Dark Souls review scores go live, are incredible
9's across the board for Namco bruiser
Dark Souls reviews have flooded the internet and From Software's punishingly difficult RPG is currently the talk of the town with an overwhelmingly positive response from critics.
Click to view larger image OXM has awarded it a 9/10 and describes the game as "depressingly evil but utterly addictive". The review makes it perfectly clear Dark Souls is likely to be "too brutal for most newcomers" but also says it's "more exciting than anything, ever".
Xbox World says Dark Souls is a "stern but deeply rewarding experience" and thinks its "stupefying breadth will surely capture your imagination like few other worlds you've explored in games". It awarded the game a 9.6/10 score.
GamesTM has also given Dark Souls 9/10 and comments: "Dark Souls is a fine example of how great forethought and a less than tepid attitude towards taking risks pay dividends in the hands of real gamers. It is nothing short of extraordinary, though perhaps a couple of years on from Demon's Souls, it is also less surprising."
"Dark Souls is brutally uncompromising yet practically unparalleled in the sense reward it can offer to those who persist. Its inaccessible nature will put many off, but those who brave it will discover one of the deepest, most fulfilling gaming experiences available", Beefjack concludes, awarding the game 9.4/10.
Dark Souls earned a 5/5 from The Telegraph, which says "It is a game that brazenly proves game design fashions are just that; transient, fleeting trends that, in attempting to lay down a set of rules only throw down a new challenge for how things might be done".
Electronic Theatre went with a score of 89%. It says Dark Souls will be recognised as a success for being "a videogame experience that grips the player and doesn't let go, despite the additional investment that may be required as players break their controls in a fury of anger."
NowGamer's 9.0 verdict calls Dark Souls a "compulsively difficult RPG that all genre-fans must seek out. It's a dark, hesitant world that you won't be able to resist".
"Dark Souls revels in its abstruseness: it goes out of its way to make those who wouldn't say they were RPG veterans feel like they missed a crucial class at school. To prosper in it, you almost need to operate like a detective, seeking out hidden areas and objects, and mining its endless menus (in gloriously old-school fashion, they can only be traversed using the D-pad) for tiny little edges that eventually add up", says The Guardian, it pegged Dark Souls with a 4/5.
IGN's review explains that "If you take the time get into Dark Souls' mindset, to begin to understand the twisted way in which it operates and taste the rewards behind its cruellest challenges, this is one of the most thrilling, most fascinating and most completely absorbing experiences in gaming." It awarded the game an overall score of 9.0.
"If entertainment is fun without failure and progress without pain, you'll have to find it somewhere else. But you'll be missing out on one of the best games of the year," concludes Eurogamer. It added another 9/10 score to the pile.
Finally is GameSpot's 9.5 review, which states: "Dark Souls doesn't just surpass other dungeon crawlers; it skewers them with a razor-sharp halberd and leaves behind their soulless corpses".