Bandai Namco responds with a fix.


As detailed throughout the Dark Souls subreddit, Dark Souls remastered players using both BitDefender and Windows Defender have reported corrupted save files, indefinite load times and instances where cloud sync services—Google Drive, for example—interprets save files as "in use" and therefore makes them inaccessible.

It seems the problem has been kicked up to publisher Bandai Namco. Under the headline "Warning: BitDefender and Windows Defender may treat DS:R saves as corrupted files", here's Dark Souls community manager Izmar:

Salutations, Chosen Undead

Based on feedback that we have received from the community, we must warn you that some popular anti-virus software may damage Dark Souls: Remastered save files, or treat those files as if they were corrupted.

Additionally, if your computer uses a cloud sync service (e.g., Google Drive or Dropbox), it is possible for save files to be interpreted as "in use" by the system, rendering them inaccessible by the game.

In both cases, if you run into this problem, please take a moment to exclude your save files from being managed by your sync services and/or your anti-virus software.

Thank you for your kind attention.

For what it's worth, I myself use Avira Antivirus and am around halfway through a DS:R NG+ save without issue. Consider this a PSA if you use the aforementioned software.

While you're here, this from Shaun is great: Is Dark Souls Remastered worth playing without its former mystery?