How Dark Souls finally nails Dark Fantasy in games
The most successful Dark Fantasy game was made in Japan and understands the genreās core principles of death and despair.
Dark Souls and its predecessor, Demonās Souls, finally nailed the Dark Fantasy setting in a video game; nearly 100 years after its invention. As it happens, it took a Japanese development team to understand the core of this American and European heritage and how to translate the genre into a game with mainstream appeal.
In 2009, when Demonās Souls was released by From Software in Japan it was unclear if the game would be successful in the US and Europe. Even though it was a quiet release with a small publisher it was immediately met with critical acclaim and several awards for its innovative take on gameplay and its dark and unforgiving world. From Software had understood the key principles of Dark Fantasy and built their game mechanics around them.Ā
From Software had understood the key principles of Dark Fantasy and built their game mechanics around them.
Dark Fantasy often refers to fantastical works that have a dark, gloomy atmosphere or a sense of horror and dread and are described as āa type of horror story in which humanity is threatened by forces beyond human understanding.āĀ
I became hooked on it through the works of John Bauer - a swedish painter who became best known for his illustrations in the book āBland Tomtar och Trollā (Among Gnomes and Trolls) in 1907. Bauerās paintings have a fantastical darkness to them and I remember being completely entranced by them as a child. He created incredible nature scenes where trolls were portrayed as being part of the landscape itself - great hulking beasts rising from the ground - one can imagine that from a certain angle they would appear no different than a moss covered boulder. His art feels so old and the trolls so alien that one is left with a feeling of marvel and despair.Ā
Today, few writers possess the ability to write about darkness to the level that Neil Gaiman can. His epic graphic novel, Sandman, deals with the darkest side of fantasy; of Death, Dreams, Despair, Delirium and Fate - literally. Gaiman's vivid descriptions of true evil and endless hopeless situations set in epic vistas are strangely compelling and clearly owe a debt to earlier writers like H.P. Lovecraft - by many considered the founder of Dark Fantasy (although Lovecraft himself claimed he was was inspired by Gertrude Barrows Bennett - the author of The Citadel of Fear - and the first major female writer of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the United States).
Lovecraft may have been inspired by Gertrudeās work but he took Dark Fantasy to its current epic scale. He wrote about the concept of ultimate evil, of beings beyond our comprehension and the idea of Fate - of us not being in control of our own action. As his novels build to their conclusion, the sanity of his protagonist(s) crumble and their actions become more and more questionable.Ā
While the genre have not been widely used in games there have been several attempts at translating some of H.P. Lovecraft's work to varying degree of success. Games like the Disciples series and Magic: The Gathering are thematically Dark Fantasy but playing them does not āfeelā right - to me. Dark Fantasy is creepy and it gets under your skin, it leaves you feeling insignificant in the grand scheme of the world it paints.
The problem is that gameplay, in its typical form, does not lend itself well to the emotional turmoil that is associated with the genre.
The problem is that gameplay, in its typical form, does not lend itself well to the emotional turmoil that is associated with the genre. The idea of saving your game certainly goes head to head with the description of Dark Fantasy and so does an all-but-infallible hero. In fact, the idea that there might be a happy ending will undermine the genre entirely.
Perhaps one game, before Demonās Souls, took Dark Fantasy and successfully made it an integral part of gameplay. Eternal Darkness (2002) saw a limited release on the GameCube and failed to be a commercial success but won several awards and is a fantastic Dark Fantasy experience that tries, admirably, to deal with loss of sanity and the concept of time and how insignificant we are in the face of it.
Actually, I have to mention two more games here - as with Eternal Darkness these games lack the commercial success and wide release that Dark Souls have enjoyed and are much more difficult to get into; The Penumbra series and Amnesia: Dark Descent both incorporate Dark Fantasy principles in the gameplay and are terrifying to play.
So, what did From Software do to create a Dark Fantasy game that reached both fans of the genre as well as a wider mainstream audience? They nailed a few things:
Not only are you physically descending into a version of hell but there is also a sense that all is for naught. The darkness seems impenetrable and the world too far gone for your silent character to make a difference. You appear to be stuck in a loop (read: Purgatory) of death and resurrection while your progress demands that you devour the souls of the other, mostly tragic, inhabitants of the world.
Death and rebirth are integral mechanics to the game instead of the typical video game trope where death equals restart-at-most-recent-save-point. The cost of dying is high and the cycle seems endless, compounding the feeling of despair as you inch your way deeper into the world, shield raised and nerves strained. Death is inevitable and frequent and yet it loses none of its impact and this is rare indeed in video games.
#3 Beyond our Comprehension
Dark Souls goes out of itās way to keep you in the dark. The world is never explained but pieces of it are uncovered through exploration; not in the lost diary of explorers before you, but in the observation of the world around you. Often you are left with the feeling that what you can see is but a single piece of a giant puzzle. The subtle traces left by other players who have traversed areas before you tease you with the idea of perhaps meeting a friendly face but when they are finally allowed into your game they are as often as not out to mutely take your soul.
Dark Souls and its predecessor paints a bleak picture indeed, and with Dark Souls 2 around the corner weāll soon be back in this utterly unforgiving world. Dark Fantasy invites us to descend into the darkness and weāre strangely willing to do so.
