A: No. Once decompressed and installed, the game runs exactly the same as the original. Only the installation time is longer.

If budget is truly an issue, wait for a Steam sale (Dark Souls often drops to $4.99) or look into legal alternatives like Dark Souls on PlayStation Now or Xbox Game Pass. Your PC—and your conscience—will thank you. Final word: Support the developers who created the games you love. FromSoftware has given us masterpieces like Dark Souls , Bloodborne , and Elden Ring . They deserve your purchase.

The few dollars saved by avoiding a purchase are not worth the potential of infecting your PC with malware, losing save files, or missing out on the iconic Dark Souls online experience—seeing ghostly players, reading (and leaving) soapstone messages, and engaging in PvP invasions.