Where Are Dark Souls Remastered Save Files Located?
Dark Souls Remastered saves to Documents under NBGI, not AppData like its sequels. The exact path, the .sl2 file, and Linux.
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Dark Souls Remastered breaks the series convention. Dark Souls 2 and 3 save under %APPDATA%, so every guide points you to Roaming first, but the Remastered edition keeps the original game's layout: a DARK SOULS REMASTERED folder under Documents\NBGI, with one numeric SteamID subfolder holding a single DRAKS0005.sl2 file.
That one file is your entire playthrough, all characters included, which makes backup trivial and accidents total. Copy it while the game is closed; the save is written on quit, so a mid-session copy is stale. On Linux the Documents layout is mirrored inside the Proton prefix for app ID 570940.
Where Dark Souls Remastered stores this, by platform
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\NBGI\DARK SOULS REMASTERED\[ID]\DRAKS0005.sl2
[ID] is your numeric Steam account folder. DRAKS0005.sl2 is the whole save: every character, not one slot. Graphics settings live separately under %LOCALAPPDATA%. Steam Cloud also tracks Documents\NBGI paths, so keep cloud on unless you are swapping files by hand.
~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/570940/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/NBGI/DARK SOULS REMASTERED/[ID]/DRAKS0005.sl2
The Windows layout mirrored inside the Proton prefix, where 570940 is the game's Steam app ID. Some installs use ~/.steam/steam instead of ~/.local/share/Steam. The .sl2 filename is identical on Linux, so the same backup habit works on Deck.
Frequently asked questions
why is dark souls remastered not in appdata like ds3
It is a porting quirk. The Remastered edition inherited the original Prepare to Die layout under Documents\NBGI, while Dark Souls 2 and 3 were built around %APPDATA%. Expect the odd one out whenever guides tell you to look in Roaming first.
how do i back up my dark souls remastered save
Quit to the title screen first, then copy DRAKS0005.sl2 elsewhere. The game writes the save on quit, so copying mid-session grabs a stale file. Restoring is the reverse, done while the game is closed. Expect a quit-warning notice once; that is normal after a restore.
where is the remastered save on steam deck
In Desktop mode, the Documents layout is mirrored inside the Proton prefix for app ID 570940: .../pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/NBGI/DARK SOULS REMASTERED/[ID]. Copy the .sl2 file aside before invader-heavy sessions, since Steam Cloud will happily sync a ruined character.
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