Dark Souls Previews

While it may have been overshadowed by games with a bigger marketing budget, Dark Souls has received some consistent coverage at the latest E3, and we’ve rounded up another batch of previews for From Software’s action RPG.

USA TODAY:

Like Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls features a knight who must explore countless dungeons and battle dozens of enemies using a combination of weapons and magic spells such as lightning bolts. Based on a quick eyes-only tour of Dark Souls, the game looks gorgeous.

The series’ signature messaging system also returns, allowing players to leave notes accessible from each dungeon that offer tips or advice on conquering the challenges ahead.

Hirono says Dark Souls will add a Pledge system that groups players together based on similar beliefs or trends. However, specific details on how this mechanic will work were scant.

A+E Interactive:

During my hands-on time, I noticed that the controls are more refined. It’s more responsive this time around as I controlled my Solaire of Astora (ie. knight) around an area called the Undead Parish. So far, there are six classes available: soldier, knight, witch, black knight, pyromancer and of course solaire.

The overall look of Dark Souls is brighter. It doesn’t feel as dour as its predecessor. Seeing the game doesn’t make me want to turn all goth. During the beginning of the demo, I immediately ran into one of the bosses a wyvern. It breathes fire and turns players into barbecue. They can defeat it if they’re a masochist who loves dying, but it acts merely as a decoy.

Team Xbox:

From a gameplay prospective Dark Souls takes place from a third person perspective. Your character has four abilities that are represented on the game’s HUD as well your stamina and health meters. Combat consists of hack and slash similar to other roleplaying games we have seen this generation. In order to assist newer players FromSoftware have included a new checkpoint system in the form of bonfires. FromSoftware stated that this will not give the players a crutch to rely on. Instead of losing 3 hours of work upon death players may find that have only lost one hour. If you ask me that is still a pretty harsh penalty for death.

Nerd Reactor:

One of the first things I noticed about the demo, is that just after you pass a few enemies, which seem like they’re there for you to take some practice swings on, there are two separate paths to take. On the right, a staircase, and on the left, a wide bridge with a large dragon taking up the entire width of the bridge. Wanting to see what would happen, I ran straight towards the dragon. Sure enough, he not only blew fire at me, but at his own warriors too, engulfing the whole bridge in flames. After surviving the first wave of attacks, I ran back inside, but that was not enough. The dragon came up to the building I was safely hiding in, blew fire, and ended my first run.