Dark Souls Review – Welcome back to Hell

It’s 1 in the morning and I’m firmly settled in front of my television, hands tight around the controller. On screen, I’m circling a heavily armored knight that’s wielding to be an enormous dragon tooth. The air is still as I wait for an opening. The knight pulls out his shield – I flinch and roll out of the way of… nothing. I’m back on my feet but it’s too late to roll again as the massive tooth knocks me flat. I let out a gasp as my avatar’s body fades into sparkles and dust — the knight only had a sliver of life left.

Dark Souls
Developer: From Software
Released: Oct 4th, 2011
Price: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3 (Reviewed)

Rejuvenated at a nearby bonfire, I arm myself with the new knowledge of my mistakes and journey on once more to hopefully conquer this powerful foe.

This was more than a rare occurrence. Many times during my play-through of Dark Souls was I so captivated by the game’s combat and thirst for victory that I fell into the trap of “Just one more Try”. Perhaps I could be described as a glutton for punishment, but just like its predecessor, Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls will torture you mercilessly and then reward you just enough to make you come back for more.

You are Undead and find yourself locked away in an asylum to await the end of your days. In Dark Souls the Undead do not lose their minds immediately after death – instead the process is called Hollowing, in which they slowly degrade to become the mind-numbing creatures we all know and love. What eventually follows is your escape from the asylum and a journey to break the curse of the Undead to prevent the loss of your own sanity. The game’s tale is less about providing you a clear story and more about creating a world where NPCs are just going about their own business, however cryptic it may be.

I’ll be totally honest: I did not complete Dark Souls but I feel like I’ve waged enough battles and explored enough caverns to be confident in this review. This game is huge, spanning anywhere from 60 – 100 hours on a single play-through, with New Game+ for re-playability.

As much as Dark Souls isn’t meant to be a sequel to Demon’s Souls, many of the systems introduced previously, like combat, upgrading and coop, remain mostly the same. So does the premise: fight through hordes of undead and demons to get to the boss, defeat him and gain souls (the game’s currency) along the way to buy equipment and level up. If you die, you leave your souls where you died and start from your last spawn point with all the enemies respawned. Only if you manage to reach your body again can you get your souls back. For more coverage of these systems, check out our Demon’s Souls review as I will be mostly focusing on the new ideas brought forth from Dark Souls.

The first is the bonfire system: bonfires litter Dark Souls’ sprawling world of Lordran, acting as checkpoints for would-be adventurers who light them. Instead of worlds that are segmented into several pieces, Dark Souls offers you an entire seamless environment without loading screens. Instead of a central hub that you return to, bonfires act as your respawn points, refilling your health and health potions, allowing you to spend your collected souls on levels and even allowing you to repair and upgrade your equipment once unlocked. Be wary though, for if you sit down at a bonfire all of the foes you vanquished (excluding bosses and mini-bosses) will pop back into existence. In this way, using a bonfire becomes a strategic decision: do I rest here in case I die or do I try to push a little further?

Another consequence of this system and the game’s large world is that there are no limits on where you can go. Instead, areas have varying degrees of difficulty that try to shape your path. Never does the game explicitly say ‘no’, however, and those of higher skill will enjoy the freedom to go where they please, even at lower levels. For the inexperienced or for the stubborn, this could potentially prove frustrating at times—in fact, one of the first areas of the game consists of two separate paths: one which is intended route to foes appropriate for your level and another that leads to graveyard full of skeletons that will gut you mercilessly. Dark Souls never closes paths for the player as there is generally always another route should the current one be too difficult.

The second new system is the Humanity system. Gone is the need to bring yourself back to human form by defeating a boss and there are now items called ‘Humanity’ that can be found, bought or won from assisting others in coop play. Humanity has a variety of uses, the foremost being the ability to turn you back to a human. Spending one at a bonfire will see you regain your living form, at which you can spend another Humanity to kindle the bonfire, giving you more health potions to take with you on your perilous journey. Finding and keeping your Humanity is heavily encouraged as the more Humanity you have, the higher your item drop-rate becomes. It’s a system that works well and encourages you to play more as a human character but also provides another item for you to lose, for if you die you leave your Humanity with your souls at your bloodstain.

Dark Souls’ online environment has also seen some changes under the hood, compared to its predecessor, one of the most notable being the use of Peer-to-Peer servers. Rather than the world servers that were formerly hosted (with the looming threat of shutting down constantly overhead), coop players and invaders alike use the host’s console as a support server for online play. The benefits of this are a system that players won’t need to worry about shutting down but unfortunately this P2P system can also make it very hard to find other players at times and even affect world latency, as it is all dependent on the host’s internet connection. While Dark Souls’ unique coop system of summoning players and using summon signs remains a focal point for the series, it’s quite discouraging when it seems like you can never find anyone to play with.

You’re going to want to find all the coop partners you can, as Dark Souls brings back its trademark difficulty which the developers claim is even more difficult that Demon’s Souls. Based on my experiences, it seemed more or less the same but I can understand some areas that could be comparatively more difficult for newer players. Barely any information is given to the player other than the controls and at times there is little leeway for mistakes. It’s a game that relies on trial and error but it can be upsetting that you can potentially make your game much harder with a simple mistake you didn’t know you were making. That being said, From Software has done a great job at making sure you can still complete the game even should you decide to mis-use items or randomly kill NPCs. It just becomes a great deal harder.

Also back is the extremely tight and well-designed combat which, side by side with the hard difficulty of the game, makes every encounter thrilling. Combat remains fun and exciting and changes up as you use different weaponry, each with their own attack styles and animations. More weapons have been thrown into the mix this time, such as whips that are effective against armor-less enemies. Virtually every weapon and armor piece you collect can also be upgraded at blacksmiths using a material called Titanite. With enough upgrades (and the right materials), you can eventually give your weapons varying properties, such as the powerful lightning enchantment. In short, this is Demon’s Souls combat in all its glory.

Lordron is a grim place to be in Dark Souls, as demons and the hollowed undead lurk around almost every corner. Along with the dark overtones of this fantasy the design put into this world is absolutely gorgeous, featuring a haunting palette and texture. The attention to detail is amazing, from all the little nooks in the armor sets to the feathers on a giant crow. Boss design in particular is both unique and a sight to behold when you first encounter one, thinking to yourself: “What have I gotten myself into this time?” There are some areas in the game that force you to wander in the dark can be potentially frightening to some, considering the enemies that lurk in the depths. The atmosphere in this game is truly absorbing.

There were some unfortunate niggling issues that seemed to show the game’s engine was creaking under its own weight. A few areas caused the framerate to slow to a crawl and while not completely detrimental to the experience, it may throw more than a few people off while they’re engaged in combat. One other thing I noticed was sometimes there would be a control delay between the time I hit a shoulder button to swing my sword and the time the animation played. This issue was much more severe but fortunately only happened rarely and never got me killed. It’s unfortunate that these flaws are so glaring because of how well the rest of the game plays.

The Final Word
Dark Souls, like its predecessor is a viciously addicting game that will literally have your heart beating as you narrowly escape death time and time again. Even in the times that you don’t, your death will provide you with knowledge you never had before. Bosses and enemies alike are varied, extremely well designed and terribly difficult. Yet despite everything, rarely does Dark Souls ever feel unfair – if you pay attention to your surroundings, learn how to use the environment and the game’s huge variety of equipment you will eventually prosper. This is key because while it may take you several attempts, the payoff is so sweet in the end. Ultimately, Dark Souls gives you an amazing sense of satisfaction each time you accomplish something. While there are few story elements, the game commits to fleshing out a bleak world inhabited by demons and the undead while letting you weave your own tale. If you’re not afraid of learning and are looking for one of the best action RPGs of his season, Dark Souls awaits you.

– MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Good