Yeah, this is pretty much the tagline. It's accurate.
Now, if you've never played Dark Souls, let's just put it in the following manner - it is not a game for beginners. (On that note, if you ever want to laugh, take your friend who has never touched a video game before, and tell them that "Dark Souls is really easy, you'll get the hang of it in no time.") The game and its sequels are designed around the idea that only a truly difficult challenge will leave you feeling satisfied when you finally overcome that challenge. As such, Dark Souls is no stranger to strong monsters, nefarious NPCs, and convoluted traps that will quickly kill you over and over again until you finally master that section of the game. Even after having beaten the game, I can go back to one of the beginning areas, and if I'm not careful, I can die within seconds.
But at its core, even though Dark Souls is a difficult game, it is ultimately a fair game (usually), and this is a large part of why I say it is one of the best-designed games I've played.
As an aside, before I delve into the topic in more detail, I don't know if I'd say Dark Souls is one of my favorite games. It's not something I can play casually - if I'm playing, my heart and soul have to be in it or it will get incredibly frustrating, sometimes to the point of not being fun. But you don't have to like Beethoven's music to agree that he's one of history's great composers. Dark Souls is a fun game, and a well-designed game, but I've had more fun playing other games.
Anyway, let's dive right in!
Anyway, let's dive right in!
The setting
The first thing that should jump out at you when you play Dark Souls is the atmosphere. The general premise of the game is that in this world, undead exist, and while they retain their humanity for a time, they slowly become "hollow" and are driven mad. You are an undead who is trying to avoid that fate. As such, you begin the game in an asylum for the undead, and the asylum is crisscrossed with dark corridors, flickering torches, and rotting undead who have long since become hollow. It's a tough thing to describe through text, but it feels like a long-neglected asylum, in which the normal people of the world throw their undead and try desperately to forget about their existence. Every location in the game world is simply atmospheric, and I think a big part in this is played by the lack of music. Music only plays in about two locations in the game (not counting boss fights - more on music later), and as such, the game can't rely on music to set the mood. Ambient sounds, monsters and NPCs, and the setting itself need to provide that atmosphere.
Each location has its own quirks, and its own enemies, that
really work to set it apart.
Plus, very little information is actually told to you, as the player. NPCs give limited background, and what little they do tell you is often flavored by their own goals and motivations. The first NPC you meet upon escaping the asylum, a crestfallen warrior, will gladly tell you about some of the initial locations in the world, but the information is limited and given to you with more than just a hint of pessimism, as if he knows you're just going to fail at whatever it is you intend to do. If you want to learn more about the background of the world, you need to work to piece together what little information you glean from NPC conversations and the information obtained from reading item descriptions, and even then, you're given little more than a piecemeal account of the lore of the world. It's something that was done very well, and I think it is a fabulous way to tell an intricate story without shoving hours of exposition down the player's throat.
My other favorite thing about the setting of Dark Souls is that in general, if you can see a place, you can go to it. For instance:
This screenshot is taken in an area called the Tomb of the Giants. Far below, we can see what looks like a lake of magma, as well as some ancient buildings. That area is the Demon Ruins, and it's another location within the game. Of course, to get there requires traveling through about six other named areas, and would probably take about 15 to 20 minutes of just running, but they are connected. Plus, except for specific locations (like the Undead Asylum and one or two others), there are no loading screens between areas - everything is actually interconnected in the exact way it looks to be interconnected. Which I think is just a really cool thing about the design of the world.
The gameplay
What sort of discussion of a video game could I have without talking about the gameplay itself? As I said earlier, while Dark Souls is difficult, it is also fair - the game simply doesn't coddle you. If you die, it's essentially your own fault. Either you mistimed a dodge, or you blocked an attack poorly, or you attacked when you should have defended. Very rarely is a death actual unavoidable bullshit - the closest the game comes to that is the Anor Londo archers, and anyone who has played the game knows what I'm talking about there.
There's a lot to be said for the gameplay of Dark Souls, but I really just enjoy the checks and balances that are present throughout. Heavier armor slows down your movements and dodgerolls, but you won't get staggered as easily. Lighter armor allows for quicker movements, but you can't take a hit. A scimitar combos attacks really well but doesn't stagger opponents easily; a dagger is excellent for backstabbing but has terrible reach and deals little damage otherwise; a halberd has great reach but leaves you exposed after some attacks; a zweihander hits like a truck but takes an hour to swing. Nearly every decision in the game has an upside and has a downside, and despite the dozens upon dozens of potential weapons and armors in the game, very few of them can be said to be strictly better than any others.
Besides, you can wield silly weapons like this.
This is one of the smaller ones.
And of course, the last thing to mention is that Dark Souls really takes that "harder challenge leads to greater satisfaction" idea and runs with it. The bosses in particular can be insanely difficult, and can even feel like a game of "find the exploit," but once you do manage to beat them, there's little else like it. If you can get past the feeling of dying 17 times in a row to Ornstein and Smough, first.
Thunder and Thighs.
Snorlax and Pikachu.
Biggie Smalls.
Fatboy and Slim.
You get the idea.
The music
The last thing to mention about the design of Dark Souls is, of course, the music. Dark Souls has an epic, orchestral soundtrack... that really only plays during boss fights. And it makes the fights feel appropriately large-scale and, well, epic. Especially since you're typically fighting against giant animal-demons, grotesque dragon monsters, and ancient war heroes gone mad. Most fights have their own themes, and each one feels appropriate and on-point.
The rest of the time, the game is silent. There are only two locations in the game, and one is essentially a secret area. The other, Firelink Shrine, has one of my favorite music tracks in any video game soundtrack. Firelink Shrine is the first location you see after leaving the Undead Asylum, and you (as well as most NPCs) often return to it as a sort of base of operations. And the area is filled with somber, almost sad music. It's hard to describe in words, but in my opinion, it really embodies the sort of despair and melancholy but also the hope that pervades the game, not only in your own character but in the NPCs as well. There's not much more to say - have a listen!
So there you have it! There's a lot to say on the subject, of course, but for the sake of my poor typing fingers, I'll leave it there. Overall, a brilliantly well-designed game, for quite a few reasons!
...In my opinion, at least!
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