Dark Souls is a gaming icon for many reasons, but that doesn't mean it is immune to the passage of time. Although it has held up pretty well overall, there are still some issues that make revisiting it in 2026 a lot harder than it may seem. This, in turn, hurts the perception that many new players have of the action RPG titan.
Some of these gripes are pretty small QoL changes that have been refined over time by sequels and newer games in the genre, while others are more drastic, like cultural shifts that have left the original game's identity in a completely different state. With how far the Soulslike genre has come in just a short span of time, it is only natural to want to return to the beginning, even if it means removing a lot of the improvements and refinements that modern gamers get to enjoy today.
Level Design
Linear Yet Open
- Lack of direction makes backtracking common.
- More maze-like than a linear route.
One of the biggest things people praise about Dark Souls is the unique way the world is designed. It is far from an open-world game, but the way certain sections intertwine and loop together makes it feel far more open. As a result, players will find themselves revisiting past locations quite often, with new items and paths opening up to keep things moving forward.
However, because it is neither strictly linear nor strictly open, there are several areas where the exploration can feel incredibly tough, especially due to the lack of direction the game provides. Players might be running around Darkroot Garden for hours before realizing they missed a small entrance to the South, which does make those discoveries incredibly satisfying, but it is a far cry from the more accessible style seen in later games in the genre.
Fast Travel
No Way Back
- Getting lost can take up hours of time.
- Moving between locations can be annoying.
Fast travel is a modern game design mechanic that removes all those annoying hours spent running between previous locations. While Dark Souls does grant players this power, it waits until much later to let them use it. In the first dozen or so hours, players have no way of easily getting back to Firelink Shrine or checking out another area, so exploration is very much down to their ability to keep track of their surroundings.
Even when they gain access to Fast Travel, the locations are still fairly limited, something which just doesn't exist in many other Soulslikes. For this reason alone, new players who are used to the freedom seen in games like Elden Ring often feel intimidated by the lack of convenience, reflecting how game design has moved towards putting utility above atmosphere, for better or worse.
Simpler Boss Designs
Far From The Cinema Seen Later
- More basic attacks and mechanics.
- Complexity evolved over time.
Bosses have always been central to the Soulslike experience, and it is fair to say that Dark Souls has some pretty great bosses overall, save for a few misses. However, when it comes to the actual mechanical complexity of these enemies, many of them leave a lot to be desired. They have short chain attacks or basic swings that make the fights feel a lot more manageable than the Soulslike bosses seen today.
Now, in fairness, this isn't the game's fault, but a clear marker for how the passage of time has impacted how developers design bosses. Gwyn might be cool, but he doesn't really hold a candle to Isshin or Slave Knight Gael. If players are taking a trip down memory lane or fighting these enemies for the first time, they should know that the mechanical and cinematic flair is much lower on the spectrum.
"Dark Souls Is Hard"
No Longer The Gold Standard
- Difficulty perception has moved forward.
- Other, more difficult games have taken the top spot.
From the very start, Dark Souls was labeled as a hard game. Well before the term Soulslike was even popularized, people would often describe difficult tasks as being "The Dark Souls of X." Although the game was far from the most challenging title in the industry, it was still a phrase commonly used to refer to challenging games with a brutally high barrier to entry.
This ideology still exists to an extent, as Soulslikes have continued to carry the same perception they have had since the beginning. However, it is pretty hard to find a player nowadays who would consider Dark Souls to be at the top of the difficulty spectrum, with many other games in the genre taking the crown over the past decade. While the original still does present a sizable challenge, it is a far less mechanically demanding experience overall.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Frustrating Locations
Curse You, Blighttown
- Vertically oriented areas with very few safe spots.
- Notorious poison swamps and lava-filled locations.
Dark Souls was praised by many for its ability to transport players to a grim fantasy world where even light felt like a precious resource at times. There are some gorgeous and memorable locations throughout the game, but that doesn't mean it's a cakewalk to the finish line.
Locations like Blighttown and the Tomb of the Giants feel almost sadistic in their design, punishing players for putting their foot in the wrong place or just knocking them to their doom with a devious enemy placement or trap. These kinds of locations are far less common in later games in the franchise and the genre as a whole, though they do still exist in the form of areas like the aptly dubbed "poison swamps".
QOL Changes
Everything Feels Better Nowadays
FromSoftware
- Rolls and combat feel have improved.
- Moving while healing changes gameplay dramatically.
QOL is everything in a Soulslike because of how demanding they are mechanically. If the game doesn't feel good to play, then players are going to be in for a tough time. The modern landscape is full of exceptional titles that refined mechanics and removed much of the earlier clunkiness, which is why returning to something like Dark Souls can be particularly frustrating.
Simple things like moving while healing or having more control over the movement with a dedicated jump button make a world of difference, particularly over the course of a 30+ hour playthrough. These small but impactful issues are some of the biggest negatives that many players identify when jumping into an older Soulslike, because they can turn an otherwise fairly manageable experience into a borderline insufferable one.
The Genre Has Moved On
An Untouchable Legacy
- Feels like a prototype for where Soulslikes are now.
- Innovation fixes many of the issues.
Dark Souls is over 15 years old today, and in that time, the Soulslike genre as a whole has grown and completely changed in just about every way imaginable. The scope has expanded, the combat is faster, and players can now experience the same thrill on a much wider playing field, with several open-world games entering the genre over the past few years.
In many ways, Dark Souls feels like a proof of concept for where the Soulslike genre is today, showing the early iterations of how fights should play out and how levels should be defined. Many iconic games and franchises owe their existence to Dark Souls, so even if it hasn't held up exceptionally in every regard, it still deserves a heap of respect for the impact it had on the gaming industry.
Dark Souls
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84/100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 22, 2011
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Violence
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Namco Bandai
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Adventure
