Dark Souls: Remastered Review

Platform played on: PC
Hours played: 80
Genre: Action-RPG
Completion: 100%

Praise the Sun

Years on from its birth, Dark Souls’ influence can still be felt at every level of gaming even today. The obscure and fiendish RPG that could has become a phenomenon, with multiple sequels and copycats hoping to tap into the formula. Though the series as we know it originated with Demon’s Souls, it was the sophomoric effort that achieved cult status. 

The Remaster of the game, released on 25/05/18, promised to refresh gamers’ memories of the cult hit, complete with modern resolution options and smooth 60fps gameplay. However, Dark Souls Remastered has proven to be controversial among consumers in the PC space, who argue that the remaster did nothing that wasn’t already done by the original game combined with the DSFix mod. Indeed, the gameplay additions in this remaster are few and far between, with the developers aiming to keep the gameplay entirely intact.

However, criticisms of the porting job specifically are just one part of the story; the central question to this review is if the game itself is good. With that in mind, specific critique on the remaster itself will come in another article. The game itself, however, should be reviewed first and foremost. With that in mind, prepare to read as we dive into the hardcore world of Dark Souls: Remastered.

Critique of the remastering job will come another time... Source: in-game screenshot

Punishing, but masterful

The most important thing that stands out about Dark Souls is the reputation of its difficulty. Souls is infamous for being a brutally-hard game that will test the resolve of even the most hardcore gamers out there. The truth is that Dark Souls has some frustrating and upsetting aspects; the game often punishes the tiniest of mistakes with swift and brutal retribution. As a result, it’s possible to lose hours of progress with just a few mistakes. 

However, it is also important to note that the player will never truly go backwards in their own development. The loss of accumulated souls (the in-game equivalent of XP and currency) makes for a painful punishment, but the player won’t lose upgrades that they’ve already made. Meanwhile, skill level will constantly improve as the mechanics of the game reveal themselves to the player. Success in Dark Souls is simply a matter of patience and perseverance.

Dark Souls may be punishing, but perseverance will be rewarded. Source: in-game screenshot

What is another important thing to note about Dark Souls is its commitment to theming and the oppressive nature of its plot. Players are tasked with journeying through the kingdom of Lordran amid an apocalypse, with the vague guidance of a grand prophecy for their motivation. Storytelling after the initial cutscene is sparse, and is primarily related to the player through NPC dialogues and item descriptions. Piecing together the lore of the world and exactly what is going on is its own rewarding meta-game in Dark Souls, and players are left to fill in the many gaps of the plot by pure speculation. 

The choice of using implication and unreliable narration to expose the plot is pure genius on the part of the developers. Dark Souls is designed through and through to be a game that players actively engage with right down to the smallest detail. The fact that the storyline is obscure lends itself to the design philosophy; that players are left to puzzle out and tease together loose plot threads by themselves creates an active atmosphere that implies a complex and convoluted world without needing the grandiose storytelling of bigger-budget games. Multiple interpretations can be made of the plot, and this only lends itself to the artistic flourish of Souls. This creates a sense of player agency and immersion; the player exists in this world and is bound by its rules as is everyone else. Their experience of the world is their own, and limited by their scope. 

On the other hand, however, the plot could have done with some polish; the voice acting of the NPCs can be laughably bad, and while the game tries to handwave some of the poorer storytelling aspects as indicative of characters’ growing insanity, the truth is that some tackiness shows through, particularly in the tendency of every NPC to trail off into semi-sarcastic laughter at the end of their conversations.

NPC dialogue is sparse, and could do with more polish. Source: in-game screenshot

The design of the plot, however, is perfectly in tandem with other elements of the game. Dark Souls was created as a cohesive whole, and this shows through; just as Lordran reveals itself to the player in a matter akin to the puzzle-box ethos of the Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil, so does the plot. The result is that the storyline is effective and involving. Once revealed to the player, it is clear to see that Dark Souls boasts a tragic, apocalyptic plot of hubris, sadness and power struggle. The storytelling in this game is indeed fundamental, masterful, and rewarding; to an extent seldom seen in the industry.

Fates intertwined

As stated before, the way players run through Lordran is its own kind of exposition; much like how the Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil slowly revealed itself to players as rooms became unlockable, so does the location of Dark Souls. The kingdom is a twisting labyrinth in its design, and shortcuts criss-cross all through the world. One area leads into another with an artful flair, and in a logical way that serves to surprise players at every turn. There is something beautiful about the way later areas cross over into earlier ones, and the unlocking of a shortcut is a joyful and rewarding experience that never gets old. The level design in Souls is among the best seen in gaming, no doubt; seldom surpassed even in the sequels.

The journey of Solaire is a perfect example of Dark Souls' storytelling. Source: in game screenshot

As players level up and start to unwrap the game, the intertwining of its mechanics become clear. That Dark Souls so neatly ties in the growth of player skill with the growth of its world is no small feat, and at every point of the game players are reminded of the increasing scope and power of their gameplay. Progression is gated skilfully, and the lack of level scaling only helps further; areas previously inaccessible due to being underpowered then open themselves up to the player in rewarding ways, showcasing to the player their own increasing skill and power in the world. It also helps that at any point players can return to earlier areas in the game. It is beautifully rewarding running through an earlier part of the game and seeing how one can destroy enemies that caused so much trouble the first time around. 

The way that progression is designed in Dark Souls is masterful. Players are not prevented from going into areas far beyond their own abilities, and may be swiftly punished for their hubris. But for those skilled enough such areas provide a refreshing, hardcore challenge with great reward. For the first-time players, however, they are instead hinted along a clearer path as a result; at the same time, the use of power and skill as a gating mechanism creates an organic and natural guideline rather than artificial designs used in other modern games. This creates a sense of exploration and logical world building that feeds back into the central design philosophy of Dark Souls seldom seen since the days of Zelda on the NES. 

Dark Souls' best feature is its sense of location and discovery. Source: in-game screenshot

Prepare to fight

Combat in Souls is deliberately paced and extremely tight. Players have created whole YouTube series highlighting frame-by-frame analysis of Dark Souls combat, and as such it has created a system that may be difficult to learn, but mastery creates a sense of power and achievement that is difficult to equal. Indeed, Dark Souls presents itself as a game that can be truly ‘mastered’, which is something that can be appreciated as contemporaries like Skyrim create a sense of randomness with floaty and awkward combat systems. It is indeed possible to play the game in a variety of ways with many different builds all suited to their own styles of combat, and this level of customisation is laudable as the player traverses Lordran. Initially, though, the temptation is to play as a tank; as players uncover the secrets of combat timing lighter builds then come into play, taking advantage of the rolling and dodging mechanics to face off against tough, but deliberately-timed bosses. If the player so chooses, however, levelling up is an option that (if done correctly) can bring great rewards and tune the difficulty right to their skill level.

Defeating a challenging boss in Souls is one of the greatest feelings in gaming. Source: in-game screenshot

It's a shame, then, that there are some immersion-breaking bugs that can destroy this sense of pacing. While for the most part, combat is a tense and highly-accurate affair, there are wonky hitboxes with some enemies and weapons that can break the game’s sense of fun entirely. Boss weapons often clip through walls, and the hitboxes, while tight, can sometimes seem unfairly strange in places. A sense of high-budget polish is desperately needed in Dark Souls, something that the remaster has sadly not offered. For the most part, however, the combat is indeed extremely tight and can take years to master fully. Even today players are still optimising and re-optimising strategies on how to play, which goes to show just how deep the rabbit hole of combat goes in this game. 

Ultimately, Dark Souls is easily painted as a flawed masterpiece. This is a game that for the most part is so artfully and masterfully designed that gamers can play for hundreds of hours and still have only scratched the surface, but on the other hand there are many areas where the inherent jankiness of its obscure nature come into play. Its obtuse design can sometimes be frustratingly opaque, to the point that glancing at a walkthrough is almost a necessity, but the sense of discovery is second-to-none as a result. It seems that Dark Souls is a story of pros and cons in its design choices.

Important to note, however, is that this is a huge game. Every minute detail in Dark Souls is worthy of analysis, such that this review is only really scratching the surface. An initial playthrough will take an average player over 50 hours, probably closer to 70 on the first try. Then there is the replay value; there is a scaling New Game Plus system, that rewards dedicated players with increasing difficulty right up to the seventh playthrough. There are a vast number of different ways to play the game and experimentation is encouraged; experiencing everything the game offers will undoubtedly take hundreds of hours. The game as a value proposition is simply a gift that keeps on giving, especially where multiplayer is involved.

Crossing paths

Multiplayer in Dark Souls is a fascinating and adrenaline-pumping experience, to be sure; like the rest of the game, access to its systems are somewhat different from its contemporaries and is its own mechanic. Players can take the role of invader phantoms, jumping into other people’s playthroughs and engaging in duels, helped along by the tight combat design. There is a whole other game in the Dark Souls multiplayer, and the use of Covenants, in-game factions that offer multiplayer rewards, is a stroke of flawed genius. There are multiple ways to play with others in Dark Souls, even down to a co-op mode that is perhaps its most memorable aspect, giving birth to the Sunbro fanbase. 

Unfortunately, as with any multiplayer game, the experience is soiled by a minority of toxic players, who take every joy in using hacks and exploits to ruin others’ days. It’s a shame, as the design of Dark Souls’ multiplayer would lend itself to memorable and enjoyable experience. But the truth is, it is a solid recommendation to play offline, even though the player is forgoing one of the best parts of the game. The implementation of anti-cheat in Dark Souls is almost non-existent, sadly leading to a ‘your mileage may vary’ recommendation of experiencing what could have been one of the most exciting multiplayer modes in recent history. 

Dark Souls is a veritable triumph of hardcore gaming; for the dedicated players, it can offer one of the most rewarding experiences ever made. That it’s gained a reputation for brutal difficulty is not even half of the story of the game, and truthfully, it is an undeserved reputation. Yes, it’s a punishing game, but Dark Souls is so much more than that. It is a flawed masterpiece of tight design and artistic vision. While Bioshock made the first mainstream case for videogames as art, Dark Souls perfected the ideal. However, due to some of the inherent issues of its choices in design and the dark spectre of a poorly-implemented multiplayer mode, Souls proves a difficult game to wholeheartedly recommend to everyone. For those who are willing to deal with frustration, and those who are patient, Dark Souls can be one of the most rewarding experiences ever made. For everyone else, it would probably be better to try to borrow the game from a friend before spending money on it, as enjoyment of this, as with any art, is ultimately subjective.

Dark Souls burns brightly, but the heat may be too intense for some. Source: in-game screenshot

The overall experience of Dark Souls, however, is one that I can’t not reward a Gold Standard medal. Quite simply, it is too impactful, too powerful, too masterful to ignore when considering the award. Dark Souls is a shoe-in for the Gold Standard, and will be talked about for years to come when considering the most impactful games in the industry.

-Gold Standard

Dark Souls may have many flaws, but it is hands-down one of the greatest games I've ever played. It's fundamental in its design and influence, and a deeply rewarding experience for those who persevere. The level of detail and artfulness in Dark Souls is simply astounding, and I cannot recommend it enough if you are brave enough to try the game. 

The Remaster indeed has many flaws and suffers from its status as a controversial cash-grab move, but the central game is still present, and just as deep and engaging as before. I've never played a game that immersed me quite like Dark Souls, and its progression in particular compels me to consider this a true great title of its time.

Dark Souls is, simply put, a masterpiece, and deserving of its status as a Gold Standard game. 

Classic Sonic's Sustainability

With this year marking the release of both Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, a worrying trend seems to have stuck itself to new Sonic games; that of leveraging ‘classic’ imagery and sentiment as a crutch to stay relevant. This isn’t entirely new, but it is an unsustainable method that will only yield returns for so long before we get tired.

Sonic Mania looks like a wonderful throwback to a time gone past, and looks well worth playing – the reviews of the game agree with this point. But the problem is in the game’s premise rather than its execution. It is part of a growing number of ‘flashback’ titles that leverage a desire for Sonic to ‘go back to his roots’ (a cliché phrasing of modern Sonic criticism if ever there was one).

How sustainable is this idea, really? Between Sonic 4 episodes 1 and 2, Sonic Generations, Sonic Mania, Classic Sonic’s return in Sonic Forces, not to mention a huge number of re-releases on virtual console systems, how much longer can SEGA milk what’s left of gamer’s nostalgia before gamers get bored of this trend? We can only see remakes and re-releases of Green Hill Zone so many times before it will inevitably lose its charm.

The unfortunate fact is that despite major positive steps forward in the form of Sonic Colours and Generations, the series still evokes an image of Bambi on ice, with shaky foundations that look so horribly precarious it’s almost hard to watch as the series goes on.

In its struggle for an identity in modern times, Sonic’s leveraging of its classics may have been a successful experiment, with the appearance of Classic Sonic in Generations and Forces, but now the trend is quickly becoming a tired trope. It’s time for gamers’ favourite hedgehog to drop these crutches and run – after all, isn’t this what Sonic is best known for?

More than anything, SEGA needs to reinvent Sonic’s identity, perhaps by looking at current Sonic conventions and throwing them out of the window. The transition wouldn’t be painless; many fans cling dearly to their nostalgic love of the ‘classic’ Sonic series that ended in the 90’s. But it won’t be long before this love runs out and instead we groan every time we see SEGA march out Classic Sonic only to expose him to further indignity. Let Classic Sonic rest now, and perhaps nail the final coffin in Modern Sonic’s grave, and give us a true reinvention of the character and his conventions before he winds up stuck in that grave permanently. 

Ty The Tasmanian Tiger Review

I went into the Steam edition of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger wanting to love it. I had fond memories of this game that I played as a teenage boy on the Gamecube. I loved the bright colours, the look of the character, the locations and the style of the game as a whole. Not to mention the fact that, as a 3D collect-a-thon platformer, it harkens back to a nostalgic time in gaming that I wish we could see more of today. With that in mind, it is a shame that I found the experience not nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped. While not a bad game, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is disappointing considering its initial promise.

Cutscenes are made with high CGI production values, but they aren't up to scratch on PC resolution. Screenshot from in-game.

To start off with, the game’s presentation, at first glance, looks beautiful. Colours are bright and locations are inspired by the flora, fauna and geography of the land Down Under. Levels usually take the form of areas built based on the look and feel of Australia and Tasmania. The character design, at first, seems interesting. But on the second look you start to see the cracks; Ty himself looks like a strange rendition of a Sonic fan-character, and the character art can at times leave a lot to be desired. It seems there was some inspiration taken from Sonic in the design of Ty and his friends, but I feel in this case the developers would have been better off distancing themselves from that particular segment of internet infamy.

Most of the characters in this screenshot veer too close to looking like Sonic the Hedgehog fan-characters for my liking.

The graphics do, however, benefit from the crystal-clear resolution overhaul they were given for the PC edition; the game looks crisp and runs smoothly. The graphics themselves were designed for the PS2 era, and for the time I have to say they were just as excellent as I remember. The aesthetic design and colours, especially of the beautiful levels themselves, are spot-on. The cutscenes, however, are still rendered in their original resolution which leaves the image looking blurry and occasionally stuttering; a shame, considering how well the rest of the game has been remastered.

At times, the game looks legitimately great and uses some lovely colours.

Presentation-wise, I feel that this game could do with more polish. There are certain rough edges to be found here, from some occasionally-odd character designs to some strange animations and general wonkiness throughout. This was a game that could have done with some more in the way of editing. There’s even a Shadow the Hedgehog style nemesis character who feels bland and cliché the minute you see him, and his storyline is about as predictable as one would expect given the game’s plot.

"I'm your angsty dopple-ganger, Shadow-er-I mean Sly!"

The sound design lets the game down in a bad way; the voice acting is worthy of derision. Ty himself speaks in little other than mildly-annoying catchphrases and the music is so repetitive that it wastes the Australian inspiration that went into the tracks. Other sound effects vary from ‘good enough’ to being below average and sometimes weird.

The gameplay is an interesting case; as a collect-a-thon platformer, Ty is about what you’d expect from a genre that evolved from Banjo-Kazooie and Crash Bandicoot. In fact, this game plays like a fusion of the two; you have theming and controls similar to Crash, and the collection gameplay of Banjo, in that the game takes place in sandbox-style levels with a list of objectives to be completed. It is just a shame that Ty offers so little to improve upon the formula. While the camera is somewhat difficult to get under control, I found Ty fairly easy to manoeuvre, his jumps high and his movement speed well-balanced.

If the game were better designed on Ty’s abilities as a character, it would be a lot more enjoyable. However, many times I have been frustrated by annoying platforming where the designers of the game seem to have misjudged the level of forgiveness that a jumping puzzle should give the player. This happened on more than one occasion where I was frustrated by the strange way in which Ty’s gliding mechanic seems to work (often times I would hit the ground faster than I would have if I had just jumped and let myself fall).

Other sections don’t make enough use of the game’s plethora of interesting rangs that offer some cool ideas as to puzzle design. I didn’t use the ‘Zappyrang’ once in the game and never found myself wanting to use it, and many of the games ‘rangs’ didn’t have any real use at all. It is a sad disappointment to see this potential go to waste.

Given the interesting possibilities of the 'rangs, they seem under-utilised.

As far as collection goes, Ty is a middle-of-the-road experience; the game’s story has you simply collecting items to move onto the next set of levels. These items (called ‘Thunder Eggs’ in the game) are received from completing map objectives like Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie. I will say that the game did offer somewhat of a progression in giving Ty access to elemental ‘rangs’ with different abilities, such as a Flame-Rang that melts ice. As a result, it seems that Ty does progress along with the game.

The challenge is oddly set; for younger gamers I think that the challenge is set at just the level that it makes progression slow enough to be uninteresting, and it is set too low for most of the older crowd who grew up playing these kinds of games, so Ty offers a strange package that suits nobody in this respect.

Really, there is not much to be said about Ty that hasn’t been said about other 3D platformer games; players who enjoy the likes of Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon will find some entertainment here. However, one thing I will say that I loved about this game is that the underwater controls are a lot better than other 3D platformers. Camera wonkiness aside, there just seems to be a smoothness of motion to Ty’s swimming abilities that I feel is a true improvement on what 3D platformers had previously achieved in their own obligatory swimming levels. It helps that the levels where this game’s swimming took place were some of the more well-designed ones, and were gorgeous to look at with the beautiful sandy beaches and crystal-clear Great Barrier Reef water.

While other games' water levels are their downfall, Ty's water levels are some of the high points of the game.

The storyline is where the game is really poor, in my opinion. Boss Cass, the game’s main villain, is a walking cliché and annoying in every respect, especially his voice acting. The same can be said of Sly, the obligatory nemesis/rival character that 3D platformers seemed to love at the time of Ty’s original release. 

Unusually, most of Boss Cass' cutscenes feature awkward close-ups of his face. Between his Dr. Evil laughter and mistreatment of minions, this is the least of his problems.

Thankfully, the latter isn’t as prominent, only appearing in a few cutscenes, but his inclusion makes me wonder whether or not he was just there to fill a slot as the rival. His presence seems to be an afterthought and is not well-followed-through, given his minimal status as a mini-boss in a single level, and a convenient, though unnecessary, Deus Ex Machina at the game’s climax.

The storyline as a whole is fairly inoffensive, though it is cliché and cringeworthy at times. Lacking in any originality, though not beyond what anyone would expect for a mid-2000s platformer. It feels as though the game’s unique premise and aesthetic goes largely to waste in a storyline that wouldn’t be out-of-place in a 90’s Saturday Morning cartoon. I wasn’t expecting Citizen Kane, but I was hoping for something better than Sonic Adventure 2.

There's even a platypus in a bikini. Cringy references to 'that internet thingy' are extra.

Ty is a story of lack of payoff from a good effort. While the game is good, and enjoyable at times, with a bit more polish, it could have earned a place next to some of 3D platforming’s greats. Sadly there was just lack of that special ‘spark’ that could have made the game special; a tiny bit of polishing, a bit more editing, and this would be a great game.

Erm...I'm not sure if this is a catch-phrase. But at least Ty says it enthusiastically enough!

As a 3D collect-a-thon, there is certainly nothing wrong with Ty the Tasmanian Tiger; for both kids and nostalgia fans there can be a lot of enjoyment here. But in a world where such pioneers as Crash Bandicoot and Banjo-Kazooie exist, this is a somewhat average title that is a case of sleeping, rather than crouching Tiger.