How to suffer infinite deaths. A review of Dark Souls.

*No Spoilers*

Now first off, i didn't play the spiritual predecessor Demon Souls, so i can make no comparison between the 2 games.

Blind it, or it ends you. 

Now Dark Souls is a game that doesn't hold your hand what so ever, if you're the sort who struggled with the Fable series or would rather play motion capture games on Kinect, it certainly isn't for you. In a way it is a throwback to all the old dungeon crawling games of old, a game which needs plenty of grinding, lots of perseverance yet is ultimately satisfying. There is no difficulty slider or levels, there is just the one difficulty which is insanely difficult even at the early stages. A breath of fresh air to the gaming world if you like, while other series are dumbing controls down and making games simpler, Dark Souls challenges the hardcore gamer.

There is no real story to the game, there's a cracking cinematic sequence at the start that sort of sets the main plot of darkness taking over the world, but beyond that there's very little storytelling. The game really is a case of make your own story up as your character goes through the game. There are NPC's scattered around this open world game but there are little to no dialogue choices when engaging with them.

The game begins with a very good choice of character builds such as warriors, wizards and thieves, all with their own unique perks and abilities. I personally went for the thief, as i like to play the character that sneaks through and goes for the stealthy kills. You can also edit your persona, although the options are rather limited when compared with games such as Oblivion and the upcoming Skyrim where character customisation is practically limitless.

On starting the game there is a sort of tutorial, just explaining how to control your character with a few motionless enemies to focus your attacks on. The controls do give your character plenty of options, with quick attacks, more powerful attacks, duel wielding, blocking, shield bashing, forward rolls, sidestepping, practically any move you could think of. is available to all characters. Once you go through the tutorial, the real fun begins.

Beware, there be unseen enemies afoot. 

If you make a mistake you'll more than likely die. For example, a misplaced attack will be blocked, you'll be stabbed through the stomach and you die. An enemy attacks and you don't block, you die. Fail to see an arrow flying through the air towards your head, you die. A very punishing game, but the beauty of it is it makes progress all the more satisfying. As you go through the game and kill enemies you get "souls" which can be used to boost up various equipment such as swords and armour, or gain enough you can level up and boost some of your stats. As a thief things like agility are important to boost early, but despite this i found playing as the thief pointless. He does have his perks, as a master key he starts the game with can open a lot of the weaker doors in the game, but if you fancy sneaking around and stealth killing enemies, think again. In some areas there are so many undead skeletons and archers you have absolutely no possibility of stealthy play, merely hold up your shield and hope is the best you can do. Later on I unlocked a spell called "soul arrows" which you can fire at enemies, but timing those so you don't get hit with an enemy arrow or by a sword wielding skeleton involves precision timing.

One of many surprises lurking in dungeons throughout.

The basic enemies can be easy to take down, but punishing if you go charging in. It's a completely different matter for the bosses is this game. My very first boss encounter was a huge 60ft demon wielding a giant hammer in the Asylum, i ran around for a good 20 minutes trying to dodge the hammer blows and get an attack in of my own. After many deaths i discovered there was an exit from the courtyard where you were fighting the demon, turns out i didn't have to kill him yet. Later on in the Asylum after leveling up and getting better equipment, you fight him again and need to kill the demon to progress. Slightly easier, but i still died several times before defeating him. Worst thing is, after every death, you go back to the last bonfire which are like checkpoints in the game. So if there was 7 ghouls or skeletons between you and the boss, you have to kill them again and again.

Dark Souls has been described as a dungeon crawler, which i think needs to be taken quite literally. RB enables your character to sprint, which in this game is the most pointless thing you can do, you HAVE to crawl round all corners of every dungeon throughout the game or you'll be killed, simple. I recall a bit in the game as i was playing as my thief character, i ran up some steps into an open area, in front of me was a stone bridge. I continued to run towards it, when a dragon swooped down from nowhere and took the bridge out along with me. Lesson learned. Also just for the record I haven't completed this game. After spending around 6 hours trying to kill the innocently named "Moonlight Butterfly" I then met some gargoyles who have pounded me time and time again since.

But Dark Souls is that kind of game, the satisfaction being in beating the parts of the game that are punishingly difficult. It can be a disheartening, frustrating experience if you lack gaming experience and is one of those games you'd rather not pick up and play, but sometimes you just can't help yourself because at its core it's a stunning game. It's worst enemy is the members of the media calling this game an RPG, where the RPG elements are weak and lacking in many areas. The game should have simply remained in the genre of "dungeon crawler" where it is no doubt a masterpiece.

8/10