Huge and ambitious Dark Souls 1 mod reimagines and expands FromSoftware's masterpiece
And it was built by just one modder.
A new and ambitious mod for Dark Souls 1 has reignited the game's community after surprise-launching this week.
Dark Souls: Daughters of Ash is Dark Souls re-imagined and massively expanded, according to its lone creator.
Redditor Grimrukh said they spent over 1000 hours over the course of 2017 and 2018 building the mod for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition on PC.
"It's my vision of what Dark Souls might have been if FromSoftware had been given an additional six months to develop content for the game," Grimrukh said.
There's new game progression (new world-changing events, key items and unexpected pathways), new bosses and enemies (including enemies restored from cut content), new NPCs and storylines, new weapons, items and mechanics, expanded lore via new item descriptions, and new secrets ("don't expect to come anywhere close to unveiling all of the game's hidden content in one or two playthroughs").
Daughters of Ash quickly revitalised the Dark Souls 1 community, with many fans of FromSoftware's classic rushing to try it out. There are teething issues, as you'd expect from a mod built by one person, but Grimrukh has already issued a raft of updates and said more will come. Check out the video below, by streamer LobosJr, to see the mod in action.
"My fondest memories of Dark Souls come from discovering its secrets, and that heavily influenced my design of DoA," Grimrukh continued.
"Unlike a game company like FromSoft, I have no financial motivation in making all of my new content as obvious as possible. Some bosses aren't just sitting in rooms waiting for the Chosen Undead to rock up. I'm hoping that some of you will enjoy getting together to figure things out."
Grimrukh cautioned, however, the mod has no new game assets, such as character models or dialogue recordings, "but accomplishes a great deal through modifying the game's event scripts, placement data, and entity logic." They also recommended playing offline to avoid invasions, which will lead to broken gameplay.
Dark Souls 1 has seen an uptick in players on Steam and viewers on Twitch following the release of the mod. Dark Souls 1 came out over seven years ago, and if this mod proves anything, it's that there's a clear a demand for a fresh Dark Souls experience.
Grab Dark Souls: Daughters of Ash from Nexus Mods.