A game worthy of its hype, and now one of my favourite games ever.

I bought Dark Souls at retail back in 2013 after years of the chat online about it, but due to an unwillingness to dedicate the time to understand it as well as being a bit more impatient than I am now, I cast it and the Souls series aside. After seeing Demon's Souls PS5, I told myself I'd give the series another go and I'm so glad that I did.

Put simply, Dark Souls is one of the best games I've ever played. The gameplay is top notch, and the depths you can go to (no pun intended) are bewildering. The atmosphere is constantly tense and thrilling, and the sense of reward you get from completing an area or finally killing a boss are unmatched in this genre. That is to say if Dark Souls hasn't now created its own sub-genre of action RPG, which Valve seems to think given the inclusion of a "Souls-like" tag in its store.

I can think of a few minor areas of the game that were maybe a bit too complicated and made me think "how was I supposed to know how to do that?", but then again I'm playing 8 years after its PC release and the hints left by players on the ground are sparse, which I know would have rectified these issues (without spoilers, certain jumps to be made, or areas you need to access not being entirely obvious is what I'm referencing here).

I think Dark Souls is a must-play for anyone interested in action RPGs, its lore or even just the allure surrounding the series as a whole. It's an experience I'll now be comparing other games against, and the only downside I can think of after completing it is that I'll never get to do it for the first time again.

Time taken to beat: 40 hours

Score: 10/10

A game worthy of its hype, and now one of my favourite games ever. I bought Dark Souls at retail back in 2013 after years of the chat online about it, but due to an unwillingness to dedicate the time to understand it as well as being a bit more impatient than I am now, I cast it and the Souls series aside. After seeing Demon's Souls PS5, I told myself I'd give the series another go and I'm so glad that I did. Put simply, Dark Souls is one of the best games I've ever played. The gameplay is top notch, and the depths you can go to (no pun intended) are bewildering. The atmosphere is constantly tense and thrilling, and the sense of reward you get from completing an area or finally killing a boss are unmatched in this genre. That is to say if Dark Souls hasn't now created its own sub-genre of action RPG, which Valve seems to think given the inclusion of a "Souls-like" tag in its store. I can think of a few minor areas of the game that were maybe a bit too complicated and made me think "how was I supposed to know how to do that?", but then again I'm playing 8 years after its PC release and the hints left by players on the ground are sparse, which I know would have rectified these issues (without spoilers, certain jumps to be made, or areas you need to access not being entirely obvious is what I'm referencing here). I think Dark Souls is a must-play for anyone interested in action RPGs, its lore or even just the allure surrounding the series as a whole. It's an experience I'll now be comparing other games against, and the only downside I can think of after completing it is that I'll never get to do it for the first time again. Time taken to beat: [b][u]40 hours[/u][/b] Score: [b][u]10/10[/u][/b]