Dark Souls preview

From Software continues the punishing action-RPG gameplay of Demon's Souls with its spiritual successor, Dark Souls.

What we're talking about: Dark Souls, the spiritual successor of Demon's Souls by developer From Software.
Where we saw it: At Namco's Ignite event in San Francisco, where they took the opportunity to announce their partnership with From Software.

What you need to know:

• Ahh, Demon's Souls. From Software's highly-lauded (and extremely punishing) action-RPG which punished players as much as it rewarded them is getting a spiritual successor in the form of Dark Souls. Like the previous game, Dark Souls is set in a dark fantasy world, rife with powerful enemies that will, as From Software puts it, punish and frustrate players at every turn. They said this while laughing, if that gives you any indication of their motivations.
• During From Software's presentation of Dark Souls, the developer highlighted a number of diverse areas players will explore within the game. In addition to a fairly standard city/castle area, we were treated to a sprawling forest locale, and a lava-filled area From Software referred to as the "Underground Hell."
• Bosses are a huge component of Dark Souls. In the castle area, the dev showed off a giant sleeping dragon, which they didn't bother to wake up because they claimed it would kill the player instantly. It was essentially resting on the castle, and was easily 100 times the size of the player's knight character. Another boss we came across was a giant ogre, which chased the player character across a bridge along the side of the castle. The demonstrator chose to engage with this boss, but the ogre easily overpowered the player character. The From Software rep assured us that if they weren't playing an in-development build, the player would be dead a long time ago. He eventually defeated the ogre by jumping down off of a rampart and stabbing the beast in the head.
• Combat in Dark Soul's is primarily based around blocking and attacking with a number of different swords (From Software says there will be over 100 swords available throughout the game), and utilizing magic spells. The developer only showed off a few spells; one was a standard fireball attack, while another turned the player's knight's body into iron (a la Mario 64), which slowed down his movement but made him impervious to attacks. From Software also took the opportunity to mention that there will be some kind of PvP multiplayer, as they showed off a spell that turned the player character into a vase, which they claim will be good to use when hiding from other players.

Point in development cycle: The game is due out this winter, and still looked fairly early in terms of development.

My take: Anyone will tell you that Demon's Souls was a love-it-or-hate-it type of game; players who could get past the constant punishment the game doled out were treated to a really unique action-RPG, and it appears that From Software are continuing the trend for Dark Souls. The game looks fantastic even in this early state, though elements like combat and physics still need to be tweaked and refined. We'll keep an eye on this one as the devs move closer to their winter release date.