getting a new game per say but an original version just slightly tuned up for more modern consoles. The beauty of this though is that die-hard fans will be happy to see Dark Souls Remastered is faithful to the original and doesn’t remove elements or butcher them in any way or form. You’re getting a classic title that plays well—despite some elements we would have liked seen removed in favor of the newer games like Dark Souls 3—and looks okay. Dark Souls Remastered is a game we feel was made for fans or those who truly never experienced the 2011 hit game and that isn’t a bad thing at all.

Dark Souls Remastered isn’t a new experience and doesn’t offer any additional content outside of a few graphical upgrades and some minor in game tweaks. However, that is the beauty of Dark Souls Remastered, it doesn’t need to be fixed. The Dark Souls of more recent times have some better action elements and some clearly stronger graphics, but there’s just something iconic about the original Dark Souls and to see it back in 2018 running better and looking smoother is a real treat overall. You’ll still die a lot and you’ll still want to toss your controller outside into traffic when you hit your tenth death on a boss, but true fans of the series will know that this type of experience is one rarely offered by anything but the Dark Souls series. Dark Souls Remastered is great for those who missed out on the original or die-hard fans who needed a reason to run through hell again for the hundredth time. We truly recommend picking up Dark Souls Remastered and know you won’t regret it in the slightest. Just remember to take breaks if your blood pressure feels like it’s going to spike…

As far as remasters go, Dark Souls Remastered does bare bones when it comes to making any big updates and that kind of is a letdown. Fans of the series however will know that this is the best thing for such an amazing game. Dark Souls Remastered is left 100% original and only given some minor—but necessary—technical fixes and a slight upscale in graphics. That’s why if you’ve played Dark Souls a million times, maybe you might not care about Dark Souls Remastered but for true fans and elitists, you’ll be like us. You’ll go back into Dark Souls Remastered and aim for the end game once again. Are you anxiously awaiting picking up Dark Souls Remastered? Let us know in the comments below and for all your gaming article needs as well as reviews, keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime!