I love video games. I love exploring new worlds and the experiences they offer. Most importantly, I love the challenge of a video game. The game that best fits my criteria, and is my all-time favorite, is Dark Souls.  The game has quite the reputation for being incredibly challenging yet rewarding. Now that I’ve completed my first playthrough of the game, I can say with certainty that Dark Souls lives up to its reputation and why.

About Dark Souls

Dark Souls, the first in a trilogy of the same name, is a game created by FromSoftware which was released in 2011 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The game opens with a scene of an old woman summing the history of the world to you, the player. She tells a tale of a world cloaked in a gray fog, ruled by dragons, and textured with mighty trees. Deep in the depths of the Earth, fire arose, creating warm and cold, light and dark, life and death. Wielding the flame, three souls of lords came to overthrow the dragons; Gwen, the Lord of Sunlight, Nito, the First of the Dead, and The Witch of Izalith. Together, along with the dragon Seath the Scaleless who betrayed his own, they conquered the dragons and began the Age of Fire. The fire, however, is dwindling and it is up to a brave soul to rekindle it. You are that brave soul. Upon finishing this tale, you are seen to be in a cell of an asylum, seemingly left to rot for eternity until a knight delivers you a key from a hole in the ceiling. You use the key to release yourself so you can begin your quest to rekindle the flame and usher in the new Age of Fire. With a backstory, a purpose, and a means, you are now ready to explore the world, experience it, and push through the many challenges the game presents.

Challenges Completed and Lessons Learned

The main challenge of Dark Souls is being patient and persistent. The challenge stems from how you play the game. You must learn when and how to dodge enemy attacks, the moves/attacks an enemy can perform, and when and how to attack an enemy. Learning in Dark Souls, like anything else, takes lots of trial and error. You must be patient with yourself and your enemies so you can remain persistent. You will lose all of your health over and over but you must remain patient and persistent in order to learn. Once you learn, you can advance. The feeling of advancing and finally learning everything about an enemy or area, especially a boss or area you just can’t seem to get past, to the point where you dodge and attack perfectly is nearly indescribable. You finally pushed through the seemingly impossible. This is by far the most rewarding aspect of the game. You have tangible feedback and evidence of the work you put into learning, patience, and persistence. You feel accomplished, in control, and able to do anything you set your mind to. Anyone who’s played Dark Souls understands this feeling and what it means.

Dark Souls teaches its players how to overcome the challenges set before them, no matter how impossible they may seem. Whether it’s defeating great lords and knights or simply making it through the week. Beating Dark Souls and overcoming its challenges makes you feel stronger, more confident. I can certainly say after coming out of my first playthrough, that I feel more confident and prepared to overcome the challenges presented to me in my life. I strongly recommend everyone to play this wonderful game so they too can experience what I have.