The PC Gamer Perspective on From Software Titles

Originally Published on March 30th, 2019

When Demon’s Souls was published ten years ago, the industry functioned much differently than it does today. Often times, titles were published, they had an online mode, and they were seldom updated. Developers were expected to ship 100 percent finished games for launch day, and players were expected to play those games through and then never touch them again. That reality has changed as the gaming community has become more mainstream; people want to be playing new and old games alike and for longer, and with Steam providing the ease of access, more people are playing older games than ever before. When Dark Souls 2 and 3 released to immense success, the newer generation of gamers turned to the first game on PC, only to be unpleasantly surprised to see that From Software still had that “release and forget” mentality of yesteryear.

In early 2017, six years after the game’s release on consoles and five years after it was ported to PC, the game still had frame-rate issues, poor keyboard and mouse controls, and a resolution locked at 720p. According to producer Takeshi Miyazoe, the development team actually released the port knowing the issues were present. He also admitted that the team rushed the game to release on PC because of the demand from Western gamers and Bandai-Namco’s “throw it out there and see how it does” approach. When remakes started becoming popular, fans got excited for a respectable update to Dark Souls 1. From Software would try, and fail, to give their most influential title the attention it deserved with Dark Souls: Remastered. The only changes offered in the remaster were support for multiple resolutions and refresh rates; all of the game-breaking bugs and countless glitches were still there from its predecessor. The last software update for the title brought some bug fixes in August of last year, but a good amount of the flaws are still present.

Problems span over more than just Dark Souls one, though. Dark Souls 2 was delayed for PC and still released to disappointment from fans, who thought the title was shallow. Dark Souls 3 also had a problem with DLC, introducing vast areas that added little to both the lore and gameplay. Even From Software’s new release, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, suffers from abysmal keyboard and mouse controls, just like all the Souls games. Sure, every game From Software has produced has been built for consoles, but after seven years of complaints from fans about keyboard and mouse controls, there is really no excuse for From Software to lack a better PC development team. If you want to see a full review of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, our game reviewer Logan Berg will be taking a look at it in next week’s episode.

Since Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition released in 2011, myself and many others have loved the way that From Software discloses story elements like lore, character arcs, and even the main story of the games. Even Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin has some strong points. Players also love the freedoms of optional areas, bosses, and armor and weapon types available in each From Software title. The controls and animations weren’t perfect in earlier titles like Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls 1, but they have since been mastered in Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne. The games feel good to control, there’s the freedom of choice, and the worlds are well-developed and fun to explore. All I ask from you, From Software, is to just give us Dark Souls PC players an equal experience.