I’ve been sitting on this game review for a good long while now. At the time I was playing it, I was writing game reviews for another site and someone else already had this review. During this time I have played through and reviewed Skyrim, Rayman Origins, From Dust, and Sonic Generations (I’ve also played Saints Row: The Third, which is a review I plan to do soon). I have even gone back and played through some old SNES and NES games since I got my hands on them, and I also have plans on doing some retrospective reviews on some old classics in the near future. Check out my Top 5 games as a kid to see where that idea came from.

So, what does all of this have to do with me writing about Dark Souls now? Well, I have some more perspective on my experience with the game, and I feel there are some points worth covering that perhaps, some other reviews didn’t touch on. Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to the PS3 exclusive, Demon Souls. I remember the first time I picked up Demon Souls, it was well after it was down in price and I was pretty aware of what I was getting into. I enjoyed what I played at first, I appreciated the precise controls, and the fact that the battle system was simple but complex. I had become spoiled by modern day gaming conventions, I figured I could run through this game, hacking and slashing without much thought. I was immediately put in my place by a few skeletons and corpses in the very first level. I was not ready at that point to be put down so much, but I did try. I never got through the first level, and eventually I stopped playing.

Dark Souls will throw its first boss at you about 10 minutes in. This is not a training boss, it will test you.

I regret it now, having gotten into Dark Souls; this time fully aware of what I was getting into. Dark Souls is a spectacularly beautiful experience, the art direction, the subtle world that creeps its way into you and drags you into a dark and desperate place. Perhaps it was that I was ready this time out, perhaps it was the integration of bonfires that gave me a feeling of safety and achievement every time I reached a new one. Whatever it was, something about Dark Souls sucked me in, in a way that Demon Souls was unable to.

Other critics and the ad campaigns for the game talk about its difficulty, but after playing through some old games like I mentioned, I learned that in all honesty. The difficulty isn’t so bad, it has a lot more in common with an old school experience than many give it credit for. Every step through Dark Souls is about learning the territory and the levels, it is memorizing every trap, every enemy’s position, and discovering all the hidden nooks that aren’t always apparent. The learn by error approach to gaming that this game forces upon players reminded me instantly of the Abe’s Odyssey games. A series infamous for the fact that every new area was a guaranteed death that you learned from. Progression was about perseverance and understanding the areas layout, Dark Souls replicates this experience perfectly, and just like older games, every success filled me with a sense of accomplishment that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Bonfires will come with a lot of relief. Also, you will be able to see other players in the game in the form of randomly appearing ghosts. Adding another sense of bleakness.

As I mentioned before, the integration of bonfires is a great system that got me to continue progression, just to find another bonfire. I was more determined to get through the next section, hoping that another bonfire awaited me to refill my health flasks and save my progress. Even though every time I used the bonfire, all the enemies respawned. I actually liked this, it allowed me more chances to completely memorize the area. Dying and going back to these checkpoints didn’t feel as much like a punishment, unlike having to start the entire level over again (Demon Souls….). In that aspect, it is a bit more forgiving than those old games I’ve been playing recently. As anyone who sat through Ghosts N’ Goblins or the original Ninja Gaiden can attest, life back in the day for a gamer was brutal, all the time. In this modern day however, we have become accustomed to hand-holding, and that is not what Dark Souls does. It is more likely to smack your hand away before kicking you in the knee, and making you limp your way forward.

This is not an experience that everyone will love, I grew up with this abuse though, so it was the moment I wrapped my mind around the concept and fully committed to beat this cruel bastard that I truly began to love every moment. What I got for it though, is the reward of a near perfect game engine that works to make every failure your own. After a few attempts through a certain area, you will learn, and eventually you will be able to get through every area blindfolded. Much like every kid with an NES can to this day play Mario Bros 1-1 with their eyes closed, every player that perserveres and continues will figure out what to do. It is the moment that you can run through a stage, that at one time felt impossible, and dodge every trap, defeat every enemy, and get to where you need to be without incident is when you will truly understand the magic of this game.

It is possible to get through every area without death, but it is impossible to do it on the first run through in an area. Once its all learned, there is no reason any player can’t clear an already explored area without a single death. The battle system and the controls are as tight as could be, and that’s why this is possible. Timing blocks, attacks, and dodges according to the enemy or the situation will win the day. It is going to take a few deaths before those lessons are learned, and you will die, you will die a lot. Yet that is part of the experience, it is all a part of the beauty. Without it, downing a large boss that by all appearances is intimidating as hell wouldn’t feel exhilarating, it would eventually get tedious (I’m looking at you dragons in Skyrim).

Most bosses will call on learning patterns and patience while waiting for the best times to attack.

Dark Souls introduces a few mechanics that all players should be aware of. Every enemy downed will award souls, these souls are used for everything; Purchasing goods, leveling stats, upgrading and repairing weapons and armor, everything. Along with that certain enemies and drops can award humanity, humanity is used in various ways. You can kindle a bonfire to be awarded more healing flasks that will save your life, they can be used to invade another player’s world and kill them to steal souls and their humanity, they can be used to call on other players to help you through a particular hard area or beat a boss. I’ll get more onto that in a moment. What this game does to punish players even more, and give death even higher consequence, is that when you do die, all souls and humanity will drop right where you died. You will then be transported back to the last bonfire (thankfully with all health, and no debuffs. This is another nice change over Demon Souls) and you will have to fight your way back to where you fell and pick it all back up. If you happen to die before reaching your body, those souls and humanity will be lost forever.

This game does not reward cockiness, it will put you in your place consistently. I can recall many times that my confidence cost me in a stupid way. I would think that I had an area memorized, just to mess up a block or my footing, and I would lose tons of souls and plenty of humanity for my troubles. This game will humble some people, and if kids on Xbox Live taught me anything, it is that gamers these days need a good humbling. Holding onto a stack of souls and humanity will come with more stress; Dark Souls will force players to decide to risk pushing forward with a large stack, or to spend them on what they can. I am not ashamed to say that I threw down my controller quite a few times, I had to step away and regroup a lot. I could hear my Mother in my head as if I was back in my room, 10 years old, playing Sonic or another difficult platformer, “I can hear you getting mad, put down the controller, go play outside or do something else before I make you stop for the day!” she would say. I heeded her advice during this game, and you know what Mom, it’s good advice.

Multi-Player won't be introduced until later in the game, when it is though, it is worth using frequently. It can even add a reason to play through multiple times.

Dark Souls also has a great and original multiplayer component. While it has its flaws, its ingenuity works out well. Players can leave messages on the ground for others, these messages will help a lot to either pave the way to the next area (very important, it is very easy to lose your way. The next path is often hidden in a frustratingly obscure way), warn you of upcoming hard battles, or simply nothing of importance. Players can score these messages, and that helps get rid of a lot of spam comments. As I mentioned before, it is also possible to summon or be summoned into someone else’s game. You will be a bit crippled since certain items don’t work as a ghost in someone else’s game, but help them beat a boss when summoned, and you will be rewarded with souls and humanity. It is a good way to grind and help other players. Expect to wait awhile sometimes and learn where to drop summon requests, the downside is easily that a lot of time can be wasted waiting for someone to activate a summon.

If you choose to invade, you will be rewarded for killing another player, adding a bit of PVP to the game. For those who don’t want PVP, this doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, expect to get incredibly paranoid. There are also Covenants to join, these act a lot like guilds, and joining certain ones will reward helping players, or killing them. There is even a covenant dedicated to hunting down and killing players that have broken their own covenants. It is a great addition that many players wont really notice until many hours in.

Invading other player's games adds an element of PVP to a game that is all about skill. Downing an invader is more exciting than beating any boss.

The thing about Dark Souls, is that it is a unique experience that harkens back to old school experiences. It is a game that is for those that want that, but it will turn off many. From Software has done a great job and has been rewarded with a dedicated cult audience. It has sold well for what it is, and is considered a massive success. It is NOT the hardest game one earth, but it is one of the hardest games to have come out to the mainstream audience in a long time. It is a deep and rewarding RPG with a world that lives and breaths to kill you. Its story is in the experience, and it is all the story it honestly needs.

Final Call: Dark Souls is one of the best games of the year, and now that the year is almost over, I have had time to reflect on that. For me, it is up there in my top 3 games of the year just under Portal 2 and Rayman Origins (for any wondering, Skyrim is number 4, and it is a just barely) I never felt disappointed while playing Dark Souls, I didn’t feel cheated, I often felt frustrated, but I felt exhilarated and rewarded far more often. This game is not for everyone; EoN’s comic artist, Chuck, played the game for a bit and did not like the game’s tendency for being unforgiving. It felt too slow for him, and progress is made slowly and with caution. It takes a lot of patience, and a lot of time. It is going to be like picking up a trade, it is going to take training and practice, but if given the chance. It will easily be one of the most rewarding trades you have ever picked up, but also the most useless in the real world. It’s like riding a unicycle.

4.5/5 I would give it a full 5 out of 5, but I can't in fair conscience do that. It is a bit too dedicated to a particular gamer to be perfect.

Did you get some time with Dark Souls? What did you think looking back at this point? If you haven’t, any reason why not? COMMENT BELOW!

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