A strange but impressive new mod for Dark Souls Remastered turns the entire game into a PS1-style Demaster.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Dark Souls Remastered looked a bit... crunchier? If it had the texture work, model quality and sound fidelity of an early PS1 game, to the point where you could barely tell what you were looking at anymore half the time?
Well, wonder no more, because NexusMods user thegreatgramcracker has, for some reason, made it a reality with Pixel Souls Demastered, a mod that basically downsamples the entire game.
The mod was released last Wednesday, along with a trailer showing it off in all its glory:
You can practically taste the pixels.
High-Quality Demaster Turns Dark Souls Into A PS1 Game
My favorite kind of fan project is the kind that takes a very silly idea and puts an absurd amount of effort into executing it, and this one definitely fits the bill. Just downscaling all the textures would've gotten the idea across well enough, but thegreatgramcracker went above and beyond by also including lower-quality models, crunchier music and sound effects and even 8-bit remixes of some iconic Dark Souls location themes.
It's not a full-on remake of the game like BloodbornePSX, but considering that Dark Souls Remastered was on PC already, that amount of effort would've been uncalled-for. Then again, Bloodborne is also getting a PS1 kart racing fan game, so I suppose Soulsborne fans are just that dedicated!
Demasters are a fun modding subgenre because they're a great way to test if a game's core game essence still holds up if you remove all the visual fluff. So if you're curious whether Dark Souls will be just as fun to play in a more distilled form (or are just in the mood for a PS1 nostalgia trip) then this mod might just be for you!