Release Year: 2011
Rating: Mature
Current Amazon Price: $16.29 (PS3), $15.30 (Xbox 360), $19.99 (PC)
The Skinny:
While it may be more Stockholm Syndrome than actual fun, Dark Souls never the less has a strong appeal. If you're a fan of hack and slash and aren't afraid of a learning curve resembling the Great Wall then this game may just scratch your itch.
The Meat:
Dark Souls is like an abusive lover. It treats you like dirt, kicks you while you're down, makes you doubt yourself, and expects you to take it, say thank you, and come back for more. And the weird thing is you do. Dark Souls is notorious for its brutal, unrelenting difficulty and the horror stories you may have heard are not exaggeration. Anyone who says "it's not that hard" is full of crap. It is that hard, however it is the best kind of hard that a game can be. At no point in my frustrating, death filled playthrough did I ever feel like the game had cheated me or pulled a fast one. Every single one of the hundreds and hundreds of times I died was completely and totally my own fault. The game is harsh, but fair. Now the reason I'm hammering this difficulty home so hard is that it is an integral part of ever facet of the game's design. The gameplay, the environments, the bosses, the NPC behavior, it all is just HARD. And that's not necessarily a bad or a good thing. It will mean different things to different people. Let's break the game down a bit.
In the story department the game sticks with its theme of not holding your hand at all. You get an opening cutscene outlining the basic history and back story of the terrifying world you are about to be dropped in to, but no real details or explanation. If you want to find out explanations for the events around you then you'd best put on your detective goggles. Very few aspects of Dark Souls story are outright stated. They may be mentioned in passing by an NPC or implied by the design of a derelict castle. However, for all of its subtlety and secrecy I really really enjoyed the story of Dark Souls. It's dark, sad, haunting, and well worth exploring. Just be willing to put a little effort into it. In fact, that is a theme that runs through most of this game. If you don't want to put a large amount of effort into the experience, you should probably steer clear.
Gameplay wise Dark Souls is an immaculate beast of a game. Controls are extremely tight and responsive, regardless of if you're fighting with a sword, spear, bow, or magic staff. And its a good thing they are too because almost everything in this game is trying to kill you and kill you quickly. This is not a Legend of Zelda game where your hero can take more hits than an olympic boxer. If a basic enemy hits you two or three times with a sword like as not you'll find yourself respawning back at the last bonfire you visited. And death is only the beginning in Dark Souls. When you kill enemies you absorb their souls. These souls are used as currency for everything in the game. Buying things from merchants, bartering for favors, and leveling up your characters stats. When you die, you lose any souls you have collected that you haven't used. However, they are not gone forever. You will respawn at the last bonfire you rested at in an undead state and you will have one opportunity to fight your way back to the place of your death and retreive your lost souls. In this undead state you have less health and are vulnerable to invasions by other real life players in the game. If you can manage to stay alive long enough to reach the place of your earlier demise you can retrieve your lost souls. If not, they are gone forever.
The invasion aspect of Dark Souls is interesting. While in your undead, or Hollowed, state other players can invade your game and attempt to end you. Manage to fight them off and you may get a sweet payoff. You can even report their invasion of your world to an NPC who promises judgement and retribution. And there may even be a way to, if you play your cards right, become an agent of that retribution. This multiplayer aspect of Dark Souls is pretty darn cool and adds a unique element. While you may be on edge that someone will invade your world, you can also call upon the help of other players to assist you with a difficult boss. My first playthrough of Dark Souls was done as a solo run, and then I replayed it with multiplayer functionality. Both methods of play have their own strengths and weaknesses. Besting the game without another player's assistance gives a great feeling of accomplishment, however few things feel as good as smiting down an upstart player with the nerve to attack you in your own world.
Combat involves careful reactionary dodges to enemy attacks and near perfect execution. While difficult, the combat is extremely deep and rewarding, involving crits for back stabs and split second evasions. Learning a towering boss's movements and finally besting a titan much greater than yourself is an extremely gratifying experience. No matter your play style there is something for everyone here. If you want to be a massive, armor covered beefcake that is a viable option. Mage and rogue paths are available as well. No one method is more effective than another in my opinion, and they all play in radically different ways. While the combat takes time to master, it is fun and extremely fluid. Just don't expect the game to hold your hand or help you very much.
One last thing I want to mention is the atmosphere of the game. It is absolutely amazing. No matter where you are, from the giant halls of Anor Lando to the scum covered, rotting boardwalks of Blight Town the world feels real. I almost wanted to use the term alive and breathing, but that would be completely wrong. This is a dead world. Every inch of it reeks of decay, degradation, despair, and doom. And for all of that it is beautiful. In its own weird way, Dark Souls is, in my opinion, one of the best looking games ever made just because of how absolutely effective its visuals are. It really must be played to be experienced.
The Bottom Line:
If you are looking for a fun, low effort romp through a fantasy game you really need to look elsewhere. This game is brutally difficult, almost to a fault. I use the word almost because it never enters the realm of unfair or broken. The difficulty will turn many people off and rightly so. If you are a gamer who gets easily frustrated or isn't super persistent this is not the game for you. The tutorial boss killed me 5 times the first time I played. However, if you are willing to put in a little work to learn the game and can manage to beat it even within its own hellish rule set the feeling of accomplishment you will get is unmatched. I would highly recommend trying to beat the game without a walkthrough as well because like any game there are exploits that reduce the difficulty. However, this is really missing the point. Once you see past the gruff, murderous, spiky exterior and get to the burning, molten hot, pain filled interior you may just find that you are enjoying yourself. If you're like me you'll notice you're having a better time than you've had with a game in a long while. Is it "fun" in the really traditional sense of the word? Maybe not. But is it a hell of a good time? Absolutely. You're a dead man walking through a dead world, and it's absolutely breathtaking.
Grant Nielsen
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