Dark Souls Review

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{- Dark Souls Review -}
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Preamble

Oh my dear Dark Souls, thou art indeed a cruel bitch, who betwixt your decrepit fingers shalt gayly crush my heart, much like one twould squash a grape.

Indeed it would seem, that thou dost derive some twisted pleasure from my repeated failings as you unwillingly show me that the path to victory lies down a road of many defeats, its cobbles strewn with many corpses and almost all of them mine own.

But enough of that floaty nonsense, onto the review, which unlike this preamble and Dark Souls itself, does not contain unnecessary usage of antiquated annunciations, evidently extracted fervently from the very annals of the English language.

To skip my possibly unfunny ramblings in the introduction, press Ctrl + F and type. {- S

Should let you skip it and get into the meat of the review; if however you'd much rather read the increasingly enraged and deranged ramblings of a borderline homicidal and probably quite homosexual 19 year old, then by all means gorge yourself upon my gibberatics. Who knows? You might get a cheap giggle out of them.
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Introduction

Dark Souls for those of you who haven't heard of it, is the totally not, but really actually kind of slightly a sequel to the Playstation 3 Exclusive Demon's Souls. If you've never heard of Demon's Souls, I've heard Google is lovely this time of year, might want to try visiting it.  Similar to the relationship between System Shock and Bioshock the game itself is not a true sequel but more of a spiritual successor to its predecessor, taking everything that was good about the original game, slapping on some face paint and booting it outside the front door with a shiny new swiss army knife that for some reason, like everything else these days has a camera on it. Moving swiftly on from my digression to summarise all the important bits so some of the drooling, window licking individuals who by some miracle are 'reading' this article can understand the basic premise:

Dark Souls is a spiritual successor to the game Demon's Souls, a game hailed as one of the hardest games in recent years which in turn became a sleeper hit amongst gamers making a surprisingly high number of sales and gaining a large following despite a lack of any real advertising or hyping up of the game. Dark Souls is this game's 'not' sequel which has had a much more high profile position in the media, a metric crap-ton of more advertising (which actually introduced me to a band I now love) and hyping itself up based on the fact it's meant to be even more heart-crushingly difficult than Demon's Souls. Quite a reputation to live up to and to find out whether or not it does you'll have to continue reading this review or y'know, buy the damn game and find out for yourself.

You jerk.

Where was I? Oh right the review.

Read on, I know I know, reading right? It's such a chore just moving your eyes and taking in information, hell I guess looking at things must be really tiring too, wouldn't we be better off without reading?

If you said yes to then please don't kill yourself, I'll be around shortly with a length of chain and a concrete block with the word irony stamped on it. Maybe you'll find out how painful reading can be when I'm slamming some concrete poetry into your eye sockets. Get it, concrete poetry?

Oh I crack me up some times, but yeah seriously, see you soon.

I really went off on one there didn't I? Been a while since I wrote a review, seems I have a lot of pent up ranting to get out of my system. Onto the actual review!

{- Story -}

Plot – They mentioned ringing the damn bells at least five times...

Dark Souls pulls a Demon's Souls where it essentially gives you the introduction to a story, but forgets to tell you all the bits in the middle. This isn't a bad thing, like with Demon's Souls, Dark Souls hides a nice chunk of lore complexity beneath its blood-stained skirts for the more adventurous... adventurers to discover. Story doesn't really take priority in this kind of game, but none the less it would have been nice if From Software had at least thrown in a few quick cutscenes to flesh things out a little more, beyond the few they actually did include, the majority of which simply involve showing off whatever unfriendly horror is about to murder-kill-death-rape you into pile of broken bones.

The story of the game is far from invisible and the lore is definitely intriguing for those who seek it out, but it doesn't take priority and for players that don't deliberately go hunting for information could be left a little confused in places. The story is conveyed more in the form of objectives that push you towards greater challenges than as a plotline, operating more as a vehicle to get you exploring and expose you to increasing levels of challenge as you continue playing. Of course the game doesn't hold your hand in that regard and some players might be confused on where to go.

Characters – My god, you're almost hollow!

Dark Souls certainly has a larger cast of non violent characters than it's predecessor and all of them have their own unique personalities as well as involvements in the game world. They're nothing special however, not really the sort of characters you could develop any attachment to, despite there being more of them than ever, the increase in volume leaves them feeling even more wooden than they did before. They just don't feel necessary at all, the majority of NPCs perform mercantile functions, selling you new spells, weapons etc. which despite being helpful, are all functions that could be fulfilled simply by some faceless object, which oddly enough is what most of them might as well be.

That's not to say the characters are unlikeable, not by any means, they seem to be well-written enough, with their voice acting not being the worst I've ever heard and they do supply a necessary feeling of life to a world entrenched in death, gloom and doom. They simply don't do anything that couldn't be done without them, as the story isn't really emphasised anyway, the additional lore information than can provide is pretty much pointless to most players. A few of the characters do stand out, such as a certain dying knight and another that really really really likes sunlight, but other than that the characters are mostly forgettable.

{- Gameplay Elements -}

Combat – I want that sword... but preferably not in my face

Combat in Dark Souls, is magnificent, it's easily one of the simplest combat systems you'll find, but that simplicity applies mainly to how easy it is to use and understand, but there is plenty of complexity to be found beneath the surface. The combat was solid enough in Demon's Souls and was then some of the best you could find in an RPG, Dark Souls has taken everything good about its forefather's combat and improved it, where the original's system was weak in places, the cracks have been sealed up, leaving Dark Souls' combat feeling polished. It really is one of the most engaging systems I've ever come across, yet still easy to use and understand. The choice of weapon types, techniques and abilities available to you in Dark Souls is absolutely colossal and it's easy to tailor a character to your specific style.

Exploration – Oh this area doesn't look too difficu- OH GOD MY FACE!

Exploring Dark Souls' world is hazardous, but certainly rewarding. You get around entirely on foot and while the world is hardly huge by some standards, it definitely has a sense of scale and grandeur that it's hard to find elsewhere. The use of Bonfires as checkpoints, shortcuts between  locations (and the convenient locations of them in most areas) ensure that exploring into hazardous new areas is never a chore. The weapons, items, enemies and events stored within them, not to mention the incredible views and visuals offered to players definitely makes exploration a rewarding and well built experience in Dark Souls.

...Even when you're getting pendulum-axed off of a thin bridge into a tar-filled pit below filled with lightning throwing statues which can flatten you with a single well-timed attack.

Traps and dangers are plentiful in Dark Souls and while exploring the world to progress never seem to be a chore, it can still be frustrating to be killed in ways that often seem cheap or unfair at first, but upon closer inspection only seemed that way and in reality are easy to avoid. (Except for the Tomb of Giants area, that's just unfair from start to finish) Trial and error is the key to success in Dark Souls and you will make a lot of errors, many of them fatal, involving death, lot's of death, fatal death?

Long story short, pretty much everywhere is pretty but will and I mean will kick your arse from here to hell and back before you can truly appreciate the amazing volume of design work that goes into them.

Online –  Seriously, why the face? It took me ages to get right

Online in Dark Souls runs virtually seamlessly with the singelplayer portion of the game. With players being able to hinder or help one another throughout the game world and while multiplayer was more of an added bonus in Demon's Souls, it's been fleshed out a lot more and given features that rely upon it. The newly added Covenants feature of the game is definitely geared towards giving the multiplayer more substance than it had last time around and are certainly a welcome addition to the game, despite the fact virtually nothing is explained about them at any point. You know, just the unimportant details, like how the hell they actually work. Intuitive gamers can easily figure things out but the lack of information is a little concerning and the fact certain items can only be unlocked in an easy way via these covenants (and their reliance on the game's online systems) is a little disconcerting considering Dark Souls is primarily a singelplayer title.

This doesn't tarnish the quality of online play, what does is the tiresome way the majority of people you'll fight as an invader or when being invaded will use the same tactics. Which can make the intuitive online system feel boring when it should, like it was in Demon's Souls, be revolutionary and entertaining. But of course, the fault for this doesn't lie with the developers but with the players.

The lack of a formal invites system that can help friends play with one another is an issue with the system that has carried over from Demon's Souls. While it's still possible to play with your friends with a bit of communication and planning, the lack of any form of invites system really does hold back this game's online components. The lack of the feature is apparently done for artistic reasons, to help give a sense of loneliness to the world, this worked fine in Demon's Souls as NPCs were few and far between in the game's hostile world. The overall tone of Dark Souls however isn't quite as bleak as its predecessor's and the increased number of NPCs throughout the world take away from the sense of isolation that the developers perhaps had in mind. The same old excuse for it being difficult to play with your friends just doesn't cut it with Dark Souls and the lack of an invites system feels like a step backwards amongst all the game's other improvements.  

While mostly solid, the online system can suffer a few hiccups from time to time, with disconnections and connection failures rearing their ugly heads as they always do. They may not occur constantly, but they happen often enough to be noticeable and that's a problem.

{- Graphics -}

Character/Creature Models – Oh Christ, that thing is its mouth!

Creatures, especially bosses are superbly designed. Flicking through the artbook that came with my version of the game shows me that pretty much every creature and monster is picture perfect in regards to its concept art. Creatures and the like look fine, however, people are a little bit...off. Every human character's skin seems to have a smooth, waxy quality and this is an issue that has carried over from Demon's Souls, much like the lack of any animation when an NPC speaks.

Environment – Pretty sunsets...

Demon's Souls was pretty in a haunting way and sometimes in a typically beautiful way. Dark Souls is bloody gorgeous from start to finish. The sheer variety in visual styles in Dark Souls is incredible, towering spires, rolling hills, sheer cliff edges, golden cities, gothic castles and more await in Dark Souls, when first playing Dark Souls; every time you enter a new area, you know it's new, because it's always something you haven't seen before. And it is always breathtaking, environments and scenery are definitely something From Software know how to create.

{- Audio -}

Voice Acting - Thou dost must thee thy what?

The voice acting in Dark Souls is far from terrible, but in most cases it can't really be called good either.  It's hardly anything to celebrate in most places but in the areas where it is good, it's absolutely excellent. Two of my favourite voices definitely have to be from a fallen knight you encounter in the tutorial, whose laboured speech perfectly sets the tone of the game. The other is of course a fan favourite, everyone's much loved Solaire of Astora, with whom the player can engage in jolly cooperation. Easily a bright light amongst all that darkness the performance of this particular character really stands out within the game's bleak as well as beautiful worlds.

There are more examples of decent voice acting within the game, but for the sake of avoiding spoilers I won't go into detail. There isn't really any bad voice acting per say, sometimes it can be a little ham-fisted in the delivery and unnecessary usage of 'thous' and 'thees' don't really help in that regard.

Music - The ominous music means this is about to hurt

Dark Souls' soundtrack is excellent, the game prefers to avoid ambient music and localise its tracks to boss-fights which works very well towards giving each boss a unique feel and there doesn't seem to be a single theme that feels out of place. Like with Demon's Souls' soundtrack many pieces have an ominous and haunting feel, others set the tone of battle and some are just beautiful.

{-Ratings-}

Video
Rendering Quality – 8 (While the environments are incredible, human character models still look a little unnatural at times, the lack of animation doesn't help much either.)
Design Quality – 10 (The design of the game is absolutely excellent, with no real flaws to be seen, bosses look imposing, locations look impressive and equipment can look damn stylish.)

Story
Plot – 7 (Story takes a side-line for the sake of gameplay but is still available for those who look for it, it's hardly a literary masterpiece, but interesting enough.)
Characters – 7 (While there are a few memorable characters in Dark Souls, most are memorable due to their voice-acting rather than their involvement with the player. Most are nothing special.)

Audio
Soundtrack – 10 (Simply superb, haunting, beautiful and epic in all the right places.)
Voice-Acting – 7 (Some good performances which really do stand out, but the majority aren't really memorable.)

Gameplay
Combat – 10 (As solid, if not more solid than it was in Demon's Souls. A huge variety of different weapons and techniques, combined with an easy to use system makes the combat in Dark Souls pretty much flawless)
Exploration – 10 (Exploring in Dark Souls is never a chore and while the game doesn't hold your hand or give you a large amount of direction on where to go, simply looking for areas you haven't explored before usually sets you back on the right track. The ways that different areas connect to one another and how smoothly, act as an impressive display of design work.)

Online
Multiplayer – 8
*Replayability – 10 (The game is huge and it is genuinely impossible to do everything on a single playthrough, with the game having two endings, hidden/secret bosses and areas as well as an increased challenge on subsequent playthroughs, Dark Souls definitely offers a wealth of content for gamers to enjoy.)

Final Score
Percentage - 87%
Overall Score - 9


Other Scores
Originality – 8 (The world is diverse and unique, but I can't help but see aspects of Demon's Souls around every corner, detracting from the originality offered by Dark Souls)
Customisability – 9 (A large variety of weapons armour and a great, if sometimes unwieldy character creation system.)
Unlockable Content – 7 (There's a lot of content to unlock but some of it can only be acquired through online play, unfair in a mostly singleplayer game with a sometimes unstable online system.)
*Downloadable Content – N/A (No DLC released or planned for Dark Souls and it's honestly not the kind of game that needs it.)

Summary: Dark Souls is certainly an improvement from it's predecessor and players who loved Demon's Souls should love Dark Souls just as much if not more than its not-a-prequel, even if at times it can feel more like a large expansion than a sequel. For those who haven't played Demon's Souls, I'd still recommend Dark Souls as it really is one of the best RPGs and games this year. If you're looking for a challenge, this is the game for you.

*As no rating could be provided for the DLC element of my usual Online rating, a rating from the other scores section has been substituted in its place to maintain the fairness of the game's overall score.