My dear daughter,
The Dark Souls series… you could call it an action RPG, it has gothic themes, it’s somewhat inspired by the “Berserker!” manga and it’s considerably more difficult than the average game nowadays… it has a steeper learning curve, it’s more challenging.
There were plenty of older games much more difficult than Dark Souls, like Super Mario Bros., Contra or River Raid, but in its generation it is uncommon. Games usually won’t punish a player for dying and you can save anytime. Like Skyrim. You just go on playing from beginning to end without a strong sense of accomplishment, it’s more like reading a book. You just stick to it and you will reach the end anyway.
One of the premises in Dark Souls is that you are going to die many times, there is a punishment for it but it’s also a learning experience. It’s fun because other players can leave inter-dimensional messages warning people of specific dangers, or stating a good strategy to defeat a certain boss. The messages are written inside a player’s game and they become available for other players inside their games. An entire culture was established around leaving amusing messages.
If you’re playing multiplayer, not only you could get access to these messages, but it becomes possible for other players to invade your world, either to help or to hinder your progress, and you can also invade the game of other players. It’s possible to get multiple invasions but usually there aren’t more than 4 or 5 people in the same game. There are covenants to facilitate co-operation or animosity between players.
The game plot is kind of obscure and undefined in the beginning. It draws from Mythology, specifically creation myths. The plot may remain veiled for the entire game, it’s up to the player to put the pieces of the quiz together, in the form of messages, item descriptions and cryptic dialogues from NPCs. Sometimes parts of the scenario tell the story. And since it’s a very indirect and unclear language, it’s open to interpretation, which made the game quite popular across discussion forums on the internet. There are many secrets and easter eggs as well, even a meta-plot if you take account of the creator’s inspirations.
The game was created by this guy Hideata Miyazaki, from From Software (lol), a Japanese games company. He and his team are real geniuses. Other themes used in the game series are medieval fantasy, Lovecraftian horror, zombies, prophecy, impending doom, free-will, human nature, friendship, betrayal, loss of innocence, Campbell’s hero journey, quest for knowledge, cycles, enlightenment, coming of age and humankind taking responsibility for its own actions and its own destiny.
I spent hundreds of hours in all 3 games in the series. They are not necessarily a chronological sequence, but it’s possible to trace a common timeline for all 3. The last one certainly deals with the end of times and of all things.
Once you finish the game, it restarts with increased difficulty and better rewards, and it continues to do so every time you finish it. Your character retains the levels and attribute points achieved, so she also becomes increasingly more powerful. Which makes it even more addicting – after a while you realize you are on your 4th new game with a 200 soul-level, and there is no end to it.
The game difficulty pushes some impatient players away. Usually people die 5 to 10 times in a boss before learning how to beat it, but once you do, it becomes very addictive.
I have also played lots of Bloodborne. It’s a Souls-like game, released by From as well, with Victorian and Lovecraftian inspiration. It is also incredibly complex with a multitude of nuances and an uncanny atmosphere and plot. It’s very similar to Dark Souls in most respects. Dare I say I got the PS4 just to play this game (it’s an exclusive). There were many nights I would wait for your mother to finish watching the soap opera and beg to turn on the PS4 to try to defeat Ludwig, the Orphan of Kos or The Shadow of Yharnam one more time.
Love,
Dad
Aspergers Dad 