I’ve owned Demon Souls for quite some time.  And, like most people who played them, I got frustrated and put the controller down. That was it. I was done. 

Until recently, I saw my co-worker playing the sequel Dark Souls and it made me want to pick up the series and try again. This game, to me, is one of the most in-depth games ever and makes me relive what games were before they became the giant worldwide phenomenon they are now. I’m not talking about super early video games, but games like Metroid and Zelda. 

Needless to say, I’m hooked again. The game is known to be frustrating – difficult – slam your head against the desk difficult, and every agonizing moment has been amazing for me. I’ve somehow loved to hate every boss, enemy and trap this game has to offer. I think it was because I was so used to some games being a somewhat mindless type of thing. 

Entertaining yes, but not as engaging as I’ve craved mentally, I guess. When I popped in Dark Souls and started to play, I got swallowed by a completely different world than what I’m used to.  

Earlier I wrote about how a game should have a good narrative and story, Dark Souls has that, but it’s something you have to dig for. The lore in this game is rich as long as you keep your eyes on it. Which makes this experience for me more worthwhile. 

You can do a lot of searching around not only in the game, but online, for more information. The communities of Dark Souls players are just swelling with knowledge and are so willing to help. It is seriously a tiny community full of good-hearted people to help you though a cold hearted game. 

The world’s enemies are tough. Their artificial intelligence is determined on random number generation (this goes to show how into this game I am). So when you’re playing and going along, enemy behavior is completely unpredictable sometimes. This is a normal trait in games however the level the RNG is depends on the difficulty level you play on. Dark Souls is always on the hardest difficulty for RNG, to say the least. 

The multiplayer system is complex and fighting other players requires a lot of online communication and a complex web of items and tricks you have to do in order to play. 

Though this game has a complex and difficult nature, I can’t wait to beat it and say I’m someone who has. Ever since I started I’ve had this gnawing sense to beat it and play again and again doing things differently. I honestly haven’t had that feeling in a rather long time. I also can’t wait to take more part in the community and be helpful to those who are having issues like I was when they started. I’m genuinely connected to this game and the cult community and it makes me happy there is a second one coming out. Exploring and being a pathfinder is something I’m really excited for. 

This game is older, the enemies, the difficulty and the community make it a nice look at what our older culture of gaming was like. 

 

 

John Schmidt is majoring in Journalism. He can be reached at [email protected]