7th Day of the Twelve Best Games of 2011: Dark Souls

           Dark Souls like Demon’s Souls before it has a singular aspect that everyone who has heard anything about the game is aware; that being, “Your going to Die A LOT!”  Which is not exactly the main aspect of the game, but it certainly has become the most talked about one.  The great part of Dark Souls is how exacting the title is.  Playing Dark Souls can resemble climbing a mountain.  Meaning that you might slip a few times and have to climb familiar territory over and over again.  But in the end you will have a sense of accomplishment that few games can come close to.

           Dark Souls is a difficult game, even for the most seasoned video game players.  There is grinding involved and even with the help of outside sources like internet wikis and strategy guides the game still requires a fair degree of skill.  The player will likely at some point lose all their souls, the currency in the game.  The player could lose a fair degree of progress.  Finally the player may also be in a situation that they are not sure how to get out of.  And all of the previous examples may happen all at once.  This is not the type of game for the casual player or the easily frustrated.  What is this game hiding in this mire of difficulty and deception?  Not as much as you would think but more than you can imagine.

          There are very few cutscenes in Dark Souls.  Those that are there don’t really do too much to tell the story.  Half what little story is there, is told through text boxes the other half through NPCs that ARE voiced.  The bosses are difficult but usually pretty unique in their design.  Some interactions between the player and the NPCs will have unexpected results and to the player’s incredible dismay they can kill vendors.  These vendors don’t respawn and neither do the goods the player needs.

           Once you’ve learned the combat, every battle is important.  Many of the bosses are completely unique and some monsters that were once bosses show up as mini-bosses later on.  The game can take the average player anywhere between 60-100 for one play through.  I don’t think anyone has discovered what a complete play through with all secrets discovered entails time wise.  There are short cuts, but none of these will help you find ALL secrets of the game, just make some areas easier to get to.

         I really loved the kind of solitude and intensity that occurs in various places in the game.  Dark Souls is a Dark Fantasy game, but some people would go so far as to say that this is a true survival horror game.  Just like Demon’s Souls before it, this game is incredibly important to show developers that there are still people out there that love a quality game that has a very challenging difficulty.  By not having a difficulty, it makes anyone who wants to see the entire world of Dark Souls an investor for the long haul.  Oh and by the way, Your Going DIE!