Dark Souls, the spiritual successor of Demon’s Soul became a huge success worldwide. It resulted in two sequels and a loyal fanbase. Dark Souls was the first modern game to really embrace a hard level of difficulty. Dying in a game became a synonym for Dark Souls and now, it finally landed on Nintendo Switch. Is it still worth it after all those years? Let’s find out!
The Remastered version
First of all, this port isn’t just a port of the first game, it’s a port of the Remastered version currently also out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This means it comes with the same features, including the DLC packs and improved graphics. Going through the story and explaining what this Remastered version is, would mean we’re just repeating ourselves. If you want to find out everything this version has to hold, be sure to read our original review here:
Dark Souls is set in a dark, medieval fantasy world called Lordran. You create your own character and basically have to run through levels and defeats monstrosities until you reach the final boss. This may sound an easy task, but Dark Souls is not about playing easy. Enemies in Dark Souls are challenging, with the exception of some obvious mindless grunts, and require strategy to be dealt with. It might seem like an unforgiving game, but it actually isn’t. See, dying in Dark Souls is a gameplay mechanic and works towards your advantage if you know how to use it effectively that is. Whenever you die, you are transported to the nearest bonfire while every enemy you’ve slain comes back to life. You also lose all your souls (the game’s currency to buy gear and upgrade stats) but can retrieve them If you manage to find the spot where you died. The respawning enemies are an easy way to grind more souls, although they will never go down without a fight. It makes for an interesting blend of ‘taking risks reaps rewards’ and ‘strategy is key to combat’.
Instead of spending our time telling you how amazing the story is and how difficult it is to survive, let’s take a look at how well the Nintendo Switch version performs. Can the console handle this game?
Take it with you wherever you go
The biggest selling point of Dark Souls Remastered on Nintendo Switch is probably the ability to take it with you wherever you go. Thanks to the console, you continue your adventure in the dark dungeons by playing it in handheld mode. For my review, I played in handheld mode for most of my time, just to make sure the game runs smoothly. Right from the start, the game had no trouble to perform on the smaller screen. Since it’s the Remastered version, everything looks extremely sharp and the animations also benefit from the extra power. Of course, if you would compare it to the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 versions, you’ll immediately see that this Switch version doesn’t offer the same quality of graphics but that’s really nothing to worry about.
Since I’m guessing this will be the first time playing a Dark Souls game for a lot of Nintendo fans, there simply isn’t anything close to the feeling of euphoria you’ll get when you start the game for the first time. It really looks good in handheld mode and since the screen is smaller than you’re used to, the graphics really shine. When you play it in docked mode, it gets a small boost, bringing it closer to the experience on the other consoles. Again, don’t expect the same level of details but that doesn’t mean you should expect an ugly game. Dark Souls Remastered runs surprisingly well on Nintendo Switch and it’s definitely an upgrade from the original release.
A lot of content
What’s probably even better is the amount of content you’ll get in this Remastered version. As said before, you’re able to play the Artorias of the Abyss DLC and can go online with up to six players. Online you can leave hints for other players, call in the help of friends or invade their world to kill them all. The amount of content is really admirable, especially on Nintendo Switch. It really doesn’t matter how you’ll play it, in the end, you’ll get the same content than that of the other console versions. If you get this game in stores, you’re in for hours of fun.
Also note that the level of difficulty remained unchanged and you understand why this can easily become your favorite game for the coming months. Dying is second nature in Dark Souls but it’s never unfair. When you die, it’s because you misjudged the powers of your enemies or your own skills. You can overcome everything in Dark Souls if you train enough for it. Right from the start, you can select a class but it’s while playing the actual game that you’ll truly understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different classes. Replaying the game as a different class will result in a completely different experience too.
But, it’s not all that good
Although Dark Souls: Remastered really plays like a charm on Nintendo Switch, there are some issues with it too. The biggest one is the button layout in the menus. Since it’s clearly a ported PC game, navigating through the menu isn’t always that easy on Nintendo Switch. You can only select using the D-pad and with the B-button, you can confirm your choice. Sounds a bit weird and to be honest, I lost a lot of time figuring out what I was doing wrong in these menus. It gets you out of your immersion and it’s a shame you can’t remap the controls in the menu, since you can remap the control of the character in the game easily.
That being said, it’s nothing game breaking of course but it’s a bit of a shame the team didn’t invest a bit more attention to this since it really stands in the way of a perfect experience.
Conclusion:
Dark Souls: Remastered is a great fit on Nintendo Switch and most enjoyable if this is your first time playing a Dark Souls game. It’s not the best-looking version of the Remaster but it’s the only version you can carry with you wherever you want to go. It runs extremely smoothly on the system and you’ll enjoy spending hours with it. Too bad navigating through the menus isn’t as smooth as the rest of the game but don’t let this hold you back from (re)discovering this classic.
9/10
Tested on Nintendo Switch
