Dark Souls Preview
In 2009, From Software's Demon's Souls was the hardcore game for hardcore gamers. Its tagline said it was “a game that enjoys the taste of your tears” and it wasn't kidding. The title's ridiculously difficult gameplay and self-admitted goal to subject the player to as many deaths as possible separated the men from the boys, the wheat from the chaff, the curds from the cream...you get the idea. This week at Namco Bandai's Ignite media event in San Francisco, an unholy partnership was announced between Namco and From Software, a partnership that come late 2011, will result in the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls, the similarly sadistic action-RPG, Dark Souls.
While Namco disallowed any hands-on time with the game, the publisher’s representatives did demonstrate a significant amount of gameplay. Starting the presentation by gleefully announcing they hoped the game would bring “hundreds, thousands, millions of deaths to players around the world”, they started by showing a (souped up) player character within the grounds of a semi-ruined castle said to be found early on in the game. Decked out in medieval knight armor and carrying a sword and shield bigger than he was, the demo-er jogged around fighting off armored undead skeletons while explaining the three pillars of the game: tactical swordplay, a highly explorable world and a difficulty level that's off the charts. He bashed some undead, stopped to pick up a floating flame he said represented a “treasure” (it turned out to be a great sword) and then pointed out a nearby stone bridge with treasure on it guarded by a ginormous sleeping dragon. We thought we were about to be treated to an epic fight but the objective turned out to be to get past the dragon without waking it—easier said than done when you're being bashed continually and shot at by undead soldiers.
After fighting his way up the stone steps and around the dragon, the Namco rep entered a sewer and was immediately beset by a rat big enough to do the New York city subway proud. Making a hasty exit, he fought his way through another outdoor area, demonstrating how you can ignore the main paths through the levels and forge new ones by destroying things like piles of barrels. Crossing a narrow stone bridge high above a dizzying chasm, he warned us that you could fall and not die in such an instance, but would then be set on a different course, unable to return to the previous one. This new course could prove even more perilous and might even prevent you from seeing all the areas of the game, but such is Dark Souls. It laughs at your pain. As the demo-er continued across the bridge, he was bombarded by flaming arrows that exploded on contact. He dashed across and approached a stone tower only to be confronted with a terrifying mid-boss, a huge, hairy, goat-on-two-legs kind of creature with a skull head and ram's horns, armed with a huge-ongous (yes, I made that up but it fits) mallet.
Of course, this nasty beast came charging right at him, smashing everything in sight; meanwhile, our hero was being continually pummeled by undead skeletons shooting explosive arrows. The only course of action? To take care of the pesky skeletons and then take care of the big hairy guy. Here producer Takeshi Kajii said his goal is to “kill every player who thinks there's a safe zone in the game”. That's right kids. No safe zones. Zero.
The audience watched breathless as the demo-er dashed around madly, finally whipping out a new and bigger sword, climbing the stone tower and finishing the monster off by jumping down on it from above. At this point From told us that their main purpose in Dark Souls (aside from making gamers cry “mama”) is to enable players to customize their characters and devise their own personal strategies. You do this not only by using the environment to your advantage but by choosing various weapons and using them in your own way. You might want to hold a weapon in your right hand for instance, or maybe your left, or you might want to dual-wield or carry a sword and shield—it's totally up to you.
After finishing off the ram's head monster, they jumped to another part of the game, a dark forest area where a knight stood wearing weird, puffy armor that made him look like the Michelin man and a bizarrely bulbous helmet. We were told this would not be a player character, and would instead be an NPC (supposedly a beautiful woman with crappy taste in armor). We jumped then to yet another area of the game, an Asian art-inspired “underground Hell” kind of area where the ground was predominantly lava. The player's armor and weapons here were also Asian in design, with an ornate round shield and curved sword. Unfortunately, they also cut this portion short, claiming it was “too dangerous” for us to see. Booooo! Finally, they jumped to a fourth area of the game, inside an ancient castle in an area dubbed “Trap Road” by the dev team. I’m sure you can imagine what that means.
Here the demo-er once again assumed his original medieval knight-looking armor and went into the castle. He immediately had to defend himself against several two-legged, sword-wielding humanoids with long necks and snake heads while a series of scythe-like pendulums swung in the background. He used magic that allowed him to turn his whole body into iron, thus allowing him to take less damage. He fended off the snake creatures and when they were dead, he had to run a gauntlet of the sharpened pendulums while crossing a narrow bridge. He was knocked off by one of them almost immediately and once again, we were told that you don't necessarily die in an instance like that, but your options definitely become different. In easily the funniest moment of the demo, he also showed us how you can not only change your body into iron, but can change yourself into random objects. Turning himself into a large vase, he glided smoothly around the area, finally hiding himself in a corner among a series of similar looking vases. We were told this is meant to be strategic...somehow. At the very least, it's good for a laugh.
From what was shown at the Ignite event, Dark Souls is shaping up to be the new hardcore game for hardcore gamers. With an emphasis on customization and exploration as well as a difficulty level that's designed to weed out all but the most determined players, beating it will no doubt become some kind of gamers' badge of honor. If you think you're up to the challenge, look for it late this year on PS3 and Xbox 360.
