Don’t be surprised if you’re prompted to install a patch when you first boot up Dark Souls next week. The game was released on September 22nd in Japan, and is already on version 1.03 following user complaints regarding freezing issues and certain NPCs disappearing unexpectedly.

Dark Souls is a PS3 exclusive over there, so it’s possible that these issues don’t pertain to the Xbox 360 build which will be available in the West starting from October 4th.

However, it’s highly likely that the PS3 version we buy next week will need to be patched just like its Japanese counterpart, as developer From Software only seem to have become aware of the aforementioned bugs in the last week as almost 300 000 gamers put it through its paces.

Are you looking forward to Dark Souls as much as the rest of us? Let us know if you’ll be picking it up on release day (October 4th for North Americans; October 7th for Europeans) and thereby cashing in on Namco Bandai’s phenomenally-priced limited edition.

Be sure to check out the two most recent trailers for the game, embedded below for your convenience:

Source: Siliconera