Dark Souls 1.5x as big as Demon's Souls

By Robert Purchese Published 24 February, 2011

Explore and set own side-quests.

Sequels tend to be bigger (even when they're called spiritual successors) - so how much bigger is Dark Souls than Demon's Souls? Half as big again, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki has revealed.

"For simplicity of explanation, as compared to Demon's Souls, the map will be approximately 1.5 times the size. It may feel even bigger to the players," Miyazaki told 1UP.

Perhaps that means no more hour-long speed runs - you'll need at least an hour-and-a-half now.

Miyazaki added: "Not so much hidden maps, but there will be areas that are hidden away that are not critical to game completion. In regards to side-quests, they won't be stated as specific quests, but we will implement small events to encourage players to create their own mini objectives."

Dark Souls will focus more on exploration than Demon's Souls. The former had to be broken into levels or stages that made up a world - a similar approach to the Mario games. But for Dark Souls, From Software has one big, seamless world.

"Demon's Souls was leaning more towards the swordplay," Miyazaki told Eurogamer earlier this year, "but now we're putting a little bit more weight on the exploration. It's about allowing the player to experience discovery."

"One of the big conceptual differences is seamlessness. We've attached all the environments together."

And there are no loading times.

"No. In Demon's Souls, the design was based around individual levels so exploration was only within particular environments. Now we're allowing users to explore the entire world, without interruption. That's an important step up for Dark Souls," he said.

Dark Souls will be more difficult than Demon's Souls but also more approachable, if that's possible. Character classes are being removed, the ability to request aid from other players online added and the Soul Tendency of worlds removed.

What's more, Dark Souls will be a multi-platform game and not a PS3 exclusive. From Software also has big plans for multiple multiplayer modes, although what those are we don't yet know.

Eurogamer previewed Dark Souls early in February.

Dark Souls.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Widge #1 1 year ago

    Are they keeping to the same message system and emote system for communications as before? I found that was part of the magic which made Demons Souls so good.

  • Gambit1977 #2 1 year ago

    Did people complete DS in an hour? Surely not.

  • HurbleBurble #3 1 year ago

    Stop doing interviews and finish it!

  • JBlokeUK #4 1 year ago

    Can't wait for this. Demons Souls is one of the best games this generation.

  • Pac #5 1 year ago

    @Gambit1977

    Yep. Follow the link in the article for the crazy speedrun.

    Took me a bit longer I seem to remember. More like two weeks longer.

  • Pac #6 1 year ago

    Does it still have red eyed knights?

    Cannot wait for this game.

  • Meho #7 1 year ago

    "Are they keeping to the same message system and emote system for communications as before?"

    The way I understand it, there will be no servers for the game (that was said as an explanation why there won't be world tendencies in the game), so it's all p2p, so... yeah, who knows...

  • jstar #8 1 year ago

    Demon Souls was simply magnificent. I bought a PS3 just to play it and it was worth every penny. One of the best games ever made in my opinion. Though it has completely ruined combat for me in every other fantasy RPG . Dragon Age I'm looking at you.

  • mr2ange #9 1 year ago

    Again, add support for calling a freind into your world and vice versa, and everyone who liked the original will buy this without hesitation.

    however, this is a day one for me regardless

  • glottis0 #10 1 year ago

    I hope (perhaps naively) that 'MultiPlatform' includes PC. To be able to play this in the nerdy surround-sound darkness of my bedroom will definitely trump fighting housemates and the cat for sofa space!

  • apoc_reg #11 1 year ago

    I want a media black out on this until its relaeased, every time theres news i have to scream in agony that I cant play this NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • mkreku #12 1 year ago

    Cross platform multiplayer? First game ever to achieve this? No.

    But I would love to play this on my Xbox 360 together with my cousin on his PS3.

  • smithdown #13 1 year ago

    Sounds brilliant, and surprisingly different to Demon's Souls.

    I am a bit confused about how the 'seamless' world will work, considering that in Demon's Souls the enemies were only reset when you returned to the Nexus and then went back to that level. Will enemies spontaneously respawn after a certain amount of time? In the same places? Or will encounters be more unpredictable?

    The enemy systems were very important to Demon's Souls. Without it, there'd be no grinding for souls or other resources.
    Edit: Not to say I enjoy grinding, just that it was important to the character of the game.
    Edited by smithdown at 24/02/11 @ 13:20

  • mungolikebeans #14 1 year ago

    Holy Moly!

    I've barely done 20% of Demons Souls in a year!!

    That means i'll complete Dark Souls in 2023!

    By which time i might be dead.

    A life well spent i say.




  • CraigMcG #15 1 year ago

    i actually think i could probably speed run ds on my ng++ game in around an hour

  • Necanthrope #16 1 year ago

    All good news so far. Demons Souls was an awesome game but it did have a few issues. It was a small game and the system of individual levels added to that impression. If anything I'd like the sequel to be twice as big or more. However as long as its as good as the first or better I guess half as big again will have to do :o)

    The other aspect I'd like them to tackle is the set placement of enemies. I went through the game about 8 times and could have continued if the game had been able to inject more variety into things.

    Ditching World Tendency is also a good move. The system was easy enough to manage but encouraged offline play to maintain pure white / black. I only went online after achieving all my pure white tasks and before I plunged the worlds into pure black. The game mechanics here where opposed and you had to give up on to get the full benefit of the other.

    @Widge

    I'd suggest the answer to that is no. With no central server persistant messages and the like from thousands of players would be hard to implement.

    @glottis0

    A PC version would be awesome. I really doubt it would happen though.

    @smithdown

    The seamless nature of the sequel leads me to think it will be a more linear journey. This might well reduce the ability to grind unless they provide transportation back to older areas. I for one won't miss grinding but then I did very little of it. My major foray was spending 6 hours over 2 days trying to get a Pure Bladestone and thus Platinum the game. This simply wasn't fun and someone needs shooting for making it a .5% (or what ever) drop from only 2 or 3 specific enemies! I still shudder when i think about 6 hours of running past the Reaper, down the secret tunnel, one shot the Black Skeleton, search the body, sigh :o) and then suicide off the cliff before doing it all again.

  • BuddyChrist #17 1 year ago

    Memories of wearing nothing but a top hat just so I could use the Dragon Slayer, all flooding back.

  • Architect_z #18 1 year ago

    No character classes is a strange feature, I hope they still keep the same online play they did in Demons Souls, however an invite system would be a good addition. Demons Souls is a fantastic game, can't believe it wasnt given 10/10 on the reviews.