Dark Souls is five years old, which for a videogame is really getting up there. But die-hard Dark Souls players are aiming to inject some new life into the old game with today's “Global Restart Day,” which is essentially a fan-driven effort to reignite interest in the game, and bring players back to it.
The idea is to “simulate the release of Dark Souls,” subreddit moderator e_0 explained, with the hope that players will stick with it once they come back. “My advice is to simply act as if this is the first day Dark Souls is being released—play whenever you want/can starting on Friday, June 10th. Time zone issues need not apply, seeing as the majority of the Dark Souls community is now aware of this event,” he wrote. “This event has garnered MASSIVE attention on all fronts of the internet—I would be genuinely surprised if some people who came back for the GRD aren't still playing a month or more down the road! Besides, the game isn't entirely dead as of right now anyway, simply quiet. We aim to change that.”
The post recommends that players try to help at least one other person with each area or boss, to promote engagement and help out newbies, but also to put the gears to them as much as possible—within the rules, of course. “Be sure to pay some players a surprise visit in places they wouldn't normally expect, or places that may make a difficult area an even MORE harrowing experience,” the post says. “Keep it clean. Play as dirty as you want legitimately, but let's keep both advantageous glitching and unfair character modding out of this.”
I don't know how much of a bounce Dark Souls will get from Global Restart Day, or how long it will last, but it's a fantastic idea, and it's pretty clearly going over well with the community. “It's been so long since I've heard the bell of the Gargoyles ringed by other players, it makes me very happy,” one wrote. “Also, the amount of summoning signs are incredible.”
Along with all the relevant details about Global Restart Day itself, the post also contains information on installing and setting up Dark Souls on the PC—which, according to this poll, is far and away the platform of choice among people taking part.
The PC Gaming Show returns to E3 on Monday June 13, featuring game announcements, updates to existing favourites, and conversation with top developers. You can find out what to expect here, and also book free tickets to attend in person at pcgamingshow.com. The PC Gaming Show will be broadcast live through twitch.tv/pcgamer from 11:30 am PT/2:30 pm ET/6:30 pm GMT, but be sure to tune in beforehand to check out The Steam Speedrun, in which one lucky winner will buy as many games as they can in three minutes.
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