Since January 2022, the servers of all Dark Souls games on Steam have been offline. The cause was several severe exploits discovered and partially exploited by hackers. Now there has been a change on the Steam page, and fans are concerned: Will the servers remain permanently offline?
What happened back then?
- In early 2022, two major exploits were discovered that allowed hackers to gain access to other players’ PCs through the multiplayer of Dark Souls 1-3. In the worst case, the hacked players’ PCs could even be destroyed.
- Publisher Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware reacted by taking the Steam servers completely offline. It was said that they wanted to solve the problem and bring the servers back online.
- At the time, criticism arose regarding the fact that the exploits had already existed for years and that action was only taken when they were publicly released by hackers. Some hackers had even tried to warn the developers repeatedly.
- Elden Ring, the latest game from FromSoftware, was reportedly to have the same problems. It was released on February 25 with functional multiplayer but additionally incorporated the tool Easy Anti Cheat.
The servers of the Dark Souls games remain offline. And now, the multiplayer tag and any mention of multiplayer have even been removed from Steam for the affected games.
The exact reason is currently unknown. But after 2 months of silence and the “stealth” change, fans are now worried whether the servers will ever be back online.
Will Dark Souls remain offline? Players worried, but some reassure
This is how players are reacting to the step: After no news regarding Dark Souls has surfaced in recent months, there have already been some speculations and discussions. Especially in various subreddits, there are some players who are concerned.
Many are worried after the latest change on the Steam page that the multiplayer might not return and that the Dark Souls games will remain offline.
Some speculate that the issue has already been resolved and that the servers are intentionally kept offline so that people can play the multiplayer of Elden Ring.
Others believe that FromSoftware is primarily focused on their latest open-world game and Dark Souls has to wait for now.
However, there is an explanation that puts the latest step and the removal of multiplayer references in a different light: “False advertisement” or false promises.
Because after two months of missing multiplayer, it is quite possible that Bandai Namco or FromSoftware had this description removed to avoid misunderstandings.
Until then, it could have theoretically happened that new players wanted to purchase one of the Dark Souls installments just because of the multiplayer. If a new player only finds the offline mode, they could feel misled.
Therefore, most players consider it more likely that this is a precautionary measure rather than a hint at the demise of Dark Souls multiplayer.
Nonetheless, there is general criticism of the actions of Bandai Namco and FromSoftware.
“At this point, I just want something other than silence.”
This is the criticism: Aside from various speculations, it is about the communication from the publisher and developer. Since the step in January, which took the servers offline, there has been virtually no word on the subject.
This bothers many players like XBamfo: “At this point, I just want something other than silence. Is anything being worked on? Is a fix planned? Has Fromsoft just disappeared and not cared? It’s ridiculous that they are completely silent on this.”
Most assume after the step that we will not hear anything from the PC servers for a while.
Many are disappointed about this. They prefer the multiplayer over that of Elden Ring and would like to return.
Until there is new information, it may actually take a while. FromSoftware took the servers offline in January. If a quick return were in sight, they would not have adjusted the Steam page.
Which of the various reasons currently speculated to be the actual cause is uncertain.
But after the huge success of Elden Ring and the necessary support for the game, it is quite possible that the developers are currently busy elsewhere.
Because there are also some problems here: In Elden Ring, some players are currently ruining the PvP – using a cowardly trick to farm AFK runes
