During my time at university, I've become more and more aware of the increasing quality of video games. Of the various titles I've been exposed to, none is as imaginative or as mind-bendingly difficult as Dark Souls. This From Software and Namco Bandai developed game adds a new definition to the world difficulty, as the player encounters formidable foes and challenges on their journey through the mythical world of Lordran. Since the finer technicalities of gaming are lost on me, I'll spend this post talking about how the narrative techniques of Dark Souls are some of the most accomplished I've ever seen in any medium.
The game opens with a prologue, rather like the prologues seen in Peter Jackson's adaptions of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. However, unlike those prologues, the prologue of Dark Souls relies on much less exposition. We learn of how the world was originally dominated by Everlasting Dragons, or the lighting of the First Flame, and of how four beings with powerful souls destroyed the dragons in an epic war. After this, the player is told of how the First Flame is in danger of going out and that the Age of Dark will soon begin.
The prologue immediately establishes the minimalist approach to storytelling employed by the game-makers. It's the game's most prominent cut scene, and gives us the small but necessary backstory. It also tells us that the player is cursed the Darksign, a condition which turns humans into un-dead zombies of sorts. The player's first mission is to escape from the Undead Asylum they were imprisoned in, and from there the player begins an adventure across a vast and hazardous world. The only way to discover the story is to deduce it from elusive clues scattered throughout the game.
What I find particularly inspired about this is the lack of explanation. Extraordinary things are encountered by the player throughout the game, but are even more awe-inspiring due to belonging in the unknown. Some would argue that the fear of the unknown is one of the oldest, most primal fears known to man, and they wouldn't be wrong. Several great adventure stories have played on this, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel The Lost World and the great adventure classic King Kong. Combine this with the human urge to explore and such stories are as thrilling as they are unnerving.
The creatures in Dark Souls are one of the game's main strengths. The imagination of some of the bosses is terrific, especially with regards to Queelag, Ornstein and Smough, and Gravelord Nito. Each creature is designed with such precision and flair that the boss fights are immensely entertaining. Ornstein and Smough are probably the most difficult opponents gamers are ever going to encounter, while the final boss fight against Lord Gwyn is one that I would seriously consider wearing heavy armour for. Bosses aside, there are many creatures which would give you nightmares if they were real. I'm paying particular attention to the frog-like Basilisks, whose surreal appearance is terrifying when meeting them in dark places. Other creatures of note include the cackling Mimics, Harpies and giant cats which attack using forward rolls.
All of these things combined make Dark Souls one of the most immersive games I've ever seen. Although I've been watching others play it, I have played some of it myself and it's just as difficult as it looks. It's a game that forces you to use ingenuity and to learn from your mistakes. In my case, I made several mistakes of varying degrees of inanity, but in the end I learned enough from those mistakes to make it to the boss fight at the end of the section. I lost that fight, but I was more than pleased when a colleague of mine managed to defeat the final boss.
Rarely do I mention video games on this blog. Video games are not my area of expertise, so I'll leave the critical analysis to the gamers. However, I feel that Dark Souls is a perfect example of minimalist storytelling at its best. I can report that I have seen Dark Souls 2 which came out earlier this year, and it continues the difficulty and enigma from the first game in true Dark Souls fashion. If anyone reading this post still doubts me, play it and see for yourself. Also, when selecting your weapons, choose a sturdy shield and maybe a spear. You're probably going to need it.
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