Dark Souls – Review
Platform | Release Date
PS3 | October 4, 2011
X360 | October 4, 2011Developed by From Software
Published by Namco Bandai
The Pitch:
Dark Souls is a brand new action RPG (role playing game) set in a rich, dark fantasy universe. Tense dungeon crawling, fearsome enemy encounters and groundbreaking online features combine for a truly unique RPG experience.
Dark Souls breaks down barriers with a seamless world design that encourages exploration and fosters an adaptable gameplay experience. As players encounter terrifying enemies and discover new areas, the unerring foundation of challenge and reward permeates to offer an unparalleled sense of achievement.
“The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.”
- The Myth of Sisyphus,
Albert Camus
When Sisyphus awoke on the shores of the river Styx, I have to imagine his eyes narrowed with quiet rage. The icy water gently lapped at his ankles, deliberately surfacing the realization that his wife had indeed, betrayed him. What’s worse, she had shown disrespect. This king was not one to be shamed without retribution, however. With Hades in the background, looming like a judge over a guilty party, he sought 
out Persephone. After some appeal, he was able to convince the goddess to allow him a return to the corporal world, where justice could be served. But King Sisyphus was crafty. In life and in death, it was never his intent for the gods to control his fate. And so it was that he made the ultimate decision and defied them. Lamentably for this king of wills, it is not so easy to thwart the gods. As punishment, Sisyphus was condemned to endless labor, pushing a boulder up a mountain. Just as he would near the precipice, his footing would loosen and the rock would tumble to the bottom.
I can see him at that moment looking back. Watching the stone that is his burden tumble to the beginning of eternity. I suppose his hands slowly balled into fists, his knuckles whitening as he took those first cursed steps back down the mountain. Only because I’ve recently experienced the plight of Sisyphus and consequently failed in my charge, can I look at him with any sort of, what I’m somewhat hesitant to call, admiration.
Dark Souls is bitingly cold. The player is thrust into the midst of this desolate landscape without explanation, hopeless and lacking direction. If you were smart, this is where you would stop. Eject the disk. Maybe put it on eBay or just store it on your shelf as a memento. Unlike Sisyphus, the choice has been given. Don’t fool yourself; you don’t have to begin this.
But if you’re anything like me, it can’t be helped. It’s a compulsion – a sickness.
What can make something that is so prominently menacing, simultaneously so compelling? For me, I believe it to be the lure of victory. The lie that tragedy can be conquered. From top to bottom, this game is designed as a prison. The great trick that developer From Software pulls is in convincing the player that somehow they are special. If you can level up your character in a certain way, if you can just master the next encounter, somehow you will be able to escape; that through your own proficiency, you will rise above the nightmare.
The atmosphere and environments are twisting labyrinths, skillfully crafted with this singular deceit ever tangible. Sometimes they take the form of other hapless souls stuck in the same predicament. Sure they speak to you, but not really. It’s more like they are talking past you. Their slow and disjointed cadence serves as a metaphor for their condition, and an arrant reminder of your own. The foggy sky, just barely blocking out the sun only helps to cement this feeling. Every once in awhile, golden rays burst forth, but it’s a temporary respite. They will inevitably be replaced by brick and mortar, only inches away.
Then there’s the scathing arduousness of the encounters. I’m sure you’ve either heard about or experienced these at this point. On the surface, this level of difficulty comes from the unflinching gameplay. Enemy attack patterns can be daunting, especially when stacked by multiple assailants all aiming for your throat. Taken one at a time, however, it’s actually not that bad. In fact, the more you learn a situation and are able to power through it, the more hope is allowed to well within you. But inevitably, like the pendulum on its return swing, even this is cut away, leaving you naked and shivering.
Thus, the nefarious nature of this prison is revealed. The light in the distance, the one that lifts your heart and momentarily gives you hope, incessantly reveals itself to be the flicker of hatred in your adversary’s well trained eye, as he waits to cut you down.
I’ve commonly heard the world of Dark Souls described as a form of purgatory. This is not accurate. Purgatory is a condition of temporary judgement, a holding cell before final placement in heaven or hell. The predicament in Dark Souls is nothing of the sort. After the final encounter is finished and the inauspicious credits roll, you awaken back in your cell. Make no mistake: this is you, here at the beginning of all things, with a giant boulder looming ominously. At this moment the true difficulty of the prison is revealed. The oppressiveness of this epiphany cannot be overstated.
In his analysis, Camus opines that by recognizing his fate, Sisyphus is able to harness it, transfiguring the absurd into a form of 
heroism. It is the instant, Camus states, when Sisyphus purposefully marches back down the mountain, that he is able to transcend his torment. In this moment of steely resolve, he becomes a hero. I could not rise up to this charge. Dark Souls consumed me, leaving me empty and purposeless. There was a stark moment of consciousness in the middle of my second play through when the futile nature of the situation struck me. I was toiling away for nothing. The task was to keep repeating the cycle, to accept this monstrous lot with hushed accedence, but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t beat Dark Souls even though I had finished the “final” encounter. It had beaten me.
So I ejected the disk and put it away. And I hung my head.
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Great review Peter. I’m a little surprised by the sudden dip at the end but you explained that very well.
Just so you know, and as a point of clarification in regards to the chart, I finished my initial play through at session 12. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop myself from going through again, like I was being compelled to do so.
It was during a conversation with Mark that I realized the craziness of what was actually going on.
Ah ok. That makes sense. I don’t know if I would start over again immediately, but I can totally see the compulsion to do it. The same compulsion the drives you to keep going despite dying for the 849th time.
Very good review. It also captures precisely why I have zero interest in the game. I tried Demon’s Souls when it first came out (and it’s still on my shelf) and this type of game is not for me.
Love this line. Winning! “The light in the distance, the one that lifts your heart and momentarily gives you hope, incessantly reveals itself to be the flicker of hatred in your adversary’s well trained eye, as he waits to cut you down.”
Fuckin’ proud of you man, most poetic review I’ve ever read. Hell yeah.
Before I saw anything, let me say that I think this review is artfully crafted and I don’t think the numerical nature of it is unfair.
What I will say though is that I find the sentiment among reviews that Dark Souls seems to inspire is, well…. wusstacular.
I don’t find issue with anyone saying the game is hard. I have no issue with anyone saying the game is TOO hard. Not liking hard games is totally fine! We all game for different reasons and enjoy different types of rewards!
The problem is that it almost seems like a contest among reviewers to say how soul crushingly destructive the game apparently is. A game that is not much harder than many games that came out in the NES or in some cases, even SNES generations. I hate the idea that a strong challenge is some sort of mythological torture, or the most grueling experience of someone’s life. Is this what we think of hard games now?
While certainly all of these reviews are to a degree, being hyperbolic for the same of humor, I really don’t like the side effect. We are (accidently or not) painting challenge abhorrent. It makes the people who enjoy these games seem like crazy masochists, when really they just like rich gameplay and a challenge level that best matches their skill.
Personally, I have adored all my time with Dark Souls. Sisyphus can never improve his situation. He can never overcome the challenge. He can never improve. In Dark Souls, I am doing that every time I play. I respect that it’s not for everyone, but by golly, it’s a lot less crazy than a lot of reviewers are making it out to be!
And again, I don’t want to necessarily disparage this review. It made me laugh quite a bit! But having seen this sort of things everywhere? Well, it’s starting to wear on me.
That’s a great comment Kayin, thanks for the well thought out approach!
In terms of raw difficulty in gameplay, I actually whole-heartedly agree with you. I think hard games are great. I’m a huge fan of Demons Souls, the Mega Men and Catherine, for example.
To clarify, I’m not saying the gameplay is the most difficult aspect: it’s not. In fact, through a second play through, it becomes much simpler.
The real challenge was the psychological toll of this world. Here we have a never-ending loop. It became clear to me that the intent was never for the player, or the character to complete the cycle, but to toil at it endlessly.
I am of the opinion that Sisyphus does improve his situation by accepting it for all that it is. You, the player, will most likely not repeat this cycle endlessly. Sure, you can improve your character’s abilities, but this is just a misleading trap the developers have laid — because to what end? There’s no improvement in your situation. You’re still in the perpetual cycle, without escape, and you’ll most likely eventually quit. And as I tried to state, this forms a crushing mental difficulty. You cannot win over the absurdity. The oppressiveness takes hold, and no victory can be rightly achieved.
Great review that really backs up the FPS score. Nicely done, Pete
You sir, have been defeated.
Honest reviews like this only make me love the game even more.
From what I can tell, I’m only about 25-30% through my first playthrough of Dark Souls, but I keep wanting to go back to it in between any other games I am playing. I think an addictive personality plays into this more than anything. I got sucked into WoW for a while, and I am generally a completionist in terms of gaming, so Dark Souls presents a monumental task that I want to defeat.
I’ve managed to pace my journey, and I force myself to put the game down if I begin to feel too frustrated by it. I know it will still be lurking there on my shelf when I’m ready to return to it.
This review makes me simultaneously feel more overwhelmed by the game, and more intrigued by it. I think the real beauty of Dark Souls is that it evokes a significant reaction out of anyone who plays it. I’ve rarely heard anyone make a gray-area statement like “yeah, it’s just OK.”
People either love it or very much dislike it.
This is a great comment. The aspect that might not come across very well in the review is that I loved this game. Loved it so much that I eeked out every waking moment to play it.
The addictive nature does not only mean it’s super fun, but it also has the duality of being able to get in your head, unbidden.
I see the fact that it defeated me so utterly as a win. What other game out there can be so psychological and thematically impactful?
That is so true its scary. If I played it right up until I went to bed, I towed and turned for hours thinking about that blasted game (and how absolutely freaking awesome it was). After 2 or 3 nearly sleepless nights I had to stop a minimum of 30 minutes before bed and go read or something mellow. No other game has done that to me.
I meant tossed and turned for hours. Darn Kindle Fire auto correct.
You are a warrior-poet good sir. Excellent review.
Though I am a man of faith that would not want to wish ill on anyone.. There is someone I think deserves a fate similar to that of Dark Souls, and that is the knuckle-head who made it… I mean to get all the way to the end only to find it is a eternal nightmare that you will never escape from…T.T
Very good review, though… I think that the futility wouldn’t be as bad if you either: 1. you had an actual escape from the nightmare, which we all know isn’t going to happen..or 2. you actually got the game on the clearance rack for $20 or less… Demon’s Souls runs for about $12 on amazon, so it might be something to think about… If you don’t own it already… Maybe you should try renting it first..
Now please, don’t hate me for saying this, but maybe we should just avoid anything made by FROM Software in the future.. If they are a bunch of scam artists, then we gamers should be just as merciless as the game designers who ripped alot of people off.. From Software has Trolls working for them by going to different web sites to over-hype the game, and treat it as the best thing since sliced bread.. If really are people are in love with this game this much, then I would sugest that they should see a a therapist.. Especially, since this game seems to be severely bug ridden.. And the situation is worst if it was made bug ridden on purpose..