Dark Souls truly is something special of a game. Even despite its remastered title it still lacks the visual flair of other games in the genre, and with its gameplay as well, even in modern time it was truly an experience to playthrough the game once again.

Darks Souls from a thematic and gameplay perspective is all about perseverance. You are a random Undead set free and told to go out and told to discover your fate and rekindle the first flame and replace Gwyn as Lord. The world is filled with those that are hollowed, those who have lost their humanity and given up, something that you cant afford to let happen to yourself. When you eventually reach the end of your journey and find Gwyn, a lord that was praised throughout the game, you find him a shell of himself as he has now fallen hollow. The gameplay tests the players perseverance and drive with the difficulty in the game. While the technology didn't allow super diverse move sets allowed, they substituted it with more unique gimmicks and environments that tests the players ability to change and adapt. The hollowed in the world represent the players who have given up on their playthroughs, their characters left to nothingness.

Speaking of the bosses, this game has many iconic bosses that can be considered some of the best in gaming. Artorias, Ornstein and Smough, and Gwyn are all exellent challenges that serve to test the player alongside having having lore surrounding them and are fights that I constantly think back on when I think of video game bosses.

The structure of the world and visual story telling done with it is really what sets this game apart from any other souls game. Dark Souls is known for its indirect world building and connected world, and this game is the pinnacle of that and no other future game has been able to properly mimic it. The way all the areas seamlessly connect and loop one another is really something unique and rewards exploration alongside allowing the world to fit as one.

Unfortunately where this game lacks is in the later portion of the game which I assume many people who have seen reviews for this game already know. While I do think most of the hate for the later portions of the game is unwarranted there definitely is some parts that I do agree are just not all that good. I believe much of the unjustified hate just comes from the fact that the gimmicks of some of the areas are ones that many people just dont like, Dukes ARchive for example is meant to be a big library that is confusing to navigate and Tomb of the Giants being dark while I do agree is quite annoying does fit the setting. This portion of the game also strays away from the beloved connected world from the first portion of the game. The areas you travel to, rather than continuing that interconnected trend instead branch out and go into their own isolated areas away from the world. While I do think it is unfortunate to lose out on such an iconic and well done aspect of the game, given the objective of the player during the time I do find it fitting that the areas are more isolated and away from the rest of the larger world. I think the only aspect of the game that I do agree with all the hate thrown at it is Lost Izalith. Lost Izalith clearly suffered by the rush the developers were put while developing the last portion of the game and unlike other areas its quite clear this area is unfinished. The area itself feels very empty with no real good atmosphere unlike other areas and is generally an unfun area to go through even when doing just the bare minimum. That combined with the only poorly designed boss in the entire game really does make it the definitive bad part of a game where everything else is nearly perfect.

While I personally would have loved to see this game get the Demon Souls remake treatment even just visually to really bring out how amaizng the world and atmosphere are set up, I cant help but appreciate the charm of largely keeping the remaster very close to the original and mostly incorporating quality of life features to make the game a lot more accessible. Dark Souls really is a game that every person should at least try just to appreciate what it has done for the gaming industry and community.