Dark Souls is an action role-playing game released in 2011. It was created by FromSoftware and published by Namco Bandai Games. The game is inspired by FromSoftware's earlier game, Demon's Souls, and is the first in the Dark Souls series. The story takes place in a kingdom called Lordran. Players control a cursed undead character who escapes from a prison called the Northern Undead Asylum and begins a journey to learn about their people's fate. A version of the game for Windows, called the Prepare to Die Edition, was released in August 2012. A console version with the title Artorias of the Abyss came out in October 2012.
Dark Souls is often called one of the greatest video games ever made. Critics praised its complex combat system, carefully designed levels, and use of descriptive text to tell the story. However, many players found the game very difficult to play. The original Windows version had some technical problems and was not as well received. By April 2013, the game had sold over two million copies worldwide. Its success led to the creation of two follow-up games: Dark Souls II (2014) and Dark Souls III (2016). A remastered version of the game was released in 2018.
Gameplay
Dark Souls is a third-person action role-playing game. An important part of the game is exploration. Players are told to move carefully, learn from mistakes, or try different areas to explore. The game takes place in a large, connected world that is linked through a central hub area. The player can travel between areas and choose different paths, but some areas can only be unlocked after meeting certain requirements.
A key part of the game is the bonfire. Bonfires are placed throughout the world and act as checkpoints. When a player rests at a bonfire, their character is healed completely and regains all healing charges from their "Estus Flask." They can also level up and perform tasks like using magic or repairing equipment. However, resting at a bonfire causes all enemies in the world to respawn, except for bosses, mini-bosses, and enemies that have already been defeated.
The player's interaction with the game world includes a lot of combat. Combat includes attacks with weapons, attacks from a distance, defense strategies, and magic. For close combat, players can use many types of fantasy-style weapons, such as swords, spears, maces, and magical weapons like greatswords and large clubs. For distant attacks, players can use bows and crossbows. For defense, players can use shields, armor, dodging, backstepping, and blocking. For magic, which includes offensive and defensive abilities called sorceries, miracles, and pyromancies, players do not use mana like in other fantasy games. Instead, they gain a set number of uses for each spell after resting at a bonfire. Each type of combat has tradeoffs, costs, and can be improved through leveling up, crafting, items, rings, or new equipment.
Another feature of the game is the "humanity" system. The player can be in two forms: human or undead. If the player dies in human form, they return to undead form and must use the "humanity" item at a bonfire to switch back. While in human form, the player can summon other players or NPCs for help, but they may also be attacked by other players or NPCs who want to kill them, gain rewards, or complete goals. Humanity can be found in many ways, and players can still progress in undead form without it. When a player dies, they lose all collected items and humanity but revive at the last bonfire. They can return to where they died to recover lost items and humanity. If they die before reaching their "bloodstain," they permanently lose those items. Having humanity gives players advantages and protection, encouraging them to keep it.
Communication between players is limited. Players can only interact through gestures or by using orange soapstones to write preset messages that others can see nearby. Players can also join group battles or fight each other. Many NPCs appear during the game and help tell the story, but they are not needed to complete the game. Some NPCs can be summoned to help with boss fights when the player is in human form.
In February 2022, online multiplayer for the PC version of Dark Souls was turned off because of a security issue found in the system. In October 2022, Namco Bandai said that online multiplayer for the "Prepare to Die" version was permanently disabled due to old hardware, but they were working to restore online multiplayer for the Remastered version.
Synopsis
Dark Souls uses simple storytelling to share its story and background. Important events in the game’s world are often shown indirectly or left for players to figure out, rather than being clearly explained. Most of the story comes from conversations with characters, descriptions on items, and the way the world is designed. How players experience the story can change based on the choices they make.
The game starts with a scene that introduces the story. In the past, powerful creatures called Everlasting Dragons ruled the world during the "Age of Ancients." A powerful ancient fire, called the First Flame, appeared and created a difference between life and death, and between light and darkness. A character named Gwyn found the First Flame and, with his allies, used its power to defeat the dragons and take control of the world. Another character, the Furtive Pygmy, was forgotten, and this marked the start of the "Age of Fire." Over time, the First Flame began to weaken as humans grew stronger. Gwyn gave his life to keep the Age of Fire going. The main story takes place near the end of this second Age of Fire, when humans are cursed with an illness called the undead curse. This curse is shown by a symbol on their bodies called the Darksign. People with this curse keep coming back to life after dying until they eventually lose their minds, a process called "hollowing."
The player controls a cursed undead person who is trapped in the Northern Undead Asylum. A character named Oscar of Astora throws a key into a corpse to help the player escape and fulfill a prophecy that the undead person will leave the asylum and ring the Bells of Awakening. After escaping, the player goes to Lordran to ring the bells at the Undead Church and in Blighttown. The bells wake up Kingseeker Frampt, who tells the player to travel to Anor Londo, the home of the gods. After fighting through the nearly empty city, the player meets Gwynevere, Gwyn’s daughter, who tells them to take the place of Lord Gwyn and complete the prophecy. To do this, the player must collect the souls of Gwyn’s ancient allies and return them to the flame to reignite it. Optionally, the player may meet Darkstalker Kaathe, who suggests not reigniting the flame but letting it fade to bring in the "Age of Dark." After gathering all the Lord Souls, the player goes to the Kiln of the First Flame to fight Gwyn. After defeating Gwyn, the player can choose to reignite the flame to keep the Age of Fire alive or let it fade to start the Age of Dark.
In the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, the Chosen Undead is sent back in time to the fallen land of Oolacile to rescue Princess Dusk of Oolacile and find out what happened to her rescuer, the knight Artorias. The player learns that Artorias was defeated by a powerful enemy named Manus, the Lord of the Abyss, and was left in a broken, wild state. After reaching the Chasm of the Abyss, the player defeats Manus. However, the player finds Princess Dusk in a state of confusion and unable to speak.
Development
Dark Souls was created by FromSoftware, with Hidetaka Miyazaki, the series' creator, overseeing its direction and production. The game is inspired by FromSoftware's 2009 title, Demon's Souls, which was published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Bandai Namco Entertainment was selected to publish Dark Souls because they could release the game on multiple platforms.
The design and development process used a guided freeform approach. Miyazaki directed the designers but allowed them freedom to be creative. The design process had two main parts. First, designers were given simple keywords from early brainstorming sessions and asked to create designs freely. The team reviewed the images, provided feedback, and adjusted or included ideas as needed. Second, after the basic game world details were decided, the team made more specific design requests. These included details such as how a design would be used, where it would appear in the game, and its purpose within the game. In both cases, Miyazaki directly gave instructions to each designer without using a middleman.
Miyazaki said the game was directly inspired by earlier fantasy and dark fantasy works, especially the manga series Berserk. He described the game's main aesthetic goal as "a certain kind of refinement, elegance, and dignity." He also outlined three major themes: gods and knights centered around the location Anor Londo, demonic chaos and flames centered around Lost Izalith, and the theme of death centered around Gravelord Nito. These themes were combined with the idea of ancient dragons that existed before all life, forming the foundation of Dark Souls. Many game locations were inspired by real places, such as the Château de Chambord in France and Milan Cathedral in Italy.
The characters and world of Dark Souls include connections to Greek mythology, Japanese mythology, French existentialism, and the ideas of philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche. The game's depiction of natural cycles and certain characters reflects ideas from Japanese and Greek myths. The game's portrayal of a universe where a flame inevitably burns out and the tragic lives of individuals in a meaningless world reflects themes found in philosophical ideas about existentialism, absurdity, meaninglessness, and the end of the universe.
Marketing and release
The game was first released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Japan on September 22, 2011, and in Western regions in October 2011. After the game became popular, many people wanted a version for personal computers. In early 2012, fans started a petition asking for a PC version, and more than 93,000 people signed it. A PC version was confirmed in April 2012 by a German magazine called PC Action. During development, it was reported that the game’s creators had difficulty making the PC version because they were not experienced with PC platforms and focused on adding new content instead of improving performance. The PC version was renamed "Prepare To Die Edition" and released in August 2012. It included new content, such as bosses, enemies, equipment, and characters. This new content, titled "Artorias of the Abyss," was also released for consoles in October 2012 as downloadable content (DLC). Soon after, it was announced that the PC version would use Games for Windows – Live for online play and digital rights management (DRM), which caused some fans to be upset.
The PC version was released on August 23, 2012. Shortly after, a user-created mod called "DSFix" was made to fix a problem with the game’s resolution limit. Later, DSDfix became a fan-made patch that also allowed better graphics, increased the frame rate limit to 60, and supported custom texture mods. On December 15, 2014, Games for Windows – Live was removed from the Steam version and replaced with Steamworks. This change allowed players to transfer achievements and save data. In April 2016, the game became available on Xbox One through backward compatibility.
A remastered version of the game, titled "Dark Souls: Remastered," was released worldwide for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows in May 2018, and for the Nintendo Switch on October 19, 2018. The remaster was developed by the Polish studio QLOC, while the Switch version was developed by the Singaporean studio Virtuos. The game runs at 60 frames per second on all platforms except the Nintendo Switch and supports 4K resolution on PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One X, and Windows. Changes were made to online multiplayer, including adding dedicated servers, increasing the maximum number of online players from four to six, and introducing password matchmaking.
Reception
Critics gave Dark Souls good reviews when it first came out. One reviewer called it "a very challenging dark-fantasy role-playing game" that focuses on role-playing. They said the large maps and strong enemies create both excitement and fear. Another reviewer noted that the happiness from overcoming challenges after many failures is hard to describe.
GameSpot praised the online features and the joy of defeating bosses after many attempts. They said casual gamers might find it hard to progress, but fans of role-playing games will enjoy the difficulty. IGN praised the level design, variety, online features, dark tone, and deep gameplay. They said the difficulty was tough but not unfair. Eurogamer also praised the level design and atmosphere but mentioned that casual gamers might not like the difficulty.
Edge magazine later gave the game a perfect score of 10 out of 10, saying the game's design quality was better than complaints about its difficulty.
Game Informer’s Phil Kollar said the frustration came from how modern games often guide players with tutorials. He praised the difficulty but said the game lacked clear direction.
In a review, Connor Gormley from Black Gate said the game had many memorable moments, from serious to silly. He said the fun was in discovering the story on your own.
Namco Bandai’s financial report said the game sold 1,190,000 copies in the United States and Europe by March 2012. FromSoftware said it sold 2,370,000 copies worldwide by April 2013.
Erik Wolpaw, a game writer, said Dark Souls was his favorite game of 2011.
GameSpy called the original Windows version "poor quality" because of limited frames per second, bad keyboard controls, and fixed resolution. However, they praised the extra content. Eurogamer said the PC version had limited technical options because it was based on a console game. A producer from Dark Souls II said the team prioritized getting the game on PC quickly due to fan demand, even though some features were not perfect.
Dark Souls: Remastered received mostly good reviews. Critics liked the better graphics and performance but criticized the lack of an anti-cheat system and the high price for small changes. It sold 71,739 copies in Japan during its release week, becoming the top-selling game in the country at the time.
Many awards were given to Dark Souls. Game Revolution named it the Community Choice Game of the Year. IncGamers called it "Game of the Year." Dylan Cuthbert from Q-Games and Brad Muir from Double Fine also chose it as Game of the Year. Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameTrailers, GameZone, and others gave it awards for categories like best role-playing game, best boss fight, and best multiplayer game.
At the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Dark Souls was nominated for "Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year." The Daily Telegraph gave it awards for online features and nominated it for categories like best director, best level design, and best original score. TeamXbox and 1UP.com also honored it with awards.
In 2013, Digital Spy named Dark Souls the best game of the seventh console generation. In 2014, Edge magazine called it the best game of that generation. In 2015, it topped Edge’s list of the 100 greatest video games and GamesRadar+’s list of the 100 best games ever. It was also named the "Best RPG on PC" by Rock, Paper, Shotgun. In 2016, it placed fifth on PC Gamer’s list of the best RPGs of all time. In 2021, it was voted the Ultimate Game of All Time at the Golden Joystick Awards.
Dark Souls is often called one of the greatest video games ever made. It is seen as an important example of video games as an art form and one of the most influential games of its time.
Many games and media were inspired by Dark Souls, including Destiny, Alienation, Lords of the Fallen, The Surge, Salt and Sanctuary, Shovel Knight, Titan Souls, Enter the Gungeon, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Nioh, God of War, and features on the PlayStation 4. It also inspired the TV show Stranger Things.