Deep Down Is Not a Dark Souls Clone

Forbes contributor Erik Kain has decided to dedicate a brief editorial to the common belief that Deep Down is Capcom’s taken on Dark Souls’ gameplay. While I largely agree with it, I also kind of doubt the visual similarities are just a coincidence or a result of looking at the same inspirations:

For one thing, combat doesn’t appear to be as challenging or as satisfying as the Souls games, or as fast-paced and action-packed as Dragon’s Dogma. Even just the movement of the character on screen seems more clunky, with a camera that’s pulled much closer to your avatar. I may be nit-picking here, but the presentation, even if the graphics look nice, leaves much to be desired when it comes to third-person action games.

Then there’s the game’s premise: You’re delving into memories, in randomly-generated levels with randomly-generated monsters. This could be incredibly fun, but it’s nothing even remotely similar to Dark Souls and its interlaced and very carefully structured world. Nor is it anything like Dragon’s Dogma and its sprawling dukedom.

The similarity begins and ends with style, and it’s hardly a style that Dark Souls invented. The Souls games are heavily influenced by Western fantasy and roleplaying games, which are in turn heavily influenced by Medieval history and aesthetics. Deep Down taps into that same vein, but appears to do nothing at all to tap into what makes Dark Souls such a tremendous outing as a video game.

Spotted on RPGWatch.