Dark Souls 3 Is Harder With A Ring Fit Controller
The Dark Souls franchise already has a reputation for being one of the more dastardly difficult series in gaming. However, notable game modder Super Louis 64 has found a way to ratchet up the difficulty and make sure that players feel the burn when they're battling monsters. And no, it doesn't involve playing the game with a toaster. As seen in his latest YouTube video, Super Louis 64 has programmed the Nintendo Switch's fitness peripheral, the Ring-Con, to be compatible with Dark Souls 3. The Ring-Con was originally developed to be used with Nintendo's Ring Fit Adventure, so this took some doing.
As Super Louis 64 explains, he created this mod by using the ways in which the Ring Fit registers user movements to create corresponding inputs in Dark Souls 3. For example, as Louis writes, "the idea is simple: run and you get to move in-game. Detecting the leg-strap joycon's movement allows me to determine if the user is running. I made a threshold the user has to run in order for them to use the left-joystick!"
In other words, players who were hoping they could just kind of wiggle in place or move their legs while sitting on a comfortable couch are purely out of luck. You have to put in the exercise for the game to register your use of the joystick attacked to the Ring-Con controller. Granted, Louis understands how tiresome this can potentially get (after all, he's sweating like crazy in his latest video).
To that end, he intends to make some changes to the mod going forward, explaining, "In the future I plan to make the leg strap joycon's D-Pad allow the user to control the intensity they want to run from 'a good job' to 'no jog' just in-case they are tired. Dark Souls will do that to you." This would give players the option to tone down the exercise to their own personal pace.
One of the most interesting parts of this is the fact that many of the game's normal controller inputs remained the same. As Super Louis 64 explained, "Squeezing [the Ring Fit] allows the User to attack while also allowing them access to a joystick. Not much actually changed on this one, the User can re-map all of their buttons via in-game menus!"
Perhaps the most intense part of the workout comes from the way that players have to heal themselves. This can only be done by squatting, which means that players are going to be in for an even more strenuous workout when it comes to the game's insane boss battles. Players will have to stay in constant motion, running and squeezing to keep their characters alive, as well as squatting to regain their strength. While Dark Souls has its quieter moments where players can relax, safe from monsters, this mod doesn't really afford anyone the opportunity to stop. Pausing the game is really the only way you're getting any kind of respite here.
Super Louis 64 has gained a reputation in the gaming community for playing games with unorthodox controllers. In fact, his YouTube channel refers to him by the exceedingly dope title of "Super Louis 64 – Controller Bender." Super Louis 64 made headlines earlier this year for figuring out how to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with a DK Bongos drum controller. In that case, he set one bongo to control the character's movement and the other to control the firing capabilities of his weapon. He used the controller's microphone to throw grenades, clapping every time he wanted to blow something up.
In other words, Super Louis 64 is a bit of a genius when it comes to this stuff. He previously used a Ring Fit controller to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. He has also found some success with playing two games at once with the same controller, mapping the buttons for maximum efficiency. A recent video shows Super Louis 64 playing Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons simultaneously with one controller, bringing that Doom/Animal Crossing crossover to literal, hilarious life.
One of Louis' Twitter followers points out that this Dark Souls mod would be a great one for other people to try out, especially for workout purposes. The Coronavirus outbreak has a lot of people stuck inside during quarantine, gamers included. This would be a great and nerdy way for many gamers to stay in shape while they're self-isolating and practicing safe social distancing. After all, it certainly looks like Super Louis 64 is getting one heck of a good workout from this mod. Maybe it's worth exploring for some of the more tech-savvy gamers out there to see if they can replicate these results.