The gaming landscape has changed a lot since the 2009 release of Demon’s Souls, a third-person combat and exploration adventure which became Dark Souls in 2011.

Yet Hidetaka Miyazaki’s series is still referenced as one of those games which, years later, is still considered a cult, landmark creation. Go to any gaming conference and at some point, you will spot someone wearing a t-shirt with that memorable tagline: ‘Prepare to die’.

Dark Souls: Remastered polishes up the aesthetics and audio of the game. But not only – it fixes the few gameplay flaws the original had and adds to the game’s online system by allowing more people to play together. You can summon fellow adventurers to help you by finding their signs on the ground – once they have helped you, they disappear.

Yet all the elements that made it a cult game are still there. Lodran, the fantasy world of Dark Souls, is still a meticulous yet claustrophobic labyrinth where everything and everyone tries to kill you.

The enemies do not come at you in waves – rather, they are strategically placed like chess pieces. And playing it is still unsettling because screen after screen, through the game’s intricate architecture, meaning and understanding will escape you. Which means that you will continue to play it again and again.

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