Vessels and vagabonds, it’s that time of the week again, the time that I indulge some of your time, and in-return, you receive a little bit of quality entertaining. This is in the form of rambling, oh, yes, indubitably, but every once in a while, I share a tidbit of sensibility. Earlier this, I did a review over Demon’s Souls, and so, I thought it only natural that I take a look at its spiritual successor, that being Dark Souls. I know that I said in my column and I would be reviewing Prince of Persia (2008) and, uh, well … shit happens. I decided with the announcement of Bloodborne, I might as well strike while the iron is hot. Demon’s Souls was something very special to me, so I did a lot of wondering about whether or not Dark Souls would be able to measure up.
Dark Souls is an action role-playing video-game set in an open world environment. It was developed and published for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (unlike the other one.) by From Software in Japan, while Namco Bandai took the reins internationally. As I have already said it is a spiritual successor from Demon’s Souls, borrowing various notable elements. First and foremost, Dark Souls is comprised with a minimalistic story. In this story, the player takes the role of a cursed human that has chosen to leave the Undead Asylum and venture out to see the fate of the undead. Ultimately, this can be further explained through dialogue and other pieces of vague information; however, the simplicity is one of my favorite factors about these games.
I have a small, but adequate grasp on everything that is going on around be, and from that point, it’s up to the imagination, the environment, and game-play to tell the tale. There’s certain wonderment about that idea which brings to mind a lot of the more classic dungeon-dwellers like Castlevania. It also borrows much of the controls and game-play from the previous game, expanding on it with small little details. While Demon’s Souls was praised for its difficulty, Dark Souls absolutely excelled and expanded on that. Both are often referred to as some of the hardest video-games of all-time.
The way that I said it in my last review basically covers what I want to say about Dark Souls. There is a challenge about it, but it’s not unnecessarily difficulty. You have to apply trial and error, see what works, and oftentimes spend hours and hours trying to gather experience to alleviate some of the trouble in continuing. It’s also a lot longer than the last one. While it took me around thirty-hours to beat Demon’s Souls, I did well-over twice that while trying to beat this one. Length isn’t always a big-deal, for example, I spent over fifty-hours playing Enchanted Arms, but I full-heartedly admit that it’s a terrible game.
However, the difference is that I don’t feel bored when I am playing Dark Souls. It’s fun. Plain and simple, I enjoy gathering experience and I enjoy playing. I feel like I really, really want to continue and make it to the end. The world is enormously large and intricate, then, when you consider the ways to explore it, there’s no other way to describe it then to say that it’s a work of brilliance. The graphics have this desolate and dreary feeling that looks so mystical. It’s helped a lot by the various creatures that will be able to fight along your journey.
I felt like this took everything that made Demon’s Souls amazing, and expanded on it. The controls have been polished, the graphics improved, and the environment has more depth than ever. I was racking by brains about anything that I could think of as criticism about this video-game, and honestly, I really can’t think of anything. I suppose that you can call it frustrating or overtly lengthy, but only one of those would I agree with.
It is frustrating, but it induces the type of feeling that makes you want to keep going forward into it.
In conclusion, I think that it’s a tremendous experience, a tremendous game, and I absolutely recommend it to anybody that enjoys role-playing video-games. It’s well-worth the price that you find it for.
It’s one of the best video-games that I have ever played. Period.
Thanks for reading…
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