Dark Souls: 20 Hours In

From the Vault — originally published October 19, 2011. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.

Let me put this into context. At 20 hours, long after most games have either been completed, with time then being invested into multiplayer or just completely worn out their welcome, I have only just begun to scratch the surface of Dark Souls. That should give you some idea of how huge this game really is.

In no way is this article meant to be a review, but merely impressions of a game that is set to engrain it’s presence into my mind for the foreseeable future.

Too long have we as gamers been spoiled with games that present little to no challenge in order to finish or to master. The tagline of GameManx is “Chomping through games at an alarming rate”, and that is exactly what we do. With so many games being released in quick succession, it’s easy to tick games off your ‘To Play’ list and then never give them a second thought. Dark Souls is a different beast entirely. You will only get out of Dark Souls what you put into it, and that means time and patience, with the reward being one of the most satisfying games of the generation.

Your initial time with the game will be spent within the Undead Asylum, which serves as a Tutorial of sorts. The game will vaguely take you over how your controls work, but other than a short description you are on your own to master your skills. You build your character at the beginning of the game, deciding which Class you would like to be, the build of your Physique, and selecting the Gift that will aid you throughout the game. Although you can choose a Class, you are in no way restricted to remaining part of that specific type. You see the Class system is only used to determine your initial stats at the beginning of the game, but you are free to experiment with all the different classes whenever you choose. For instance, I chose the Warrior Class, as I wanted the upper hand in melee combat, and have a few extra points dedicated to my Strength, but by the end of the game (should I ever get there) I may have decided to become a fully fledged Mage. It’s all about experimenting and experiment you will, as some enemies are easier to take out at Long Rage, but others force you to get up close and personal.

It is not a secret that the difficulty in Dark Souls has been spoken about so much. From Software really have set out to give gamers a taste of what once was. I remember playing games in the early-mid 90’s when there was no real save system, and you had to play the game from beginning to end in one sitting, and if you saw a GAMEOVER screen within that time, then it was back to the main menu you went to begin your journey all over again. Although Dark Souls may not be that Hardcore, as save systems are something we take for granted in this day and age, the game still does pack one hell of a punch. However, rarely does the game (up until this point at least) feel cheap or unfair. Most enemies follow an AI pattern that can be learnt in order for you to progress. Some enemies are quicker to learn than others, but you can learn them. Sometimes you will get caught off guard when a strike turns into a parry and a critical blow In the enemies favor, but the moral of the story is Always Be On Your Guard. The best advice I could give to someone delving into Dark Souls for the first time is, take your time, be cautious and always move with your shield up. You can’t quite explain how satisfying it is to finally slay that monster who has stopped you from progressing and has gotten the best of you time and time again. It’s a feeling that you don’t often get to experience with most modern games.

A new addition to Dark Souls that wasn’t present in it’s predecessor Demon’s Souls, is the fact the game has now become Open World. After you defeat the boss you come up against in the tutorial, you will transported to the land of Lordran. It is here where the game opens up for you and you are free to go anywhere you want to explore. No longer will you have the luxury of visiting the Nexus for some downtime where you can gather your thoughts and buy items and repair your equipment. This time around the game introduces the Bonfires, and you will come across 2 within the tutorial. These bonfires serve as your Safe Haven, that when lit, will fully heal you and any status ailments you have incurred. However, it pays to be cautious, because once the bonfire is lit, it will reset the world, effectively causing all the enemies you have killed up until that point, except for bosses, to respawn. So they definitely need to be used only as and when you desperately need to. The Bonfires do serve as checkpoints though, so if you do die, you will respawn at the last Bonfire you lit.

The game world is beyond huge. When you first arrive in Lordran, in an area called the Firelink Shrine, which contains a Bonfire that you will become very familiar with, you are free to set off in any direction you want. It can be quite overwhelming at first, as you can immediately see the many branching paths that take you to different areas of the world. Choosing which path to go, uncertain what fate my be waiting for you is a challenge in it’s self. Put it this way, I spent hours and hours exploring the different areas I could find, dying countless times in the process and literally trying to farm souls in order to strengthen my character, that I completely missed a much easier path I could have taken to reach the next Bonfire in the Undead Burg. So yes, the world is huge, but it calls out to be explored. Who knows what wonderful and mysterious Items or NPC’s are waiting for you along the way. It’s beyond tempting to say the least.

Another part of the game that is sure to play a very important part in your experience is that of Humanity. It is a very rare substance that you can only sometimes find on a fallen enemy or as hidden loot throughout the world. Humanity gives you the opportunity to be resurrected from your Hallowed state to become Human once again. It can only be used at the Bonfires, and only once have you become Human will you be able to Kindle the Bonfires. Kindling gives you an extra health boost, meaning that instead of starting with the usual 5 Estus Flasks you gain from resting at a Bonfire you will now get 10, and you are going to want to be doing this at most of the Bonfires you come across for the very simple fact that you will need them.

So, just like in Demon’s Souls, the actual Souls play a very important part of the game. They encompass everything from your in-game currency to your XP. Souls are acquired from killing enemies throughout the world, although this time around not every enemy you face will drop souls, just another blow to your self esteem that the game throws at you, or you can find them on fallen soldiers you come across on your travels. So not only do your have to use the Souls you have acquired in order to level up and strengthen your character, but they also have to be spent on repairing your equipment, learning spells and buying items. Your souls have to be used wisely, and remember, if you die, your souls will be dropped and you need to make your way back to the spot you were killed in order to recollect them, and face all those enemies again. Die on your way to recovering them and the souls you dropped will be lost forever.

The brilliant Online system that From Software implemented in Demon’s Souls has been brought over and it remains innovative and pure genius to say the least. Whilst traversing the world you will see the Apparitions of other gamers going about their business in their own games. Due to there being no Voice Chat, Lobbies or even Party Chat in you are playing on Xbox 360, it serves to remind you that you are not going through these challenges alone, although for the majority of the game you will be playing alone. I say for the majority because although you can not directly invite a specific person to your game, you are able to summon the Phantom of another player into your world to help you out at the most trickiest bits. You do however need to be Un-Hallowed to do this, and the fact that most players will go through the game in their Hallowed state means this feature is something that you really need to work for. The game again will throw a curve ball at you though, because although you can summon good Phantoms to help you out, your game can also be invaded by Black Phantoms, who’s sole purpose is to track you down, kill you and pillage you of your souls and possessions. It’s all about taking the rough with the smooth and being prepared for any situation. You are also able to leave messages for other players in the world using pre-determined text, that you can either use to aid players in their quest by pointing them in the right direction to a rare hidden item or a valuable NPC, or you could be callous and malicious and lure them into a false sense of security and lead them to a quick death. It really is an online system like something you have never seen before, especially if you never played Demon’s Souls.

Graphically the game is a step up from Demon’s Souls, a lot more detail has gone into not only the environments but also on your characters Armour and Weapons, that really give the game that authentic medieval feel to them. A lot more colour has been added to the environments this time around, so although you are traversing this dark and bleak world, there is still some beauty to behold. Not everything works well though, there are some technical issues that need to be addressed. The framerate can get really choppy at times and although I have not experienced much in the initial stages of my playthrough, I am hearing of player’s games slowing down to a crawl when things begin to get really hectic on screen, with the engine powering the game struggling to handle the increased amount of enemies and effects on screen at any one time. Hopefully this is something that can be rectified with patches, but as far as I’m aware it’s not game breaking by any means, but can break the immersion of the game.

Although it may feel like I have covered a lot of ground in this article, I have only covered the basics that everyone will need to become accustomed to early on, to have any chance of progressing. I’m 20 hours in and will reiterate again that I have only just begun to scratch the surface of the game. I have come face to face with some of the brilliantly designed bosses that will surely test your patience and dexterity, but I have many many more yet to encounter.

Dark Souls is not going to be a game everyone enjoys. Some people will try it and then give up because the difficulty is too much for them to handle. Others will simply not have the time to pour the hours in that are required in order to learn this game. Especially with the game being released in October when a lot of people will either be holding out for what is sure to be the less challenging but equally as brilliant Skyrim, or the likes of Uncharted 3, Battlefield 3 or the sales beast that will be Modern Warfare 3. I hope people do at least give the game a try and not be put off by other gamers ‘negative’ experiences of it, as you may find something that you like that the other person may not have been able to grasp on to. It really is a game like no other, a unique experience that is so rare these days in an industry that is over saturated with ‘me too’ first-person shooters, everyone doing the same thing and stealing other peoples ideas. Dark Souls dares to be different and it dares you to take the plunge, but take heed to the words emblazoned on the back of the game box, Prepare To Die!