Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition - PC

While puzzling over Namco’s decision to release Dark Souls for the PC with the added bonus of it being the “Prepare to Die” Edition, I wondered why the company had become so cruel. Why would you want to wish death on your customers?

Then I remembered pumping all of those quarters into Pac-Man games long ago, and dying a million times. We do it because it keeps us playing. The next game will always be the time we play it perfectly, without screwing up.

There will be new content included in the game, although they were tight-lipped as to whether that contact would make it to the console in the form of DLC.

The PC version follows the story of Artorias of the Abyss, who supplied a lot of the nifty gear in the console version, and takes part in the past of Darkwood Garden. This time, you’ll get to see Artorias in the flesh for the first time, and the developers will be adding three or four new NPCs (including Hawkeye Gough), four new bosses (including Artorias, Chimera of Tomb, and more), and two or three new maps (that include Oolacile Tomb, Old Ruins, and more). Although those numbers aren’t set in stone just yet, that’s roughly the ground that additional content will cover.

They will also be adding an online “Battle Royale” stage that they weren’t saying much about but should allow players to battle it out with each other. Of course, a new game means new gear, and you’ll be seeing a lot of new equipment, including a bizarre sword they showed us that looks like the backbone of a fish. You’ll also get new equipment and armor from the new NPCs and bosses.

“Our fans demanded to see this game brought to the PC,”said Hidetaka Miyazaki, Creative Director for Dark Souls at FromSoftware, Inc., “This also allowed us to dive back into the world of Dark Souls … adding a whole new chapter to tell the tale of the Dark Knight Artorias was an opportunity we’re also proud to have taken, as we’ve managed to expand the experience for our biggest fans without compromising the balance of the core game that we worked so hard to create. This edition of the game is our gift to the fans.”

If you’ve played Dark Souls before, there probably isn’t enough new content to justify another purchase. But if you haven’t died over and over again, then consider picking this up on August 24.