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Prepare to die all over again in ‘Dark Souls: Remastered’

By Brad Jones Published June 15, 2022

Dark Souls: Remastered - Announcement Trailer

On Thursday, January 11, Namco Bandai confirmed that a remastered version of Dark Souls is making its way to the current crop of consoles in 2018. The project was first unveiled as part of a last-minute Nintendo Direct, but it has since been announced that the game will hit the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, also.

Dark Souls was first released in 2011 and went on to become a cult smash that spawned two direct sequels and a host of imitators, ranging from Lords of the Fallen to Nioh. However, the game is yet to be released on current hardware, save for backward compatibility on the Xbox One.

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The world of Lordran is set to be realized in upscaled 4K resolution for players journeying through the game on the PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One X, and PC. The Switch version will mark the first time that the title has been available on Nintendo hardware, and its first official portable release — perfect for anyone that is looking for a truly punishing action-RPG to enjoy during their commute.

While the biggest enhancements over the original come in the form of increased resolution and framerate, Dark Souls: Remastered has a couple of features that should cement its status as the definitive version. All DLC is included in the package, including everything from the Prepare to Die Edition as well as the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, and online multiplayer now supports six players rather than just four.

Dark Souls quickly became one of the most beloved franchises of the past decade and this remaster should allow a whole new wave of players to enjoy its satisfying gameplay loop of dying over and over again. What’s more, it’s rumored that the rest of the series is set to follow after the first chapter is released — sources indicate that all three games will be available on the Switch eventually, according to Kotaku. Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III have already been released for the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, with a trilogy box set already announced for Japanese PlayStation 4 owners, per Twinfinite.

Dark Souls: Remastered

is set to land on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on May 25, 2018.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

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Jotaro Kujo stands before a battle in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R.

While Street Fighter 6 was the talk of the show floor at Summer Game Fest Play Days, another fighting game also managed to impress me at the event. That title was JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R, a fighting game based on the popular and heavily-memed anime and manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The original JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle was first released in Japan in 2013, scoring a rare perfect score from the popular Japanese outlet Famitsu. Anime fighting games vary wildly in quality, but this was considered one of the better ones thanks to its thoughtful and rewarding gameplay.
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To be continued
Although JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R didn't get a remake-level visual overhaul, fans should still appreciate many of the graphical tweaks and just how pretty this game is. Even though I was playing a PS4, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R was one of the best-looking games at Summer Game Fest Play Days. The anime already has an extremely distinct art style and features a cast of overly-muscular characters, so it transitions to a fighting game almost perfectly. Pulling off special moves that you've seen in the manga and anime or calling out a stand yourself is super satisfying, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R will show them in all of their extremely detailed glory.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R - Early Access Demo
Even the voiceovers and character models got updates to match the voice acting and styles fans will remember from the anime. We don't get many video games based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, so it's nice to see this one put in extra care to respect the source material and improve upon the original release. That said, graphics will only get you so far in a fighting game. It's the gameplay mechanics that really ensure a fighting game lives or dies.
Thankfully, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R is a lot of fun to play.
The 2013 original was a 3D fighting game that plays more like Virtua Fighter than Jump Force. The standard attacks, combo, block, and dodge moves to be expected from fighting games are here, but characters can also summon their stands and basically get a second fighter to attack and zone with. Fights also have some other cute oddities, like having an assist character to strengthen some of your attacks or being able to taunt the other player when they are knocked down to take away some of their special meter gauges. That taunt feature specifically is not only hilarious but feels very JoJo and adds palpable benefits to what's usually just a visual gag in fighting games.
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I didn't have enough time to kit out and learn combos and how to string them together, but I can clearly recognize just how these features will positively deepen JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R's meta. With auto combos for new players and revitalized online play too, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R hopefully won't have a problem attracting new JoJo's Bizzare Adventure fans to this fighting game. Whether you enjoyed the original release or want to see what a good JoJo's Bizarre Adventure game looks like, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R should be on your radar. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R launches for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on September 2. If you want to try it before then, a demo is available on PS4 and PS5 until June 21.