Dark Souls: Remastered Previews
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With the remastered edition of Bandai Namco and FromSoftware's Dark Souls releasing in less than two months, some media outlets were able to check out this new and improved version of the cult classic action-RPG and report their findings. For the most part, it seems that Dark Souls: Remastered is mostly the same game but with some minor visual improvements, smoother performance, and reworked multiplayer. See for yourself:
PC Gamer:
When Dark Souls released for PC in 2012, it came nearly a year after the console versions and with quite a few problems – most infamously, its 30fps lock. But I live in hope that the forthcoming remaster won't need a gaggle of modders to bring it up to speed, and today publisher Bandai Namco has sent through a list of promising changes. The port is being worked on by QLOC, under supervision of From Software.
Not a lot has changed, really. 4K resolution is supported, and 60fps will be supported out of the box. Texture and lighting effects have been improved, though it'll be hard to verify this until we actually see the game in action on PC.
As for the functional changes in the Remaster, that's when things get interesting. The original Dark Souls was bullish in its insistence that you play online with strangers – organising skirmishes or cooperative outings with friends was a mix of luck and laborious trial and error. But now, the Password Matching from both Dark Souls 2 and 3 will be available, with the summoned player's level (for both character and weapon) syncing with the host.
The maximum number of online players will increase from 4 to 6, and the Dried Finger item which facilitates six-player sessions will now be available much earlier in the game (from a vendor in the Undead Burg, rather than in the secret Painted World of Ariamis). Oh, and healing items won't be available in PvP with the exception of Estus, and phantoms will have their Estus Flask count halved. When a host smites an invading phantom, their Flask count is restored.
However, after my brief hands-on with it, it is clear that this is not ‘the Dark Souls of remasters’. It’s the same brilliant game, only with higher definition textures, new lighting and, well, we’ll talk about frame rate in a bit.
Until I ran the footage back, side-by-side with the original version, it wasn’t even a noticeable upgrade. Sure, the new 4K textures look great, but it’s a tidy up, not an overhaul. Even running on a PS4 Pro, it wasn’t impressive.
Still, series director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s art direction shines through: the European, medieval gothic style of the Undead Asylum, Undead Burg, and Chapel still providing an interesting and occasionally stunning backdrop to all the death. Tunnels are damp and dark, structures are intimidatingly huge, and the bosses that halt your progress are disgusting and unique eldritch monstrosities. But, then, they always were.
The game has always dripped atmosphere and the inclusion of high definition textures doesn’t make this any more the case.
Performance is an unknown quantity, too. I experienced some stutters in the area near the bonfire in the Undead Chapel, which does not exactly instill confidence. Of course, this isn’t the final build, so we have to give Bandai Namco the benefit of the doubt … though I wasn’t allowed to travel to Blighttown.
One of the ‘enhancements’ made to Dark Souls Remastered is the heavy use of motion blur. Unfortunately, this graphical setting cannot be turned off, at least it’s not an option on this build of the game. I also experienced freezing every few minutes, though this most likely will not be the case when the game comes out. Dark Souls Remastered is also coming to the Nintendo Switch. I didn’t have a chance to try out this version of the game, though it has been confirmed that the Switch version will run at 30fps in both handheld and docked mode. It’s likely the Nintendo Switch version will run similarly to the original Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 versions of the game. Let’s just hope Blighttown runs smoothly this time around!
I will admit, I am slightly disappointed that Dark Souls Remastered isn’t as remastered as I would have hoped. It appears the game will not be receiving any upgrades in regards to unfinished content (Lost Izalith) and visually the game looks more like an improved port rather than a full-blown remaster. Regardless, I’m still looking forward to returning to Lordran for the tenth time. Launching at a reduced price for all major systems, there’s no reason not to give Dark Souls a try if you haven’t ever played it.
That’s amplified by the way that the original’s visuals have been brought up to the current generation. There’s primarily been a step up in the resolution, with 1080p on base PS4 and Xbox One, while Pro and One X get what Bandai Namco describe as “upscaled 4K” – in other words, something between 1080p and 2160p. The game looks good and textures are filled with grimy detail, even if geometry is rather basic by modern standards and was already a few steps behind the curve at its original release, but it’s a shame that they haven’t gone back and redone the backdrops and skyboxes. Where they might have given the feeling of depth of field to the game last generation, here they just look a bit blurry.
What home console players can absolutely put behind them is a sometimes unsteady 30fps. On PS4 – the version we’ve played – and Xbox One, the game is now at 60fps, making your inputs all the more responsive and dumping even more of the blame for each and every one of your deaths on your shoulders. Those looking forward to the game on Nintendo Switch will have to make do with 30fps, but native 720p when in handheld mode and 1080p when docked. For PC gamers, they can move on from the much maligned Prepare To Die edition of the game, which saw the community step in to patch and fix the game’s woes, from poor optimisation through to a 30fps cap and muddy sub-720p resolution. Now there’s native 4K and 60fps support with the remaster, though a bit of a slap in the face to those who bought the original release and suffered through its disappointing lack of meaningful support.
Putting resolution and frame-rate aside, to what extent do we actually see any remastering work? It's clear that actual upgrades to art quality aren't guaranteed: some textures stay exactly the same, while other materials are touched on and tweaked. A good bulk of the assets we're seeing in the early Asylum for example, are a direct copy from that Xbox 360 original, but sharper grass textures and added grass sprite work are apparent at the Firelink shrine. Compared to last-gen's blurrier assets, PS4 Pro is definitely getting a boost in this case, to justify its 4K support. Still, it's clear that improvements are sadly not universal, though bosted texture filtering in itself helps get more from the original art.
That's not to say that From Software hasn't made some substantial changes too. While materials are often similar to the original, Dark Souls' lighting model receives a big overhaul. The net result is that despite some re-usage of textures, the remaster can look very different thanks to the way that specular mapping - on stone-work for example - interacts with oncoming light. The good news is that the remaster logically factors in the light path from bonfires, making it more perspective correct. The same goes for the doorway fog before a boss, or even the ethereal glow that emanates around your own character. The results are wildly different to the original at times - in some cases it's more appealing, and in others, PS4 Pro appears flat compared to the original Xbox 360.
Long time Souls fans will also notice a big change in effects too. From the first Asylum Demon boss, you can see 2D alpha transparencies are swapped for a crisper effect on PS4 Pro. There's a richer, billowing effect as the dust spirals upward now, rather than the flat low resolution texture used on Xbox 360. It goes for every enemy seen slamming into the ground so far; including the Taurus Demon and the early sighting of the red wyvern. To go with that there's even an upgrade to the more frequent souls sphere effect, bringing it in line with Dark Souls 3. It's brighter, crisper, and again it makes sense From Software tarets such a common visual point for an upgrade. There are small tweaks and upgrades everywhere, including a revised take on volumetrics too, especially noticeable on doorway fog - a technique that tanked performance on last-gen systems.
All told, the remaster stacks up a multitude of small enhancements that creates a different overall picture - but the core logic stays in place, and therefore much of what you loved in the original game stays intact. Every turn, enemy placement, and even the target reticle, HUD and menus remain the same - though item images and text are rendered at a higher res. Perhaps the most significant of the visual changes is in the revised lighting. It's not only better-looking but it's also not so much of a drain on performance in what we've seen of the remaster so far.
