Dark souls is a trial by death experience; a temperament to the gamers self-control and endurance. It’s gritty, dark, emotionally compelling and atmospherically nerve wreaking. Players venturing into its madness will not only become immersed in its visceral world, but engulfed to its maddening difficulty. It’s a concept that any enemy is a strong enemy and every new area not only offers new sceneries but different kinds of enemies within each said area.
From Software has developed a game intent on challenge. While said challenge being key, Dark Souls door lock is the nerfing that debuffs players while buffing common enemies to extreme imaginings. While one enemy may be easy to kill with their lack of wit and slow movement, there is in most cases always more enemies lurking that aim to surround and trap your poor soul resulting in imminent death. Moreover there are enemies that rely on quick swift movements to take your life. Enemies so bulk in size that a single swing of their demon axe depletes your health bar. Enemies with just one arrow strike can cause toxication, poison and curse. Within each encounter every enemy can be conquered, so no scenario is impossible however, it’s figuring out their weakness and when their open for attack which ultimately unlocks that said door. What exactly waits at the other end? Victory. Satisfaction. A feeling of unbelievable power.
But isn’t this the case with just about every game? Yes. Dark Souls is no different than any other good game in respect that victory is sweet. Many games don’t give the player that feeling of gratification only to take it right back however, ultimately resulting in controller throwing; curse word spewing; hell hath no fury anger. More to its extreme measure, just when you think the game bows to your will, your will breaks as that confidence is shattered by a new foes move set. Or even so, it doesn’t necessarily even take new foes to end your kill streak, simply a few well-placed enemies and the wrong way of handling the situation.
The method to Dark Souls insanity that gives the player such frustration is that for each enemy killed you gain souls, which are then used to help level your character. The catch is when you die – which will happen often – you lose all your souls that you’ve yet to use to level up, leaving you one chance to recover those lost souls. If death becomes you again potentially hours’ worth of progress can be lost.
Dark Souls as ever hard as it is, is a gem in the action/rpg genre. It doesn’t offer repetitive gameplay like so many games of its kind. With every kind of weapons found throughout being unique in how they handle; magic endlessly fun to use much less trying to master; the gameplay in with the constant sense of doom makes Dark Souls as non-repetitive as they get.
On visuals Dark Souls is a blend of beauty and despair. It’s harmonizing yet depressing; like a great piece of art Dark Souls is deep, enriched with detail and emotionally invigorating. Beautiful with its differential color palette; gorgeous rays of the sun peeking out among vast clouds in the sky; and attention to detail from the fiery lava flows, celestial water splashes that graze alongside oncoming friction, to each leaf found on each tree in a vast and dangerous forest. Disparity found amidst the hopelessness in the atmosphere, death and disease in the deep bellows to an underground cavern, to the sense that each step forward is seven steps backward as you traverse each new area to find more challenge at harder difficulty.
As Dark Souls as is, it would be a completely satisfying and worthy game to own by standalone single player. Throw in online functionality that pertains to both Co-Op and PVP and you have a game that goes above and beyond the call of duty. Here’s how it works: within the realm of Dark Souls there are multiple universes; each player for each universe.
The multiplayer Co-Op consists when one player places a stone on the ground which allows other players in their own universe to see the stone, touching the stone that another player has laid summons them into your world. The benefit to this not only helps the host beat an area’s boss, but also any player who helps another gains Humanity.
Humanity serves in many ways, bonfires which act as checkpoints can become strengthened with the cost of humanity. With more humanity the player has the greater the chance for slain enemies to drop items. Likewise as it is likely another player will help you in your quest, it is possible for another player in their own universe to invade yours. While this is the PVP portion of Dark Souls online, it not only offers players a chance for some non-artificial intelligent combat, but stakes gets raised as the invader is rewarded Humanity if they can slay you. And same can be said against the invader, if you repel their invasion by stopping them from killing you their dead corpse will drop some of their own Humanity for your own self gain.
Dark Souls is riddled with mysterious happenings and its discovery brings as much fun and entertainment than the combat itself. Graphically on par with the best, a symphony to the ears with great sound, a lasting replay value that exceeds most games with new game plus capabilities; Dark Souls truthfully, if in popularity with mainstream audiences such as Grand Theft Auto and Call Of Duty, would easily be crowned Game Of The Year. There isn’t such a thing as a perfect game, but Dark Souls is as perfect a game than any other ‘great game’ and is certainly a must play title.