You Should Play This: Dark Souls
Few video game developers truly grasp the feelings of loneliness, terror, and general despair. While certain notables have created situations and worlds that can scare the pants off a player, not many seem to develop a universe of agony and heartbreak. From Software, the company behind the 2009 PlayStation 3 sleeper hit Demon’s Souls, managed to re-forge its creative genius with the 2011 release of Dark Souls.
Dark Souls creates a sense of tension and simultaneous wonderment that few other games seem capable of matching.While many players may know the name Demon’s Souls in passing, only the dedicated relished in its masterfully crafted homage to old-school dungeon crawling. Difficult, unfair, infuriating; these are but a few words used to describe the feelings brought about by those who ventured into the depths of Demon’s Souls. Branded as a title unfit for the general populace, the virtual realm of multiple demons and their many souls seemed like a place even I did not want to wander through.
However, I eventually was inspired to brave the unknown and went on to finish the game. That accomplishment gave way to both satisfaction and excitement for the game’s spiritual sequel, Dark Souls, which seats itself next to – if not above – its predecessor.
Dark Souls will beat you down. It will anger you, break your confidence, and bring you to the brink of having to purchase a new controller for either your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Though don’t lose hope, as traversing the lands and overcoming bosses brings about a feeling of fulfillment that many other games cannot match.
Dark Souls features an expansive and wildly interconnected open world. One moment you’re walking through a forest and the next and lake where a massive leviathan is shooting water attacks at you. From narrow dungeons to gigantic hollow trees to deep sewers, Dark Souls houses plenty to explore – one of the games most exciting aspects.
The core mechanics from Demon’s Souls remain in place for this second go. Dark Souls is a hard-hitting action role-playing game that focuses on timing, player skill, and trial-by-death. Every enemy encounter holds the potential to murder your avatar with only a few attacks and every corner could hold a trap that will pierce you, smash you, or drop you to your doom. If you die – which you will (a lot) – you start back at your last bonfire, which acts as the checkpoint system. Though these bonfires are few and far between. A death could mean losing fifteen minutes of playtime or a few hours.
Upon death, your character is also stripped of all its in-game currency: souls. These are collected from killing monsters or gathering various items. Use your collected souls to level up health, stamina, and intelligence or to purchase materials to upgrade your weapons and armor. Souls mean everything. When you die, they are dropped at that location and you must struggle your way back to collect them through all the baddies that have respawned. If you perish on your way back to collect your lost souls, they will disappear forever.
It’s brutal, yes, but most deaths come from poor user input or lack of situational knowledge. Even in spots where I would die multiple times, I rarely felt like the game was cheating me. Most all my frustration stemmed from hasty gameplay, poor judgment, or item greediness.
The game also houses a plethora of weaponry: swords, spears, halberds, curved swords, axes, hammers, fist weapons, bows and crossbows, whips, and more. It’s quite ridiculous, really. All the weapon categories provide unique fighting styles and you can easily explore the differences between them, which is a joy. With so many different weapons you’ll be able to find an equipment load-out that suits your play style.
Maybe sword and shield isn’t you gig, though. Perhaps you relish in the thought of dishing magic soul arrows or maybe you’re a pyromaniac. The various starting classes allow you to branch out into a distinct method of play, though you are free to level your character any way you want. You could play halfway through the game with a two-handed sword and suddenly decide to invest in magic. All you need to do is find yourself the souls to now level your intelligence statistic.
Dark Souls is just terrifying, while also immensely entertaining. You never know what’s lurking around the next corner. The atmosphere, lack of music, and beautiful visuals really envelop you. It creates a sense of tension and simultaneous wonderment that few other games seem capable of matching. With all the enemies and bosses to encounter, weapons to collect and try, spells to throw, and worlds to explore – I urge you to play, or at least try, Dark Souls.
TweetI wrote a little something on my exciting experience with Dark Souls on the PlayStation 3. You can read it over on The Nerdemic. [...]