Dark Souls Remastered (PS4 version, played on PS5 for review)

It’s strange coming back to what used to be considered the highwater mark for “difficult but rewarding” games, especially after a good decade and change of games that have a similar aim, have more responsive mechanics, and occasionally allowing use of a pause button. The difficulty spike of Blighttown is still aggravating and Lost Izaleth is shocking in how incomplete it feels, but the final set of bosses is a heck of a ride, the DLC dungeon is pretty fun, and it is ultimately successful in conveying its power fantasy, down to the pushover final boss. Better than “Elden Ring”.

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