Dark Souls - the end to a perfect day.

I'm trying to think of the last time I was in a mad lust for a game.

Batman Arkham City kept my days long and tiring because it took a while after release to get in. Dead Space 2 would probably be the last game that had me foaming at the mouth waiting to play it.

Well for the last couple of days it's been Dark Souls that's been keeping me restless and wanting.


Since I picked up the PS3 last week, I've been itching to find something on it that mind blasts me, God of War 3 was a nice offering. Playing through it on hard was one of the most rewarding challenges I've had in gaming for awhile. But just from what I've read and seen of Dark Souls, I know this is the game that will make or break me.

I'm always bitching to my friends about finishing games to early, or how games just aren't challenging enough... well it seems that From Software had me in mind when it decided to unleash it's latest bloody rampage.

Previously popular for such titles as the Armored Core series, From Software made quiet ripples that turned into raging rapids when it put out a game called Demons Soul a few years back. That game was noted for it's massive open world to explore and brutal unforgiving combat.

Dark Souls bosses are mad

Well fast forward to 2011 and From Software has decided to revisit this formula to bring us Dark Souls, a game which IGN writer Keza MacDonald had this to say about:

The fact that it even exists at a time when gaming is trending more and more towards cinematic experiences designed to entertain rather than challenge is remarkable in itself. Its world is made up of dark secrets and oblique mythology which feed your curiosity rather than satisfy it; the deeper into it you get, the more fascinating nuances expose themselves to you. How on earth did a game like this come to be?

I liked reading that...

There's a great interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, game director of Dark Souls over at IGN.

When I get my hands on a game I really like, there's nothing more I love than tearing into every little piece of it. Learning and mastering (and I mean really mastering) the combat system, or exploring all the areas and finding hidden places, and bragging about how I play it better than you!



At the heart of it Dark Souls is a dungeon crawler, but with a massive world that's filled with areas to explore, but no real quests and shit to tie em together. From what I've read, you have the land of Lordan which is made up lots and lots of regions and areas populated by dungeons and castles and swamps and canyons and forests and whatever else... all of which are in turn populated by blood thirsty nasties that want to kill you. There are boss type characters that roam these areas, just hanging with their minions talking shit about you.

Each one of these bosses take a certain tactic or game-play to defeat, and discovering what it is, is what Dark Souls is all about. If you think that you can just hack and slash your way through it, it's gonna punish you for your ignorance. Even the games slogan is: "Prepare to Die"

I farkin love this trailer

The thrill and push for exploration is to find new areas and greater challenges, but at the risk of for-certain dearth. Combat in Dark Souls is said to be precise and unforgiving, requiring you to master every move and use it accordingly. There are NPCs through out the game who give you fragments of a story and clues to what it is you need to do to survive, but don't think Skyrim friendly NPCs, this is a world that's designed to kill you... not praise you as its saviour.

In stark contrast to, say Bethesda's gorgeous worlds, which exist for you and you alone, Dark Souls is pretty indifferent to your presence. You exist to be crushed (or, less frequently, ignored). If you're there to save the world, nobody seems to care much. - IGN

This is less of a jolly romp through a fantasy world and more of a fight for survival in a horrify nightmare that's fun to muck around in. It's here to scare the shit out of you and see what you're gonna do about it, all the while letting you explore and find death at your own pace.

The PS3 collectors edition is what I'm going to order. It comes with a kick ass art book, game guide and sound track... and pain... lots of pain.


I've been watching so many videos and reading so many things about the game, that I wanna just buy a coma till next pay so that I can skip this week and order it. Then I'll need to buy anther coma until it arrives. I hope it gets in before my birthday.

Check out this Awesome class trailer with great clips from the game: