Long before the release of Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition, we knew that the PC port would be troubled. The developers admitted that they wouldn't be upgrading the resolution, or fixing the frame rates, or preparing the necessary wards to keep Games for Windows Live from haunting the game. Now, in an interview with Edge, Dark Souls 2 producer Takeshi Miyazoe has explained the problems facing the first game, and reassured that they won't affect the sequel.

"This is going to sound bad but our main priority was to get the game onto the PC as fast as possible, because people wanted it on the PC," Miyazoe said. "The PC market in Japan is so minimal that originally there were no plans to make it on the PC, but with the strong petition from the North American and European fans, even with the lack of experience of working on a PC platform we still did our best to try to get it out as fast as possible. were expected to a certain extent.

"We did know there were PC-specific features like key-mapping and use of the mouse and keyboard, high resolution and higher frame rate, stuff like that, but It s not that we ignored it, but it would have taken too much time for us to implement it, test it and get it up to the level people expected. It was more of a publisher (Namco Bandai) decision to say, Guys, don t worry about this let s just get it out and see how this works on PC. "

It's hard not to bristle at such a frank admission, but in fairness to From Software, they were entirely up-front with why they were porting Dark Souls, and how much of a direct and unoptimised port it would be. And the annoyance of the time has faded somewhat, because ultimately, Dark Souls PC was spruced into a much more pleasing state thanks to the work of modders.

PC is much more in the minds of the development team this time around, with From Software hoping to release our version just a few weeks after the consoles. "For Dark Souls II we are developing on PC from the beginning," Miyazoe said. "We realise what PC games typically require, and I can assure you that the PC version of Dark Souls II will be a good PC experience for PC gamers.

"The current plan is players to choose whether they want to use keyboard and mouse or a controller," he said. "Both options will be available. Me being a console gamer and not a PC gamer, I would recommend a controller, but if you re a PC gamer I m sure you d have a different opinion."

Boosting the difficulty in a game like Dark Souls is asking for trouble. Already famous for its tough game systems and clever monsters, the RPG now has a mod that bizarrely makes enemies even more aggressive and tough.

The mod, created by JITD and available here, alters enemy behavior by tweaking their AI. No longer content to sit and wait for you to show your face before bringing down a piece of twisted metal on your delicate and hollow corpse body, the mod makes it so enemies will detect players from vast distances, a change sure to alter some of the fundamental expectations of violence in the dungeon crawler's various environments.

In a way similar to other mods for Dark Souls, JITD's Aggressive Mod looks like it has the potential to create some strange new experiences in the venerable RPG. JITD does warn, however, that the tweak can also make some NPCs in the game follow players around, something the modder says is a "collateral effect." This would of course make some NPCs hard to keep alive.

As we can see below in YouTube user VaatiVidya's test of the new tweak, enemy encounters with the mod installed have a distinct—and perhaps more surprising—quality all their own. After all, understanding how enemies behave and react to your presence and your tactics is one of the bedrock principles for advancement in Dark Souls. By turning that system on its head, the mod looks like a creative way to freshen up the game, even after multiple playthroughs.

Hat tip, Eurogamer.

If you can't quite imagine what a sequel to Dark Souls might look like, From Software and Namco Bandai have you covered with this giant batch of DaS2 screenshots, which feature dragons, bonfires, fights with the undead, and a bleaker atmosphere than your average Danish crime drama. It's all stuff we've seen before, mainly in the E3 demo, but the images do show those scenes in a new angle - that angle being 'quite close to the ground'.

An update to the Age of Empires Online support page revealed that Games for Windows Live will shut down July 1, 2014, and with it, at least some of AoE Online's features, if not the whole game. The announcement has been removed and replaced with the original text, but here's what it said:

"Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014. Although it is available through Steam, Age of Empires Online requires features of the Games for Windows Live service. You can continue to enjoy all the features of Age of Empires Online as the service will remain 100% operational until July 1, 2014 when the server will shut down."

Microsoft announced last week that it's shutting down the Games for Windows Marketplace. Games for Windows Live is something else entirely, a DRM and multiplayer infrastructure formerly used by Microsoft, Rockstar, Capcom, WB Games, 2K Games, and others. If you've had to use it, you know why few will mourn the loss.

If this deleted update is accurate, however, there is one big concern: presumably, any game currently using GFWL will need to patch it out and replace it with Steamworks or its own system to continue working after the 2014 shut off date. That's Dark Souls, Street Fighter IV, BioShock 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, and more. Eep.

We'll let you know when Microsoft officially confirms or denies the news.

Thanks for the link, /r/Games.

Last year’s Dark Souls was a fun third-person hack ‘n slash, but everything is better with a little tinkering. Now a modder has adjusted the default view to zoom the camera right into the back of the player’s head. The result is a nauseating journey into a world of flailing arms and upside-down elbows, but if it helps you get in character, I say go for it.



Youtube user Soul Slasher posted the above video showing off the new view. At first everything seems pretty normal. Forearm holding sword, check. Backside of a metal shield, check. It initially looks like a cross between Dark Souls and Skyrim. Then the player starts running, glitching off of walls and battling the undead. The video is 11 minutes long, but I had to look away after less than half of that.

The uploader notes that this version is mostly unplayable, and I have to agree. Still, it’s a cool idea. A few years ago the addictive infestation shoot-em-up Alien Swarm was converted to first person with great results. Let this be a new trend: convert everything to first person, try to keep the glitching to a minimum and slap an Oculus Rift on it. It’ll change everything.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Considering how brutal Dark Souls is—a brutality that keeps many gamers at arm’s length–it’d be easy to think that its sequel would try to be more inviting for new players. My fears of a kinder, gentler game plagued my wait in line for the Dark Souls 2 E3 demo, even as I watched players ahead of me get crushed by the low-level undead warriors that populate the first halls.

The E3 demo offers four classes to play as: a traditional knight, a sorcerer, a Temple Knight that looked like the Dark Souls version of a paladin, and a dual-wielding fighter. I decide to play as this last class, though I just as often switched to either a large greatsword or a sword and buckler combination. The dual-wielder seemed more dexterous than the other options. Which is helpful as I try to dodge and weave past the demo’s new enemies.

With little explanation, I’m dropped in the ruins of some medieval structure. After a couple of taunting in-game messages from the developer, I drop down a ladder and face a slumped body on the ground that rises and attacks as I approach. This low level enemy, and his friends when they show up, highlight both the new game engine for Dark Souls 2 and the slight changes in visual style.

While not a generational leap in visual quality, DS2’s new engine does look better. Textures look clearer, and more details have been added to character models. The two-handed fighter, for example, has small patches of cloth alongside the leather armor pieces. These visual upgrades extend to the enemies—Dark Souls was filled with rotting skeletons and zombies, but the initial enemies in the sequel look more human, but clearly dead. Their heads loll back at an unnatural angle as they lurch forward and swing their ancient weaponry. It’s frankly more unsettling than most of the enemies from the first game.

The new engine also gives the game a slightly speedier feel. That’s not to say that Dark Souls 2 comes anywhere near feeling like an action-platformer, but the responsiveness of the controls is definitely a touch higher. It also feels like the demo is running at a higher frame rate than the original Dark Souls—a welcome sign for anyone who tried to play the PC port without mods.



Another undead guard joins the battle. Two-on-one. I should be able to handle this—the low level baddies of the original game are easy in groups of three—but their attacks are unfamiliar, their timing faster than I expect. One hits, then the other, and with a groan I die.

I turn to the demo assistant with a smile, as if to say, “I’m just getting warmed up.”

Then I die again. I time a roll between the aggressors poorly and can’t heal in time.

To ease my shame as the game reloads, I ask the demo assistant some questions. What will some of the new covenants (in-game factions that affect multiplayer goals) be? “The developer hasn’t told us,” he says. Okay, well, how about some of the different types of magic? “The developer hasn’t told us.” Stony silence falls between us.

I discover after loading back in that there will be more ways to heal yourself after a nasty fight. Alongside the estus flasks from the first game, the Dark Souls 2 demo included lifestones, which slowly replenish health when used instead of instantly healing you. There were other items to pick up in the demo, including amber and twilight herbs, but their use isn’t readily apparent. I also am not able to open up an inventory or look at character stats—these options aren’t available in the demo.

As I carefully trudge ahead, I also discover how Dark Souls 2 will use darkness as a mechanic. Ahead of me is a stairwell in pitch black darkness. After a few moments of looking around, the demo rep starts to point out a torch when I decide to just run down the stairs, narrowly missing the monster clearly waiting to ambush me. According to the rep, the bottom of the stairway also includes explosive barrels. I’m glad I didn’t bring the torch after all.

After another death caused by the sudden appearance of two warriors and an armored turtle, all of which appeared as phantoms, I manage to make enough progress to encounter the demo’s boss and the new engine’s weather effects. Rain pours on a ruined rooftop as I encounter the Mirror Knight, a hulking brute in chrome armor with a massive mirror shield. He fires lightning from his sword at me that I barely dodge, and then slams his shield down while going into a kneel position. Assuming this is my chance, I move forward to attack but notice the reflection in his shield: a second knight emerging from the shield to aid the boss and slaughter me. I last only a few moments more.

Calmly, quietly, I place the controller down in front of the demo station, thank the Namco rep and leave. I have fewer answers than one would hope for from a demo, but one answer is completely clear: I will be challenged by Dark Souls 2 when it comes to the PC in March 2014. None of the difficulty has gone away, despite the engine improvements.

I am not ready, but I can’t wait.

Inevitably, much of the discussion around Dark Souls 2 is going to focus on its difficulty. It's not because Dark Souls was "hard". It was, sure, but it was hard in an interesting way - punishing mistakes and lapses of attention, rather than grinding you down in a battle of attrition. So naturally, people want to know if Dark Souls 2 can pull of that same delicate balance. According to the series' new director Yui Tanimura, that's exactly what he's focused on doing.

"Throughout the game, there are going to be a lot of different small things that I will direct and will be implemented due to my personality or direction," Tanimura told GameInformer, "but the biggest part I feel that will characterize this game as the game that I directed will probably be the game balancing. I take care of a lot of the balancing of the game – with the difficulty, the trickiness, of the frustration that you feel."

For Tanimura, that means honing right down to the placement and parameters of enemies to create a challenge that feels satisfying to overcome. "Balance is probably the most important part of this game and I feel responsible in balancing the game, and tuning it to the finest details so that Dark Souls II will be the best experience so far in the series that we've created."

Tanimura also clarified his comments on the game's accessibility. "The reason why we used the word accessible was not to say that the game is going to be easier by any means. We’re maintaining the difficulty and we think the challenges are required. What we meant was, there are certain aspects of the game where it didn’t really have a direct connection to the sense of satisfaction of overcoming."

"There were things that were a little bit time consuming or a little bit tedious that we wanted to streamline – sort of carve away all the fat so we could really deliver the lean pure expression of what Dark Souls tries to communicate, which is the sense of satisfaction of overcoming. In terms of accessibility, what we meant was a more streamlined experience to deliver the more pure essence of Dark Souls."

Dark Souls 2 is due to be released March 2014.

It's clear from Dark Souls 2's latest trailer that the fantasy RPG—on the surface at least—has much in common with the game that preceded it. But what can players expect when they dive into From Software's upcoming sequel? Dark Souls 2's game director Yui Tanimura addresses this question and more in a new E3 interview with Rev3games.

Even though the first Dark Souls received something less than the tender-loving care it deserved when it was belatedly ported to the PC from the console version, a PC edition of the sequel to the notoriously challenging original has been a goal for developers from the very beginning. And it hasn't lost any of its haunting and sometimes unyielding sense of difficulty, according to Tanimura.

"As players always want... obviously going to be just as, or even more challenging" said Tanimura through an interpreter. "Hopefully it will meet up to the expectations of the players. Again, that is to make sure everyone gets the fist-clenching reaction of overcoming the challenge."

Clenched fists indeed. In speaking about just what brings modern game players to these sorts of experiences, I think Tanimura touches on what's key to any game that asks a lot of someone, namely the response of the game to the effort that is invested in it. This is part of what accounts for the first Dark Souls' success, he said, and also that this experience can be shared with others.

"The sense of satisfaction when you overcome the difficulties and challenges in the game," Tanimura said. "The loose interaction with other players and the sharing of that satisfaction, the sharing of the difficulties, the challenges, and the suffering."

And his advice for players that are ready to accept the kind of suffering that awaits them?

"Be aware and be cautious. ...try not to give up. You're going to face a lot of death but don't let that hurt you. Keep trying, keep trying new things and keep challenging yourself. "

For the latest from E3, check out our complete coverage.

Ah, E3. Do we love you or hate you? On one hand, that single week of June is filled with so much flashy marketing it makes our eyes ache, but on the other, we get to learn awesome new things about video games. Even now, a full week before E3, we're learning stuff. For instance: a massive banner slapped on the LA Convention Center has today confirmed the release date for masochism-simulator Dark Souls 2.

The above photograph, courtesy of All Games Beta, reveals a March 2014 release date on the banner. It still seems half an age away, but given that PC gamers only received Dark Souls in August last year, a year-and-a-half isn't really that much of a wait for a sequel (assuming a simultaneous PC release). Not that I'm over the brutality it inflicted upon me yet; I think I'll be cushioning myself with that fluffier brand of fantasy for now.

Dark Souls is meant to be brutal and unforgiving - that's part of the appeal. Still, the PCs Prepare to Die edition might have taken the philosophy a bit too far. The heavy burden of a capped framerate, the blight of forced 720 rendering, the foul stench of Games for Windows Live; all signs that From Software had failed to overcome the demons of PC porting.

Dark Souls II director Yui Tanimura agrees. In an interview with ShackNews he said (through a translator), "A lot of it was not very well done, sort of half-assed." The good news is that, for the sequel, the team have been developing the PC version alongside the consoles.

"Yes, we will definitely put more priority on the PC," Tanimura continued. "Last time, we started working on PC after the console version was complete. This time, because we are considering the PC from the beginning, you can be sure there will be more care put into PC development."

Dark Souls II is due to release on PC alongside console versions and, reportedly, the hands-off demo sessions previewing the game have been running on PC hardware, suggesting From Software already have much more faith in their PC champion.