For the past seven years no game series has engrossed me as much as the Soulsborne games. For those unindoctrinated, ‘Soulsborne’ is a portmanteau of the ‘Dark Souls ’ series and ‘Bloodborne ’ series as the two are closely related and have spawned a genre of their own. If you’re on a gaming website reading this, chances are you’re aware of the games and their general allure.
If you haven’t played any of them, you’ve probably heard the same thing over and over: ‘they’re crushingly hard.’ While there certainly is some truth to that, I don’t think it’s the right way to think about the games. Difficulty is high compared to many modern games, but I know more than a few casual gamers who picked up a Souls game as their first serious game and thrived. These are games that reward a curious mind ready to learn more than any game-hardened twitch reflexes.
I wanted to write to those of you who are now curious about the series but unsure as to where to begin. I think there are two great places to start depending on your needs and situation.
Dark Souls
Though not the first game in the series, Dark Souls is where everything really clicked into place. A more massive game than its predecessor, Demon Souls, Dark Souls really makes you feel lost in a massive world. The best way to describe it is almost as if someone had transposed a NES game into the 3d era. There is a feel from the early era of gaming that just throws you in and lets you figure out how to progress. There is the feeling of intentional sloppiness mixed in with the tightly curated world.
This is the starting point if you want the best of the pure Dark Souls games. Be prepared to be confused and confounded and be ready to be okay with that. The first moment Dark Souls clicked with me was the character creation screen. After making your character, you can choose a starting gift. At the bottom of the list is ‘Old Witch’s Ring’ and the only description of what it does is ‘Gift from a witch. Ancient ring with no obvious effect.’ I was shocked. No description of buffs or what it could unlock? What if it just actually does nothing? At this moment I was hooked.
The Witch’s Ring serves as a great microcosm to the game, intentionally obscure with amazing flavor and leaves a lot to be discovered if you take the time to do it.
If, however, you are easily frustrated and heard the anecdote about the Witch’s Ring and thought: that’s ridiculous and needlessly vague, then you might want to choose another game to dip into this world.
Bloodborne
Bloodborne is the fourth Soulsborne game to be produced and is, for now, a PS4 exclusive. The series begins an entire new lore separate from the souls series. It is also, in some ways, a boiled down experience. The fantastic gameplay and world design remain while the intricate levels of bafflement are greatly reduced. It can be seen as the formula boiled down to the essence. In that way it is the most accessible of all of them. There are far fewer stats, weapons, and items.
The gameplay is also faster and while the Souls series are primarily defense based, Bloodborne is all about the offensive. In a Souls game, the typical build involves defending with your shield until a moment comes to strike. Bloodborne does away with all this and asks you to attack fast and furiously.
Bloodborne is a fantastic game and a great place to get into this world.
Demon Souls
This is the starting point for the completionist. If you want to play every game in the order they were made and watch the series evolve, – then this is the starting point. But none of these games are short experiences, be ready to venture down a long road of hundreds of hours. Chances are if you are the type to want to play every one, then you’re already invested in the series.
Demon Souls does not achieve much that its successor didn’t build and improve upon, which is why, given the choice, Dark Souls makes more sense for me as a starting point.
The Others
Dark Souls 2 is the only game among them to not be directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the series creator. Given that, it doesn’t make sense as a starting place in my mind.
As for Dark Souls 3, this is the game that Miyazaki made after he went and did Bloodborne. It can almost be seen as a Dark Souls Bloodborne hybrid. The action is faster, though not as fast as Bloodborne and the obscurity is notched down from Dark Souls but not as far as it is in Bloodborne. In that sense, it is a mix of the two and given that it makes more sense for me to either choose Dark Souls or Bloodborne as a starting point.
I hope some of you are willing to take the plunge into the Soul series. Beyond giving me hours of excitement, they really have changed the way I think about video games. Though they provide a challenge, it is nothing insurmountable and with a little patience and dedication, you will feel right at home in this world. Salute the Sun!
