Dark Souls Remastered Gamescom 2018 Switch Gameplay Impressions

Nintendo offered a playable version of Dark Souls Remastered on the Nintendo Switch during Gamescom 2018. So, of course, I absolutely had to give it a spin. I was super curious to see how exactly the Switch would handle it. And, to probably nobody else’s surprise, it handles it really, really well. Here are my first impressions.

First Gameplay Impressions of Dark Souls Remastered on Nintendo Switch

Right of the bat, I’ll admit, I was somewhat skeptical of Dark Souls on the Switch. I was especially weary of playing it on the go, with the small screen and Joy-Con controllers with their tiny buttons. Dark Souls requires speed and precision, and I had this idea that it just wouldn’t work well on the Switch. Well, I’ve had a chance to give Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch a spin, and in handheld mode, no less. I’m happy to report that I was almost completely wrong in my assumptions. Almost.

First off, the positives. Dark Souls Remastered runs like a dream on the Switch in handheld mode. One of my greatest concerns was, again, the size of the screen. The devil is in the details when it comes to Dark Souls, after all. Well, I had absolutely no problem with the screen. Everything was crisp and clear; I had no problems whatsoever. Now, to be fair, most of us are very intimately familiar with the starting section of Dark Souls. That said, though, I can assure you, I tried to find a flaw here, and I found nothing.

Another good that the Switch port does are the controls. They are as responsive as you could wish for. Every button press responded immediately, as it really needs to be for Dark Souls. Whether we’re talking attacking and dodging, or just navigating the level, the port absolutely delivers. In short, the port is really, really good. Honestly, I really have to start giving the Switch way more credit, because it absolutely deserves it.

The only real problem I had are the Joy-Con. That’s the thing I was right about. The buttons, at least for my hands, are bit to small for me. I guess it’s a matter of getting used to, so your mileage may very. Personally, though, I kept missing buttons in tight situations, especially the shoulder buttons. Which, again, when precision is essential, made for somewhat annoying situations. Also, some of the control mapping was a bit weird. Namely, it is incredibly strange to have B as Confirm and A for Back in the menu. However, given that this was just a build for showing the game off, that might still change before launch. Even if it doesn’t, you can get used to it, it’s just a little confusing.

Dark Souls Remastered is coming out on the Nintendo Switch on October 19th. Would I recommend picking it up? Yes, I would, especially if you don’t have it on any other platform. If you really want to play Dark Souls on the go, the Switch does a much better job of it than I expected. Just be aware that the teeny tiny buttons on the Joy-Cons might make things a little difficult.