Made of Win or Straight to Bin... Dark Souls

A lot of games split opinion on launch; even more split opinion during the pre-release hype when judgement is passed purely on leaked screens, hollow publisher PR waffle and the pedigree of the developer. In my new feature, Made of Win or Straight to Bin, I’ll attempt to balance the arguments for and against the biggest incoming games by presenting the five best reasons to be excited and not so excited about their release. First up is incoming dungeon crawler, Dark Souls.

2009’s Demon’s Souls is an awesome game, but upon release it divided the PS3 community down the middle with its contrast of incredible gameplay and knuckle-whitening difficulty. This October, From Software launch the “spiritual successor”, Dark Souls, as a multiplatform title and are hoping to recapture the same sense of online community and hardcore respect as they did with Demon’s Souls. But will it be any good? Let’s have a look…

DARK SOULS WILL BE MADE OF WIN BECAUSE…

It’s a semi-sequel to 2009’s awesome PS3-exclusive, Demon’s Souls

He's probably praying. Worth a shot, I suppose.

Embarrassing hacking headlines, interminable download times and slightly ugly body design haven’t slowed down Sony’s current-gen console for one main reason: PS3 exclusives. Games like Uncharted, inFAMOUS and God of War III sell like thermally-treated bread-products because, frankly, they’re awesome. Fair enough, PS3 owners get their share of obscure Japanese confuse-‘em-ups, but on the whole Sony get it right. Demon’s Souls is a shining example; a unique, hard-as-granite dungeon crawler that makes every other game in the genre look soft, wet and girly. Thankfully, From Software saw the potential in not just a follow-up, but in a multiplatform follow-up. 360 owners should rejoice at the advent of Dark Souls, but only the hardcore need apply.  

It features a refined class system

The 10 Classes of Dark Souls

There are 10 classes in Dark Souls: Warrior, Knight, Wanderer, Thief, Bandit, Hunter, Sorcerer, Pyromancer, Cleric and the Deprived. Whereas the starting class in Demon’s Souls was largely irrelevant after a few hours of play, here it will play a stronger part throughout the game. Also, certain classes will be particularly weaker against certain enemies (and stronger against others, natch), not to mention the difference in starting equipment. The Deprived, for example, begins with no armour more substantial than a loin-cloth. How your choices will affect the game in the long-term remains to be seen. 

The graphics are to die for

Just look at that picture. This game looks beautiful.

As seen in the trailers, the environments are stunning. Demon’s Souls did an impressive job using light and shadows to create an oppressive, foreboding atmosphere and this game looks to have improved on this effect. Standard enemies might be of the usual identikit RPG stock, meaning you’ll often find yourself facing four or five identical (though admittedly well-detailed) skeletons, but as in Demon’s Souls the bosses will mostly be screen-filling behemoths as terrifying and well-drawn as anything you’ve seen in a game.

The online element will be exceptional

"This is the last time I help YOU with a 'pest' problem!"

Anyone who plays Demon’s Souls without a connection to PSN is seriously hamstringing their experience. Not only is the multiplayer aspect a brilliant slant on drop-in, drop-out co-op with you summoning other players as spirits to help with particularly tough fights, it’s also genuinely innovative. Players can leave messages to help or hinder those who follow in their footsteps, and through interacting with bloodstains it’s possible to watch the final moments of the unfortunate in order to avoid their fate. Dark Souls will include a similar (if not almost identical) online element – it remains to be seen if the community it creates will be as helpful and refreshingly idiot-free as Demon’s Soul’s is.

It’ll be so hard it’ll make your eyes bleed

Maybe they just want to be friends?

Ah, the difficulty. Demon’s Souls wants you to cry. It wants you to give up. It wants you to walk away and play Pokémon instead. Your death, anywhere in the level you’re currently playing, sees you sent right back to the start in spirit form – with all the enemies alive and kicking once again. It doesn’t sound too bad, until you factor in the awesome difficulty spikes and impressive variety of foes. Combat in Dark Souls will be similar, calling for you to use your block, evade and counter attacks with pinpoint precision even on infantry-grade mobs. But the challenge is what this franchise is about – and remember, if you do run off to play some cutesy game filled with talking animals and candyfloss clouds, Dark Souls will have won. How many serious gamers can live with that thought?

DARK SOULS WILL BE STRAIGHT TO BIN  BECAUSE…

It’ll be so hard it’ll make your eyes bleed

Bosses will be huge and unforgiving

You’ll quit Dark Souls a lot. You’ll lay down the pad and go for a smoke, or a coffee, or a violent rampage many, many times as you play through it. You’ll even occasionally believe that you’ve given up for good, but if From Software nail the same level of quality as Demon’s Souls, you’ll find yourself drawn back again and again, a glutton for punishment, seeking that unmatched feeling of achievement when you finally clear an area of enemies and put the boss in the ground for good. Of course, many of you won’t experience that euphoria very often – and you’ll hate Dark Souls with a blinding, burning passion. But smile anyway – it’s only a game, right?

It won’t appeal to (or pander to) the casual crowd

The atmosphere will be delightfully oppressive

I'm afraid it’s a sad fact: the game’s biggest draw will also be the biggest reason that others will avoid it. In Dark Souls, as with Demon’s Souls, there will be no difficulty slider. It’s set to bastard-hard all the time, and you’ll know it. I've got casual-gamer friends who walked straight into Demon’s Souls unprepared and returned the game within the week. Sales numbers will be high, trade-in numbers close behind.

There’s unlikely to be any DLC

The enemies have a real "Eastern" feel

Such was the uneven reception for Demon’s Souls (high critical acclaim and massive applause from the more hardcore gamers versus a colour-chart reaction ranging from “meh” to “why the F*** would they make a game this F***ing hard in the F***ing first place!?!?” from others), no DLC followed the game’s release. If Dark Souls was releasing as a PS3 exclusive, the same would be 100% likely, but given the massive appeal of Downloadable Content on Xbox Live, Namco Bandai might just be persuaded to release a little bit, despite their bold claims that it’s “a complete game” and “doesn’t need DLC”. Actually, then again, they might not.

Its launch will close the servers for Demon’s Souls

The "Campfire of Lost Souls". Probably.

As Dark Souls lands on our shelves on October 7^th, Namco Bandai will be preparing to shut down Demon’s Souls online servers in the EU. Original plans were to terminate them in March of this year but the game's huge popularity granted a reprieve, and the same may be possible here – but it’s unlikely as this time round there’s a brand new game to sell. In all likelihood, Dark Souls will kill Demon’s Souls in the west, which is a shame considering the dedicated community that has sprung up around it.

It’s still an Eastern game disguised as a Western one

Rather you than me, pal.

Demon’s Souls often screams “JAPANESE DEVELOPER” at the top of its spiky, tentacle lungs. From the opening cinematic and unsettling musical score, to the enemy design, menus and dialogue, this is every bit an Eastern game disguised (perhaps not entirely intentionally) as a Western RPG. Dark Souls will likely be exactly the same, cushioning the blow of the slightly clunky, unintuitive menu screens, iffy dialogue translation and weird monster design with bulky armour, real-time combat and painful, overly European names. But who cares? You’ll be too busy rage-quitting to give a toss where the developers are from.

So there you go, that’s my tuppence-worth on Dark Souls. As always, though, true judgement has to be reserved until the game is released – and has us all crying over our gamepads at how useless we are. Feel free to add your own opinions and let me know what you think will be Dark Souls’ biggest strengths and weaknesses. Alternatively, check out the trailer for a sneak peak of what to expect.

Dark Souls is developed by From Software, and will be released in the EU on October 7^th for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.