Info Tech PC gamers haven’t had a great time of things lately, with multiple high-profile titles crashing and burning in the wreckage of the Windows Store. The bad news is that the PC version of insanity simulator / RPG Dark Souls 3 appears to have a game-breaking bug of its own gumming up the works. The good news is that this one at least has a temporary work-around.
For reasons that aren’t exactly clear, some significant number of players are experiencing hard lock ups either during character creation or when approaching a bonfire. These bugs aren’t affecting all users (PC configurations being what they are), but if you’re being bitten by one or both of them, the reported solution is to use the Knight class. The crash glitch is reportedly bypassed by having a full helmet on during character creation.
If you’re crashing out at bonfires, try setting lighting effects to low — this reportedly solves that issue, too.
The good news is that apart from these bugs, overall reception for Dark Souls 3 is positive. Most review sites have concluded that it’s a blend of the original Dark Souls and the PS4 exclusive Bloodborne, with a more cohesive storyline and quicker-paced combat. The near-universal acclaim from reviewers is that Dark Souls 3 serves up enough innovation to keep itself interesting while polishing all of the areas that have enthralled gamers since the original Dark Souls launched in 2011.
After weeks of writing about terrible DX12 ports and problematic titles that can’t maintain 30 FPS on $600 PC gaming hardware, it’s nice to be writing about something as simple as a crash-to-desktop bug that you can temporarily work around by adjusting an in-game option. One of Microsoft’s biggest problems with Windows 8 was that it asked PC users to rejoice at the idea of static windows and rigid application sandboxing that was the hallmark of a pre-Windows 3.0 world. A few weeks of the Windows Store, and the relative joy of a “regular” broken game stands out.
On a personal note, I’ve always been curious about the Dark Souls series, but I’m wary of it, too. My understanding is that the series is something of a brick wall when it comes to difficulty with a nasty penchant for requiring players memorize scenes and areas in order to know how to beat them. I don’t mind a challenge, but how much frustration is the game worth? If you’ve got an opinion (or you rage-crushed a controller and are currently blowing off steam online), feel free to share. Is it worth leaping into the DS series or not?