Quick Thoughts: Why It Took Me 10 Years To Love Dark Souls

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For the longest time, I was adamant on not playing any entry in the Dark Souls series. Why? Because I was an idiot.

I had the belief that these games were simply not for me. Whether this be because of the renown difficulty, or something as petty as the stamina system. Despite the constant recommendations of a good friend of mine, I just put it to the side.

That is until I said “Fine, whatever” and finally sat down to give it a go, and what a go it was.

I’m not here to review the game, as it’s been praised for over a decade now, but rather to explain why it suddenly clicked for me.

I think it came down to two things; the combat, and the atmosphere.

The combat felt satisfying and adrenaline pumping despite how slow and methodical it may seem on the surface. Everything I did felt like it had weight to it, every slash of the sword or last second roll to dodge an attack. Not only that, but it forced me to think three steps ahead of whatever it was that I was fighting.

For example, if I was fighting a giant guy with an even bigger sword (and possibly humongous insecurity), then I’d have to figure out where I had to be even before he swings his sword.

The other aspect that helped was the atmosphere, both the design and the feel of it.