Going Beyond Death At Eurogamer Expo

Oct. 4, 2013

Going Beyond Death At Eurogamer Expo

It’s fair to say the Souls series (Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and the forthcoming Dark Souls II) does things a little differently from its fantasy RPG peers.

Granted, at their core, Souls games aren’t especially groundbreaking. They pit swords and sorcery against hideously evil creatures in locales befitting of a fantastical world; enchanted forests, tombs populated by undead, dingy dungeons and crumbling castles.

All sounds very familiar, right?

But approach Souls as you would another game from the genre and you can expect to die very quickly, over and over again. That said; that’s exactly what developers From Software want to happen. They want to punish reckless players, while making it clear that cautious exploration and acute awareness of your environment are the key tools for survival. By encouraging a methodical play style, vanquishing an enemy feels like an achievement, especially when it comes to the varied and numerous boss battles. The feeling of satisfaction when defeating one of these monstrosities is one many games try to replicate but most fall short.

This article will briefly put my experience of the Souls series into context before recounting a tale that perfectly captures the torment, tension and ecstasy engendered by From Soft’s masterpieces.

I fell in love with Demon’s Souls within about five minutes of inserting the disc into my PS3. It was unlike anything I’d ever played before; combining dramatic, oppressive environments with a tight and satisfying combat system, held together by intriguing and engaging lore. Rather than scare me off, its steep difficulty curve drew me in and I went on to platinum the game (my first ever platinum) which anyone who is familiar with farming Pure Bladestone will know is not an easy task!

This was reflected by Dark Souls’ presence at the Expo. There were no queues to play the hands-on demo and most people’s attention was focused on the juggernaut that is The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim or one of the ever-popular first-person shooter titles. I spent a good couple of hours exploring every nook and cranny and testing myself against both the Taurus Demon and Belfry Gargoyles. At no stage did anybody tell me my time was up or that I needed to hand over the controller.

I failed to beat either of the bosses but within a couple of weeks the game had been released and it wasn’t long before I could handle both with ease. Dark Souls went on to receive critical acclaim and its fan base grew rapidly, with Xbox gamers joining the action for the first time. An online petition subsequently forced a PC release, which included a sizeable expansion that later came to the console versions of the game. I invested hundreds and hundreds of hours into Dark Souls, experimenting with various builds, completing a level one playthrough, PvPing as both a white and red phantom and generally loving life in Lordran.

Unsurprisingly, the DSII stand was the first I headed to upon arrival at Earl’s Court. A lengthy queue snaked around the playing area as veterans and newcomers alike perished at the hands of skeleton archers, swordsmen, backstab-resistant turtle knights and their infamous red phantom incarnations. As someone who has supported the series from day one of its European release, it filled me with pride to see how far it had come in just two short years. But another part of me was cursing the fact that my time with the game would be limited to 20 minutes and prefaced by a wait of an hour-and-a-half.

That wait wasn’t wasted though. On the contrary, it was the perfect opportunity to study the demo, work out strategies and the best route to the area’s boss, the revered Mirror Knight. Namco Bandai are renowned for rewarding fans of the series for their endeavours and they were true to form at the Expo showcase – limited edition DSII t-shirts were up for grabs to anyone able to topple the aforementioned Knight. While I queued, one brave warrior managed the feat, drawing cheers and applause from impressed spectators. He clenched his newly acquired tee with pride as members of Namco Bandai’s PR team congratulated him. As I approached the front of the queue I actually started becoming nervous – I was desperate to put my hours of Souls experience to good use and join the pantheon of victors. That t-shirt would be mine!

Sitting down in front of the screen, I felt my hands become clammy and my heart rate increase dramatically. Selecting the Sorcerer (I’ve always favoured a ranged/melee hybrid) I embarked on my mission: take down that lightning and sword-wielding bastard of a knight. The control scheme from the original Dark Souls remained in place so it wasn’t long before I felt right at home deflecting enemy attacks, slipping in behind them and slamming my short sword between their shoulder blades.

One death – courtesy of three red phantoms – slowed down my progress in the first five minutes but soon enough I was at a bonfire with the ominous mist of a boss gate looming at the end of a lengthy corridor. Sprinting straight through and rolling past a nasty-looking projectile from a deformed magic caster (think Mind Flayer crossed with Oolacile Sorceress) I made it through the mist unscathed.

And there he was in all his glory, the glimmering Mirror Knight. He immediately greeted me with a jumping downward slash attack, which I narrowly avoided before managing to fire off a Soul Arrow. I continued to strafe the boss, attacking when possible, until he slammed his shield on the ground to summon a smaller knight to make my life more difficult. From Soft have confirmed that in the final version of the game it will be possible for this summon to be controlled by a human player, similar to the boss fight against the Old Monk in Demon’s Souls. I heard people saying that by doing enough damage to the Knight/shield during this phase you are able to prevent his summon emerging, although I was unable to pull this off. Instead, I ignored the summoned knight and tried to focus my spell fire on the Mirror Knight. This proved an unsuccessful tactic as I was cramped for room by his companion and I soon found myself staring at that all-too familiar message… “You Died”.

With time of the essence, I ran straight back into the fray and fared a lot better second time around. I avoided the summon more effectively on this occasion and gradually chipped away at the Mirror Knight’s health bar until only a quarter remained. But I let my guard down just when I thought victory was in sight, got caught flush by a nasty lunging attack and that was that, I was back at the bonfire. That death provided me with a stark reminder that getting overconfident in Souls games generally ends only one way…

Subsequent attempts left me frustrated as I struggled to refind my rhythm and experimented with some of the newly-added items. These included a couple of herbs, one of which one seemed to increase lightning defence against the Mirror Knight’s elemental attacks, and the extremely useful lifegems, which facilitate health regeneration.

As the next player took his position behind me my heart sank – I’d missed my chance and would have to wait until March to go toe-to-toe with the Mirror Knight once more. So desperate was I for the t-shirt I asked the Namco Bandai staff if they would be willing to gift me one as a birthday present. I should have anticipated the response I got – “you have to earn it… either that or pre-order the game!” Not wanting to spend another 90 minutes queuing, pre-ordering looked to be the only way to acquire the tee and I deliberated long and hard throughout the afternoon. But as I thought about it, I realised it wasn’t the tee I wanted, it was the satisfaction of beating the damned Knight.

With just three quarters of an hour of the show to go, I wandered back to the DSII stand with the fellow Souls nut I was there with. By luck, or perhaps divine blessing, we managed to get the last two places in the queue – we would get the final 20 minutes of the day to try our luck again! But doubts began creeping into my mind… should I stick with the Sorcerer or change things up and go with the Warrior, who had proved popular with those that had beaten the demo and whose Greatsword was dealing huge damage when two-handed.

I stuck by my guns and proceeded to speed run my Sorcerer through the level to the boss gate within about a minute. But then I went into meltdown. I kept getting hit on the way through the mist and, if I did make it through, I was quickly dealt with by the Knight. I’d pretty much given up by the time I turned to my buddy and said “It’s just not going to happen today.” I felt deflated, defeated, frustrated and, if I’m honest, on the verge of a bout of controller rage. Fortunately the PS3 pad was attached to the plasma screen! But there is no such thing as game over when it comes to the Souls series. With just four minutes until the show’s closing time I embarked on my final attempt, knowing that, unless I’m one of the lucky few to be selected for the Beta, this would be my last chance to play the game for six months.

What followed was one of, if not the most, exhilarating, nerve-wracking and momentous battles of my gaming life. From the outset, I was doing some decent damage, utilising all the spells in my armoury, including a potent fireball, a pyromancy spell which seemed to have homing properties, two Soul Arrow variants and an area of effect sorcery. I allowed the summoned knight to inhabit the area without reprimand but as soon as I saw a second was on its way, I switched to my short sword and quickly dispatched the first. This tactic served me pretty well but I was burning through my Estus and by the time the Knight was down to half health just one precious flask remained. I maintained as much distance from him as possible and dodged his ranged attacks relatively effectively; taking every chance I could to fire off a projectile of my own. And then the lights came up – it was 7pm and the show was due to close – but, by the grace of Gwyn, I was permitted to continue playing, using my leftover life gems as my Estus had now run dry. Once they too had been exhausted I found myself with a sliver of health left, kiting the Knight while just one spell away from putting him down. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I rolled away from one of his sword swipes, sensed an opening and decided it was now or never, death or glory. I began casting a Soul Arrow. His summon closed in on me but my spell cast just in time, crashing into his chest and sending him into the ether. “Victory Achieved” appeared on the screen as I leapt from my stool and punched the air in triumph.

The feeling of release and elation I felt at being one of 23 players to beat the Knight that day summed up what the Souls experience is all about. I’d risked everything with my final spell, it paid off and I experienced a high so rarely found in video games. Of all the games I’ve played over the years, only Souls can give me that rush. Being on the brink of despair and pulling the most unlikely of victories out of the bag. I felt physically drained but buzzing at the same time – desperate for it to be March so I could really get my teeth into what promises to be another exceptional From Software title. As further details of the game emerge over the next six months we’ll get a better idea of what we can expect from DSII but from my brief experience of it, those fearing the series would struggle to recapture the mood and magic of its predecessors need not worry.

Despite the producer of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, Hidetaka Miyazaki, taking a back seat this time around, DSII has retained everything that makes the series great. Its foreboding atmosphere remains, the array of enemies is still impressive and, most importantly, the game hasn’t been dumbed-down to appeal to a wider audience. Character models seem to be more detailed than before, there are some interesting new spells to experiment with, weapon move sets look smooth and varied and the bosses who define the series are as tough as ever. While forty minutes was never going to be enough to explore everything the demo had to offer, let alone satiate my appetite for Dark Souls II, it has certainly convinced me that the sequel is in safe hands and can go on to be as good, if not better, than its predecessors.

Tens, maybe even hundreds, more players managed to beat the Mirror Knight over the weekend at Eurogamer. He’ll most likely turn out to be one of the easiest bosses in the game. But neither of those presumptions can take away the feeling that surged through me as I saw his figure dissipate into the air atop that castle turret.

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