Last year, fans of Dark Souls were disappointed to learn that developer FromSoftware is done for the franchise for now. But although the developer currently has no plans to expand the trilogy, this doesn't mean that it isn't interested in giving its existing games a makeover.
A shopper in Japan has posted a photograph that seems to confirm that a remaster of the first Dark Souls game is on the way. The image is of a pre-order notice for the game and says that Dark Souls remastered will be released on PS4 on May 24, 2018 in Japan.
According to the Global Electronic Party Information Registry (GEPIR), the barcode in the image belongs to a FromSoftware product but it does not match an existing product. This seems to confirm that the image is legitimate and hasn't been Photoshopped, using a barcode of another game in the store.
The pre-order notice may only have been for the PS4 version of the Dark Souls remaster, but sources speaking to Kotaku UK say that it will also be coming to PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Dark Souls Remastered will be announced for Nintendo Switch at the end of today's (still rumored) Nintendo Direct stream and several hours later, the other versions will be confirmed.
Better lighting, improved special effects, and multiplayer that supports six players concurrently are all to be expected, says the report. The report also claims that (Dark Souls publisher) Bandai Namco plans to remaster the entire trilogy eventually, but that is not happening just yet.
This is not the first time that there has been speculation about Dark Souls remasters. A previous report written by Laura Kate Dale (the same author as this new Kotaku UK piece) suggested that FromSoftware had developed a Dark Souls 3 Nintendo Switch port that is was "happy" with.
That report also explained that FromSoftware was waiting to see the financial performance of the Nintendo Switch before it proceeded with any plans. Given that the Nintendo Switch has now broken sales records around the globe, FromSoftware must feel convinced enough to sign off on Switch ports of its iconic action series.
As is the case with all reports that come from anonymous sources, this information should be taken with a grain of salt. Neither Bandai Namco, FromSoftware or Nintendo have confirmed the info yet. Though if the rumored Nintendo Direct is really taking place later today, fans won't have long to find out if the Dark Souls remaster really is releasing soon.