Prepare to Die Edition - and the name says it all.

Meanwhile, Dark Souls is since more than three years out and for a year on the PC, who needs this review so yet, there is not already enough? The answer is yes, and there are probably some where I would agree immediately, but I want to write my part this and that alone says it has enough about the game from.
First, I must clarify that this game has flaws, large, very large.
Let's start with the PC-implementation, this is really a joke. A maximum resolution of 1024 * 720 and an FPS Beschränkugn to 30 and in 2013? A PC port where only the Xbox Dashboard is explained and the worst Games for Windows Live, all which the latter says nothing good chance that it never will tell you something. Indeed deserves GFWL was namely made tight.
For the former (actually since the beginning of), there are now remedy with DSfix you can manually change the resolution and change the maximum FPS, and many other settings that were previously not possible (including AA, downsampling, shader illumination, improved textures ...) by Dark Souls looks the same much nicer and also runs more stable (even on older PCs or laptops, this makes it possible to play). Since I've installed außedem another Texturepatch and an alternative Beleuchtungsmod really chic with me Dark Souls!
The Steurung has not bothered me, I was warned, and have played it from the beginning with Xbox controller, but I was told that especially thanks Mods can also play PC-control liquid.
GFWL is another story, I have once again managed to lose my memory status by partially but that was self-indebtedness, so I will not go into further thereon. If you have because at some point got it up and running (has certainly taken me), it runs really stable.

Let's get to the actual game. What I had not heard anything from Dark Souls, from since there are chess computers for the hardest game. Let you not be put off, this may happen in a the first two hours so, but is actually quite simple if you have the gameplay internalized times. After beginning I eigenltich never felt it was difficult, challenging it meets this very well.
Yet it is precisely this initial fascination impressed Dark Souls. Man is thrown into the game, intro sequence with tangled story threads, little dialogue in the beginning and then it's already happening. Actually, in this case the control will be explained, but only for as I said the Xbox controller. The first meters turn out to be harmless, but after a short time you will die the first time. The interesting thing here is that is wanted and even part of the story. Then you will at one of the fixed points Save (also part of the story) start walking up and die rather quickly again. A death is first not bad, your accumulated experience points (which can you invest in level, upgrades, or items) are namely stored shortly before your place of death, so they can be collected again. The trick here, so revived after each stop at one of the Bonfires (reservoir levels), so even after death, are pretty much all the NPCs in this area. So if you die again before your souls reached (experience points) they are just gone. The course guarantees ungemeines frustration potential, but at the same time creates the system of fixed memory points and the fear of losing his experience an incredible atmosphere. No battle is underestimated and if you then feel sometime sure you coming soon a warning death, who recalled that her still plays you Dark Souls.
Although the potential is tremendous frustration high, it creates Dark Souls is not unfair to his (admittedly there are some exceptions, but these are really rare). This feat succeeds Dark Souls by the actual gameplay, so the combat control. At first one might be a little overwhelmed, but after two hours you start to really understand it and after 10 hours one thinks slowly to know all the tricks, after 20 hours, it is then in the flesh gone etc. The learning curve is simply enormously high ,
As already mentioned, I had managed to lose it a savegame, I had already played here after all grand total of 30 hours. When I had finally wrestled me to once again begin I realized stunned that I had caught up with me within 6 hours. The combat control just sat, and I also knew, of course, the movement of the NPCs already.
The combat controller's really succeeded. Each death you are indeed on cursing, but you know exactly actually it really was his own inability and how it would fold the next time better. Many RPGs may raise like a leaf, with pretty much all modern RPGs I usually feel that I simply could hammer into the mouse.

As already mentioned the atmosphere in Dark Souls is really good, to die the same already alone by the ongoing fear. This plays into a lot more. For example, there is the believable world, credible first not in the sense of the story, but in the sense of the structure. The level design is simply awesome! The whole world is interlinked, the further you move forward in the game is the greater this understanding. There's just an unbelievable number Shortcurts linking the new areas with the old, you see a ladder can come down and suddenly you stand in the starting area. The fascination here is hard to describe, but once you have experienced it yourself, you know what I mean.

The story in Dark Souls is somewhat hard to describe and will pass by many well. The intron sequence is about the only of the story is what you really paid for everything else you have to interact with the NPC and you have to find this part first. In fact, that's something that really bothered me in Dark Souls. If you want to know the complete story in Dark Souls of the NPCs you have to work in principle with a complete solution. Admittedly, I've peppered with many things on the Internet, but not acted consistently by solution. The game often does not forgive this if Boss was defeated x the wrong time is NPC y no longer responds and thus one of the few story points away. The story is still told about the Item descriptions. But even with all the quests and items that story is still overall very vague and invites for an interpretation, the Internet is full of Lorevideos and discussions. This kind of storytelling have to give love, but for the actual game but not necessarily important. Dark Souls is an RPG which is definitely not influenced by the story.
For online system I can not comment too much on that idea here, however, is quite nice. So one always sees phantoms of other players to jump through the screen and if you meet the necessary requirements (which you can, however, also let it be easy) you will be invaded and first has to deal with another player create. Intriguingly, some regulations has prevailed even in this case. So is normally greeted with gestures before the fight starts. As my Internet however is not very good, I usually refrain from PvP and will not go into further thereon. The online system made it maybe but in addition to PvP even Coop, so you can pick up at Boss opponents, for example, help (though I advise hereof urgently from the first pass, it's just not the same).

As now hopefully become apparent, Dark Souls is far from perfect and has many shortcomings (many that I still have not mentioned), but the positive aspects far outweigh. For me, Dark Souls was finally a game that could really tie up while I was otherwise quite disappointed with most games in recent years. So much so that I can overlook the really bad PC port (which otherwise is not my style) and 5 * forgive. The game is now really no more expensive (often very cheap;)), so I just can highly recommend ... Buy it yourself.