Dark Souls
Review:Demon’s Souls was a game that will not soon be forgotten. It had tons of visuals, spot-on combat, and absolutely insane difficulty. The difficulty was so insane that it was almost universally deemed inaccessible to casual gamers. It seemed only touchable to those who have the most hardcore of skills when it comes to video games. However, the difficulty gave the game the purest experience a gamer could get. This was even more surprising coming from a game developed by the virtually unknown Japanese developer, FromSoftware, who had halted their King’s Field series on the Playstation 2 to make Demon’s Souls for the PS3.
Demon’s Souls was so good, the gamers begged for a sequel. FromSoftware did not make a direct sequel to the game, but they did make a spiritual sequel: Dark Souls. Dark Souls took Demon’s Souls and cranked up everything off the charts. They took the concepts that made Demon’s Souls great and reintegrated them in a new game, made from scratch. This time, it not only hit the hardcore PS3 gamers, but broke it’s way into the lives of the Xbox 360 gamers as well. The staff at FromSoftware have outdone themselves.
Dark Souls starts out pretty generically. You start off selecting a class to play as throughout the game. Luckily, it doesn’t matter what class you pick, because you’ll still be able to do everything that all the other classes can do since your not confined by anything. All you need is the stat requirements.
There’s two major things that Dark Souls is based around. These would be souls and humanity. Souls are the currency used throughout the game. They can be used to buy and upgrade equipment and items and to level up. This is where the unforgiving factor comes in. When you die, you go back to your last checkpoint, but also lose all of your souls. And you will die a lot! You can go and find your bloodstain containing your souls and activate it to reclaim them, but if you die again, your previous bloodstain will disappear, along with the souls it contained.
The other important item is called humanity. Humanity is virtually universal. You can use it at bonfires (the game’s checkpoints) to transform into your human form or get more estus flask’s (the game’s health potions). How much humanity you have also determines how powerful your enemies are and how much loot they will drop. When you die, you also lose all your humanity, which can also be retrieved from your bloodstain.
This time around, the game is open-world. All the areas are seamlessly connected with no loading screens in between. You are free to explore the world. Well, not free, since there are numerous immensely tough enemies ready to kill you at any point and time. However, the best part about this open-world is that it is huge, dark, detailed, and beautiful. FromSoftware absolutely nailed the deeply dark atmosphere that this game deserves. Nothing is over- or under-textured.
The graphics are just stunning. However, this is where the first flaws come in. FromSoftware failed to optimize the game’s performance enough. There is inevitable lag in several areas of the game. In most cases, this does not harm the gameplay, but this is a very noticeable flaw, and can’t just be overlooked.
The sound design was spot-on. Every character has his or her own voice actor. They keep it believable but never overdo it. It’s integrated perfectly into the game. The score in this game only adds to the atmosphere, and always keeps you on your toes. You’ll love the music so much, you may find yourself on a video website trying to locate the various tracks from the score.
There is no story in this game. Almost no narrative to speak of at all. You are simply thrown in this world infested by demons and darkness. Your character is deemed the hero to save this world from such darkness and despair. The story just stops dead right there. This isn’t really all that bad though. It’s simply one less thing to take away from the gameplay and atmosphere.
Finally, we have the gameplay. The combat is nothing less than perfect. Everything is weighted just right and the combat is tight and controlled. There’s plenty of enemies, each of which are very challenging. As you progress you’ll encounter countless enemies of various difficulty. Well, various hard difficulty. Most enemies can wipe you out in just a few hits. Bosses can kill you virtually instantly. It will take countless tries, but the further you progress, the more satisfied you’ll feel.
Dark Souls is an epic game. Despite a few flaws, this game is easily one of the best of the year. The more you play, the better you’ll be, and the more addicted you’ll be. Just prepare to die.
Demon’s Souls was so good, the gamers begged for a sequel. FromSoftware did not make a direct sequel to the game, but they did make a spiritual sequel: Dark Souls. Dark Souls took Demon’s Souls and cranked up everything off the charts. They took the concepts that made Demon’s Souls great and reintegrated them in a new game, made from scratch. This time, it not only hit the hardcore PS3 gamers, but broke it’s way into the lives of the Xbox 360 gamers as well. The staff at FromSoftware have outdone themselves.
Dark Souls starts out pretty generically. You start off selecting a class to play as throughout the game. Luckily, it doesn’t matter what class you pick, because you’ll still be able to do everything that all the other classes can do since your not confined by anything. All you need is the stat requirements.
There’s two major things that Dark Souls is based around. These would be souls and humanity. Souls are the currency used throughout the game. They can be used to buy and upgrade equipment and items and to level up. This is where the unforgiving factor comes in. When you die, you go back to your last checkpoint, but also lose all of your souls. And you will die a lot! You can go and find your bloodstain containing your souls and activate it to reclaim them, but if you die again, your previous bloodstain will disappear, along with the souls it contained.
The other important item is called humanity. Humanity is virtually universal. You can use it at bonfires (the game’s checkpoints) to transform into your human form or get more estus flask’s (the game’s health potions). How much humanity you have also determines how powerful your enemies are and how much loot they will drop. When you die, you also lose all your humanity, which can also be retrieved from your bloodstain.
This time around, the game is open-world. All the areas are seamlessly connected with no loading screens in between. You are free to explore the world. Well, not free, since there are numerous immensely tough enemies ready to kill you at any point and time. However, the best part about this open-world is that it is huge, dark, detailed, and beautiful. FromSoftware absolutely nailed the deeply dark atmosphere that this game deserves. Nothing is over- or under-textured.
The graphics are just stunning. However, this is where the first flaws come in. FromSoftware failed to optimize the game’s performance enough. There is inevitable lag in several areas of the game. In most cases, this does not harm the gameplay, but this is a very noticeable flaw, and can’t just be overlooked.
The sound design was spot-on. Every character has his or her own voice actor. They keep it believable but never overdo it. It’s integrated perfectly into the game. The score in this game only adds to the atmosphere, and always keeps you on your toes. You’ll love the music so much, you may find yourself on a video website trying to locate the various tracks from the score.
There is no story in this game. Almost no narrative to speak of at all. You are simply thrown in this world infested by demons and darkness. Your character is deemed the hero to save this world from such darkness and despair. The story just stops dead right there. This isn’t really all that bad though. It’s simply one less thing to take away from the gameplay and atmosphere.
Finally, we have the gameplay. The combat is nothing less than perfect. Everything is weighted just right and the combat is tight and controlled. There’s plenty of enemies, each of which are very challenging. As you progress you’ll encounter countless enemies of various difficulty. Well, various hard difficulty. Most enemies can wipe you out in just a few hits. Bosses can kill you virtually instantly. It will take countless tries, but the further you progress, the more satisfied you’ll feel.
Dark Souls is an epic game. Despite a few flaws, this game is easily one of the best of the year. The more you play, the better you’ll be, and the more addicted you’ll be. Just prepare to die.
