Bandai/Namco

Dark Souls PlayStation 3 Cover

In 2012, over 5.9 million people were immersed in a dark fantastical atmosphere that even the greats such as J.R.R Tolkien would have been in awe of. An open world that rivaled games such as Castlevania and even the Oblivion series and its fans would leave foaming at the mouth. Game design that was so punishing but yet so awarding, that it even left many doing more playthroughs. Bosses that were puzzling but as cinematic as the latest Christopher Nolan films.  Music is as triumphant as some of the symphonic greats and the ambiance of Alfred Hitchcock. This game would be known as  Dark Souls. 

The development of the game takes us back to 2009 when Hidetaka Miyazaki ( who originally was a planner for Armored Core: The Last Raven in 2004) with the challenge of succeeding its precursor game, “Demon Souls” which was released quickly before the start of development. The first challenge they faced was its funding, for it was the first game that was independently developed. Demon Souls was funded and was helped by Sony. The Playstation exclusive had failed significantly due to the widely televised failure of a Sony representative not being able to make it past its tutorial area. But in 2012, 5.9 Million copies were sold and, years later one of them would end up in my hands. So, the question is, What makes it so great?

The first factor of its success was its Combat and game design. Due to Miyazaki’s former work as a planner, it shows the scale of the interconnectivity of the whole world. The main idea of the soul’s interconnectivity is based on the immersion of the player and a flow that gives each area identity. You can look up so many videos on first-time players being in awe of the sheer differentiation of each area being so close together. The combat itself is very simple, however the inputs themselves are unfamiliar to most of the gaming community. However what makes it even more challenging is its stamina bar, which suppresses movement. This game, in my own playthroughs, helped me get into game design and how to approach DnD.  Gamer Bilal M. explains the appeal to combat is its opening of styles and difficulty.

“…The game offers you a whole lot of options to choose your combat style,” Bilal said “All of them are very easy to understand, but very difficult to master. And of course the sheer difficulty of it.”

Graphics since the PlayStation 4 has been a huge topic. The industry norm is now to release games and systems for graphical improvement. However, what most don’t focus on is the art style. The concept art helps show off frame rates that most try to chase. Miyazaki’s approach to the game’s art style is its sky boxes, however, even though the architecture and armor are mainly a traditional medieval romanticism approach. But its sky boxes are really where it’s at. The horizons are made with alternative colors and filters, which gives each area its own identity and all of them are unbelievable. Jasper De Beijer, who has been a fan since Dark Souls 2, elaborates on graphics and the art’s nature of bringing the beauty of the experience.

“While the graphics may not be particularly special for the time it was made, the art style is very unique,” Beijer said, “It does a great job of making Lordran feel like a dark and decaying place. It’s depressing in a way, but it does spark your curiosity like no other game. It makes you wonder why things are the way they are.”

I think that overall the game is masterful, The idea of it winning over six awards doesn’t even scratch the surface of its greatness. Even with just the main game, its replayability and slew of challenges when playing the game is something that is needed and flocked to in this industry. As of last year, an average of 26,852 people have started playing the game. Even after 13 years, this game is gaining more people and is projected to gain even more players when Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree. So, will you be like those people, the ones to immerse yourself in the world of Lordran?