Dark Souls - Review

“Let there be no guilt - let there be no vacillation.” – A review of Dark Souls. 

As a general rule, I absolutely adore fantasy, and any game that’s going to transport me to another world. Give me dragons, castles, dungeons and magic, and I will spend hours exploring, fighting and completely losing myself in a video game world quite happily. Surely, then, this must mean that I love Dark Souls?

Released by FromSoftware in 2011, Dark Souls is a third-person dark fantasy ARPG, known for detailed lore, unusual multiplayer elements and, of course, for incredibly difficult but rewarding combat. You are thrown into a deadly world where you explore dank dungeons, fight incredibly difficult battles, uncover secrets and ideally learn from your many, many mistakes. This is a game all about learning, strategy, caution and patience rather than fast game play, and my goodness is patience needed.

There’s a lot to love about Dark Souls. Firstly, you cannot deny the atmosphere; dark, gothic and moody, the feeling of being under threat of death at any given moment never leaves you. The world design is genuinely incredible; areas connect to each other and there is a lot of very subtle story telling for you to discover throughout. Whilst the narrative may not be clear, it is there, hidden, waiting to be discovered, leading to some amazing lore that fans love.

I must admit, I am not the target audience for Dark Souls. I do genuinely appreciate it for what it is, but it isn’t for me. As I mentioned, a lot of patience is required to truly enjoy this game, and patience is a virtue that I simply do not have. I want to be able to pick up a game and learn quickly, I want to enjoy the story and the mystery of a new world, and I couldn’t really do that here. The fights are ridiculously difficult, which is of course one of the major points that fans love about this game; it’s challenging, and beating a difficult boss fight does feel pretty great. Mastering the gameplay I’m sure is incredibly rewarding, but I don’t think I ever really got there, and there were only so many times I could see the words “YOU DIED” before I felt discouraged.

Whilst I appreciate the story telling, and love to explore and discover secrets, I must admit I find it difficult to follow obscure hints and fragments of lore scattered throughout. I truly love a great story, and I know this is one – I just find it tricky to follow.

I can already hear fans telling me to “git gud” and honestly, they’re not wrong. My issues with the game are my issues; I cannot say in good conscience that this is a bad game, because it isn’t. Dark Souls is good enough that it even led to a creation of its own genre, “souls like”, and I completely understand why people love it. Perhaps some day I’ll gain the patience to truly enjoy this game, but either way, if you love an atmospheric, challenging game that will test you, frustrate you and inevitably make you rage quit at some point, you are sure to love Dark Souls.

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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