Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2514 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,867 out of 2514
  2. Mixed: 224 out of 2514
  3. Negative: 423 out of 2514

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  1. MrImmoli
    Aug 24, 2012
    0
    Wow. This game. FPS is locked at 30 (same as on console), which by itself isn't a HUGE problem, but throw in FPS drops due to the engine and suddenly you're looking at much lower framerate in two areas (maybe more if the new content adds any). Naitively the game does not support resolutions higher than 1024X720 (though that was somewhat fixed by some random guy in about...23 minutes.Wow. This game. FPS is locked at 30 (same as on console), which by itself isn't a HUGE problem, but throw in FPS drops due to the engine and suddenly you're looking at much lower framerate in two areas (maybe more if the new content adds any). Naitively the game does not support resolutions higher than 1024X720 (though that was somewhat fixed by some random guy in about...23 minutes. Apparently 23 minutes is just too much time for From to put into the game. Keep in mind he had no experience with the game nore a source code). And the controls. The windows mouse arrow is in the middle of the game screen. That is just pathetic. Oh and instead of the mouse controlling the camera (like, ya know, practically all other PC games with a moveable camera) the mouse only acts to control a virtual joystick, and this virtual joystick move the camera slower than it is moved on the PS3 or 360 version. Mouse accerlation (which is a bad thing already) was reveresed and as a result if you move the mouse quicker it actually slows down the camera. And then the game uses GFWL...

    This port is just horrible. It is **** Do NOT buy it you would be wasting your money on a pile of **** and telling developers and publishers "Hey, I'm cool if you release broken **** I'll still eat it up nom nom nom!" The people giving it 10 stars or anything higher than a **** 5 are either fanboys or marketers being paid to do so. Hell, the two "professional reviewers" gave this **** an 92 and 89. I bet you almost anything they happened to get a little gift from Namco or FromSoft, that are the reviewers themselves are fanboys. Now, port aside. This game really is great, it is unfortunate that the port is such utter **** If you have a PS3 or 360 or if the PC version gets fixed then I do highly recommend you buy the game, but do not buy this port so long as it is a steaming pile of ****    … Expand
  2. truefreestyle
    Dec 26, 2012
    0
    If replaying the same 20 minutes over and for several hours is considered fun then this is the game for you. Dark Souls is a badly designed game that punishes you for making mistakes and the developers literally design this game to piss you off (they even intentionally kill you at times even right before you can save). To be honest I feel that their advertisements for it being anIf replaying the same 20 minutes over and for several hours is considered fun then this is the game for you. Dark Souls is a badly designed game that punishes you for making mistakes and the developers literally design this game to piss you off (they even intentionally kill you at times even right before you can save). To be honest I feel that their advertisements for it being an "extremely difficult game" is more like another way of saying "badly designed game."… Expand
  3. Knoxville
    Oct 24, 2012
    0
    This game absolutely ruined my day. Camera work is terrible, character dies from a 1 foot fall, it's just...bad. DO NOT get this game whatsoever. You have been warned.
  4. Specimen128
    Nov 28, 2013
    0
    This is total crap. You need to install 100 patches and hacks to make it kinda work on pc and its still unplayable. I tried to make it work for 1 hour and I surrendered. Even if you patch it up, you're still getting confusing Xbox 360 input tutorials. It's totaly broken.
  5. BAPACop
    Oct 28, 2013
    0
    I can't wait until gaming technology is advanced enough that developers will be able to implement a button that freezes the action to allow you to go to the bathroom, or answer the phone, or perform other basic real-life tasks.

    Oh wait...
  6. Widden
    Jan 31, 2013
    0
    Rubbish. It's an extremely shoddy console port, nothing else. Steer well clear of it to save your sanity. No proper mouse and keyboard handling, low-resolution textures, un-skippable movies; the lot!

    Does not worth a penny.
  7. SleepingDog
    Aug 30, 2012
    0
    Just uninstalled it, this game is the worst port I've ever played. The controls are terribly clunky, and cause of that you will die many times, hence the name 'Prepare to Die'. Difficulty in any game should be caused by mechanics, not lousy and broken gameplay.
  8. fickett
    Aug 24, 2012
    0
    This has to be the worst pc port ever. The only reason they shelled this out is because pc gamers petitioned for it and they gave us a bad quality product. This is going to lead them to believe that if you make a pc port then pc gamers won't buy it but in reality pc gamers won't buy bad quality products.
  9. Getterac7
    Aug 24, 2012
    0
    Dark Souls has been one of the worst PC game experiences I've had in years.

    First off: all help messages are given for the Xbox360 controller, even though I don't have a controller plugged in. I spent 5 minutes mashing every key on the keyboard trying to figure out how to get to the options menu before finally hitting "End" to open the options. What the hell? End? Really? Couldn't    Dark Souls has been one of the worst PC game experiences I've had in years.

    First off: all help messages are given for the Xbox360 controller, even though I don't have a controller plugged in. I spent 5 minutes mashing every key on the keyboard trying to figure out how to get to the options menu before finally hitting "End" to open the options. What the hell? End? Really? Couldn't use the Escape key like EVERY OTHER GAME?

    So I find out the D-pad corresponds to the arrow keys, then when I pick up my sword and shield, it tells me to use the left and right on the D-pad to switch to my sword, so I hit left and right arrow keys a few times and nothing happens. I have to dig through some inventory menus to equip my sword first I guess. Why not tell me that?

    While we are on the topic of controls: I use a non-QWERTY keyboard, so where the W key should be, is actually a comma. I tried to remap the move forward key and it would not let me set the W key (which is the comma character). Why on Earth would it not accept the comma character is beyond me. This is the first game I have EVER encountered (of the hundreds and hundreds I have played) that wouldn't let me do that.

    Let's get to the menus. They are absolutely not friendly to a mouse pointer at all. Some widgets you can click, some you can't; you never know what's going to happen when you try to click on something. The only reliable way to use the menus are with the arrow keys.

    Playing through the first area I noticed the camera felt pretty difficult to control and then it hit me: the camera is not moving based on how far I move my mouse! Moving the mouse simply makes the camera move at a fixed speed. Excuse me? I feel like I'm trying to play Doom 1 over here. While we're talking about the mouse: I constantly see my Windows mouse cursor over top of the game and it is incredibly distracting.

    Sound: I have a 5.1 sound system, but I play using headphones at night out of respect for my neighbors and roommates. There are no audio options to switch to stereo mode, so with headphones I could not hear any voices in the game, even while subtitles were playing.

    Graphics: I can accept the 30 fps cap and I can accept the 720p upscaling, but come on, this is 2012. At least try.

    So all in all I rate this 0/10 because, although it may have a cool story and fun gameplay, I couldn't experience it because of the shoddy nature of the port.    … Expand
  10. necropsie
    Aug 24, 2012
    0
    This is the holy grail of all console ports to the PC: The worst of it all. Trust me, it is that bad. Default key mapping is a joke. Graphics are **** even 5-6 year old games look much nice. Sound effects are so simple and bad. And controls.. Oh, controls. They are.. stupid. Yep. Dont waste your time even with a pirated version, i think this gives an idea of how bad this game is. It isn'tThis is the holy grail of all console ports to the PC: The worst of it all. Trust me, it is that bad. Default key mapping is a joke. Graphics are **** even 5-6 year old games look much nice. Sound effects are so simple and bad. And controls.. Oh, controls. They are.. stupid. Yep. Dont waste your time even with a pirated version, i think this gives an idea of how bad this game is. It isn't even worth of pirated download..… Expand
  11. dopehat
    Aug 25, 2012
    0
    This is the worst port I have ever played in my entire life - Yeah, I am not kidding. They didn't even bother changing the ingame hints from keybinds from the Xbox controller to PC keyboard, so every time the game asks you to press a key to loot, open a door or whatever, its showed as if you were using an Xbox controller, and lets you sit and guess which botton that was again. - CameraThis is the worst port I have ever played in my entire life - Yeah, I am not kidding. They didn't even bother changing the ingame hints from keybinds from the Xbox controller to PC keyboard, so every time the game asks you to press a key to loot, open a door or whatever, its showed as if you were using an Xbox controller, and lets you sit and guess which botton that was again. - Camera swings around horribly annoying when using the mouse. I cant believe this game was ever, and I mean ever released for the PC, I would feel ashamed as a developer here. I can't believe people are poking this to a anywhere near positive rating, it's unacceptable to release a game that cant run with decent controls unless gamers invest in an xbox or playstation controller, - if players wants to use that, they would have gotten the game for their consoles. Wake up people, this is not acceptable. - I was stuck at some point trying to figure out how to open the main menu to check my controls, but I never found it after pressing every damn key on my keyboard. - Don't support this - Don't buy this game...… Expand
  12. drwebs
    Aug 25, 2012
    0
    This is the worst port ever, talk about a crap game that stacks on hype and a steaming pile of nasty ports. This game was supposed to kill diablo 3, what a joke. The developers failed at their life
  13. RoweShamboe
    Aug 28, 2012
    0
    Completely unusable as a PC they do not even try. The tutorial is written for the Xbox controller and it took forever to find out how to bring up the Menu (it is End not Esc). Do not buy, more frustration than fun.
  14. DrVarsims
    Aug 31, 2012
    0
    If you like incredibly difficult games that make you redo the same crap 100 times because you aren't "hardcore" enough then this game is for you; seriously, why can't I just make the game easier it is so frustrating. Graphics are terrible, game runs slowly, combat is slow and boring, controls are meh, and in general nothing is very exciting or intuitive about this game.
  15. 0and0is00
    Sep 3, 2012
    0
    The lack of the possibility to use the PC-controls (mouse/keyboard) correctly, makes this game basically unplayable on the PC.
    Rather spend the money on another PC game.
  16. Saix
    Sep 9, 2012
    0
    Totally wasted my time! First, I learned to use a keyboard, watching this obsolete graphics, then I connected an Xbox controller and it become better. But all was a waste when I was killed by a dragon came from nowhere and lose all XP :( Why do so?
  17. Lino
    Sep 18, 2012
    0
    DONT BUY THIS GAME!!!!!

    I just created an account to rate this 0 because its an absolute impudence to sell this game on PC like that. I will never buy a game of that company again you cant do that. There are no controlls for PC its all made for consol, and whats worng with the grapic this looks awful, now i have to buy an 360 controller for my Pc Just to play this game. How can ppl even    DONT BUY THIS GAME!!!!!

    I just created an account to rate this 0 because its an absolute impudence to sell this game on PC like that. I will never buy a game of that company again you cant do that. There are no controlls for PC its all made for consol, and whats worng with the grapic this looks awful, now i have to buy an 360 controller for my Pc Just to play this game. How can ppl even rate this game with more than 5 its simply lieing to ppl who trust an honest rateing.    … Expand
  18. ChrisPD
    Nov 25, 2012
    0
    Reading the critical reviews of this game you're led to believe that you're in for a challenging and rewarding game experience. However the only real challenge in this title comes from resisting the urge to turn it off when you're forced to repeat the journey to the 'Bosses' for the 20th time, wading through constantly respawning enemies that just stand there until being activated. That'sReading the critical reviews of this game you're led to believe that you're in for a challenging and rewarding game experience. However the only real challenge in this title comes from resisting the urge to turn it off when you're forced to repeat the journey to the 'Bosses' for the 20th time, wading through constantly respawning enemies that just stand there until being activated. That's the challenge. Not the ingenious game design or the (non existent) AI. Avoiding mistakes because you've repetitively completed this very journey 20 times before. Killing the exact same enemy exactly the same way for an hour.

    I could ignore the terrible repetitive gameplay if it there was a semblance of storyline propelling you through the game. Which is where we come to the second part of the 'appeal' of the game, how rewarding it is. Rewarding is seeing a story develop, overcoming a challenge and being rewarded with more exposition, more areas to explore and a change in challenge. The first 4 bosses require you to cycle around the same general area over and over killing the same enemies over and over, and the reward? Getting to do it again for the next boss, as everytime you save, all the enemies re spawn. Great idea, shall we spend time on story, enemy AI, environment design? Nah just respawn them all in the same place and get 'em to do it again. And again. And again, after all we've got their money right?

    Also the port is unplayable without an xbox controller.    … Expand
  19. macronus
    Oct 5, 2012
    0
    This game is absolutely anti-fun and terrible designed. Checkpoints 3km away from bosses/important spots, minimum information about important things making this game unplayable without reading tons of guides/watching letsplays.
  20. SohailACE
    Nov 21, 2012
    0
    Worst port of the year, worst graphics, gameplay sucks, biggest flop of the year 2012.................................................................
  21. plotlesviolence
    Apr 30, 2016
    0
    [OVERALL = 0 (or less)]
    The Dark Souls series are the worst-designed games ever made and have no redeeming factor. They are also the most overrated, because for reasons I can't understand, the rest of the internet adores them and actually praises their flaws as if they were virtues. "Hard but fair" they say? Dark Souls isn't hard, it's time-consuming and obtuse; once you waste 5 hours    [OVERALL = 0 (or less)]
    The Dark Souls series are the worst-designed games ever made and have no redeeming factor. They are also the most overrated, because for reasons I can't understand, the rest of the internet adores them and actually praises their flaws as if they were virtues. "Hard but fair" they say? Dark Souls isn't hard, it's time-consuming and obtuse; once you waste 5 hours grinding your stats and find the "cheat" weapons with a walkthrough, most encounters become so easy they're boring; and it isn't fair, the game randomly punishes you (SEVERELY) often and without warning, and is totally unplayable without a step-by-step walkthrough. If someone patched the game to remove the upgrade system, properly balance the enemy encounters, and put a navigation arrow telling you where to go, a 50-hour-plus slog would turn into a 3-hour game that would bore you after the first hour.

    [PRESENTATION = 7]
    (Visuals = 7) Graphics aren't bad, but everything more or less looks alike (brick castle with vegetation); the only reason you recognize places is that the game halts your progress so much you become familiar with the most generic of locations.
    (Sound = 7)
    (Voice Acting = 5)
    (Vibration = 5)
    (Physics = 8) Enemies ragdoll when they die and the physics of broken crates/barrels is actually pretty cool, although physics never affect gameplay.
    (Plot = 5) The story isn't great but is unintrusive.

    [CONTROL = 2]
    (100% 3D hack-and-slash = 2) DS is a shallow hack-and-slash. Damage can penetrate blocking shields and is affected by distance and whether you press the light/fast attack or heavy attack button, with every move drawing from a limited but regenerating stamina pool. But there are only three moves:
    a) while locked-on, deflect an incoming attack to instant-kill; this reduces the game to a quicktime event without a button prompt
    b) while locked-on, hold the shield button to block a strike until the enemy staggers, then counter-attack
    c) do a dodge-roll to avoid a strike, then counter-attack. This is the most risky strategy, it mostly only works on bosses (whereas a and b only work on standard soldiers)
    All of these put you at risk when you face more than one enemy at a time, because you can only focus on one.
    The game also lies to you about there being other options. Supposedly it's possible to wield one heavy sword with both hands, or one weapon in each hand, but since you need the shield to block if you want to survive multiple encounters, these are impossible.
    There are also some purchasable projectiles, and the occasional rare item that grants you a significant advantage (like doubling your health or the weapon's damage, etc.) but you'll never use them because you die so regularly that any one-use item would be a waste.
    (Camera = 6)
    (Physics = 4)
    (Friendly AI = none)
    (Enemy AI = 3)

    [DESIGN = 0]
    (Menus = 4)
    (Upgrade System = 0) Non-automatic upgrade systems are a cancer on videogames, because they always result in boring grinding early on and then being boring-ly overpowered later. Of course DS embraces both flaws to both extremes. But worse, you drop all non-spent experience points where you die and they vanish if you don't collect them on the next life, so it's easily possible to waste 2 hours of your time for nothing.
    (Level Design = 0) Every checkpoint has like 5 paths branching from it, 2 of them hidden, only 1 of them feasible in order to advance the game, and of course there are no hints as to which path that is. It is unplayable without a walkthrough. This is a problem videogames solved around the GTA3/Crazy Taxi era: navigation arrows.
    (Difficulty Curve = 0) Personally, I don't like "exploration" games, but for those who do, one of the prerequisites is that exploration not be painful. In DS, the constant risk of losing all your experience holds you back from trying new paths or risky jumps. At one point I fell into a pit and got hit by gas that took half my health (aka "cursed"). PERMANENTLY. Unless you trekked across the entire map and bought one of a LIMITED number of cures. And since enemies respawn, it is totally possible to lose half your health forever.
    The game is so punishing that you stop feeling guilty about winning through exploits that aren't fun: spamming projectiles from outside enemy reach, tricking the enemy AI into walking off cliffs, etc.
    (Modes = Singleplayer campaign w/occasional online Players allowed in to fight you, 50 hours, 95% padded) Had difficulty been properly calibrated, you could get through the whole game in 3 hours if you could stand how simplistically boring the combat is.

    [CONCLUSION]
    This isn't "hard", it's bad design. I've played bad games before, but never one made intentionally so bad to purposefully frustrate its audience. Super Meat Boy is hard. ANYONE can beat Dark Souls with a walkthrough guide and the willingness to be bored and frustrated for 50 hours straight. I only wasted as much time as I did to see what the fuss was about, and I regret even that.    … Expand
  22. PloppySon
    Aug 9, 2013
    0
    I saw this game in a Steam sale for £4.99. After a bit of research I downloaded the fixes in advance and noted that I should use a gamepad already have a 360 for windows pad so all was well. I bought and downloaded Dark Souls on Steam, applied the fix and followed the instructions in the Steam forums about switching off Anti Aliasing and Motion Blur game worked fine and with the pad iI saw this game in a Steam sale for £4.99. After a bit of research I downloaded the fixes in advance and noted that I should use a gamepad already have a 360 for windows pad so all was well. I bought and downloaded Dark Souls on Steam, applied the fix and followed the instructions in the Steam forums about switching off Anti Aliasing and Motion Blur game worked fine and with the pad i had no control issues either so it was a good start.

    You start the game fighting really easy monsters then a tough boss monster, after a few attempts I beat him then moved on to the next area 1st problem I had no idea where i was going and ended up fighting high level skeletons right away and took about an hour killing just a few and dying A LOT!

    Then I accidentally found the right way to go and the game got better as monsters we weaker and it seemed enjoyable for a few hours. Combat is very very unforgiving and you'll die trying to do simple moves that look like they will work but don't leaving you frustrated for most of the game.

    Once you upgrade your weapons and armour/items the game gets much easier and you just have to learn enemy attack patterns and so on all sounds fair but you have a lot of fights where you will be cheated out of a victory by glitches and other things that just waste your time. you respawn when you die and have to run back to where you died to get your xp back if you die trying to get it you'll lose your xp (Yes that's right, dying lots before you get to a bonfire/checkpoint/save means you can't level up).

    I could go on and explain every last detail about this game but it seems like it should be a classic but bad design flaws in the combat and instant death traps etc leave you wondering why you bother and certain class builds seem to be a requirement for every boss battle pick light/agile/caster or die.

    Most of the low scores here relate to the bad port but I just got bored of playing this game got to the DLC content and by that point still hadn't got to any part of the game that was exciting or cool.

    Very overrated by Fan-boys. I tried really hard to like this game and kept playing just to see if it got better and all it did was show how overhyped the game is.

    Who knows, you might like this game and give it 10/10

    If you like the quicktime events in Resident Evil 4 and being killed for not doing exactly what the game wants you to do at the exact time then this is the game for you.    … Expand
  23. Paco73
    Nov 20, 2012
    0
    ..........................................................................................................................................................................Crappy port. Not even worth a $2.99 bargain bin purchase.
  24. Spanked_Ur_Mom
    Dec 25, 2012
    0
    Awful game. I bought this game for $15 on Amazon and still feel like I got ripped off. I definitely wish there was a one level demo that I could have tried because then I could have saved my cash. This is a game that I will not play at all. It will just sit in my library and rot. I would not even recommend this game to others if it was a free-to-play game. My complaints are notAwful game. I bought this game for $15 on Amazon and still feel like I got ripped off. I definitely wish there was a one level demo that I could have tried because then I could have saved my cash. This is a game that I will not play at all. It will just sit in my library and rot. I would not even recommend this game to others if it was a free-to-play game. My complaints are not because it is a console port. I actually like playing games with a 360 controller. If a game does not have controller support, I map out a profile to use with xpadder. My complaints are with the game itself. The controls are terrible. It is hard to make your character stab or throw something in the direction you want him to. The graphics are low quality, even the cutscense look bad. The screenshots on Steam make the game seem like the graphics are okay but they are no where close to being okay. The game is difficult as well. Difficult to the point of being frustrating. There is no way to change the difficulty setting to bring it to a level that I would enjoy. Namco Bandai has officially joined Atari and Sega on my list of Publishers to never purchase games from. EA is getting close to being on that list too. Right now they sit with Ubisoft on my list of Publishers to only buy games at half of retail or less.… Expand
  25. zmaint
    Jul 22, 2013
    0
    Another console port. No keyboard support, you have to use an Xbox controller. Graphics are low res Xbox crap.

    Good news: I paid $2.49 on a Steam sale.
    Bad news: I wasted $2.49 on a complete and utter steaming pile of crap.
  26. Neardark
    Jan 16, 2013
    0
    I dont mind if this game is hard, This is one of the reason why I got this game. I play all my games at the hardest difficult always. I don't care about GFWL, the low frame and the outdated graphics, there are solutions for it, This game had the potential to be one of the best PC games of 2012, but the company was so lazy to put a little effort to make this playable. I spent about 10I dont mind if this game is hard, This is one of the reason why I got this game. I play all my games at the hardest difficult always. I don't care about GFWL, the low frame and the outdated graphics, there are solutions for it, This game had the potential to be one of the best PC games of 2012, but the company was so lazy to put a little effort to make this playable. I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure the keys, cause the game use xbox layout (the **** menu is on the END key). You die not because you suck, but because the camera keeps you changing your target between enemies. People are rating this with 10 because they are console players or because they played the game before at console and like it, Come on guys you know that this port does not deserve 10, the developers dont even botther to try make this playable with mouse and keyboard. This game should get a 5 score, but with so many people rating with 10 and defending a bad port game for no reason i will rate this with 0 to balance the score. My advice: Pirate this game from torrent sites and try it for yourself, then if you think developers should get your money for doing nothing with a pc port, feel free… Expand
  27. Kain
    Jan 17, 2013
    0
    This game is offensive to everyone that is not in coma since 2000 , it's rather easy to look for a game made in that time superior to this that they called a "game" , 0 graphics , 0 sound , 0 Gameplay , the one thing that could be interesting is the plot , but i will take my hat to the ones that have the courage to play this more than 10 mins .... 6.8 user score at the moment is veryThis game is offensive to everyone that is not in coma since 2000 , it's rather easy to look for a game made in that time superior to this that they called a "game" , 0 graphics , 0 sound , 0 Gameplay , the one thing that could be interesting is the plot , but i will take my hat to the ones that have the courage to play this more than 10 mins .... 6.8 user score at the moment is very flattering to this "game"… Expand
  28. Bryan2013GC
    Jan 22, 2013
    0
    Essentially to begin with game mechanics & principles these days are consistent with real life mechanics; jumping, real time strategy, sneaking, crouching etc etc. Dark Souls on the other hand takes you right back to the dark days of gaming (sluggish controls, slow time ducking and dodging, button squeezing due to frustration) which is a consumer killer. This game is slowed andEssentially to begin with game mechanics & principles these days are consistent with real life mechanics; jumping, real time strategy, sneaking, crouching etc etc. Dark Souls on the other hand takes you right back to the dark days of gaming (sluggish controls, slow time ducking and dodging, button squeezing due to frustration) which is a consumer killer. This game is slowed and unresponsive especially to the fact of combat. I have given myself patience to cope with it. Ultimately I decided that having a brain aneurysm is not worth the time dedicated to this game and starting 33 times with the same re spawned enemies doesn't help either (nightmare much?). Another aspect is the system of combat and ammo; For example no arrows for certain classes in early stages of the game, so therefore close encounter combat would have to be necessary for the hunter or any other class that is reliant on distant damage before closing the gap with fast strikes. Its just redundant for that class to even have close combat. I give this game a 0 and would like to question the game developers in what the hell where they thinking? there is no excuse for such bad ports with amazing game engines and technologies we have now (2013 not 1990 anymore guys!!)… Expand
  29. lockie507
    Sep 25, 2013
    0
    This is by far the worst port I have ever seen. they have not even bothered to remove the Xbox controller promps when playing on a keyboard.

    Also the Camera is very jittery and unpredictable, also why oh why would they leave the standard mouse pointer to be seen permanently in the game....

    Please don't waste your money on this.
  30. Primax
    Mar 3, 2013
    0
    Quite literally the worse console port I have ever encountered. Not only is the port quality terrible, the game forces you to use the god awful Games For Windows Live. I deeply regret buying this on steam and will be refunding it.
  31. kbl1983
    Apr 16, 2013
    0
    The Bad
    1. Terrible port
    2. Stressful for beginners 3. Can get PKed while online 4.Wheres a map?? 5. Poor character creation 6. NEED XBOX CONTROLLER TO EVEN PLAY! 7. Almost unplayable with keyboard and mouse "headache" 8. Tough as hell so cant rush through and will be chased down 9. YOU WILL DIE ALOT or "Prepare To Die" so not a stress free game The Good..... 1. Was able to    The Bad
    1. Terrible port
    2. Stressful for beginners
    3. Can get PKed while online
    4.Wheres a map??
    5. Poor character creation
    6. NEED XBOX CONTROLLER TO EVEN PLAY!
    7. Almost unplayable with keyboard and mouse "headache"
    8. Tough as hell so cant rush through and will be chased down
    9. YOU WILL DIE ALOT or "Prepare To Die" so not a stress free game

    The Good.....
    1. Was able to make it playable with some download fixes    … Expand
  32. Maxwanko
    Apr 27, 2013
    0
    This PC Port is a crime. Unplayable. I spent hours trying to get this game to work after purchasing it on Steam. I downloaded mods from the community. It remained a clunky piece of junk, and the partial controller support did nothing to help the play experience. Screen resolution was not modifiable. I'm sure the console versions are great, but if the game is not playable, it is a zero.
  33. pizzer123
    Mar 11, 2014
    0
    This is absolutely the worst game in existence i have no idea what kind of complete moron reviews this game and finds it "enjoyable" it is a game that aims to anger and does so again and again, if you are some kind of masochistic then this is the game for you, otherwise ignore what your friends say, ignore the reviews the only explanation i can possibly think for this horrendous game toThis is absolutely the worst game in existence i have no idea what kind of complete moron reviews this game and finds it "enjoyable" it is a game that aims to anger and does so again and again, if you are some kind of masochistic then this is the game for you, otherwise ignore what your friends say, ignore the reviews the only explanation i can possibly think for this horrendous game to get such great reviews is that this is some kind of sick internet joke.… Expand
  34. zrrz
    Jul 14, 2013
    0
    Trash. Input made by a retarded donkey. Kicked me to the start menu because of "frames problem," when it was running perfectly. Would have been decent if Devs put 10 minutes into making it a PC game.
  35. MrFunsocks
    Jul 20, 2013
    0
    Worst purchase ever. Terrible controls, for mouse or keyboard. The joypad controls aren't rebindable, and the default bindings are atrocious. I spent about an hour messing with it before I started using JoyToKey to try and remap my controller. Just got fed up. Maybe it's good, but the intro (even aside from controller issues) shows some tired graphics, incomprehensible story setup, andWorst purchase ever. Terrible controls, for mouse or keyboard. The joypad controls aren't rebindable, and the default bindings are atrocious. I spent about an hour messing with it before I started using JoyToKey to try and remap my controller. Just got fed up. Maybe it's good, but the intro (even aside from controller issues) shows some tired graphics, incomprehensible story setup, and incredibly bland gameplay, along with a basically nonexistent tutorial. Maybe it gets better later, I don't know, but I'm not going to fight the game for another hour just to find out.… Expand
  36. Osmium
    Jul 30, 2013
    0
    The game itself is simply fantastic, a legend among videogamers. The atmosphere is always tense, the difficulty level is horrendous you need a lot of patience and will die very often in this game. But this is exactly what makes progressing in this game so rewarding. Great action RPG, though recommendable to hardcore gamers only.
    But: The PC version which I am rating here is by far the    The game itself is simply fantastic, a legend among videogamers. The atmosphere is always tense, the difficulty level is horrendous you need a lot of patience and will die very often in this game. But this is exactly what makes progressing in this game so rewarding. Great action RPG, though recommendable to hardcore gamers only.
    But: The PC version which I am rating here is by far the worst console port ever to defile my hard drive. Graphics are horrible, controls (with mouse and keyboard) are beyond broken, other technical issues (games crashes to desktop, freezes, inexplicable FPS drops) are taking away the rest of the fun. No effort whatsoever has been put into this console port, it is disgusting and a disgrace to the devs. I would recommend anyone interested in this title to get it on the console, not for PC.    … Expand
  37. Eitr
    Aug 12, 2013
    0
    Garbage port. Key bindings are the worst and the game wont even tell you which key because it only displays controller buttons. After finally getting it to go full screen and controller hooked up, gameplay was still buggy and the camera was awful. At one point an enemy had killed me at a bonfire, but when I respawned he still had agro on me again (and again). To make this worse, the gameGarbage port. Key bindings are the worst and the game wont even tell you which key because it only displays controller buttons. After finally getting it to go full screen and controller hooked up, gameplay was still buggy and the camera was awful. At one point an enemy had killed me at a bonfire, but when I respawned he still had agro on me again (and again). To make this worse, the game does not pause at all when entering any menu so I had to kite the enemy around before he killed me just to be able to exit the game. I can understand not pausing during pvp but this was in offline mode. Tutorial is practically non existent and expects you to just guess what the mechanics of the game are half the time. Little notes written on the ground where it's usually too late to respond to the situation after trying to read them does not suffice for helping new people get into the game.… Expand
  38. demondred79
    Dec 6, 2013
    0
    Dark Souls: Prepare to be Pissed at the worst PC port mankind has ever witnessed.

    As if the difficulty of the game itself isn't enough to make you consider bolo-whipping your controller through your family's skulls.....you get the fun experience of trying to make this gd thing even barely function. Lady's and Gents....this is what you call a "cash grab" where the devs saw an    Dark Souls: Prepare to be Pissed at the worst PC port mankind has ever witnessed.

    As if the difficulty of the game itself isn't enough to make you consider bolo-whipping your controller through your family's skulls.....you get the fun experience of trying to make this gd thing even barely function. Lady's and Gents....this is what you call a "cash grab" where the devs saw an opportunity to jam their console game through a bit-grinder and call it a PC game, and then laugh as they rub their nipples with dollar bills.
    So if you want to get this thing to run with mouse support, xbox gamepad support, and video graphics that don't look like donkey diarrhea, then be prepared to witness and experience the following:
    1. Remove all....yes...ALL of your USB devices
    2. Try to use your xbox controller. If that doesn't work, too bad I guess you don't have an "official MS gamepad" so you'll have to work harder.
    3. Install x360ce and go through a million hoops to get it to properly behave.
    4. Oh you wanted to leave your N52te gamepad plugged in? Well you'll have to unplug it, erase the x360ce config file, then disable multiple devices in your device manager, and then re-init x360ce, and then plug in your gamepad, and then pray to baby jesus it works.
    5. Oh crap....now you have a framerate issue.....oh crap....the intro cinematics are glitchy...
    6. Wow the graphics look like hell.....now we have to install Nexus Mod Manager and install the DSfix tool and a billion other mods.
    7. Ok screw the controller...let's go to the mouse.....oh man.....moving the mouse around is super glitchy and the camera studders so much you can't play it....
    8. Rage quit and then vent on Metacritic.

    True story. The End.
    Seriously though, the issues/events described above are littered all over multiple forums where people are having massive issues with mice, gamepads, USB devices interfering with the game, graphics issues, refresh issues, you name it. While I don't think it would be worth an actual court battle over $30, it is however worth it to post these grievances on metacritic to strike their pocketbook as much as possible. Never again will I make the mistake of buying a late-term PC port. Do NOT buy this for PC.    … Expand
  39. Napples
    Oct 14, 2013
    0
    decided against my better judgement to buy this game, even though I had heard it had been a pretty bad console port. I was thinking hey, people said that about Skyrim and I didnt have a problem with that! But this game has created a entirely new category for ports.

    After three hours of messing with options and trying different fixes I was able to get the game to actually start. I    decided against my better judgement to buy this game, even though I had heard it had been a pretty bad console port. I was thinking hey, people said that about Skyrim and I didnt have a problem with that! But this game has created a entirely new category for ports.

    After three hours of messing with options and trying different fixes I was able to get the game to actually start. I finally got through the pain of that to discover how bad the port of this game actually is. If you are potential customer please please heed my warning before buying this. It is simply not worth it. Here is some of what you will go through even IF you get the game running:

    The game requires you to be constantly connected to GFWL to even save the game; GFWL is a broken and discontinued service. Good luck finding some workaround.

    All of the default settings and control settings make no sense, and none of the tips are tied to a keyboard mouse. A few kind souls have tried to develop some fixes (dsfix and dsmfix) but they may not work for you. Even after downloading these fixes and messing with the .ini files, I cannot get my mouse to work with this game.

    Throw away your money if you want, but I've warned you.    … Expand
  40. Enchanted_Legs
    Oct 18, 2013
    0
    Terrible game. I don't understand the motivation of the main character, whom you play as. You are seeking a goal but in the end the goal does nothing for your character, it is a flame that beckons and keeps you warm but upon sitting with it all it does is destroy you at the end. The end is nothing more than the relationship a moth has with a flame. So there it is at the end, after all theTerrible game. I don't understand the motivation of the main character, whom you play as. You are seeking a goal but in the end the goal does nothing for your character, it is a flame that beckons and keeps you warm but upon sitting with it all it does is destroy you at the end. The end is nothing more than the relationship a moth has with a flame. So there it is at the end, after all the time you spend with the flame, after all the trials and hardships and gifts it does nothing but destroy you. Enjoy your oblivious and pointless ending of nothingness. Sounds are subtle and that's a flaw because without the audio I can not sense theme or meaning. A large example of this is during the last part of the game it will only play an obtusely and exaggerated piano solo in a vain attempt to garner an emotional response from the player when at the time all you should feel as the player is a yawning sense of unease, boredom and just general defeatism. This is something that generally carries through the entire audio library of the game, monotone clang sounds for weapons that match one another and unsatisfying sounds when a weapon connects makes nothing but a small shearing noise. Controls are heavy and slow and overall confusing, for example once you hit the attack button you have to commit to the attack animation and if it misses this will result in a longer recovery meaning you are encouraged to really never attack except in the most assuredly favorable conditions. Chances are for the player that's practically never. I don't understand why a pole-arm would work differently than a sword or saber. Graphics are substandard and the player inexplicably always casts a light source which shows technical weakness such as 2D flora, characters generally rip from all 6th century archetypes and such. Example being the sun worshipping is not unlike Zoroarastrism. Additionally the commodity system is bungled in how that it is tied to your character's experience system for levelling making the overall game an absolute chore. That's just the game in the end: a job with no joy.… Expand
  41. leaveit
    Oct 18, 2013
    0
    QWOP: the RPG. While there are interesting and some decently deep action-RPG elements here, the game mostly serves as a filter for people who are willing to stand for unnecessarily naff and inadequate controls and unnecessary punishment. It's sort of like a modern version of the NES version of Dragon's Lair: completely trial-and-error, glitchy, with inferior graphics. It doesn't help thatQWOP: the RPG. While there are interesting and some decently deep action-RPG elements here, the game mostly serves as a filter for people who are willing to stand for unnecessarily naff and inadequate controls and unnecessary punishment. It's sort of like a modern version of the NES version of Dragon's Lair: completely trial-and-error, glitchy, with inferior graphics. It doesn't help that the PC port is awful either, lacking resolution upscaling out of the box and very weird mouse support to where you need to download user mods to fix everything. The story is shallow as a puddle and basically the long and short of it is that you're trying to make the world nice and cushy for humanity by fighting about 500 godlike creatures who can all easily kill you. They attack you on sight despite not actually having any purpose in life. The fans will deny all this; they will say it's highly skill-based even though they died thousands of times memorizing attack patterns, they will say the graphics are great even though they're about 6-7 years stale (probably unrealized because the fans are mostly console players), they will say the story is deep just because there's lots of informed background and some people act sad and crazy sometimes. If you are familiar with the game QWOP, this is essentially the RPG form of that. You try and try and try again to wrangle the controls to do what should be simple. Do not play unless you have thousands of hours to waste and enjoy wasting time.… Expand
  42. rillip3
    Dec 27, 2013
    0
    This game is UNPLAYABLE as sold. It is the laziest, most awful port I've ever seen. It has keyboard remapping for actions like 'heavy attack' or 'use item' but then continues to give you menus that say 'press (A)'. There is no setting to map '(A)' to anything! You can use the mouse to control your direction, and left and right click work, but sometimes you'll click behind the screen andThis game is UNPLAYABLE as sold. It is the laziest, most awful port I've ever seen. It has keyboard remapping for actions like 'heavy attack' or 'use item' but then continues to give you menus that say 'press (A)'. There is no setting to map '(A)' to anything! You can use the mouse to control your direction, and left and right click work, but sometimes you'll click behind the screen and end up on your desktop because they clearly don't know how to make mouse controls work. The tips from players are all around but all for XBox controls as well.

    Even beyond the horrible controls, the game telling is awful. You start off creating a character with no idea what any of the stats mean, and if you pick a class that uses magic, you get a skill that uses it, but not the resources to cast magic until later on. The very first enemy you have the fights back is a super boss fight that you absolutely can't win at this point, but there's no indication what you should do. Turns out, you can just run away.

    This is the absolute LAZIEST game port I have ever seen, and shame on Metacritic for not reflecting it's near unplayability in it's score. The critics clearly had to have played the Xbox version, or have installed the third party fixes, SINCE THE DEVELOPER NEVER BOTHERED TO PATCH IT, EVER.

    What a farce!!    … Expand
  43. bcsanches
    Jan 24, 2014
    0
    This game is impossible to play in PC without a gamepad. Really bad port from consoles, stay away. To make thing worse, if you have dual monitor setup, be prepared to have your mouse going out of the screen.
  44. howlhaku
    May 3, 2014
    0
    This game, just like the first, is broken. They pretend it's 'hard' but it's just an excuse for a lack of testing and play balance. The save points are sparse and the game play is tedious. Tbh I could forgive most of this if the graphics were at least decent but jeebuz they are terrible. Unless you are a cutter I would avoid this like the plague.
  45. mberserk
    May 12, 2014
    0
    This game doesn't works properly. Crash on start screen. I bought it on Steam. I've played with Windows 8. But Windows 8.1, crashes, crashes and more crashes. Tried several workaraounds but no sucess.
  46. tybalt777
    Jun 23, 2014
    0
    This is hands down probably one of the worst rpgs I have ever played, any money spent on this game is a waste. The game is such a let down that the programmers should feel a sense of shame just for bringing this load of crap into the word
  47. Azazaa
    Sep 20, 2014
    0
    7.3 ? Are you kidding me? Absolutely bad graphic! PC version is bad. It so bad - that mouse cursor runing over game! It so bad that i don see difference with resolution 640*480 and 2550*1440! It so bad that 4 kays not move to keabord! I see many games, ilsee thousands bad games. But this - absulutely record of bad games.
  48. ivanncrazy
    Aug 19, 2019
    0
    dark souls 1 very outdated game mechanics and copy paste level designe, stupid key mapping for keyboard and mouse menu is unfriendly unplayable
  49. Kovil1402
    Apr 2, 2015
    0
    I would give this game a 5 just because its the worst concole port I've ever seen and because it is impossible to play the game without the controller...Moveover the game is boring the plot is simple and vacuous not to say the least.The story is just not engaging and even the gameplay itself,which is supposed to be key in this game, is filled with walking through poorly designed corridorsI would give this game a 5 just because its the worst concole port I've ever seen and because it is impossible to play the game without the controller...Moveover the game is boring the plot is simple and vacuous not to say the least.The story is just not engaging and even the gameplay itself,which is supposed to be key in this game, is filled with walking through poorly designed corridors and engaging in combat with armies of skeletons.This is not fun at all!Difficulty is not enough for making a good game.Challenge is not the only thing needed to make an interesting game.I am concerned that this game has so many fans because this tells much about the gaming community as a whole.… Expand
  50. MaddysonGovnoed
    Apr 10, 2016
    0
    Very bad game very bad gameplay its very stpd game !!! Very bad game very bad gameplay its very stpd game !!! Very bad game very bad gameplay its very stpd game !!!
  51. ugi_b
    Jun 26, 2016
    0
    The worst game experience I've ever had. It might be better on console, but it is obvious that no real effort has been made to make it even mildly enjoyable on PC. Unbelievable that it is still available as a PC version, as it can only give the game a bad name. Keyboard and mouse need elaborate mods and fixes (and even then it's not much better), messages for key presses come up withThe worst game experience I've ever had. It might be better on console, but it is obvious that no real effort has been made to make it even mildly enjoyable on PC. Unbelievable that it is still available as a PC version, as it can only give the game a bad name. Keyboard and mouse need elaborate mods and fixes (and even then it's not much better), messages for key presses come up with console buttons and not PC key bindings, menu system is awkward, movement feels clunky and awkward, directional aim is clunky, camera view is slow.… Expand
  52. KoKop0
    Aug 16, 2020
    0
    very very very terrible port to PC and very disappointing... you must download DSfix if u wish to play the game... FPS is capped and no input mapping you must download mod for it... overall awful unplayable port and poorly optimized if it was even optimized at all

    after playing dark souls 3 I wanted to play the 2nd one it didn't work at all so I tried the first one and its even worse    very very very terrible port to PC and very disappointing... you must download DSfix if u wish to play the game... FPS is capped and no input mapping you must download mod for it... overall awful unplayable port and poorly optimized if it was even optimized at all

    after playing dark souls 3 I wanted to play the 2nd one it didn't work at all so I tried the first one and its even worse port...its just sad    … Expand
  53. CursedKnight
    Sep 7, 2023
    0
    Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition is a milestone in the history of video games. Its excellence shines through various aspects.

    Pros: Rewarding Challenge: Extreme difficulty is offset by the sense of accomplishment when overcoming obstacles. Intriguing World: Lordran is an interconnected world, full of secrets and submerged lore. Deep Combat: The combat system is precise and    Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition is a milestone in the history of video games. Its excellence shines through various aspects.

    Pros:

    Rewarding Challenge: Extreme difficulty is offset by the sense of accomplishment when overcoming obstacles.

    Intriguing World: Lordran is an interconnected world, full of secrets and submerged lore.

    Deep Combat: The combat system is precise and strategic, allowing for various approaches.

    Immersive Atmosphere: The dark ambiance and melancholic soundtrack create an immersive experience.

    Story in the Margins: The narrative is fragmented and requires exploration, enriching the experience.

    Cons:

    Technical Issues: Some bugs and optimization problems hinder gameplay at times.

    Steep Learning Curve: It can be intimidating for novice players, deterring some.

    Final Verdict:

    Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition, despite some technical issues, is unquestionably the greatest game of all time. Its complexity, challenge, and narrative depth create an experience that transcends any other title. This game is a masterpiece that will be remembered and cherished by generations of gamers.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

22
#22 Best PC Game of 2012
10
#10 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
20
#20 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 42
  3. Negative: 1 out of 42
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 6, 2013
    72
    The irony is that the PC version could have been much better than the PS3/360 ones, with higher resolutions to make the textures look better, a cornucopia of mods and/or an active (in theory at least) community. But FROM ruined it all (with the assistance of Games for Windows Live). It’s a shame really, if we at least had just a decent port (or a better infrastructure for a less appalling multiplayer mode), Dark Souls could have been one of the best RPG for the PC. [November 2012]
  2. GameFocus
    Nov 19, 2012
    80
    Not often do you see a game that is equally rewarding as it is frustrating; and it's not because the game is unfair.
    Read full review
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Oct 29, 2012
    80
    Dark Souls returns the hardcore elements back to action RPGs – heavy focus on uncompromising fight mechanics and absolute freedom in hero profiling. The price of this game is not for everyone. [Oct 2012]
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