Dark Souls Goes Gold, Will Torment Gamers In October

Namco Bandai announced on Wednesday that role-playing game Dark Souls has been approved for production. It will arrive on the PS3 and Xbox 360 as planned in early October.

Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to the 2009 PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls. In Dark Souls, players control a hero afflicted with a curse of the undead. They're banished to the northern realms and must find the Eternal Flame of Life in order to cure themselves. The seamless open world is dotted with dungeons filled with fierce enemies and deadly traps. Dark is said to share Demon's Souls' high difficulty level so expect to die a lot. If it's as similar to Demon's as they say, though, it'll also be extremely gratifying.

You can play through Dark offline but it gains a new dimension if you've got an Internet connection. Players can leave each other hints in each other's game worlds. You can also call on other players to help you in battle. Beware, though, because not all players are helpful. They can also invade your game and kill you without warning.

By pre-ordering, players will get an automatic upgrade to the Collector's Edition. The CE, which costs the same amount of the standard edition, comes with an limited edition art book. It also contains a code for downloading the official soundtrack, a strategy guide, and behind-the-scenes videos. All of these extras are packaged in a custom metal case.

Dark Souls will arrive in North America on October 4th. Expect it to hit Europe on the 7th. The game debuts in Japan tomorrow so expect some import reviews to be floating around the web.