If you've paid attention to the mainstream gaming scene anytime in the last decade, you probably know about Dark Souls. You've probably heard it's wildly difficult (it is), that its mechanics are obtuse (they are) and it's narrative vague and ambiguous (yup).

It is hard to believe that when Dark Souls released seven years ago, it only did so on two consoles, the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It went on to become the worldwide phenomenon we know today which has spawned numerous inspirations and knockoffs of challenging games.

Dark Souls on the go; Aged surprisingly well; Seeing new people try it out

Ported from what seems to the Xbox 360 version; Button mapping is wrong way round for the Switch; Handheld mode made it feel a bit tougher

It seems there is a competition between two 2011 RPGs to see exactly who can stay the most relevant. One way to do that is to release on every system that can handle it. Skyrim has taken an early lead there, but don't worry, Dark Souls isn't far behind.

difficult but satisfying; looks good on Switch; runs smoothly

serious control issues; amiibos do nothing; not for everyone

Buy Dark Souls: Remastered If you're a Switch owner, chances are that you've seen a fair number of ports this year. One of the most anticipated ports is Dark Souls : Remastered . Originally promised in May, the first Souls entry on a Nintendo console was delayed until October.

When you port one of the most popular games in the world to a handheld console, you're going to have to make some sacrifices. As it happens, for Dark Souls Remastered, that's actually quite fitting – in a game all about wailing despair, self-immolation, and thankless punishment, it makes sense to...

Rewarding gameplay loop; Dense; intimidating atmosphere; Robust visual reworking; Great portability

Compressed audio; Occasional performance dips

Dark Souls: Remastered brought pain to FromSoftware fans all over again just before summer this year, but with the Switch version delayed, it's only now that we're getting the game for Nintendo's console.

Quality game, just very frustrating! If you're new to the Souls series be prepared, you're going to be restarting a lot!

I have bought and played these games at the release since Demons Souls and this is the fourth time I buy Dark Souls (PS3, PC, PS4 and SWITCH). The sound is a massive problem for me. It's very compressed (probably to save space.

After numerous delays Form Software's classic finally comes to Nintendo Switch, but does it work as well as fans had hoped

The smoother frame rate significantly improves the already excellent melee combat; Huge game world filled with treasures; Superb art design and boss encounters, including in the DLC

Still moments of occasional slowdown and inconsistent texture work; The original design can occasionally cross the line into perverse difficultly, particularly with regards to curses

From Software finds a classic sitting next to a forgotten bonfire. This review now includes impressions of the Nintendo Switch version ...