Editorial | Dark Souls: Darkness, Danger and Loneliness.

By Sam Coles:

There is something about loneliness in video games that is effective at crafting a thick atmosphere, where there is nothing but darkness and the sound of your feet echoing in the environment. The game I think of when it comes to this is Dark Souls, mostly known for its difficulty this game has a very good atmosphere that I think a lot of people miss. These days the game is used as a measure for a game when it is hard, despite them having nothing in common in terms of gameplay. I just want to go over the game’s atmosphere and what makes it so special, I’ll be mostly talking about the first game with a few snippets of Dark Souls II here and there.

Dark Souls doesn’t bother exposition well only with the opening cutscene, however it is ambiguous for a reason as it wants the player to figure it out. Then after that you wake up imprisoned in a dungeon, where you are thrown a key and told get on with it. When the gameplay starts what do you hear? Nothing, no music, no dialogue just the distant hums as the wind flows through the dungeon coupled with the distant moans of prisoners begging for their life. This introduction sets up Dark Souls’ atmosphere, where you are alone, isolated and no one is coming to help you anytime soon.

As you traverse the dungeon you hear deep rumblings, roars where you realise something is amiss and then you see the towering monster that is The Asylum Demon. At first you are out matched as all you have is a broken sword, fortunately you can flee and reassess your situation. You feel shaken and wonder if you can take it down. As you continue through the dark tunnels, you find a sword and shield where you then feel more prepared. You go back and take on the beast, take him down and feel the accomplishment, then you are unleashed onto the world with more monstrosities want to see your insides on the ground.

Each area in Dark Souls is unique, from the dark and precarious underground village that is Blight Town where every corner evokes a sense of danger to the warm and deceptively welcoming Anor Londo. Under the sunny exterior there are what were the inhabitants lying in wait to see nothing more than your death, it’s this false sense of security that catches you off guard.

Now Dark Souls II’s atmosphere although still good it’s missing something, I think it is because there are moments in that game that I found myself holding my breath less as the tension is not as high compared to the first game. I think it is because they tend to use musical ques in more areas compared to the first game, now using music to emphasise tension is fine but the point of Dark Souls is that you are alone, and the silence highlights that. I still like Dark Souls II, but the areas aren’t as imaginative as the original, it’s mostly castles filled armoured goons. Music was used in the original game, but only during boss fights which got you pumped and at the main camp which gave you a sense of ease, however that track left a bit of uncertainty too.

Dark Souls isn’t really classed as a horror game, however if you were to let someone play it with no notion of what it is they could very much perceive it as a horror experience. From the audio design, dark areas and enemy design with the exception of the mushroom people who look like Patrick Star combined with a Goomba. Digressions aside the thick layer of tension can easily get under your skin outside of the difficulty, the oppressive nature of consistent silence as you traverse these dark lands is almost overwhelming.

I think even you are not a fan of Dark Souls’ difficulty I think one can easily appreciate its atmosphere; it encapsulates the depressing and lonely atmosphere. It will leave you feeling many emotions, scared, alone and overwhelmed by what dangers lurk within the darkness. Even 8 years later I don’t think I have played a game that can replicate this atmosphere, it does without using a single word of dialogue and that is what makes video game storytelling beautiful.