Bandai Namco Entertainment and FromSoftware have finally restored online functionality for Dark Souls Remastered on PC today. The game’s PC servers have been offline since January of this year when a dangerous exploit was discovered.
The PC versions of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3 had a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability, which in the worst cases could potentially allow someone to take control of another Dark Souls player’s PC. To prevent that from happening, Bandai Namco and FromSoftware shut down online servers for all four games on January 23. A statement a couple of weeks later claimed that “online services for the Dark Souls series on PC will not resume until after the release of Elden Ring,” but the wait ended up being much longer than expected.
Dark Souls 3 servers weren’t back online until August, over seven months after the initial shutdown, while Dark Souls 2’s online functionality wasn’t restored until October. Now, Dark Souls Remastered‘s online features are finally live again, so PC players can leave messages, summon their friends, or invade other players’ worlds again. Unfortunately, one version of the original Dark Souls on PC won’t get its online features back.
Online features for the PC version of #DarkSouls: Remastered have been reactivated.
— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) November 9, 2022
Thank you once again for your patience, understanding, and support. pic.twitter.com/IZ8lsfx3Tx
In October, Bandai Namco Entertainment and FromSoftware confirmed that online functionality for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (the original PC release) will never be restored. “We have determined that we will not be able to support online services for the PC version of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition that was released in 2012, due to an aging system,” a tweet explains. “We apologize for the long wait and ask for your understanding in this matter. Our sincere thanks to the people who have been playing Dark Souls since its launch.”
Regardless, Dark Souls fans can take solace in the fact that the wait is finally over, and versions of all 3 Dark Souls games can be played online on PC again.