Game Review: Dark Souls Remastered

 

It’s amazing to consider how far FromSoftware’s Soulsborne library of games spans. Back in 2009 it could be said that Demon Souls was their very first foray into the high-difficulty/high-payoff formula of video games. While that may be true, the exposure behind that title was notably limited due to it being a PlayStation 3 exclusive, so the sub-genre never really took off until a few years later.  It’s only when Dark Souls released in 2011 that Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team at FromSoftware really began to set a firm impression on the gaming landscape and ‘praise the sun’, what a game to do it with.

Developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco, Dark Souls originally released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 back in October 2011 and then a PC release the following year.  Eventually the title received a Remaster port in 2018 which brought it to modern consoles including Nintendo Switch. The game plays as a third person, action-adventure role playing experience in which you play as a player-character who must traverse a dark fantasy world and overcome many a peril in your wake.  As noted just prior, this is the game which put FromSoftware on the map when it came to their Soulsborne collection of games and the rise of the so-called Soulslike genre across modern gaming. With a whole bunch of awards collected and a defining legacy behind it, let’s delve into what makes this such a landmark title into the history of gaming.

The world of Dark Souls was once ruled over by a legion of mighty dragons, during this period life was eternal and the dragons ruled over the darkness. This was until the Age of Fire dawned in the wake of the First Flame. With the dawn of this primordial fire, the darkness gave way to the light and eternal life was now subject to the reality of death. The fire that spread was maintained by a selection of capable beings utilizing the Lord Souls that dawned from the First Flame. These beings were Nito: the First of the Dead, the Witch of Izalith and Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight. With the power of the Lord Souls and the First Flame, these lords brought down the dragon lords and established a new order throughout the first Age of Fire. You are the Chosen Undead, a human who has died and will continue to keep dying over and over for the rest of your time. You awaken in the midst of the second Age of Fire with the accursed Darksign marked upon you. After escaping from the confines of the Undead Asylum, you come to learn of a prophecy in which an undead champion will take a great pilgrimage to ring the Bells of Awakening in Lodran, the Land of Ancient Lords. By ringing the bells, you will set in motion a chain of events which will see you travel far across the ancient land to reach the First Flame yourself, facing many a mighty selection of enemies along the way.

The narrative of Dark Souls is ambiguous by nature, as is the common theme with many of FromSoftware’s Soulsborne games. The ambiguity leaves room for exploration and interpretation as you further delve into the world. The game does a really solid job in setting up the initial foot notes of the narrative with a beautifully rendered cutscene during the opening of the game and then lets the world itself be the main conduit for the storytelling for the rest of your time with the game. The world building in the game stands proudly as it utilizes a wide array of factors to give you a broad idea of the narrative you are partaking in. Whether it’s the detailed item descriptions, intriguing NPC interactions or just the beautifully harrowing world design, everything about this world feels like it has a true purpose in setting the scale and intent behind the plot you are partaking in. It’s a marvelous narrative and while it doesn’t hold much in terms of personal stake or emotional attachment, that doesn’t reflect on the quality of this narrative whatsoever. Learning about the tragedy that intertwines around the sacking of the dragons during the Age of the Ancients or the bitter extension of the Age of Fire was such an enriching experience to delve into from a narrative perspective.

Narrative is not what Dark Souls is touted for to this very day however. The true definition behind the legacy of this game is the gameplay behind it. It says something that the gameplay from this game is still consistently present across all iterations in the franchise right up to Elden Ring. The idea of Dark Souls is to challenge the player with a heavy sense of difficulty at nearly every turn. That difficulty may be a clear barrier of entry to some, but for me I grew to accept the challenge and find value in the moments you overcome it. The game is difficult in its very nature but it never for one-minute feels unfair, it’s all about being able to take stock of the moments the game places you in and finding the right means to overcome it.  There are several tiers to the gameplay that deserve recognition, the first of which is the combat.  Dark Souls has a very robust character creation system which allows you to start with a specific preset in regards to stats. As you traverse through the world you come to adjust to the simple yet varied opportunities for combat. I myself played mixed between carrying a two-handed claymore and a mace and shield. The weight of your attacks and the variation you can set yourself up with equipment, spells and miracles offers you no shortage of avenues to play. There’s just something so rewarding about how the control scheme works to allow you to fight your enemies with a selection of tactical options. The control scheme itself is so reliable that it’s arguably not changed at all throughout each new entry from the studio. FromSoftware clearly recognize that the formula worked so well here that they need never mess with it.

The other half of what makes combat so engaging though is the selection of enemies you will come across as you venture through the game. Whether it’s basic hollow enemies, black knights, gargoyles, or lightning demons, the standard range of enemies you will come to face in this game all have a substantial design and challenge behind them and their sole intent is to kill you as relentlessly as possible. That variation in enemy design is most appreciated and it compliments the varied locales really well when you have to accommodate for the game’s wealth of enemy variety. The enemy design is at it’s best in the bosses you come to face along your journey however. Visually and functionally, the bosses of Dark Souls hit harder than anything and they won’t take any pity on you when you come into their domain. Their larger-than-life presence not only compliments the world and it’s storytelling but you genuinely feel it from a gameplay end. Bosses like Gaping Dragon, Chaos Witch Quelaag and Ornstein and Smough really help this game set a firm impression with how brutally challenging their overall fights can be. Again, I appreciate how that relentless and brutal difficulty can be off putting, but the euphoric feeling you get from overcoming them can never be beat and it’s a huge driving force behind why I keep wanting to experience more of these games.

The last factor that compliments the gameplay leads onto my next adoration behind the game and that’s the world design. Lodran as a world map is so smartly crafted in a way that very few games can ever hope to achieve. Fast travel does exist in the game but it doesn’t come into fruition until much later in the game. The whole idea of the environments in this game is that everything winds back in on itself. In order to progress effectively you will find shortcuts into new and old areas. The way everything wraps back around to make navigation as fluid as possible is a mark of sheer design genius. That doesn’t even touch on the sheer complexity behind the environmental structuring either. Whether it’s the exuberant halls of Anor Londo or the deep and deadly pits of Blighttown, every location in this game aims to set a clear impression in design and scale.  Navigating these places never for one moment feels like a chore and you are rewarded and challenged in equal measure for exploring them dutifully.

For a game designed and released back in 2011, the art style and design behind this game stays strong in setting a very clear impression. Its visual creativity is on show from start to finish and you never get tired of being mesmerized by the locations and enemy design in this game (when you’re not being killed for the hundredth time of course). Motoi Sakuraba compliments the games visual design with wonderfully grand soundtrack that knows when to both take moments methodical and slow as well as fast and intense with an extended orchestra. Some of my favourite tracks in this game include Firelink Shrine, Great Grey Wolf Sif, Ornstein and Smough and Gwyn, Lord of Cinder.

So, after spending over a month experiencing and one hundred percent-ing the game, it’s important to reflect on my overall impressions of my time with Dark Souls. It’s quite incredible how time has not eroded any sense of this game’s overall quality one bit. Dark Souls delivers a refined experience that defies age and regression. It’s a fundamentally perfect experience from start to finish and it accomplishes so many feats in world design, narrative and gameplay that so many games these days could only hope to show a glimpse of. Dark Souls took a great step in defining the future success for FromSoftware to a point in which today they are considered one of the pinnacle developers out there.  Not only that, but Dark Souls is quintessentially the game that defined an entire genre and that is a feat that really says it all to how immaculate an experience the original Darks Souls really is; and why any self-respecting video game needs to try at least once in their life.