E3 2012: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition Impressions
My body is ready... to die. Again.
06.05.12 - 9:26 PM

On the E3 show floor, I had the chance to chat briefly about the upcoming Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, which is coming to PC this fall. The Artorias of the Abyss DLC, which includes all of the new content in the PC edition, is slated to come to consoles shortly after that.

Aside from all of the existing Dark Souls content, the Prepare to Die Edition will include approximately three new areas, which can be accessed after finishing a series of tasks in the mid-to-late-game of the main storyline. Once the tasks are completed, a portal will open up that allows players to access the new areas and story bits. In these new areas, you will travel to the past and learn about the titular Artorias of the Abyss. For those players who found the lore of Dark Souls to their liking, this should fill in some rather interesting gaps!

Other talking points of the new content included several new bosses (at least one of which has a tail that can be sliced off and used as a weapon), and a number of new weapons and weapon types. All in all, the new content is estimated to make up about 4-5 hours of gameplay.

Performance-wise, the game ran smoothly in the demo footage. While the game will not offer high resolution textures, it will offer a full range of scalable settings exclusive to the PC version. Additionally, I was flat-out promised that Blighttown will run as smoothly as the rest of the game.

While I didn't get a chance to try the game myself, it certainly seems as though Dark Souls is on track to be better than it has ever been when it finally lands on PCs (via Steam and Games for Windows Live). Keep a look out for it this fall!