Dark Souls Archthrones: An Imperfect Love Letter To The Series

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Obaid Ur Rehman

At Tech4Gamers, I mainly cover new gaming news, leaks, and rumours. Aside from that, I love to write features about my favourite games while inserting my opinion about their different aspects. 

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Having played nearly every Souls title, I know how frustrating it is to know that there isn’t going to be a fourth installment in the series.

Dark Souls 3, the third installment, was released in 2016, and since then, there hasn’t been any information regarding a sequel. However, the developer blessed us with Elden Ring, which became my favorite game and went on to win Game of The Year after dominating the competition.

Still, the absence of Dark Souls 4 makes me sad, and Demon’s Souls Remake, which can be considered a new entry, isn’t available on PC. Fortunately, fans took matters into their own hands and completely overhauled Dark Souls 3.

The mod is known as Dark Souls Archthrones, which is more or less the fourth entry we never got. It has received a lot of praise, but can it continue the legendary legacy that began over 12 years ago?

Why it matters: FromSoftware’s work comes very close to perfection, so any project claiming to be similar demands close scrutiny.

A Complete Overhaul

This mod is by no means bad and can definitely be enjoyed by many. It is a complete overhaul by fans, which is quite impressive given that the new voice lines, mechanics, and everything else are extremely polished.

Of course, bugs will also be fixed as time passes. This overhaul doesn’t just add new bosses to Dark Souls 3; it completely transforms the experience. I really like the concept of new lore that is based on the secrets of Dark Souls mythology.

The mod isn’t too hard on your system either and is free to play. So, for avid fans, Archthrones is a must-play, but it is by no means perfect. I have played it for some time and enjoyed many aspects, but I don’t think it lives up to Dark Souls’ legacy.

Many might disagree with me, but having poured hundreds of hours into this series, I have more than enough knowledge to judge the mod. I certainly don’t dislike it. There are plenty of things to appreciate here, but there are several reasons it is far from perfect.

The Issues With The Mod

I felt the team leaned too far into FromSoftware inspirations, with the final version coming off as too similar. The thing that surprised me the most was the five-world system.

This system punishes you for being under-leveled, which I believe is a good addition. That said, the issues started when I faced the normal enemies and the bosses. I expected the mod to deliver many new bosses with completely new movesets, which was the case, but not exactly how I envisioned it.

I seriously don’t understand the point of reusing boss movesets from different FromSoftware games. If the modders were going for a completely new experience that people would eventually call Dark Souls 4, then they should have brought more originality to the table.

Taking inspiration is one thing, but copying boss movesets is entirely different. I lost interest in the mod as soon as I faced an enemy with the exact same moveset as one enemy from Sekiro.

A Lot of Similarities

There was a boss who had the same moveset as Sekiro’s Owl. Some bosses even have the same movesets as bosses in Elden Ring.

Necromancer Obediah is a combination of Morgott and Soul of Cinder. To make this fight more annoying, he can summon skeletons mid-fight. Another boss I fought was Omen of the Eclipse, who had the same moveset as Godfrey.

In the second phase, it turned into a tree spirit. After fighting my favorite boss from Elden Ring, I had to fight one of the most annoying ones; what could be better than that?

Perhaps I’m being too hard on the mod or set myself up for disappointment by expecting too much. Ultimately, Dark Souls Archthrones failed to meet my high expectations because I was genuinely excited to return to this series.

I still encourage everyone to check this mod out since the team’s effort is worth appreciating. You can download it from Nexumods.

Obaid Ur Rehman

[News Reporter]

Obaid is pursuing a Law degree, while working as a content writer. He has worked as a gaming writer for over a year because of his passion for the medium and reporting the latest updates in the industry. Having played hundreds of games, Obaid finds himself coming back to Elden Ring and Red Dead Redemption 2, with these games being among his favorites. He has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as Wccftech, Metro UK, PS Lifestyle, GamePressure, VGC, and Gamespot.