Playing A Game Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition PC

Just in time for the remaster announcement, I've finally unearthed Dark Souls from my backlog. And although I've already given up, it wasn't for the reasons I'd expected!

What I expected was for the game to put me off with punishing, relentless difficulty. And aside from some awkward controls, I'd say that the difficulty ... actually feels right, in a way. The enemy respawn mechanics, the inherent danger of even "easy" enemies, and the gamble of using consumable items, all feel like they work cohesively in the service of the game's design.

Dark Souls makes it clear, early on, that your goal isn't necessarily to fight the undead for experience points; your goal is to get to the next bonfire, dealing with the intermediate obstacles however you can.

Combat is necessarily a part of this, and while it is challenging and strict, I wouldn't call it merciless. You just have to accept that death is part of the game. Enemies will surprise you by appearing from around a corner, or with a long weapon reach, or with devastating damage. You gonna die.

But it makes sense when you look at the game like VVVVVV -- the space between two checkpoints (bonfires) is essentially a discrete unit of challenge, to be tried and retried until you can finally get it right. Then, you move on to the next one.

Granted, that space between bonfires can be pretty large. And that's where some of my disinterest in Dark Souls comes from.

There's no in-game map, and levels are designed in a deliberately confusing, somewhat-labyrinthine way. So part of the challenge of getting to the next bonfire is finding it; and the process of navigation will necessarily entail surprise enemy encounters, in which you're likely to die and get sent back to the last one.

I might have more tolerance for that if the levels were aesthetically fascinating, or if there was some ambient storytelling going on while I wandered around, but it never seemed like I was going anywhere particularly interesting. So what I got out of the game - the sensations I was left with - were feelings of being lost, of not knowing where I was supposed to go, and of probably being about to die.

What put me off of Dark Souls wasn't really a feeling of futility, but a feeling of aimlessness.

I can certainly understand why Dark Souls receives the praise that it does: its mechanics work together, really, really well. The catch is that forward momentum relies on you being interested in its bleak, desolate world. (Or just being super-hyped about the combat, I guess.)

I'll definitely be giving the sequel a try, to see if that changes the balance in a way I find interesting.

Progress: Gave up in Undead Burg.