So: this is a streamlined version of D&D 5e with a Dark Souls coating. The corebook includes origins (which replace races- you can only be human), classes, all the rules you need to play, and a some specific world info (spells, equipment, NPCs, locations and a decent bestiary.) Everything is illustrated with beautiful artwork from the games (if you already have the Dark Souls Design Works books, there's nothing new here.) There's a heavy bias towards the setting of Dark Souls 3 in the core book, to the almost exclusion of the other two games.

I won't pretend it's anywhere near perfect: there's very little wiggle room within the classes, it doesn't include any trace of what I consider a core Dark Souls mechanic (the world reset, which forces you to explore tactically, look for shortcuts, and all the other aspects of what makes wandering into the dark of Dark Souls so unique) and it doesn't even attempt to explain what Dark Souls 'is' to someone who hasn't played the games. I'm also not convinced with the enemy stats blocks either, as a lot of monsters are way too powerful for their CR and can easily one-shot characters- especially at low levels.

However, I've been running it for the last few months and it's been a blast. The main reason for that is the Position mechanic. Position replaces hit points and allows players (and some monsters) to spend their 'life' to enhance rolls - saving throws, to hit and damage rolls... it adds a lot to the game in the way of options and risk/reward decisions and fixes some fundamental problems I have with the 5e rules (namely, that it's not uncommon for players to miss and spend their combat rounds feeling useless). There's a few other positives; while character builds are lacking in options, it makes character creation a breeze (you can 'roll' most characters in twenty minutes), and there's a hefty equipment roster that allows for further personalization (each individual weapon, shield or armour, even mundane ones, comes with its own ability). Bloodied rules come back from 4e, giving another layer of strategy to the proceeds - different origins grant characters a distinct set of bonuses when they're under half hit poi- ehr, position. This also applies to some monsters, which allows you to have fights with multiple stages.

These rules changes have made for some really enjoyable sessions. While I've had to add a layer of homebrew on top of it (and create my own bosses) to make it actually feel like Dark Souls, the base is so good; I'll seriously miss these mechanics whenever I go back to vanilla D&D. And if that's not worth five stars, I don't know what is.