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5 reasons Dark Souls is the biggest Switch release yet
Forget Rocket League, DOOM or even L.A. Noire – FromSoftware's gothic masterpiece is the most important third-party Switch game yet.
1. It remains one of the best games ever made
While the Souls series has a reputation for being frustratingly difficult, the titles in this series are perhaps some of the most rewarding you'll ever experience. Set in a sprawling fantasy world, packed with hostile monsters and enigmatic allies, the core focus is collecting souls from fallen enemies and using them to power-up your character. This can only be done at bonfires scattered throughout the land, which also serve as save points. If you bank thousands of souls, but die before using them to level-up, they remain in place where you died. If you manage to get back to that location you can reclaim them, but should you fall again during this attempt, they are lost forever – along with all of the hours it has taken for you to accumulate them. This core premise makes every battle in Dark Souls a risk versus reward situation, and the tricky boss encounters become epic, nightmarish confrontations. An online system exists in the game which allows other players to both help and hinder your progress, giving Dark Souls a whole new dimension that's missing from other action RPGs, like Skyrim and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Dark Souls is a masterpiece, and for that reason alone we should be celebrating in the streets about its arrival on Switch.
2. It gives Switch the respect of the hardcore crowd
Whenever Nintendo release a new console, there always seems to be a vocal minority which claim the company's products are aimed at kids and with family-friendly franchises like Mario, Pokémon and Yo-Kai Watch, it's easy to see why you might jump to this conclusion. Another criticism these people have is that Nintendo consoles lack 'mature' titles like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and The Witcher – a fair comment, especially if you're the kind of person who can only afford to own a single games system. However, the phenomenal success of Switch is causing the tide to turn; we've already seen DOOM and L.A. Noire come to the hybrid platform, and Dark Souls: Remastered is perhaps the ultimate way to earn the respect of the dedicated gamer. Being able to play the title on the move will surely endear Nintendo's console to those who've foolishly dismissed the company's products in favour of those made by Sony and Microsoft.
3. Portable Dark Souls will give the game a whole new dimension
Playing Dark Souls on your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 was a relatively solitary experience back in 2011, made all the more isolated by the fact that the game's online system doesn't support matchmaking – instead of playing with friends, you're almost always alongside randomly-selected individuals, which adds to the mystery, we feel. However, by taking things on the road the Switch version can change this dynamic slightly. We're assuming the online system remains unchanged and you won't be able to pair-up with a friend over a local connection, but by taking Dark Souls out of the house you can collaborate with other players to discuss secrets and tactics on the fly. Instead of complaining to your friend at work about the tricky bit in Blighttown or that particularly difficult boss you got stuck on last night, you can whip out your Switch during your lunch break and conquer the problem together. We don't know about you, but the idea of a 'Dark Souls jam, where several friends group together to take down the game one Switch at a time, sounds like an entertaining way to spend an evening (or several). Dark Souls has always been about working with friends to share information and secrets, and a portable version will only accentuate that element.
4. It'll introduce an entirely new generation to one of gaming's most treasured franchises
If you're a diehard Nintendo player and over the past few decades have refused to purchase any console that doesn't have that iconic brand emblazoned on the front, then you’ll have totally missed out on the Souls series – and indeed much of FormSoftware's previous back catalogue, which is positively littered with classics. For that reason alone, Dark Souls is a truly momentous release for Nintendo's best-selling console, as it has the power to introduce an entire generation of players to the wonder of the series. For too long, Nintendo fans have been walled-off from Dark Souls, but now they'll get the chance to see first-hand what all of the fuss is about, and that's something worth celebrating.
5. It could lead to other Souls titles coming to the console
Getting Dark Souls on Switch is a good place to start, as the first game is regarded by many fans as the best in the trilogy. However, we certainly wouldn't complain if the second and third games made the leap to Nintendo's console too. Dark Souls II should be perfectly possible as it launched on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and is graphically comparable to the first title. The third game might be a little harder as it was designed for PS4 and Xbox One hardware; some scaling would naturally be required, as has happened with DOOM and Rocket League. Sadly, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne – the two other titles considered to be part of the series – are out of reach as both were part-funded by Sony.
