After over a month with Dark Souls 2, and over a hundred hours of playtime, I've grown a little weary of it - which is only natural. However, how much of that is because of the limitations of handcrafted content? I look to a game like Cryptic's Neverwinter MMO, which relies heavily on content created by its userbase. If a game such as that had tight combat mechanics and interesting character progression systems like Dark Souls 2, I could indeed see myself playing such a game ad-infinitum.

While Deep Down doesn't have user created content, as far as we know, it's supposedly all about randomized dungeons and monsters, and is much like the Diablo games in that way. From what we've seen of it gameplay-wise, its combat mechanics are going to be super-tight - like pin-point accurate, allowing to target individual joints and even the enemy's equipment. Knocking weapons out of their hands, or stabbing them in the knee. That seems to me like a super-potent combination of ingredients right there.

Might Deep Down be the holy grail? The Soulsian gameplay experience that never grows stale? Randomized enemies and dungeons keeping me on my toes always? Free 2 Play model for a steady stream of new content, so I'm not reliant on the next big iteration of the franchise to hit the shelves to get an all fresh fix - at least as long as it succeeds in the marketplace? Like new tilesets and enemy types and mutators all the time?

I'm just starving for some Deep Down news at this point. Whatever happend to the Japanese beta?

-Here's some Gameplay, in case you've missed it-

Holy cow. I've actually never seen the footage above. It looks so god damn good. And the gameplay looks so very reminiscent of Dark Souls, only so much better. And I love Dark Souls. Jesus. Must-play ASAP.

I hadn't seen that video before either. That looks fantastic. I was put off by the F2P. But maybe they can make this work. Well, until it turned into monster hunter at the end with the boss and four real people. That made me lose all the hype that the first part of the video built up.

And most importantly its free, and clean too. You can't go wrong with free baby. Either you'll like it or hate it with no regrets.

Its like a nextgen demon souls. What could possibly go wrong?

I think its coop element will be more like in the Souls franchise, rather than like Monster Hunter. Remember that first trailer with that wierd-ass Blanka avatar calling for help? Sounds like summons to me.

It's pretty obvious to me Capcom is going after the Souls franchise hard with Deep Down. They want their pound of flesh of that emerging market.

The gameplay doesnt look similar to dark souls at all. For starters, it looks like its using RE4 tank controls (not sure if that's what its called, but whatever), and the attack mechanism is completely different. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen a game that lets you aim melee attacks in that way; it looks pretty fucking slick, actually (parry, go for the knees, then the head). Wonder how it would work for something besides a spear (which kind of makes sense as you poke people, rather than slash).

Also, I'm so fucking glad for new consoles. I don't think I've been as impressed by a gameplay video since they showed off the uncharted 2 train level. Games were getting very stale for a long stretch there, and Im so glad new consoles will bring refreshing and exciting things to the table (what really did it for me was when he froze the dragon and everything, including the amazing flame effects, froze completely. and then he cast those spells, which also froze in place until time started again. Don't think I've ever seen something like that before. very impressive)

Well see. I'll check it out for sure when it comes out. But I am back and forth on it. I guess we just need more details this E3.

Reticle targeting aside (which is a plus in my book), the gameplay is pretty much a carbon-copy of the souls games, at least in my eyes.

I'd also like to believe we'll get weapon-specific reticles depending on moveset. Likely with mutators, to switch between swiping/overhead/thrust attacks.

The visual mood and armor design do look a bit like Dark Souls, but nothing else looks similar to me. It looks a lot like Resident Evil 4+ in terms of how it plays, and the visual direction actually reminds me more of Dead Space than anything else. I'm pretty excited for it too, but I don't feel like it's going to provide a Souls-like experience.