Never has there been such an aptly named game. Dark Souls has gained a reputation for its
steep difficulty curve. I went into the game looking for a challenge and it
completely delivered on that front. In fact I would go so far as to say it’s
the most difficult game released in the modern era of games. Be ready to die, a
lot!
The game opens with a prologue video which gives you a brief
glimpse of the world. Many years ago, the Lords broke out of the darkness,
bringing with them flame to banish the darkness that had enveloped the land.
But now, the Age of Fire is coming to an end. Carriers of the Darksign are
walking amongst the living. And so the game begins with your character being
promptly thrown into prison. They have odd punishments in the land of the living;
I’m not sure what I did to get banished to the tutorial zone, but it probably
had something to with being undead. Oh well, time to start an adventure.
I didn’t realise how intricate an RPG the game is, so I was
a little worried by the starting choices thrown at me. There wasn’t much
description to help me out with the classes I had to pick from. Thankfully the
choices made here have little consequence; simply assigning some starting stats
and gear. The only major choice at the beginning is whether you want to be a
melee fighter or a spell caster.
With my character sorted, I stepped out of my cell and
nervously set off into the dark corridors ahead of me. Of course the tutorial
zone is very forgiving. Markings on the floor explain the basic controls for
combat, which allow you to dispatch the starting zombies with ease. There are
also plenty of bonfires dotted around. Each one acts as a checkpoint, so
there’s little back tracking if you have an early death. However each death or
visit to a bonfire will reset all the enemies. Bonfires also allow you to
refill your Estus Flask, a key item that acts as a multi-use health potion.
Later in the game, each charge of your Flask becomes a very precious resource
as you fight your way to the next bonfire.
And battling your way through the world and exploring each
area is the heart of the game. After finishing the tutorial, your dropped off
by a giant Raven at Firelink Shrine; a major hub area for the game. This is
also where I ran head first into game’s difficulty curve. A friendly NPC gave
me a brief explanation of my early goal; ring two bells to progress to an
important area. Would have been nice if he could at least point me in the right
direction. I promptly ran straight into the hardest starting area of the game.
After being sliced into little pieces several times, I was rescued from my
beginner’s error by a friend who let me know the easy path was right behind me.
And this is why exploring is key; the game world is large and sprawling, so
don’t keep running head first into a difficult area unless you’re feeling
masochistic.
Now with my new knowledge in hand, I breezed my way through
an easier path. The combat was much simpler, but equally the game was still
capable of delivering surprises. Just as I had got the hang of blocking an
enemy’s swing and lunging to inflict damage, enemies with shields showed up.
Now they had the same strengths and weaknesses as me, I really had to be
careful with my attacks. Being too reckless or absorbing too many hits with the
shield would quickly use up my stamina, leaving me open and vulnerable to
damaging hits. It didn’t take long for me to have my first death along this
path. So it was back to the last bonfire for another attempt.
It may seem that death is especially harsh in Dark Souls,
but it’s rarely unfair. Once you’re used to the combat, death usually results
from taking too many risks or putting yourself in a bad position. However there
are some notable difficulty spikes throughout. Playing a melee focused character;
I often found ranged enemies a real nuisance to deal with. Surprisingly, some
bosses were the easiest sections of the game. They are certainly intimidating
when meeting them as they tower over you, but once you know their attack
patterns, bringing them down can be as easy as painting by numbers.
The RPG elements of the game are incredibly deep. Behind all
the combat is a whole set of statistics driving the numbers. Your character’s
gear and personal stats determine all the damage numbers as well as defining
what you can carry and wield. As you kill enemies, you gain souls to spend on
levelling and gear improvements. If you die, these are dropped on the floor
until you return to recover them. But if you die again, there gone forever!
It’s heart-breaking every time you lose a large collection of souls. Thankfully
you can recollect them from the respawned enemies if you need too. Each level
up lets you improve a key attribute by one point. Again there’s little
explanation as to what each stat is for, so you may find consulting a guide
necessary to make sure you build the character you want to play.
The design of the world is excellent. There’s plenty of variation
in the areas and enemies you’ll find. Added to that is a whole load of secrets
and additional zones to find. Although finding the all without a guide is
practically impossible. I’ve had to refer to a guide more than once to work out
where to take my next steps which is a bit frustrating. There must be a law
against sign posts in the land of the undead.
The world is also inhabited by some friendly faces. There
are other NPCs who have suffered the same fate as you. As you bump into them,
you can affect the outcome of their journey and ultimately yours as well. The
characters that drive the story do have a horrible habit of talking in a silly
ye-oldé-english style, with random-eth, words-eth, inappropriately elongated-eth.
Thankfully the dialogue for everyone else is very well written; conveying
friendly personalities that are slowly being driven insane by the world as they
lose the last remnants of their humanity.
There’s plenty of player interaction as well. You can find
items that allow you to leave behind messages for fellow players. I found a
couple of hidden treasures behind fake walls thanks to friendly players. You
can also consume Humanity to reverse your undead status. This allows you to
engage in player versus player battles; either by invading the world of another
player or being invaded yourself. My experience with PVP has been somewhat
brief as I found it absolutely terrifying as a new player. It’s entirely
possible to avoid PVP, but in a way I do feel that I have missed out.
The Prepare to Die Edition comes with DLC that adds some new
zones and items to the game. It’s the only version available on PC following a
fan petition for a PC port. Sadly Namco Bandai only allowed the developer to do
an absolute bare bones port. To run the game in the correct resolution you’ll
need to mess around with mods first, but it’s not necessary. The game still
looks good and runs well. The only problem is that you have to put up with
Games for Windows Live, which is like putting a five year old in charge of your
game save. If the GFWL service is down or your internet connection is a bit
unreliable, you’ll spend ten minutes arguing with it before you start playing.
Also, you will need a controller to play this as the key bindings are terrible.
That being said, don’t let it put you off Dark Souls (or
simply pick it up console). This is one of the most satisfying games I’ve
played. Mastering the difficulty curve takes some doing and the game does need
to do a much better job of explaining itself, but it’s incredibly compelling.
I’ve thrown the controller down in frustration when dying again and again, only
to come back later because I know the last death was my own fault. Each boss
downed gives you a sweet moment of victory, and then somewhere knew to explore
and adventure in. I’m over forty hours in, with plenty more I want do before I
tackle the final boss. If only I had the time for another character or new game
plus.
