Dark Souls will remain 'functional' as GFWL prepares to die in July

Few people were happy when it was announced that Dark Souls would call Games For Windows Live home. Now that the service is scheduled to discontinue in July it's both a) vindicating and b) stressful, because what happens to Dark Souls now?

Dark Souls for PC was a notoriously flimsy port: it took a determined modder to free the game from ugly frame rate and resolution locks . Without the mods it's still great , and Japanese studio From Software somewhat made up for the disappointing port with a supposed PC focus on its follow up Dark Souls 2, which nonetheless benefited from some tweaks of its own .

As for the dreaded GFWL, several studios and publishers have announced plans for what will happen when the service finally (bloody) dies, but unfortunately several titles will not have the functionality removed. So yeah, GFWL will haunt us even in its death.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.