The 2000s was a decade of unprecedented change in gaming. Sega unceremoniously exited the hardware market, Nintendo became reduced to a sense of novelty, Microsoft erupted as an insatiable giant, and Sony reigned supreme as a common household icon. Online gaming was becoming the norm, previously being something only enjoyed on PCs in the 90s. Gaming itself became increasingly accessible to a wider audience. The difficulty and brutality of older arcade titles was becoming irrelevant in the home.
Instead of games demanding tokens to keep playing after dying, they now allured players through other means, especially through offering DLC. The difficulty now largely became limited to multiplayer competitive play, which is where developers spent most of their effort and resources. The single player experience quickly became an afterthought, offering players at most some value in addition to the meat and potatoes which is PVP.
Stealth games also became increasingly popular, with their mechanics becoming integrated into other genres as well. However, this mixture of reduced overall difficulty, a sidelined single player experience and stealth mechanics resulted in many games feeling too easy, with passive play styles being rewarded and poor skill being unpunished. A low skill ceiling had now become expected in a game, along with generous guard rails to ensure a pain-free experience from start to end.
In 2009 however, we saw the release of Fromsoftware's Demon's Souls (DeS). The team described it as being an attempt to bring back the feeling of classic games through a modern lens. It offered a delicate balance between immense challenge and satisfying reward. DeS had a hub world format, through which you could access various unique locations. Weapons and armour degraded with use, but could also be repaired and upgraded (in most cases). You had to learn the attack patterns of enemies, which were often counter intuitive, and carefully use your limited stamina to attack and defend. Mastering timing was the core skill that resulted in progress. Different enemies had different weaknesses, demanding that the player experiment and make use of a variety of weapons and abilities to target unique weakpoints but also defend against potent attacks. Although looting was a mechanic in the game, the most important currency was souls. Upon killing an enemy, you gained a certain amount of souls, which could be used to upgrade your player stats, have work done on weapons and armour, or learn magic abilities.
Of course, the most memorable mechanic introduced was where, upon death, your souls would be dropped alongside your corpse, and you had to reclaim them before dying again, otherwise they would be lost. This would become a staple in the souls-like formula, and even be incorporated into games in the broader action genre like Nier Automata. DeS however was a PS3 exclusive. The next Fromsoft title, Dark Souls (DS), would also be released on Xbox 360 and PC in 2011. DS was, for the most part, a straight derivative of DeS. Its mechanics, weapons, abilities, enemy types, location types and NPC archetypes shared a lot in common, in many cases being close to identical. One might even call it a glorified re-do of DeS. However, it differed from its predecessor in several profound ways.
Firstly, it was largely an interconnected semi-open world, in contrast to DeS' hub design. The psychological impression this made was nothing short of profound, inspiring awe at the intricate and lovingly designed locations and how they connected to one another.
Second was the introduction of bonfires. In DeS, the player relied on a finite amount of healing items obtained mostly from fallen enemies or merchants. They also used arch stones to travel back and forth to the main hub area called the Nexus. In DS, these mechanics were unified and enhanced. Bonfires replaced archstones, and also healed the player. The player carried healing estus flasks which could be refilled infinitely from the bonfires. This system rejuvenated and streamlined the gameplay, and also helped to contrast the safe and warm bonfires from the dangerous and cold areas between them.
The overall balance of difficulty was also completely restructured. In DeS, the journeys between arch stones and bosses were daunting and nerve wracking, but the bosses were mostly gimmicky puzzles and didn't pose overwhelming difficulty the way regular enemies did. In DS, this formula was flipped on its head. The journeys to bosses were softened by having a more generous scattering of bonfires available, but the bosses were stripped of any gimmicky puzzles and made simply brutal and difficult to deal with.
Two big features of DeS were omitted from DS, which most players consider an improvement. The first was where a player's health was halved if they were playing in souls form. The second was the mechanic of world tendency, which was a mostly half-heartedly implemented concept where a player's actions influenced the world around them. One such action was dying in human form, which worsened the world tendency. These two features combined were frustrating in DeS because the tendency mechanic encouraged playing in soul form, which had half health. In DS there was no penalty to dying in human form: no tendency and no health loss.
The scope of DS was significantly broader. Areas felt more grandiose, victories more epic, and the overall adventure more rewarding. It does not simply replace DeS, however. DeS simply had much more charm with its homely hub which houses various NPCs, more potent ambience in its locales, and a unique tone expressed through its scattered lore, world design and characters which simply stands completely apart from DS despite aesthetic and mechanical similarities. Both are masterpieces in their own right, both being absolutely worth experiencing to completion.
And finally, it is no exaggeration to state that both DS and DeS before it totally reimagined what videogames can be. These two games are profound metaphors for overcoming hardships and enjoying the full satisfaction of one's own hard earned rewards. They punish stubbornness and demand careful observation and innovation. Once you experience what they have to offer, other games will simply pale in comparison. Enjoy!
