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You Died: The Dark Souls Companion
Award-winning journalists Keza MacDonald and Jason Killingsworth embark on a far-ranging exploration of Dark Souls – one of the most influential, enigmatic and best-loved video games in history – and the slightly mad people who play it. It has three questions at its where did Dark Souls come from, what makes it so special, and why are we all so obsessed with it? YOU DIED is a must-read for anyone who’s ever braved the wilds of Lordran, for five hours or 500. Includes exclusive new interview material with the game’s director Hidetaka Miyazaki
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
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August 13, 2022Source of book: Bought by me (for an outrageous price)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book, then write a detailed review about it that some people on GR will look at would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
So, uh. You probably know whether this book is relevant to you simply by the fact that it’s a collection of essays about Dark Souls (i.e. a video game).
True to form, I’m an absurdly late latecomer to Dark Souls obsession. Ironically, the fact that everyone and their dog was playing Elden Ring (the latest and, perhaps, most ambitious game from the studio who made Dark Souls, its spiritual prequel, and its two sequels) was what finally propelled me to go back to the beginning (well, nearly the beginning, I skipped Demon’s Souls) and try to … “get” whatever it is about these particular games that generates such devotion in fans.
And, err, I did indeed get it. I got it hard. To the extent that Dark Souls (along with Dark Souls II and III), its vistas, its puzzles, its challenges, its stories, has occupied a permanent corner of my brain. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been one of those idealistic fuckers ready to embrace the artistry of gaming as a medium. The games I love linger for me the way books and movies and other forms of art do.
But Dark Souls. Holy fuck, there is nothing like Dark Souls.
Except this is not a review of Dark Souls. It is a review of a book about Dark Souls. And because I am a person overwhelmingly obsessed with Dark Souls right now (and probably forever) reading a book about the thing I am obsessed with was, needless to say, a deeply satisfying and friendly experience. I am boring about Dark Souls in day-to-day life. I have to try very very hard not to talk about Dark Souls because most people do not want to hear about Dark Souls. They definitely do not want to hear about Dark Souls for the length of time I am capable of talking about Dark Souls. So spending 353 pages in the company of writers as eager to talk about Dark Souls as I am was highly cathartic.
The book is divided into a series of accessible, well-framed essays about the game and the community around the game. There’s pretty much everything you’d expect here—a potted history of the game’s development, a study of Hidetaka Miyazaki, drawing on several of his interviews, some personal stories (lovers who met in the game, someone the game helped through a difficult time), some more technical pieces on the way certain players have attempted to understand the game’s more obscure mechanics, the interview with VaatiVidya that is apparently required for any piece of Dark Souls media—and I sincerely enjoyed the range of perspectives presented. The way the game can encompass so many different sets of experiences and is richer because of it.
I’m not really the sort of person who cares a lot about what creators think of what they’ve created (and the same goes for work I have myself created) but, weirdly, I ended up kind of fascinated by the quotes from Miyazaki that pepper the book. It’s a well-judged amount, not allowing the author/creator to dominate reactions to their own text, but I appreciated Miyazaki’s resistance to auteur-ship and his willingness to allow his game to be … interpretatively expansive, I guess?
This is all so very Barthesian … the game itself, now I think about it, so very Barthesian … that it’s no wonder that I am so besotted.
In any case, the essay sections of the book are interspersed with beautifully written reflections on each area you encounter in the game, and I adored them fiercely because they were a way to reflect upon my own emotional reactions (still fresh from my semi-recently completed playthrough). Part of my on-going love affair with video games has always been about the places and there are no video game places quite like Lordan.
I will say, however, that that the book came out in 2016 and the version I read was a 2020 re-release: all of which means, it’s inevitably a little dated. There’s nothing, really, in this book that you couldn’t get from a curated collection of YouTube video essays or by Googling “Hidetaka Miyazaki interview English”. Plus the VaatiVidya chapter is a little strange—dwelling on the sharpness of his cheekbones and velvety voice, for example, which felt unnecessary and reminded me slightly of that cringe-making Vanity Fair profile of Margot Robbie. Except over an Australian dude who makes Dark Souls lore videos? Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Not that I really think people should be floating their boat in quite those ways: I mean, you’re supposed to be interviewing someone, not objectifying them.
I was also—and oh God this is excruciatingly nerdy of me—slightly disappointed that there was relatively little on the, uh, lore and story aspects of the game, and what there was lacked a bit of depth. Like, I feel an absolute knob end for taking issue with the interpretation of Seath of Scaleless, a character in a video game from 2011, in a book from 2016. But he is definitely in *despair* not rage as the immortal dragonscales of his brethren crumble to dust in his claw:
ANYWAY: dated or not, there is still something pleasurable about the existence of this book. I guess—rightly or wrongly—a book feels … substantive and loving in a way a collection of YouTube essays (regardless of their quality) might not. I honestly just enjoy the fact this exists. It felt like sharing something I love with other people who love it too. And you can’t really do better than that.
Minor addendum: I read this in the 2020 Tune and Fairweather edition, which is to say, the fancy hardback with the beautiful new-book smell wafting from the pages. It’s a glorious artefact, exquisitely typeset, printed and bound, with the beautiful supporting artwork and Miyazaki’s words printed in red so you can always jump to the quotes. Basically, it’s an incredible aesthetic experience—and would grace any bookshelf or coffee table—but it’s an absolute pig to read. It’s way too heavy, and I had to literally brace it against my desk or my knees in order to turn the pages.
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book, then write a detailed review about it that some people on GR will look at would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
So, uh. You probably know whether this book is relevant to you simply by the fact that it’s a collection of essays about Dark Souls (i.e. a video game).
True to form, I’m an absurdly late latecomer to Dark Souls obsession. Ironically, the fact that everyone and their dog was playing Elden Ring (the latest and, perhaps, most ambitious game from the studio who made Dark Souls, its spiritual prequel, and its two sequels) was what finally propelled me to go back to the beginning (well, nearly the beginning, I skipped Demon’s Souls) and try to … “get” whatever it is about these particular games that generates such devotion in fans.
And, err, I did indeed get it. I got it hard. To the extent that Dark Souls (along with Dark Souls II and III), its vistas, its puzzles, its challenges, its stories, has occupied a permanent corner of my brain. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been one of those idealistic fuckers ready to embrace the artistry of gaming as a medium. The games I love linger for me the way books and movies and other forms of art do.
But Dark Souls. Holy fuck, there is nothing like Dark Souls.
Except this is not a review of Dark Souls. It is a review of a book about Dark Souls. And because I am a person overwhelmingly obsessed with Dark Souls right now (and probably forever) reading a book about the thing I am obsessed with was, needless to say, a deeply satisfying and friendly experience. I am boring about Dark Souls in day-to-day life. I have to try very very hard not to talk about Dark Souls because most people do not want to hear about Dark Souls. They definitely do not want to hear about Dark Souls for the length of time I am capable of talking about Dark Souls. So spending 353 pages in the company of writers as eager to talk about Dark Souls as I am was highly cathartic.
The book is divided into a series of accessible, well-framed essays about the game and the community around the game. There’s pretty much everything you’d expect here—a potted history of the game’s development, a study of Hidetaka Miyazaki, drawing on several of his interviews, some personal stories (lovers who met in the game, someone the game helped through a difficult time), some more technical pieces on the way certain players have attempted to understand the game’s more obscure mechanics, the interview with VaatiVidya that is apparently required for any piece of Dark Souls media—and I sincerely enjoyed the range of perspectives presented. The way the game can encompass so many different sets of experiences and is richer because of it.
I’m not really the sort of person who cares a lot about what creators think of what they’ve created (and the same goes for work I have myself created) but, weirdly, I ended up kind of fascinated by the quotes from Miyazaki that pepper the book. It’s a well-judged amount, not allowing the author/creator to dominate reactions to their own text, but I appreciated Miyazaki’s resistance to auteur-ship and his willingness to allow his game to be … interpretatively expansive, I guess?
Dark Souls is in some ways an incomplete game, and I like to think that it has been completed by players, by their discoveries as they moved along. I’d love to say that the nature of this incompleteness was completely deliberate. But it is both deliberate and by accident, in different ways.”
This is all so very Barthesian … the game itself, now I think about it, so very Barthesian … that it’s no wonder that I am so besotted.
In any case, the essay sections of the book are interspersed with beautifully written reflections on each area you encounter in the game, and I adored them fiercely because they were a way to reflect upon my own emotional reactions (still fresh from my semi-recently completed playthrough). Part of my on-going love affair with video games has always been about the places and there are no video game places quite like Lordan.
I will say, however, that that the book came out in 2016 and the version I read was a 2020 re-release: all of which means, it’s inevitably a little dated. There’s nothing, really, in this book that you couldn’t get from a curated collection of YouTube video essays or by Googling “Hidetaka Miyazaki interview English”. Plus the VaatiVidya chapter is a little strange—dwelling on the sharpness of his cheekbones and velvety voice, for example, which felt unnecessary and reminded me slightly of that cringe-making Vanity Fair profile of Margot Robbie. Except over an Australian dude who makes Dark Souls lore videos? Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Not that I really think people should be floating their boat in quite those ways: I mean, you’re supposed to be interviewing someone, not objectifying them.
I was also—and oh God this is excruciatingly nerdy of me—slightly disappointed that there was relatively little on the, uh, lore and story aspects of the game, and what there was lacked a bit of depth. Like, I feel an absolute knob end for taking issue with the interpretation of Seath of Scaleless, a character in a video game from 2011, in a book from 2016. But he is definitely in *despair* not rage as the immortal dragonscales of his brethren crumble to dust in his claw:
ANYWAY: dated or not, there is still something pleasurable about the existence of this book. I guess—rightly or wrongly—a book feels … substantive and loving in a way a collection of YouTube essays (regardless of their quality) might not. I honestly just enjoy the fact this exists. It felt like sharing something I love with other people who love it too. And you can’t really do better than that.
Minor addendum: I read this in the 2020 Tune and Fairweather edition, which is to say, the fancy hardback with the beautiful new-book smell wafting from the pages. It’s a glorious artefact, exquisitely typeset, printed and bound, with the beautiful supporting artwork and Miyazaki’s words printed in red so you can always jump to the quotes. Basically, it’s an incredible aesthetic experience—and would grace any bookshelf or coffee table—but it’s an absolute pig to read. It’s way too heavy, and I had to literally brace it against my desk or my knees in order to turn the pages.
November 9, 2016
There is real beauty in Dark Souls. It reveals that life is more suffering than pleasure, more failure than success, and that even the momentary relief of achievement is wiped away by new levels of difficulty. It is also a testament to our persistence in the face of that suffering, and it offers the comfort of a community of other players all stuck in the same hellish quagmire. Those are good qualities. That is art. And you can get all of that from the first five hours of Dark Souls. (Michael Thomsen when asked if a 100-hour video game was ever worthwhile)
Shame on me, I started this beautiful series only when Dark Souls 3 came out, and while I really enjoyed the third game, I became outright obsessed with the series while playing the first game and felt like I had to read and watch everything about Dark Souls.
And that is where You Died: The Dark Souls Companion came in.
Besides the obvious revisiting places in the game and summarizing plot, character cast and lore (what we know/assume) in its appendix, it featured interview material with the game's director and where his idea for the unique multiplayer came from.
It talked about the inspiration behind the game and about how the game was translated to English, about Dark Souls' influence on the gaming industry and its huge impact on a number of individual lives.
It was about the culture that has evolved around this series and throughout the whole book it was quiet obvious that the authors really love this game.
One of the central questions of this book was, why do people get so totally obsessed with this game, and it even came with a number of answers to this question from fans. One of my favorites was
“I’d have to attribute my love of Dark Souls and its world to its lore and the way the game’s story revealed itself. Forcing you to jigsaw every tidbit of the story together ensures the player’s involvement – you have to want to engage to actually understand the story. Clever symbolism and some really engaging philosophical ideas on creation, the meaning of life, mortality, decay and the idea of cycles are a big part of why Dark Souls’ story is so special to me.” — Wil Palmer
Absolutely recommended to people obsessed with Dark Souls.
Shame on me, I started this beautiful series only when Dark Souls 3 came out, and while I really enjoyed the third game, I became outright obsessed with the series while playing the first game and felt like I had to read and watch everything about Dark Souls.
And that is where You Died: The Dark Souls Companion came in.
Besides the obvious revisiting places in the game and summarizing plot, character cast and lore (what we know/assume) in its appendix, it featured interview material with the game's director and where his idea for the unique multiplayer came from.
It talked about the inspiration behind the game and about how the game was translated to English, about Dark Souls' influence on the gaming industry and its huge impact on a number of individual lives.
It was about the culture that has evolved around this series and throughout the whole book it was quiet obvious that the authors really love this game.
One of the central questions of this book was, why do people get so totally obsessed with this game, and it even came with a number of answers to this question from fans. One of my favorites was
“I’d have to attribute my love of Dark Souls and its world to its lore and the way the game’s story revealed itself. Forcing you to jigsaw every tidbit of the story together ensures the player’s involvement – you have to want to engage to actually understand the story. Clever symbolism and some really engaging philosophical ideas on creation, the meaning of life, mortality, decay and the idea of cycles are a big part of why Dark Souls’ story is so special to me.” — Wil Palmer
Absolutely recommended to people obsessed with Dark Souls.
April 24, 2016
I had first heard about You Died listening to the Daft Souls podcast a while back (and whose creator Matt Lees gets a shout-out in the book). I was immediately intrigued by the idea - a book all about the creation and lore of Dark Souls sounded like it would be very interesting indeed. My main worry going in when I first picked up my copy on release day was that it would have very little to say that wasn't already known about the game/franchise.
Fortunately, I couldn't have been more wrong. To begin with, it's not just about the origins of Dark Souls and the riddle wrapped inside a mystery inside an enigma that is the plot - the book is also about the influence it's had on the gaming community and development over the past several years. That it brings together a well-written walking tour of the game's areas (along with some amusing illustrations of character deaths that gave me flashbacks to my own experiences - that Capra Demon fight haunts me still) with insights into how the game was written and how Youtubers have been motivated to dedicating themselves full-time to plumbing the depths of the game's lore and mechanics into a truly cohesive whole speaks volumes about both the uniqueness of the game and Keza and Jason's writing abilities. You Died is clearly meant to appeal to both the hardcore Dark Souls fans and to people who have only heard about it in passing, though I can only speak to the former.
Now excuse me, I have to go try and cross a bridge in Anor Londo again. Maybe this time I won't get impaled by those giant arrows...
Fortunately, I couldn't have been more wrong. To begin with, it's not just about the origins of Dark Souls and the riddle wrapped inside a mystery inside an enigma that is the plot - the book is also about the influence it's had on the gaming community and development over the past several years. That it brings together a well-written walking tour of the game's areas (along with some amusing illustrations of character deaths that gave me flashbacks to my own experiences - that Capra Demon fight haunts me still) with insights into how the game was written and how Youtubers have been motivated to dedicating themselves full-time to plumbing the depths of the game's lore and mechanics into a truly cohesive whole speaks volumes about both the uniqueness of the game and Keza and Jason's writing abilities. You Died is clearly meant to appeal to both the hardcore Dark Souls fans and to people who have only heard about it in passing, though I can only speak to the former.
Now excuse me, I have to go try and cross a bridge in Anor Londo again. Maybe this time I won't get impaled by those giant arrows...
May 31, 2016
I bought Dark Souls back in 2013, and then it took me almost a year and a half to get around to playing it. I'd heard about the fascinating world-building, the trial-and-error difficulty, the roguelike sensibilities toward progression, and the asynchronous multiplayer and it all sounded like something I would love, but it was tied to the detestable Games For Windows Live, so it sat in my Steam library until GFWL shut down and most games moved their mechanics over to Steam, including Dark Souls. Once that happened, I loaded up the game and played 105 hours of it in a month, so I understand the draw of the game pretty well.
You Died isn't so much a book about Dark Souls as a book about the periphery of Dark Souls. Its designer, Miyazaki Hidetaka, and how his ideas came from a childhood reading European fantasy like the Fighting Fantasy series, the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and the manga Berserk (itself inspired by European fantasy), as well as playing tabletop roleplaying games. The people who make their living playing and analyzing the Soulsborne games--VaatiVidya, EpicNameBro, Lobos Jr., Kay, Kole and Gary of Bonfireside Chat, Jeremy Greer, and so on. The innumerable people who played Dark Souls and found something captivating in it, something that they didn't find in other games. The game designers who realized with the success of Dark Souls that there was a large community of people who didn't need and didn't want games to slavishly imitate cinematic storytelling when video games had their own strengths they could play to that a movie could never accomplish.
And yeah, I guess there's an area-by-area breakdown, but each area gets less than two pages including the illustration. In comparison, Bonfireside Chat episodes usually run around two hours long.
I think my favorite part was Miyazaki describing where he got the idea for Dark Souls particular style of semi-anonymous asynchronous multiplayer. During a snowstorm, a series of cars got stuck on a hill, until a car came from behind and started pushing, enabling the one on the top to go over, then the next, and so on. Miyazaki realized there was no way for him to thank the person in the car behind--if he had stopped the car, the momentum would have ended--and said about it:
I realize that as essentially a collection of essays, but I do take issue with the position that Dark Souls isn't a difficult game that You Died seems to hold. Around 10% of all PC players have the Link the Fire achievement and 6% have the Dark Lord achievement. Assume some overlap between the people who have those and not that many people have beaten the game. It's true that the marketing pushes the position of how incredibly difficult the game is, how it will destroy you, how you can't possibly meet the challenge, etc., and--if I may be indulgent for a moment--as a player of Moria and Angband and ADOM I laugh at that characterization. It's also true that, as You Died states, crushing difficulty is not the primary draw of Dark Souls. But I think that it comes down a bit too much on the side that it's not difficult, even as it hedges it with a lot of bets. I mean, one of the opening sections is a discussion of an email chain among reviewers sharing their experiences. They called it the Chain of Pain and sent emails like this one:
The book ends with an actual discussion of the game. Specifically, the lore and worldbuilding, or at least the best-known suppositions of same. In the end, most of Dark Souls's "plot" is filling in gaps that Miyazaki deliberately left there and doesn't plan to fill in, so while it's widely accepted that Solaire is Gwyn's missing son and that the Furtive Pygmy became Manus, Father of the Abyss, there's nothing conclusive in the game and ultimately it's fitting together a jigsaw with some pieces that are missing. But for the people who beat the whole game without even knowing what the plot is--and I've talked to some of them--this is invaluable.
I think this was a pretty good counterpoint to Souls of Darkness. Both of them are love letters to Dark Souls in their own way, and where Souls of Darkness goes for parody, You Died is poignant. Dark Souls isn't the best game I've ever played, but it is the best game of the last decade, and this is a fitting tribute to its legacy.
You Died isn't so much a book about Dark Souls as a book about the periphery of Dark Souls. Its designer, Miyazaki Hidetaka, and how his ideas came from a childhood reading European fantasy like the Fighting Fantasy series, the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and the manga Berserk (itself inspired by European fantasy), as well as playing tabletop roleplaying games. The people who make their living playing and analyzing the Soulsborne games--VaatiVidya, EpicNameBro, Lobos Jr., Kay, Kole and Gary of Bonfireside Chat, Jeremy Greer, and so on. The innumerable people who played Dark Souls and found something captivating in it, something that they didn't find in other games. The game designers who realized with the success of Dark Souls that there was a large community of people who didn't need and didn't want games to slavishly imitate cinematic storytelling when video games had their own strengths they could play to that a movie could never accomplish.
And yeah, I guess there's an area-by-area breakdown, but each area gets less than two pages including the illustration. In comparison, Bonfireside Chat episodes usually run around two hours long.
I think my favorite part was Miyazaki describing where he got the idea for Dark Souls particular style of semi-anonymous asynchronous multiplayer. During a snowstorm, a series of cars got stuck on a hill, until a car came from behind and started pushing, enabling the one on the top to go over, then the next, and so on. Miyazaki realized there was no way for him to thank the person in the car behind--if he had stopped the car, the momentum would have ended--and said about it:
Oddly, that incident will probably linger in my heart for a long time. Precisely because it's fleeting, I think it stays with you a lot longer. Like the cherry blossoms we Japanese love so much.Something where mono no aware actually applies. It make me a bit sad that I didn't have any kind of interesting multiplayer interactions other than a few people trying to gank me and spending a whole day dropping a summon sign at Iron Golem. Nothing like the fashion police.
I realize that as essentially a collection of essays, but I do take issue with the position that Dark Souls isn't a difficult game that You Died seems to hold. Around 10% of all PC players have the Link the Fire achievement and 6% have the Dark Lord achievement. Assume some overlap between the people who have those and not that many people have beaten the game. It's true that the marketing pushes the position of how incredibly difficult the game is, how it will destroy you, how you can't possibly meet the challenge, etc., and--if I may be indulgent for a moment--as a player of Moria and Angband and ADOM I laugh at that characterization. It's also true that, as You Died states, crushing difficulty is not the primary draw of Dark Souls. But I think that it comes down a bit too much on the side that it's not difficult, even as it hedges it with a lot of bets. I mean, one of the opening sections is a discussion of an email chain among reviewers sharing their experiences. They called it the Chain of Pain and sent emails like this one:
This SODDING BUTTERFLY is doing my head in :( Get it down to about 1/5th health, then lose timing for the dodges or fall victim to her death beam.There's a whole collection of those mails at the beginning. The worldbuilding is a draw, but the difficulty is too. It's what enables those narrow escapes, those victories by the skin of your teeth, the heart-pounding as the boss only has a sliver of health.
The book ends with an actual discussion of the game. Specifically, the lore and worldbuilding, or at least the best-known suppositions of same. In the end, most of Dark Souls's "plot" is filling in gaps that Miyazaki deliberately left there and doesn't plan to fill in, so while it's widely accepted that Solaire is Gwyn's missing son and that the Furtive Pygmy became Manus, Father of the Abyss, there's nothing conclusive in the game and ultimately it's fitting together a jigsaw with some pieces that are missing. But for the people who beat the whole game without even knowing what the plot is--and I've talked to some of them--this is invaluable.
I think this was a pretty good counterpoint to Souls of Darkness. Both of them are love letters to Dark Souls in their own way, and where Souls of Darkness goes for parody, You Died is poignant. Dark Souls isn't the best game I've ever played, but it is the best game of the last decade, and this is a fitting tribute to its legacy.
September 4, 2017
As origens de Dark Souls, entrevista com seu criador, com os tradutores, com jogadores e profissionais cuja vida passou a ficar intrinsecamente ligada ao game, análises de mundo, de mecânicas, de lore, personagens, de conceitos. Uma carta de amor ao início da trilogia.
September 24, 2020
Masterpiece!
June 11, 2017
I find myself fascinated by video games, their stories and their culture. I'm no real gamer myself. I've dabbled in almost every genre but haven't the will power nor the patience to master a video game as many have and do. Maybe that's why I find video games so fascinating and why those who can play them well to be so interesting. These days I limit myself to Hold-Em and crossword puzzles on my phone - not that I haven't engaged in a few memorable experiences - Portal 2, GTA V, Call of Duty, Uncharted - I've played a handful through to their endings; I just came to the conclusion that I prefer passive engagement rather than active. I know. Weird, right?
Anyway, that brings me to Dark Souls. This game has become a legend that has grown up by word of mouth with a reputation surrounding it: the most punishingly difficult, hardcore game of this generation. I knew I would never, ever play it. I'm not hardcore, I don't like being punished by games and I lack the will power to spend the time requirement necessary to get more than 20 feet through a game level. As a result, I was fascinated by the hype and legend surrounding the game. I stumbled across You Died: The Dark Souls Companion on Amazon and decided to give it a whirl.
This book was not what I expected but I couldn't stop reading it. I went into it thinking it would cover the lore of the game and the characters but what I found was that it was focused more on the dedicated fans and players who love the game and have spent almost countless hours within its world. This ended up being almost as fascinating as the game itself. Note: eventually the book does go through some lore from the game and has a rogues gallery of character's bios following the epilogue. I found that to be entertaining reading as well.
Dark Souls is an interesting game. Many complain there's no story while others say it has the deepest story of any game they've ever played. Some say the game is too difficult for anyone other than the truly hardcore and others say it can be mastered by any skill level. They're both right. That's what's so intriguing. Dark Souls tells its story through brief interactions with characters, art and level design and item descriptions. Easy to ignore if you don't care about story yet deep enough to satisfy the most devout lover of lore. The game play is all about timing patience and learning your enemies moves to anticipate their weaknesses. Great for people who thrive on puzzles and reward for effort but not so much for the casual gamers interested in a short round of Candy Crush or the like.
What the authors have done with this book is pay homage to the game, its developers and its devoted community. You Died: A Dark Souls Companion reads like a love letter to a video game. It's full of praise for the concept, the design and the bravery required to release something utterly unlike anything in the 2000's video game market. It's also a mixed bag of anecdotes about the people who play the game, record the podcasts and write the blogs devoted to Dark Souls and its lore. I found it to be very entertaining at times.
The book is written well - it should be - it's written by game writers and reviewers. It was not plagued by typos or misspelled words or poor formatting. The chapters were well thought out and easily digestible. All in all a descent treatise on a somewhat obscure corner of geek pop culture.
It's difficult for me to recommend this one to the casual observer. Unless you have an interest in video game culture and like to know what it is about certain games that will elevate them to iconic status, this probably isn't the book for you. However, if you're a game fan and have an interest in what makes Dark Souls such a pop culture phenomenon, you'll probably find some intriguing tidbits in this puppy. Three Stars.
Anyway, that brings me to Dark Souls. This game has become a legend that has grown up by word of mouth with a reputation surrounding it: the most punishingly difficult, hardcore game of this generation. I knew I would never, ever play it. I'm not hardcore, I don't like being punished by games and I lack the will power to spend the time requirement necessary to get more than 20 feet through a game level. As a result, I was fascinated by the hype and legend surrounding the game. I stumbled across You Died: The Dark Souls Companion on Amazon and decided to give it a whirl.
This book was not what I expected but I couldn't stop reading it. I went into it thinking it would cover the lore of the game and the characters but what I found was that it was focused more on the dedicated fans and players who love the game and have spent almost countless hours within its world. This ended up being almost as fascinating as the game itself. Note: eventually the book does go through some lore from the game and has a rogues gallery of character's bios following the epilogue. I found that to be entertaining reading as well.
Dark Souls is an interesting game. Many complain there's no story while others say it has the deepest story of any game they've ever played. Some say the game is too difficult for anyone other than the truly hardcore and others say it can be mastered by any skill level. They're both right. That's what's so intriguing. Dark Souls tells its story through brief interactions with characters, art and level design and item descriptions. Easy to ignore if you don't care about story yet deep enough to satisfy the most devout lover of lore. The game play is all about timing patience and learning your enemies moves to anticipate their weaknesses. Great for people who thrive on puzzles and reward for effort but not so much for the casual gamers interested in a short round of Candy Crush or the like.
What the authors have done with this book is pay homage to the game, its developers and its devoted community. You Died: A Dark Souls Companion reads like a love letter to a video game. It's full of praise for the concept, the design and the bravery required to release something utterly unlike anything in the 2000's video game market. It's also a mixed bag of anecdotes about the people who play the game, record the podcasts and write the blogs devoted to Dark Souls and its lore. I found it to be very entertaining at times.
The book is written well - it should be - it's written by game writers and reviewers. It was not plagued by typos or misspelled words or poor formatting. The chapters were well thought out and easily digestible. All in all a descent treatise on a somewhat obscure corner of geek pop culture.
It's difficult for me to recommend this one to the casual observer. Unless you have an interest in video game culture and like to know what it is about certain games that will elevate them to iconic status, this probably isn't the book for you. However, if you're a game fan and have an interest in what makes Dark Souls such a pop culture phenomenon, you'll probably find some intriguing tidbits in this puppy. Three Stars.
March 10, 2017
Keza MacDonald and Jason Killingsworth tackle Dark Souls as a series of essays about different aspects of the game (it's levels, lore, design and mechanics), its influence (podcasts, YouTube series, achievement-hunters), and what its players and designers FEEL about it and each other. This last one is important because it highlights one of the most unique and important aspects of the game - the comradery and community that has built around its sheer difficulty. That makes reading this book enjoyable - other people's stories - and highlights why so many of us return to the game again and again, trying new characters, different paths, random equipment we didn't get last time; every playthrough of Dark Souls is unique.
MacDonald and Killingsworth explore this extremely well, from interviews with invaders who troll the games of other players, to YouTubers who search for every last scrap of lore or to find the next convoluted way of playing the game, to players who help each other through the game and get to know each other better for it. I will say, I prefer MacDonald's sections to Killingsworth's, who's prone to the kind of hyperbole I expect online and bought a book to escape. However, I may be biased because I'm sure it was her review for Demon's Souls back in 2009 that convinced me this was a series I needed to get into, which I only remember because her's became a voice I trusted in all things Souls.
Regardless, I appreciate the two contrasting voices, because even if I like one more than the other, both work! Granted, the book assumes a familiarity with the series that is understandable; again, why would you pick up a book about a game you know nothing about?
MacDonald and Killingsworth explore this extremely well, from interviews with invaders who troll the games of other players, to YouTubers who search for every last scrap of lore or to find the next convoluted way of playing the game, to players who help each other through the game and get to know each other better for it. I will say, I prefer MacDonald's sections to Killingsworth's, who's prone to the kind of hyperbole I expect online and bought a book to escape. However, I may be biased because I'm sure it was her review for Demon's Souls back in 2009 that convinced me this was a series I needed to get into, which I only remember because her's became a voice I trusted in all things Souls.
Regardless, I appreciate the two contrasting voices, because even if I like one more than the other, both work! Granted, the book assumes a familiarity with the series that is understandable; again, why would you pick up a book about a game you know nothing about?
February 14, 2024
The analysis here is not particularly insightful or enlightening. A bit overly effusive (not necessarily a bad thing) and it leans too heavily into description -- with a literary analysis like this I think it's safe to assume the reader is already familiar with the subject.
I did enjoy the charming oral history and anecdotes.
I did enjoy the charming oral history and anecdotes.
May 31, 2016
Hopefully this book is the start of something beautiful, much like Dark Souls was. It's a fitting reflection on the game, its culture and its spot in video game history. Although Dark Souls is uniquely deserving of such a book, more people should write books of this sort about other video games.
February 11, 2023
Only read if you love the game already
August 14, 2024
The design of this book is nothing short of beautiful. I have the cotton bound hardcover version. It's printed on lovely thick paper with rich ink, wonderfully laid out and a red ribbon marker.
The book consists of a number of essays and interviews with people who are heavily invested in Dark Souls, mixed with some information snippets about the game and a short section discussing the lore about some of the characters.
This isn't typically the kind of book I'd read, but I found it fascinating and enthralling nonetheless. I do wish they dwelled more on the lore of the game, but reading about how Dark Souls has affected so many people in such a vast amount of ways was an experience itself. I highly recommend this to fans of the game. I'm now on my way to purchase the game and play it myself since I've only played demons souls, dark souls 3 and bloodborne
The book consists of a number of essays and interviews with people who are heavily invested in Dark Souls, mixed with some information snippets about the game and a short section discussing the lore about some of the characters.
This isn't typically the kind of book I'd read, but I found it fascinating and enthralling nonetheless. I do wish they dwelled more on the lore of the game, but reading about how Dark Souls has affected so many people in such a vast amount of ways was an experience itself. I highly recommend this to fans of the game. I'm now on my way to purchase the game and play it myself since I've only played demons souls, dark souls 3 and bloodborne
November 12, 2022
I FINALLY FINISHED THIS FLIPPIN BOOK AFTER DAMN NEAR A WHOLE YEAR OF READING IT.
But just like the game it is a companion piece to, the journey was worth it in the end. I learned a lot of things I didn't know about when it came to the souls community, and I never tire of hearing people talk about Dark Souls and their experiences with it.
Obviously, as a souls fan, I thought it was incredible and an excellent bit of reading for anyone who loves Souls as much as I do. I do recognize, however, that this book will really only appeal to people like me, but that's okay. It's just another quality it shares in common with the game.
But just like the game it is a companion piece to, the journey was worth it in the end. I learned a lot of things I didn't know about when it came to the souls community, and I never tire of hearing people talk about Dark Souls and their experiences with it.
Obviously, as a souls fan, I thought it was incredible and an excellent bit of reading for anyone who loves Souls as much as I do. I do recognize, however, that this book will really only appeal to people like me, but that's okay. It's just another quality it shares in common with the game.
February 20, 2023
This book covers the game Dark Souls and the impact it's had on the games industry and people in general. I found the chapters that went into people's experience with Dark Souls the most interesting as you really get to feel that sense of community that the game is so good at making.
March 25, 2020
It's really hard to review this book as I read it after finishing the game for the 2nd time. Dark Souls has had a profound impact on my life. I read this book on the to-and-from train journey to Prague and it made the time fly by.
The structure of the book felt like having a conversation with friends about the game. It touched on the experience felt when playing it for the first time, and then delved into the deep details about the lore and some of the aspects of the game that one wouldn't pick up just by playing it.
I really feel it's more like a 2-3 star book on its own, but as a person who is in love with Dark Souls and recently finished a play through, it gets a higher rating from me.
Praise the Sun \[T]/
The structure of the book felt like having a conversation with friends about the game. It touched on the experience felt when playing it for the first time, and then delved into the deep details about the lore and some of the aspects of the game that one wouldn't pick up just by playing it.
I really feel it's more like a 2-3 star book on its own, but as a person who is in love with Dark Souls and recently finished a play through, it gets a higher rating from me.
Praise the Sun \[T]/
January 12, 2017
Games, and for that matter any form of electronic entertainment, is often viewed as a trivial pursuit. For those simply observing at arms length - a console, PC, or mobile game may appear as some mindless distraction that offers gratification through a means that cannot be achieved realistically. For others, games don't go beyond their original purpose: quick and greasy entertainment. Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I always plays devil's advocate in the argument about gaming's true value proposition. Great games are works of art. Like Oscar-winning movies and Pulitzer-Prize finalists in the fiction category, a great game is relatable and builds rich characters, worlds, stories, and even gameplay mechanics that prove influential for gaming generations to come.
Dark Souls is exactly that game. Set in the complex and beautiful-yet-dystopian world of Lordran, Dark Souls puts you in the shoes of the "Chosen Undead" and tasks you with completing a journey that will see you succeed the land's long-reigning king, Gwyn aka the Lord of Cinder. On the surface, Dark Souls sounds like the typical fantasy RPG with tropes and clichés aplenty, but the game deviates from the fantasy stereotypes by dropping you naked into a cold, difficult, and unforgiving domain filled with thought-provoking combat challenges, genuinely emotional lore, and an unfathomable amount of death. You will die a lot, but death is a mechanic in the game meant to help you learn. You will be frustrated, but the desire for obtaining your next victory will turn that frustration into sheer ambition. You will learn the value of patience, of resourcefulness, of reading your surrounding, and careful deduction. Dark Souls aims less to entertain and please and more to teach and guide you through a virtual world that is almost a metaphor for the tribulations our own lives throw at us.
You Died: The Dark Souls Companion is a textual tribute that pays homage to the precedent that Dark Souls has set for mature, elaborate, and comprehensive games of the current generation. Throughout the guide you are met with stories of how Dark Souls has positively impacted people of all backgrounds, how the game has implemented unique mechanics - such as its multiplayer component - that have created a motivational experiences behind it's veil of challenges, and above all how the game has created an international community of change-makers who use there experience with the game to further their lives and their live of others. Whether you're an experienced pyromancer familiar with Lordran's nook and crannies, or an uninitiated hollow ready to take his or her first few steps through the Northern Undead Asylum, your appreciation of Dark Souls and its world will surely only grow with the prose and anecdotes You Died: The Dark Souls Companion has to offer.
Dark Souls is exactly that game. Set in the complex and beautiful-yet-dystopian world of Lordran, Dark Souls puts you in the shoes of the "Chosen Undead" and tasks you with completing a journey that will see you succeed the land's long-reigning king, Gwyn aka the Lord of Cinder. On the surface, Dark Souls sounds like the typical fantasy RPG with tropes and clichés aplenty, but the game deviates from the fantasy stereotypes by dropping you naked into a cold, difficult, and unforgiving domain filled with thought-provoking combat challenges, genuinely emotional lore, and an unfathomable amount of death. You will die a lot, but death is a mechanic in the game meant to help you learn. You will be frustrated, but the desire for obtaining your next victory will turn that frustration into sheer ambition. You will learn the value of patience, of resourcefulness, of reading your surrounding, and careful deduction. Dark Souls aims less to entertain and please and more to teach and guide you through a virtual world that is almost a metaphor for the tribulations our own lives throw at us.
You Died: The Dark Souls Companion is a textual tribute that pays homage to the precedent that Dark Souls has set for mature, elaborate, and comprehensive games of the current generation. Throughout the guide you are met with stories of how Dark Souls has positively impacted people of all backgrounds, how the game has implemented unique mechanics - such as its multiplayer component - that have created a motivational experiences behind it's veil of challenges, and above all how the game has created an international community of change-makers who use there experience with the game to further their lives and their live of others. Whether you're an experienced pyromancer familiar with Lordran's nook and crannies, or an uninitiated hollow ready to take his or her first few steps through the Northern Undead Asylum, your appreciation of Dark Souls and its world will surely only grow with the prose and anecdotes You Died: The Dark Souls Companion has to offer.
June 1, 2016
As someone who's been playing these games since Demon's Souls became a budget title, I was predisposed to have an interest in this book. I watch way too many Dark Souls Lore videos and I've read through more wiki entries for From Software games than I care to count. And beyond anything else, I just like listening to people discuss the mythology of the series as well as talking to any of my friends that I've convinced to play the game.
There are huge chunks of the book that I found very entertaining, as a ridiculously self-indulgent fan item. The discussions of the different areas as well as the lore appendix were probably the highlight. I could easily read a whole book on that. And the tidbits on the development of the series as well as the creator's history were extremely fascinating.
If the book had just been that, I probably would have been happy. There are sections on the community that, though less interesting to me personally, still had interesting insights into PVP players, extreme limitation playthroughs, and other niche sections of an already niche interest.
It does feel like a bit more original research could have gone into some aspects of this. Most of the Miyazaki interviews and information seem to have been repurposed from research the writer's did for other publications in the past. And though the lore sections are a nice summation of what's out there, it didn't really bring up any new information or new theories.
Also, the Killingsworth sections are sometimes a bit jokier than I was hoping for, with some groan inducing play on words. If this had been a more consistent feature, I might not have minded as much, but most of the samples on gaming sites came from MacDonald's chapters, which also felt more solidly written overall. The attempts at whimsy just felt misplaced for the most part, which is odd, since there's an entire world of humorous Dark Souls comics, videos, and memes that the book doesn't even touch on.
But interest in this book is damn near binary. Do you like reading and/or watching videos about Souls games? Then you'll like this. Otherwise it's probably as baffling as reading fan fiction for a show you've never watched.
There are huge chunks of the book that I found very entertaining, as a ridiculously self-indulgent fan item. The discussions of the different areas as well as the lore appendix were probably the highlight. I could easily read a whole book on that. And the tidbits on the development of the series as well as the creator's history were extremely fascinating.
If the book had just been that, I probably would have been happy. There are sections on the community that, though less interesting to me personally, still had interesting insights into PVP players, extreme limitation playthroughs, and other niche sections of an already niche interest.
It does feel like a bit more original research could have gone into some aspects of this. Most of the Miyazaki interviews and information seem to have been repurposed from research the writer's did for other publications in the past. And though the lore sections are a nice summation of what's out there, it didn't really bring up any new information or new theories.
Also, the Killingsworth sections are sometimes a bit jokier than I was hoping for, with some groan inducing play on words. If this had been a more consistent feature, I might not have minded as much, but most of the samples on gaming sites came from MacDonald's chapters, which also felt more solidly written overall. The attempts at whimsy just felt misplaced for the most part, which is odd, since there's an entire world of humorous Dark Souls comics, videos, and memes that the book doesn't even touch on.
But interest in this book is damn near binary. Do you like reading and/or watching videos about Souls games? Then you'll like this. Otherwise it's probably as baffling as reading fan fiction for a show you've never watched.
December 30, 2016
I wasn't all that impressed with the "Tour of Lordran" chapters, but I found a lot of enjoyment in most of the other chapters. The interview snippets from Miyazaki were insightful and a lot of the stuff surrounding the English language translation of the game was interesting.
The quotes from various fans about why they play were a joy to read as well.
The quotes from various fans about why they play were a joy to read as well.
November 13, 2020
Really enjoy this peek into the Dark Souls fandom. I've read it before, but this version is updated and has some new stuff. The game is just so meaningful and impactful, and some of the stories about how it's touched and changed so many people is really impressive. It just speaks to what a phenomenon these games are.
April 6, 2021
Giving up on a soul game is like giving up on life. It doesn't matter how many times you fail all you need is to keep on trying. Git up, git gud and praise the sun.
If you are a soul fan it's a must read. If you didn't play and soul game before read it and I'll see why this game is on another level.
If you are a soul fan it's a must read. If you didn't play and soul game before read it and I'll see why this game is on another level.
Read
February 25, 2025Cute love letter. Has a few nice tidbits and its travelogue style helps to better appreciate the level of detail put into this masterpiece. There is a bit of lore, but you're better off with Abyssal Archive for that. Recommended but don't expect a revelatory experience. It's just a comfortable, nostalgic stroll.
September 21, 2016
If it got you, read it.
If you are into Dark Souls, read this. The essays lack heft but I do enjoy them. They vary in quality but they have some gems here and there.
If you are into Dark Souls, read this. The essays lack heft but I do enjoy them. They vary in quality but they have some gems here and there.
November 25, 2016
a no brainer for fans . . excellent and wide-ranging . . the authors' love of the series is apparent
November 28, 2016
4.5* - very enjoyable and several laugh out loud moments. Loved the story theories st the end.
November 1, 2018
A difficult book to score really as it's a collection of information and stories gathered over the years since Dark Souls' release in 2011. However, Keza Macdonald and Jason Killingsworth have done a good job compiling their emails, notes, thoughts and pieces of information such as the game's lore and detailed walkthrough of the zones.
For those that aren't aware of Hidetaka Miyazaki's and From Software's Dark Souls, it was THE game that changed absolutely everything. Improving most aspects on the already incredible Demon's Souls, In an era when video games became purely about business and money making schemes rather than art and craft, Dark Souls turned all of the conventions on its head, reviving that long gone golden era of video gaming, with similarities to early Zelda and hardcore games like Ghouls 'n Ghosts. It didn't spoon feed players, it didn't narrate an easy, mindless film like story-line; it encouraged the gamer to learn the hard way, to take risks, to explore - with patience came phenomenal reward and as a result the purest, most enjoyable and satisfying game of all time was created. The game is a beautiful piece of art; the linked world; the endless story pieced together through item descriptions; the innovative and groundbreaking online co-op system and the learning curve which sees any player of any ability become better and better and better as that muscle memory goes to work.
Anyone who was around in October 2011 will never forget those first few months when Dark Souls landed, it was an incredibly special time and the book does a really good job of expressing this as much as possible; the emails between journos, the anger, frustration, despair, elation and utter astonishment of what was unfolding. There's a really nice compilation of the lore put together throughout the years from the Dark Souls community; a character guide and some fun stories from the lives of people who've had their lives changed by their experience. There's not a massive amount new here for fans of the series but it's still a decent read and brought back some wonderful memories for me personally.
Dark Souls is a masterpiece and not only is it the greatest game of all time for the beautiful way it plays, but for it's vision; it's unique way of storytelling and it's dark, grim, terrifying but beautiful interconnected world.
Praise the sun!
For those that aren't aware of Hidetaka Miyazaki's and From Software's Dark Souls, it was THE game that changed absolutely everything. Improving most aspects on the already incredible Demon's Souls, In an era when video games became purely about business and money making schemes rather than art and craft, Dark Souls turned all of the conventions on its head, reviving that long gone golden era of video gaming, with similarities to early Zelda and hardcore games like Ghouls 'n Ghosts. It didn't spoon feed players, it didn't narrate an easy, mindless film like story-line; it encouraged the gamer to learn the hard way, to take risks, to explore - with patience came phenomenal reward and as a result the purest, most enjoyable and satisfying game of all time was created. The game is a beautiful piece of art; the linked world; the endless story pieced together through item descriptions; the innovative and groundbreaking online co-op system and the learning curve which sees any player of any ability become better and better and better as that muscle memory goes to work.
Anyone who was around in October 2011 will never forget those first few months when Dark Souls landed, it was an incredibly special time and the book does a really good job of expressing this as much as possible; the emails between journos, the anger, frustration, despair, elation and utter astonishment of what was unfolding. There's a really nice compilation of the lore put together throughout the years from the Dark Souls community; a character guide and some fun stories from the lives of people who've had their lives changed by their experience. There's not a massive amount new here for fans of the series but it's still a decent read and brought back some wonderful memories for me personally.
Dark Souls is a masterpiece and not only is it the greatest game of all time for the beautiful way it plays, but for it's vision; it's unique way of storytelling and it's dark, grim, terrifying but beautiful interconnected world.
Praise the sun!
June 12, 2021
EN EL PRINCIPIO DE LOS TIEMPOS
•
Hoy terminé de leer "You Died: The Dark Souls Companion" de Keza MacDonald y Jason Killingsworth, dos periodistas de renombre en el mundo de la prensa de videojuegos británica.
•
El libro es un collage de información y artículos que, en su momento, los autores publicaron en medios como Eurogamer, y van desde cadenas de mails que se mandaron con otros periodistas cuando Dark Souls apenas había salido hasta notas a gente de renombre que hizo se la saga Souls un modo de vida (youtubers, podcasters, jugadores que superaron traumas, que encontraron el amor, y un etcétera enorme), notas a Miyazaki y otros ejecutivos de la industria que analizan el impacto social y mediático del juego, descripciones breves de la topografía de Lordran, muy poco del Lore y algo sobre los NPC.
•
En sí, las partes más flojas del libro son las que hablan de la historia interna del juego, no por su complejidad imposible, sino porque el que va a leer esto, ya lo conoce, estuvo ahí y lo vio de primera mano. Lo verdaderamente jugoso viene cuando nos hablan de la llegada de Demon's Souls a Europa o de esa época en la que no había información sobre Dark Souls y todos los jugadores nuevos eran cartógrafos en tierras peligrosas. Las curiosidades de la versión para críticos o el impacto que ha tenido en la gente y en la industria, eso es lo que vuelve a este libro una carta de amor hacia Dark Souls y una lectura entretenida y enriquecedora.
•
Con respecto al estilo, está escrito de forma muy amena y familiar, como si uno estuviera charlando con alguien que habla de un tema que le gusta. Sí debo decir que me gustó más lo que escribe Keza, más refinado y poético frente a lo de Jason, que tiende a caer en el cancherismo y el humor forzado (pero tampoco es que llegue a incomodar).
•
Y sobre los errores, bueno, este libro tiene algunos de tipeo, pero tiene un enemigo mortal: la barra espaciadora. Hay párrafos enteros sin un espacio, con todas las palabras pegadas, y esto, si uno viene distraído o no sabe tanto inglés, se puede tornar pesado. También debo señalar que no tiene índice, así que se vuelve difícil encontrar algo que nos gustó una vez lo dejamos atrás.
•
En fin, a mí el libro me gustó mucho y me aportó datos interesantes, así que lo recomiendo. Pero si lo de ustedes es más el Lore o las guías, mejor lean la Wiki o Gamefaqs.
•
Hoy terminé de leer "You Died: The Dark Souls Companion" de Keza MacDonald y Jason Killingsworth, dos periodistas de renombre en el mundo de la prensa de videojuegos británica.
•
El libro es un collage de información y artículos que, en su momento, los autores publicaron en medios como Eurogamer, y van desde cadenas de mails que se mandaron con otros periodistas cuando Dark Souls apenas había salido hasta notas a gente de renombre que hizo se la saga Souls un modo de vida (youtubers, podcasters, jugadores que superaron traumas, que encontraron el amor, y un etcétera enorme), notas a Miyazaki y otros ejecutivos de la industria que analizan el impacto social y mediático del juego, descripciones breves de la topografía de Lordran, muy poco del Lore y algo sobre los NPC.
•
En sí, las partes más flojas del libro son las que hablan de la historia interna del juego, no por su complejidad imposible, sino porque el que va a leer esto, ya lo conoce, estuvo ahí y lo vio de primera mano. Lo verdaderamente jugoso viene cuando nos hablan de la llegada de Demon's Souls a Europa o de esa época en la que no había información sobre Dark Souls y todos los jugadores nuevos eran cartógrafos en tierras peligrosas. Las curiosidades de la versión para críticos o el impacto que ha tenido en la gente y en la industria, eso es lo que vuelve a este libro una carta de amor hacia Dark Souls y una lectura entretenida y enriquecedora.
•
Con respecto al estilo, está escrito de forma muy amena y familiar, como si uno estuviera charlando con alguien que habla de un tema que le gusta. Sí debo decir que me gustó más lo que escribe Keza, más refinado y poético frente a lo de Jason, que tiende a caer en el cancherismo y el humor forzado (pero tampoco es que llegue a incomodar).
•
Y sobre los errores, bueno, este libro tiene algunos de tipeo, pero tiene un enemigo mortal: la barra espaciadora. Hay párrafos enteros sin un espacio, con todas las palabras pegadas, y esto, si uno viene distraído o no sabe tanto inglés, se puede tornar pesado. También debo señalar que no tiene índice, así que se vuelve difícil encontrar algo que nos gustó una vez lo dejamos atrás.
•
En fin, a mí el libro me gustó mucho y me aportó datos interesantes, así que lo recomiendo. Pero si lo de ustedes es más el Lore o las guías, mejor lean la Wiki o Gamefaqs.
November 7, 2025
Dark Souls is one of the quintessential games that's shaped the way I look at other games. I often find myself comparing the world building and interconnected-ness , the characters, the lore, and the gameplay loop back to what Dark Souls offered all the way back in 2011.
This mysterious, uncompromising, and incredibly unforgiving game captured me right from the get go. The constant reminder of "Don't you dare go hollow" (basically telling you to "not give up") pushed me through some of the most difficult areas and bosses I've ever faced in gaming.
I have a deep love and appreciation for this game, and so do the authors of this book. They will guide you through the history of its development, insights and inspirations of Hidetaka Miyazaki (The Director of Dark Souls), and the land of Lordran itself through its retrospective chapters.
After playing all of From Software's "souls-borne" games, it truly shows the care and dedication all the developers of these fantastic games put into these projects. With this book, I now have a greater insight into what specifically makes this game so great; so that I can convince many others to give this daunting game a go. (Just make sure you play the game first before reading!)
For anyone wanting to learn and gain a deeper appreciation for the masterpiece that is Dark Souls, read this book.
"You Died" may have flashed countless, times throughout my many playthroughs of this game, but the support and legacy it leaves to its fans and gaming as a whole will never die.
This mysterious, uncompromising, and incredibly unforgiving game captured me right from the get go. The constant reminder of "Don't you dare go hollow" (basically telling you to "not give up") pushed me through some of the most difficult areas and bosses I've ever faced in gaming.
I have a deep love and appreciation for this game, and so do the authors of this book. They will guide you through the history of its development, insights and inspirations of Hidetaka Miyazaki (The Director of Dark Souls), and the land of Lordran itself through its retrospective chapters.
After playing all of From Software's "souls-borne" games, it truly shows the care and dedication all the developers of these fantastic games put into these projects. With this book, I now have a greater insight into what specifically makes this game so great; so that I can convince many others to give this daunting game a go. (Just make sure you play the game first before reading!)
For anyone wanting to learn and gain a deeper appreciation for the masterpiece that is Dark Souls, read this book.
"You Died" may have flashed countless, times throughout my many playthroughs of this game, but the support and legacy it leaves to its fans and gaming as a whole will never die.
January 6, 2018
"Why do we play Dark Souls?... Why play video games at all? It's a question usually posed by people who think they're at best a waste of time, an odd thing for an intelligent person to take an interest in, and at worst straightforwardly dangerous; honey-traps of mindless fun designed to lure young people into a life of stimulus-chasing delinquency. I've spent a great deal of my adult life trying to articulate why I play video games, and have never found a single clear-cut answer. For fun? Sometimes. For edification? Definitely, but not always. For escapism? We all need that, from time to time.
But reading through all these testimonials, I found myself arriving at a simpler answer: I play video games because of games like Dark Souls. When an experience this rich comes along, the need for self-justification melts away."
"I'd have to attribute my love of Dark Souls and its world to its lore and the way the game's story revealed itself. Forcing you to jigsaw every tidbit of the story together ensures the player's involvement - you have to want to engage to actually understand the story. Cleaver symbolism and some really engaging philosophical ideas on creation, the meaning of life, mortality, decay and the idea of cycles are a big part of why Dark Souls' story is so special to me."
But reading through all these testimonials, I found myself arriving at a simpler answer: I play video games because of games like Dark Souls. When an experience this rich comes along, the need for self-justification melts away."
"I'd have to attribute my love of Dark Souls and its world to its lore and the way the game's story revealed itself. Forcing you to jigsaw every tidbit of the story together ensures the player's involvement - you have to want to engage to actually understand the story. Cleaver symbolism and some really engaging philosophical ideas on creation, the meaning of life, mortality, decay and the idea of cycles are a big part of why Dark Souls' story is so special to me."
August 29, 2019
When I beat Dark Souls in May I fell into a fairly deep depression, as without Dark Souls to play, I no longer felt my life had any meaning. Reading this was a helpful spirit booster, and I found many of the relatable tales within caused me to laugh out loud with maniacal glee, unnerving my fellow public transit users.
I skipped some pages here and there as they were about sections of the game I missed, and fortunately I have the memory of a gold-fish and have already forgotten the part about the alternate ending that I accidentally read.
I also skipped the lore apendix, as I am not that interested in the lore, which is one of the many fabulous things about the game. Here's this whole system that runs throughout that some people get obsessed with, (I enjoyed reading about such people) but that others can almost completely ignore, and both have a life altering experience playing.
I don't know if someone who hasn't played Dark Souls would enjoy this at all, but perhaps if you don't understand why a loved one is on new game plus for the 7th time on their 14th character, reading this would help explain things.
Meanwhile, I'm playing Dark Souls II, and it has done wonders for my mental health.
I skipped some pages here and there as they were about sections of the game I missed, and fortunately I have the memory of a gold-fish and have already forgotten the part about the alternate ending that I accidentally read.
I also skipped the lore apendix, as I am not that interested in the lore, which is one of the many fabulous things about the game. Here's this whole system that runs throughout that some people get obsessed with, (I enjoyed reading about such people) but that others can almost completely ignore, and both have a life altering experience playing.
I don't know if someone who hasn't played Dark Souls would enjoy this at all, but perhaps if you don't understand why a loved one is on new game plus for the 7th time on their 14th character, reading this would help explain things.
Meanwhile, I'm playing Dark Souls II, and it has done wonders for my mental health.
November 29, 2025
3.75 ⭐️
What an excellent deep dive into the lore, motivations, culture, and impact of the Dark Souls 1 game & the community surrounding it! Though I feel the book could likely be appreciated by a nonsouls player, there are so many easter eggs & "oh! I felt the exact same way!" and relating to those interviewed for the book that I wouldn't necessarily hand the book to my mom for example lol. Some chapters can be a slog of lore & just details that I found more interesting to uncover in game rather than through words. But even as a "experienced" souls player, I learned more about the beloved game through this book.
> "The game subverted conventional wisdom in a number of ways: the difficulty of the battles, the punishment for failure, and a general lack of explanation for how anything works. Dark Souls knows exactly what it wants to be and who its target audience is, and isn't interested in trying to attract players looking for a different experience."
What an excellent deep dive into the lore, motivations, culture, and impact of the Dark Souls 1 game & the community surrounding it! Though I feel the book could likely be appreciated by a nonsouls player, there are so many easter eggs & "oh! I felt the exact same way!" and relating to those interviewed for the book that I wouldn't necessarily hand the book to my mom for example lol. Some chapters can be a slog of lore & just details that I found more interesting to uncover in game rather than through words. But even as a "experienced" souls player, I learned more about the beloved game through this book.
> "The game subverted conventional wisdom in a number of ways: the difficulty of the battles, the punishment for failure, and a general lack of explanation for how anything works. Dark Souls knows exactly what it wants to be and who its target audience is, and isn't interested in trying to attract players looking for a different experience."
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