Eurogamer’s Games of the Generation: Dark Souls

Eurogamer’s latest addition to their Games of the Generation list is From Software’s dark fantasy action-RPG Dark Souls. Here’s a small excerpt:

I used to tell people that I was putting off going back to Dark Souls because to know it completely would make me sad. I like living in a world where some of the best parts of Dark Souls lie ahead of me. Then again, there are mysteries in this game so deep that even those who have finished it countless times and received an elusive Achievement ostensibly rewarded for doing absolutely everything still cannot solve them.

I think the real reason I’ve put it off is simpler: I’m sentimental about games like Dark Souls. You know when you play something so good that you feel depressed when you finish it? Often that’s because there won’t be another one along for a while. In Dark Souls’ case, we may never see its like again. A bit like Portal, which also featured in this series, the internal mechanisms of Dark Souls have clockwork economy and precision; it is difficult to imagine how they can be improved or expanded upon.

With Portal, a lot of that had to do with the story being so elegant and complete. In Dark Souls’ case, however, it’s because it was designed in a way that has become unusual – full of indirect storytelling, unsolvable mysteries, tremendous challenge and the expectation of repeated play. These things are disappearing from our games, like so many souls lost on a bridge somewhere by a hollowed man who can’t make it back to collect them.