I recently got back into playing Dark Souls after having not played it for several months. I just completed my second play-through and earned the final few achievements I was missing. The game is pretty special so I thought I'd talk about it for a bit.
I do not have a good reason for quitting Dark Souls months ago. I think I became distracted by other games and this one just sort of slipped off my radar for awhile. I was very deep into the game with just a handful of areas/bosses left before the end. It didn't take me too long to get back into the swing of things and finish up my first play-through.
I am done with Dark Souls for now. I've played through it two complete
times with one character. My second time was New Game+ which increased
the health and damage from monsters. I also have a partial game with
another character. Now I'll put it on my shelf and wait for the Artorias of the Abyss DLC to come out later this year. I intend to play through that on New Game++ (Harder still than New Game+).
For those not familiar with the game, Dark Souls is a very dark RPG best known for it's difficulty. It's the spiritual successor to the Playstation 3 exclusive Demon's Soul (I've never played it). The game is unforgiving but not unfair (mostly). You will die a lot but most of the time it's your fault for being impatient or doing something stupid.
What sets Dark Souls apart, though, is the design of the world. The world is desolate. The story is barely there because there are barely any NPC's to drive a plot along. There is an overarching plot but almost all the details must be sought out by talking to the few inhabitants of the land you find. The rest of the details are filled in by reading the descriptions on various items you pick up along the way. The few NPCs who do inhabit the world are as a rule very strange. It's very clear there's something off about all of them. You feel like everyone in the world suffers from madness and it's no wonder once you understand how the world works in the game.
The feeling of desolation and strange NPCs is sort of a From Software trademark. They are responsible for the Playstation 1 and 2 era King's Field games. They also made Eternal Ring for Playstation 2 which is very similar to King's Field. Those games featured similar richly designed worlds with a sparse population of very odd individuals. Dark Souls builds on that idea and adds in incredible difficulty as well. You will also see various item and enemy names that are familiar to fans of King's Field games. Do the Moonlight Sword or Seath sound familiar?
One of the interesting components of Dark Souls is the message system. You can read (or leave your own) messages on the ground from other players. The messages are chosen from a long list provided by the game. Primarily they are used to alert other players to a hidden item or tough enemy. Some players like to leave messages that are less than true. For example, a common message is to encourage people to jump off something with the promise of an item. The natural result is death. Some of the more common messages express exasperation or jubilation over specific tasks - usually boss encounters.
In addition to the messages you also see other player's ghosts from time to time. You cannot interact with the ghosts and you only see them for a few seconds but they show what another player is doing at that point in time. These can be quite disturbing. They reinforces the isolation you feel while playing the game yet they provide a sense of camaraderie as well. You know somebody else out there is going through what you are going through at that point in time. You also know they cannot help you. Usually.
There are online mechanics to the game as well, though it's a bit strange. You can summon other players into your world to help you defeat bosses. There are also various ways to engage in player versus player combat. These systems can be fun but are far too complex to go into here. Suffice to say they do not work like in most games. This is a single-player game at it's core, not co-op or competitive.
For me, though, there's one single thing that happens in the game that stands out. It's the impetus for composing this article. It's one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had in a game. It's such a simple thing, too. It's the sound of a bell ringing.
As part of the main quest of the game you must ring two bells. These symbolize progress towards your inevitable goal. One subtle touch to the bells, though, is that other players can hear them if they are in the area. That means every time you hear a bell ringing in your game you know that somebody out there just range the bell. When that happens my mind immediately remembered the toil I went through to get to that bell. All the deaths I went through. The boss fight preceding the bell. It's a very strange moment as I recall the triumph I felt at finally getting to that point and I know that somebody else is likely feeling the very same thing. It also serves as a reminder that you are truly alone in this world. While you may hear the bell ringing that other player will not becoming to help you.