Game Review: Dark Souls

I've been meaning to do an artical on some thing I can really get my teeth into for months and though I've made numerous attempts at it I've found my teeth have hit only fat and gristle.
I've got a lot of interests and I do mean a LOT but I've found over the last two years that my passion for most subjects has dwindled and have often found myself writing half arsed or half finished articals on a topic. At one moment I'll find a subject, say learning to juggle, completely engrossing and at the next an utter bore-fest by comparison to chess-boxing [it exists. Look it up. No. Really!] This might only be because I destroyed my brain with drugs and have the attention span the size oh look, a squirrel.

Look At hs Little Hands! Hehehehe!

But regardless of my urge to purge myself from their digital lies, computer games are some thing which just wont leave me. My urge for that ultimate fix of reward and escapism cannot compete with the engrossing and all consuming nature of the medium. Nihilism all round then as here I am again doing my latest gaming review: Dark Souls! WARNING - There will be spoilers.

With a promotional site named www.preparetodie.com you would be forgiven for mistaking it for a re-directory to the Dignitas website, yet this name is completely adiquate for what lies in this game. Death, and lots of it.

Dark Souls is the spiritual sucessor to last years underground phenominon PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls, which is in turn a spiritual succssor to the popular [in Japan] King's Field series which is a spiritual successor to Dungeons and Dragon's with is a spiritual successor to Tolken which is . . . - you get the idea. It's european, lets just leave it at that.

World Map According To Literature Students

So, a european style fantasy action/adventure/roleplay game set in a european style fantasy world? Wow. Original, inspiring stuff. Yeah. *Yawn* And inadvertedly a competitor to this years long awaited mega blockbuster [probably multi-award winning before it's release date] game Skyrim?

BUT taken from an asian prospective lends very well to giving some thing fresh to audiences the world over. As a gamer who enjoys playing this particular genre of game, the dungeon crawler, and of european decent the castles and monsters theme is pretty well worn and everyday and everywhere in my culture. We are shitting castles over here!

A Single, Work Class Mother On Benfits Buys Her First Council Owned Home.

We've Got So Many Castles They Get In The Way!

Balders Gate and the Elder Scroll series both being testiments to the fantasy genres success yet apart from the game play itself they rarely offer anything fresh in their narrative. But coming from the little known 'From Software' studeo means that not only has this eastern company got venteran experience in the western style dungeon crawler game market but also have a keen eye for detail and a fresh eye on old, very very old mytholgies.

The first thing the game gives you is also, to my mind, it's most noticable and decerning trait. A true and strong sense of atmosphere and emotional depth. As the game opens with the customary video introducing you to the history of the world you're about to inhabit a slow yet prevailing sense of doom forms like dark clouds on the horison of your mind. As the narrator informs you that when 'the fire' came the world was split into duality - warmth and cold, light and dark, life and death you cannot help but realise that the very thing that gave life to us is the very thing that gives birth to what will kill us in perfect duality. But then, it is revealed, that the fire that gave us life is fading - and now that the dualty has been made, if the fire dies, when the fire dies, there will remain only and forever dark. Thus the first step into a world of true, utter dispair begins and it's prevailance is never ending. Issolation is your only companion. Death is only a temporary escape. You are not a hero and no hero will come to save you because you are alone.
Hopelessness is the spice that gives this game such flavour.

And This Is You ALL The Time.

The next element and direct relation to this prevailing atmosphere is the games difficulty curve. It is steep, it is challenging and it is relentless. However - it is fair. Though like other RPG's you have an upgradable stat system to determine you characters physical strength, intelligence etc the combat system places you at the heart of everything your character does, from striking to manovering to spell casting to pooping your pants - there is no auto-attack of 'I Win' button or instant death by head shot mechanic here.

Also the characterisation of every enemy in the game is unique and yet defined. This means that when an enemy moves they move with precision and you, as the player, must know this move and react accordingly or face losing not just you life but the very souls, the games currency, you've been scraping off bloodied corpses very step of the way. It is a game of knowledge, stratagy, exploration and patience. The chances of your survival come down 100% to the actions you take in and out of battle and it feels, to play, completely natural.
Oh, and when you do start the game it doesn't hold your hand and walk you through it. It's do or die from the word go. There is a few directions for game play apart from a few messages scrawled on the floor of the starting area and after that there is nothing at all. Not even a map to tell you where to go next. No baby steps here. No lives or checkpoint system. You die, you lose your souls and your humanity* you scrape what remains of your body back up and get on with prolonging the inevitable again. And STOP CRYING God damn you!  It envokes exploration to proceed and rewards you for your bravery and compitence. And the sense of reward is very, very grand indeed.

The whole game feels like a masocists wet dream.

SQUIRREL!!!

It is this which many other current game titles are lacking, or have trouble balancing, they either have enemies that scale with you level by level or you can over-power them easily with additional griding sessions. But Dark Souls manages so well that you wont even notice how good at combat you've become until you back track to the start of the game [the worlds central hub point] to tackle another area. I was honestly shocked when I discovered not only how much damage I was dealing to the Hollow of the Undead Burg when I first arrived back there after tackling Sen's Fortress but also how once I could barely block their attacks I was now parrying them leaving openenings for me to cleave through their flesh like warm butter. The dynamic of the game for me changed with this knowledge, and it will for you too. It will go straight to your ego. Your pride will inflate. Your greed for treasure will increase. You lust for power will grow. And that's why you will take the game for granted, and you will make a bloody obvious and cocky mistake and You.Will. Die.

If God Wont Punish You For Your Sins, Dark Souls Will. Again. Again. And Again . . .

There IS an online gaming feature but this does not strickly speaking make it an MMO. It more flirts with the concept like a french burlesque dancer flirts with a patron. It titilises you with the idea of playing online, thus allowing yourself to be open to all the benefits and pleasures of companionship, team work against bosses, item trading [should your trust permit it] and double the sweaty, heavy sword trusting action! Of course, like a french burlesque dancer you've just slept with, it could also leave you open to be invaded by vicious parasites/players wanting to tear you a new anus and stab you in it, thus by releaving you of your precious souls and humanity* to nurish their own withered hides. Leaving you a penniless, quivering, desperate hollow wreck of your former self down a back street praying for a swift death.

Boy, that was one holiday I'd rather forget.

Visually speaking the game is fantastic. I'm running it on my PS3 on a tv with only 500fps capability [soon to be rectified] and I'm still bloody impressed. The biggest aid here is the animation work. For example, when I run with my character [a barbarian described by my partner as "rhino wearing a train"] I actually feel slow, sluggish and carrying a momumental amount of force behind every step I take - and all I'm doing is holding the control pad. There is a part in the game where you get kidnapped by a giant crow [as seen between 0.22 to 0.24 - see below for details] and whisked away against your will into the wider world. I can happily watch that bird soar on down and grasp me in its alions many, many more times before I get bored of it. My partner is undertaking a video game design Masters degree recently and even he, captain perfectonist, is impressed.
The modelling is clean and realistic - a major problem with gaming over the last 10 years has been that as our reach of bigger, better, shinier graphics has taken hold we have slipped deeper into the 'Uncanny Valley'**

Great! Now Stick A Bag Over Your Head, Your Plastic Face Is Freaking Me Out. Also Get Me Some Sun Glasses - Your Glowing Skin Is Burning Out My Retinas! OH GOD, MY SWEET SWEET RETINAS!!!

I could go into detail but I'd rather you see it for yourself. In fact, just watch the trailer. You should have just skipped to here first because nothing I say can change your mind if this trailer doesn't. Then when you've watch it just go order it. Serves you right for bothering to read my drivel. You div.

http://youtu.be/93LFz_j5fQA

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93LFz_j5fQA&feature=youtu.be


* [humanity and souls being the two systems of capitol in the game that can be exchanged for a variety of different benefits]
** The Extra Credits guys explore the uncanny valley effect - http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-uncanny-valley