Because no other video game had been compared to Dark Souls in the last nanosecond or so, here comes that comparison again.
Now, you might not have heard, but Dark Souls tends to be considered just a little on the challenging side. FromSoftware’s infamous action RPG franchise has never been afraid to eat players whole and spit out sad, crushed hunks of despair and defeat. The games’ granite-hard difficulty has become nothing short of a meme in and of itself.
The whole concept has been taken so far that absolutely any difficult title is compared with the series, whether it’s remotely similar to the Souls games in any conceivable way or not. One interesting case was the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on its release. These games can be darn tough platformers, there’s no denying that, but their bright, toon-tastic aesthetic is about as far from Dark Souls’ maudlin vibe as it’s possible to get. Nevertheless, Kotaku slapped the collection with the moniker of “the Dark Souls of platformers.”
If we must draw comparisons between Dark Souls and the remastered escapades of a PlayStation icon of yesteryear, forget Crash Bandicoot. Leave Spyro the Dragon out of the equation too. Skeletal knight Sir Daniel Fortesque, star of MediEvil and its upcoming remake, is the moldy man to call.
MediEvil originally arrived on the PS1 in 1998. It’s certainly no horror game, but it effortlessly rocked its macabre, Tim Burton-like aesthetic, and was rife with black humor. A one-of-a-kind offering, to be sure, and one we’ll be glad to see make a return on PS4 come October 25. With its dark fantasy stylings and old-school challenge, the official PlayStation Blog couldn't resist trotting out the Dark Souls comparison again.
“One of the biggest surprises is how MediEvil feels like Dark Souls… despite it releasing over a decade before From Software’s challenging fantasy epic,” they conclude after a recent hands-on session. “Realization dawns once you’re past the tutorial-like crypt and its surrounding graveyard. For one, MediEvil’s levels are compact labyrinths packed with secrets and shortcuts. Secondly, the game is tough. This is no brainless hack and slash romp: single enemies can do considerable damage, while mobs can quickly send the unwary back to the grave.”
The whole as-hard-as-Dark-Souls thing is the ultimate gaming cliché, but here, it’s surprisingly apt. This is also reflected in the stages, which are packed with secrets to discover, the towering, formidable bosses and the way Sir Fortesque’s arsenal expands. It’s lucky that MediEvil is as ridiculous, charming and ridiculously charming as it is, as that really sets it apart.