Dark Souls: Remastered is set to release on May 25th, but in anticipation of that, Bandai is making a few changes. The first is that for anyone who owns the original Dark Souls¸ the Remaster will be offered at 50% off. This might seem like a generous move from Bandai, but it is for a very specific reason. Bandai is also removing the original Dark Souls – the Prepare to Die edition – from Steam entirely on May 9th. While many fans on Reddit were outraged at this, there is a logic to the move.

The argument against removing Dark Souls is simple. Some fans may not like the changes in the remaster, it denies new players from playing a classic, and some machines may not run the remaster as well. These are valid points to a degree. The argument about those disliking the changes is a somewhat silly one because it is predicated off experience of having played the original, meaning those players already own it. Similarly, the remaster is hardly a remake; Dark Souls is now seven years old, and a player unable to play a modest remaster of it isn’t exactly anyone’s fault except for the guy trying to play games on a potato. The final argument – depriving future gamers – is the one most off point, and it is the entire reason why this move makes sense. Removing the original will actually help newcomers to Dark Souls.

A huge part of the Dark Souls experience is the interactivity of summoning, being summoned, and invading. From Software has always done a good job introducing NPCs to help recreate this feeling, but nothing is more terrifying than running around an area like Sen’s Fortress only to see that invasion message. It creates the sense of thrill, danger, and courage that is a pivotal experience within Dark Souls. That being the case, Bandai and From Software needed to find a solution to make the remaster feel like the original. If the remaster could not recreate the covenants to at least a small degree, the game would not be the same at all.

While From Software hasn’t explicitly stated that Dark Souls: Remastered won’t be able to connect to Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, most players are assuming it. This is because From Software has said they are modifying and improving multiplayer mechanics within the game. If they left the original game in the Steam store, this would create a worse experience for new players to the game. Instead of the game being populated by allies and enemies, these numbers would be split between the original game and the remaster, whereas forcing new players to the remaster will up the numbers considerably.

While it might seem unfair, the decision to remove the original Dark Souls will force any new players to jump into the most populated world – the remaster – and to experience it as close as possible to that experience from 2011. As for those that own the original, no announcements have been made to cut off multiplayer support, meaning that for those who prefer the original, they can always play along with the other veterans as much as they like. If anything, the move should make the remastered Lordran feel more alive than it has in years, and that, at least, is something to celebrate.