Dark Souls

Ah, Dark Souls. In case you couldn't tell from the introductory line, I have a history with this game. If my memory serves me well, it was the first more "adult" game I ever bought with my own money at the age of about 14, solely because I'd heard it was very hard and I was a big boy now, I decided.

And my god was it.

But I persevered, admittedly with the help of some guides and such, and eventually, I did it. I walked away from that game feeling like a total boss, but also with the revelation that games really could be as valid of an artistic experience as any other. I think every gamer has that one game that triggered that realization in them, and this was most definitely mine. At the time, it was the single best game I had ever played.

And I don't think it quiiiiiiite holds that title for me today, but revisiting it today, I still think it's utterly amazing, and one of the best examples in gaming history of level design, storytelling, and world building.

First of all, you've all heard that this game is quite hard. Well, yes, it is, but I think the bigger thing that turns people off is not so much the difficulty as it is the learning curve. It is very steep, but at no point is it bad design. Nearly everything required to beat the game (leveling up, upgrading weapons, etc) is explained to you, but from there, it's all up to you. Yes, it's undoubtedly harsh, and you will get lost and confused early on, but it creates the hostile atmosphere that permeates the whole game, and there's no way the game would have been anywhere near as memorable without it.

Once you get past the steep learning curve, you'll realise that the art and level design is nothing short of breathtaking, with every area having its own unique identity, interesting lore, and often epic bosses. Much of the world is interconnected, and areas loop back in on themselves and others, which truly gives the feeling of a cohesive world better than any other game I know. The one sore spot in the areas is the Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith, which feels quite rushed, but other than that, every area is beautifully designed.

The few NPC's you'll come across are all entertaining, often adding some light-heartedness to the bleak atmosphere, and enemy and boss designs are mostly fantastic. Some bosses are okay, a few are frankly terrible, but all of them are at least memorable, and fun to fight and ultimately conquer.

And the lore...oh, sweet lord the lore. If you're willing to dig deep into item descriptions and listen to what NPC's have to tell you, you'll find one of the most engrossing fantasy worlds ever made waiting for you. It's a world that feels like such a remnant of what it once was, but never does that make it uninteresting. It manages to find a way of telling a story that mostly all happened before you came along that doesn't make you feel like you'd rather be participating in that story instead.

Most of the game's few flaws are in its gameplay, and at this point I should mention that these days, the game's multiplayer is pretty much dead, so I don't really see any point in talking about that. The combat and RPG elements are amazing for the most part, but the upgrading system can occasionally feel a little janky, the covenant system is a bit hit-and-miss, the UI could have been a lot better, Resistance is a stat you should just never, ever, ever, ever waste your souls on leveling up, and, although it's probably inevitable in an RPG as complex as this, there'll always be that occasional underpowered weapon or spell.

But really, for that small amount of flaws I could mention, none of them are worth not experiencing this amazing world for yourself, because I could gush about how much I love this game and how much of an impact it had on my view of video games overall for hours, but you should just play it for yourself if you somehow still haven't. You will die, you will get lost and confused, but if you can power through that, you'll see why it was all worth it.

I freakin' love this game.

I was not sure that I would like this game very much, because of its reputation for being extremely difficult. But I decided to go ahead and buy it anyway. I am so glad that I did! The game starts by vaguely introducing you to the world of Dark Souls, and does a very good job at setting the mood for the game. As you move your character around, you get a feel that the whole world is gloomy and in despair. The world and the graphics by the way are beautiful. I'll admit that they are not the best I've ever seen in gaming, but they are still stunning. There are many "Wow, that's crazy!" moments in this game. The difficulty: If you are even looking into buying Dark Souls, you probably already know that it is difficult. However I think the difficulty is one of the games strengths. It almost makes the game. At first, you will feel like "Why is this so hard?!! Did they seriously have to put that guy there?!" But after a while, you almost get used to dying. And there is nothing like getting killed by a hidden enemy, then going back after re-spawning and knowing exactly where he and everything else is. The combat is at first a bit hard to grasp, as there is no real tutorial, but as you learn, it becomes pretty routine and comfortable. This game is very fun, brutally difficult, and rewarding if you stick to it. Don't give up!

Dark Souls. Unforgiving. Impossible. Brutal. Hardest video game ever made. Until you learn how to play ...

Before i attempted to play Dark Souls, i first finished its spiritual predecessor Demon's Souls. From this experience i learned not only the mechanics of the combat system but i learned how one should approach and play the game itself. You die. Often. And you cannot load some previously saved state just before you died. You "reincarnate" as do the minor enemies and you have to march back up that hill one more time. The trick is to learn how to gain from dying, and more importantly, how to spend your currency before you do die (and potentially fail to retrieve your blood stain). You literally can make suicide runs and pick up some great booty in the process, although you won't know to do so on your first run with your first character.

Dark Souls is controversial, no doubt about it. You either love it or you hate and i happen to love it (and my Chaos Scythe +5). While playing Dark Souls, i was distinctly reminded of many classic arcade, console and computer games that stood out: Atari 2600's Adventure and Dolphin, NES's Castlevania, Contra and Rygar, the Mario series, the Grand Theft Auto series, the Diablo and Baldur's Gate series and even the Sonic the Hedgehog series (mini speed-runs). Dark Souls is now one of my top games, along with GTA Vice City, Morrowind, Half Life, Thief 2, Might & Magic 5, Ultima 4, Super Mario World, Zelda (Ocarina of Time), Jade Empire, Assassin's Creed, Fallout 3 and Mass Effect. And i haven't even had the time to sign on and participate in online Player VS Player ... just do a Youtube search to see what i mean.

I think what makes Dark Souls so special and deserving of praise is in its replay value and the reward you gain for accomplishing what most would consider impossible. Every adversity is an opportunity to learn new combat styles and to adjust your strategy. If you get stuck in Blighttown and decide to backtrack it out of there for more supplies (because you were too impatient to get down there in the first place), you feel the relief when you see daylight again. You learn from this game. It just doesn't spoon feed you like most games do these days.

Patience is not a virtue in this game, it's a requirement for survival.

(p.s. I think the current speed run is around 55 minutes to solve the game, but you can expect to put in nearly 200 HOURS before triggering the end scene.)

I've been playing this game for months and I'm still not bored of it. When I came to this page I was very disappointed by the sheer stupidity of some of the reviews.

One of these reviews said: "I was supposed to go to random places and kill as many demons as I can find, there is no specific quest or storyline to follow. I killed a few of the bosses and gained nothing, just another dead end."

There are so many things wrong with this. First of all, you aren't supposed to go to just random places, believe it or not. You have to figure out where you are supposed to be going by reading the description of items you pick up along the way such as keys, weapons, armor etc. That will tell you a bit about the story and characters, and the descriptions for keys will usually literally tell you which door they open.

Secondly, there is a storyline, and a fantastic one at that. What did you think the large cut-scene was at the start of the game? Just some irrelevant garbage? You need to actually pay attention and use your senses to find out more and more of the story as you progress. And if you are still really struggling that much, you could always just look it up online.

And finally, you don't gain nothing from killing bosses and enemies. You earn keys, unlock new areas to the game, find weapons and more equipment that will help you put together pieces of the story and find your way around- and you gain significant amounts of souls which you can use to level up.

So to sum this up, don't bother reading the reviews on this page. I'd recommend maybe watching a little bit of gameplay on YouTube (but not so much that it will spoil your experience) and deciding whether or not to buy it from there.

Absolutely phenomenal game. 99/100.

This review is spoiler-free!

This game isn't made for the masses, that much is certain. Although its marketing and public identity revolves around its difficulty, there's so much more to this experience than you could ever grasp without playing it for yourself. Difficulty is there pretty much just as a key storytelling device, and it's put to good use, too.

Dark Souls is mysterious, lonely, atmospheric, interconnected and difficult. That's how I'd sum it up in one sentence.

The few friendly encounters with NPC's will quickly imbed themselves in your memory. Names such as Siegmeyer and Lautrec give me goosebumps every time I speak them, simply because of how masterful the storytelling and character archs are in this game. Each of them are only given around 15/20 minutes of screen time, total. But the whole world around you and them help tell their stories in ways no movie could ever do.

Places like Darkroot Garden, Anor Londo, Firelink Shrine and Ash Lake (and practically everywhere else, too) will stay with me forever, as their individually unique and unmatched atmosphere, mystery, and lore is proof video games is an art form.

The music, aaah! There's FOUR places where music is played, apart from during boss fights. Four. It's nothing, I know! Other games have music playing through every tiny battle and inside every single tavern, but Dark Souls spends it sparingly, thus making it feel that much more impactful.

Dark Souls is such a fantastic metaphor for depression and loneliness. It doesn't welcome you with open arms in the form of a super easy tutorial, helpful ways of learning its mechanics or hour-long cutscenes explaining what you're even supposed to do. You best it as best you can, as is with the real world around us. The people and characters you share your place in the world with travel about, trying their best at carving out a meaning of it all, same as yourself.

Dark Souls is just so damn good, and there's no way of understanding it without actually playing it for yourself, and finding the many fantastically written storylines and lore within it.