Today we get to reveal some more information about Dark Souls Remastered that you most likely haven’t heard yet, unless you awoke very early this morning. There have been some changes to some unexpected aspects, things that players might have been hoping for, and some that maybe they weren’t.
This is not an impressions article, we’ll be doing that later. We gave you a refresher of some oldschool mechanics a few days back, so without further ado, let’s take a look at just what has changed.
Dark Souls Remastered: What’s Different and What’s Not
We’ll skip the graphical section for now, and put it at the bottom, because this is not fresh news, and odds are you’ve heard it already. Let’s instead focus on the core mechanic changes of Dark Souls Remastered and how they stack up to the original. Brace yourself because some might be kind of a shock.
Major Mechanics Changes – Dark Souls 3 ish
Please keep in mind there *may* be more of these – but nobody has been allowed to progress past a specific point so there may be a few surprises waiting for you somewhere. Some smaller quality-of-life changes include adding a bonfire by Blacksmith Vamos and giving players the ability to re-map the jump button.
Covenants
Probably the 2 most notable changes to the game, and ones that will really impact returning veterans, are the changing of Covenants at Bonfires and the addition of dedicated servers. Yep, you heard that right, you can now change Covenants at bonfires. This is a real shame in my opinion and is something that really set Dark Souls apart from the later installments of the franchise. However, I understand why they did it, and I’m sure some people will appreciate it. It would seem you still get sin from betrayals, so watch out and don’t randomly hit those NPCs!
Dedicated Servers
With the introduction of dedicated servers players will have a much smoother online experience and what they had previously, which was P2P or player-to-player. This should drastically reduce the amount of lagstabs and other exploits that tend to ruin the fantastic PvP of the game. The servers are not the only change to PvP though, and there’s bound to be a mix of emotions about them.
Online, Co Op and PvP
Firstly there can now be 6 players online in a game, but in order to have that many you will be required to use the Dried Finger, just like Dark Souls 3. Because this is such an integral part of the game, the Finger has been moved to the Undead Burg merchant from the Painted World, in order to give players access to it much earlier in the game.
Whilst we haven’t been able to test the following, and the preview build is disclaimed as a “work in progress”, it would appear players will no longer be able to use healing items such as Divine Blessing or Humanity while invaded OR invading. Healing is limited to Estus only in a PvP scenario and just like Dark Souls 3, these are cut in half for friendly and invading phantoms, but not the host. We do not know if friendly phantoms will actually be able to use their Estus (like they could in Dark Souls 3), or if it will remain the same and only the host can heal phantoms with their own Estus. Players seem also unable to summon consecutive phantoms when invaded to prevent a never ending invasion.
Something to surely be popular is that players can now utilize password matching, just as they could in Dark Souls 3, and players can use this to summon players outside of the normal limits of summoning ranges. Players who are above the host’s level will be adjusted down to compensate, again like Dark Souls 3.
The Arena will now feature 3v3 and 6 player deathmatch game modes, to go along with the 1v1, 2v2 and 4 player deathmatch modes that were already in place. Arena can also utilize password matching for play with friends or tournaments and respawn points will now be random.
Graphics and Enhancements
Xbox One X, PS4 Pro and PC will display Dark Souls Remasterd in 4k resolution with 60 frames per second. PS4 Pro and Xbox One X will upscale this from 1080p, while PC will feature native 4k resolution. PS4 Pro and Xbox One will play at 1080p with 60 frames per second and Nintendo Switch will have 1080p at 30 frames per second (when docked), with 720p at 30FPS when portable. The Remastered version of the game does feature enhanced lighting as we had originally reported, however the textures and effects look largely the same.
The framerate performance (and the dreaded input lag of Blighttown) remains to be tested in detail – but we are hopeful that the game will prove superior to the original in this regard.
If you want more Dark Souls, you will probably want to check out fan-made Dark Souls in Unreal Engine 4, or have some fun exploring Dark Souls Comedy. Alternatively, there’s a fantastic article on Humanity and the Soul that could bring you back to the origins of souls lore, or our pieces on Dark Souls Architecture and Dark Souls Armor design from history.
Stay tuned for announcements regarding the upcoming Dark Souls Remastered Network Test!
