Dark Souls

THE BUZZ: Gamers getting and playing particular games early has been a situation developers and publishers have dealt with to different degrees. Some companies don’t care, while others will go so far as to ban anybody who is caught playing a particular game before the official release date.

Dark Souls creator From Software has taken a far more humorous approach to those who are playing its latest action adventure before they’re supposed to. Much like their previous hit title Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls allows players to jump into the worlds of other players, where the invader can either assist or attack the person being invaded. Reports have come out that some people from within From Software have been using this feature to invade the games of Japanese players who are going online with Dark Souls early. That might not be so bad, but the invading characters are maxed-out warriors with high-level weapons and armor, who then proceed to easily—and, no doubt, with a certain amount of glee—slaughter their victims.

EGM’s TAKE: You’ve got to love something like this. From Software gets to have a little fun punishing those who are playing the game early, but those players don’t face any real punishment for something that really isn’t a big deal in the long run. At the very least, if you’re one of those people playing the game early who gets slaughtered by a member of From Software, you have an interesting tale to tell.