ActionRPG
DARK SOULS™: Prepare To Die™ Edition
Give it 7 hours
Gets good by 7h then rated almost like by veterans
Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending at least 23% of players who started
Started playing 73% of owners
Steam reviews 92% positive of 78,569
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (46%); after 20h it's 1 in 35 (3%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- At least 23% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Reach Lordran” (Arrive in Lordran) and “Ring the Bell (Undead Church)” (Ring Bell of Awakening at Undead Church): from 88% to 59% of starters.
- 73% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 78,635 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 297 reviews: 67.2h for positive, 21.3h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (72.7% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Reach Lordran Arrive in Lordran. 88% −12
- Ring the Bell (Undead Church) Ring Bell of Awakening at Undead Church. Most players quit here 59% −29
- Ring the Bell (Quelaag's Domain) Ring Bell of Awakening in Quelaag's domain. 47% −12
- Reach Anor Londo Arrive in Anor Londo. 44% −3
- Lordvessel Acquire the Lordvessel. 40% −3
- Defeat Seath the Scaleless Defeat Seath the Scaleless, inheritors of souls. 34% −7
- Defeat the Four Kings Defeat the Four Kings, inheritors of souls. 33%
- Defeat Gravelord Nito Defeat the Soul Lord Gravelord Nito. 33%
- Defeat Bed of Chaos Defeat the Soul Lord Bed of Chaos. 32% −1
- To Link the Fire Reach "To Link the Fire" ending. ≥23% −9
story milestone ending (most common ending) biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (41)
story milestone ending side
- Enkindle Light bonfire flame. 100%
- Estus Flask Acquire Estus Flask. 93%
- Reach Lordran Arrive in Lordran. 88%
- Covenant: Way of White Discover Way of White covenant. 62%
- Ring the Bell (Undead Church) Ring Bell of Awakening at Undead Church. 59%
- Ring the Bell (Quelaag's Domain) Ring Bell of Awakening in Quelaag's domain. 47%
- Reach Anor Londo Arrive in Anor Londo. 44%
- Lordvessel Acquire the Lordvessel. 40%
- Rite of Kindling Acquire the Rite of Kindling. 39%
- Art of Abysswalking Acquire the Art of Abysswalking. 39%
- Covenant: Chaos Servant Discover Chaos Servant covenant. 37%
- Defeat Seath the Scaleless Defeat Seath the Scaleless, inheritors of souls. 34%
- Defeat the Four Kings Defeat the Four Kings, inheritors of souls. 33%
- Defeat Gravelord Nito Defeat the Soul Lord Gravelord Nito. 33%
- Covenant: Forest Hunter Discover Forest Hunter covenant. 32%
- Defeat Bed of Chaos Defeat the Soul Lord Bed of Chaos. 32%
- Covenant: Princess's Guard Discover Princess's Guard covenant. 27%
- Defeat Crossbreed Priscilla Defeat Crossbreed Priscilla, the Lifehunter 27%
- To Link the Fire Reach "To Link the Fire" ending. 23%
- Defeat the Dark Sun Gwyndolin Defeat Dark Sun Gwyndolin, the Darkmoon God. 23%
- Strongest Weapon Acquire best weapon through standard reinforcement. 21%
- Covenant: Path of the Dragon Discover Path of the Dragon covenant. 21%
- Covenant: Gravelord Servant Discover Gravelord Servant covenant. 20%
- Covenant: Warrior of Sunlight Discover Warrior of Sunlight covenant. 17%
- Covenant: Blade of the Darkmoon Discover Blade of the Darkmoon covenant. 17%
- Dark Lord Reach "The Dark Lord" ending. 15%
- Lightning Weapon Acquire best weapon through lightning reinforcement. 13%
- Covenant: Darkwraith Discover Darkwraith covenant. 13%
- Raw Weapon Acquire best weapon through raw reinforcement. 11%
- Divine Weapon Acquire best weapon through divine reinforcement. 9.6%
- Enchanted Weapon Acquire best weapon through enchanted reinforcement. 8.8%
- Fire Weapon Acquire best weapon through fire reinforcement. 7.8%
- Chaos Weapon Acquire best weapon through chaos reinforcement. 7.8%
- Crystal Weapon Acquire best weapon through crystal reinforcement. 7.6%
- Occult Weapon Acquire best weapon through occult reinforcement. 7.6%
- Wisdom of a Sage Acquire all sorceries. 7.0%
- Bond of a Pyromancer Acquire all pyromancies. 6.3%
- Magic Weapon Acquire best weapon through magic reinforcement. 6.3%
- Prayer of a Maiden Acquire all miracles. 4.8%
- Knight's Honor Acquire all rare weapons. 4.7%
- The Dark Soul All achievements completed. Congratulations! 4.4%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-17.