Going Back to Dark Souls After Elden Ring

Last year, I played my first Souls game, Elden Ring. I made a few post highlighting my progress in the game and how I overcame the challenge and became the Elden Lord.

This was my first experience playing such a game, and I regretted not having played it sooner. Elden Ring quickly became one of my favourite games of all time. But once I defeated the final boss, I lost the motivation to play any further. But then I realised that I have a lot of other souls like games to try. I knew that Elden Ring is kind of an exception to the franchise for its open world nature, and not all of the other games will get me hooked as much as that one.

Playing Dark Souls

I started with the first one, the game that started it all, Dark Souls!

After playing for a while, I already have a lot to talk about it. There are so many things that are surprisingly easier in Elden Ring, and the age of the game shows in many ways.

While Elden Ring is a massive open world title with a lot to explore, the world of Dark Souls is much more tight and carefully constructed, reminding me of the old Resident Evil games with each room utilised to the maximum.

This can cause a lot of difficulty early, as you may not have too many options and have to take on a difficult boss without the ability to get better weapons and armour from somewhere else, like in Elden Ring. This may not be a bad thing, and I loved the increased difficulty at the start.

(But whoever put the Capra Demon in that close arena with two dogs, I curse your soul.)

Better ignore the graphics

Elden Ring has a detailed environment, dynamic lighting and weather with a massive open world and draw distance, along with some of the most beautiful landscapes you can find in a game. But Dark Souls didn't age well. In terms of graphics, it looks much older than 2011 graphics. So many areas are too dark lol. (I know they made 'dark' souls, but still, add some light brothers, I feel like my eyesight has degraded further after playing it, especially the darker areas like Blighttown and Depths.

The Anor Londo area is kind of an exception to it. It was one of my favourite places in the game because of how good it looked, and the architecture was massive and gave the Elden Ring vibes.

Combat and Controls

I can see how the combat system of Elden Ring didn't change much from Dark Souls.

I was expecting the combat to completely suck. It did for some parts, like how slow and sluggish the combat felt, but some things, like perring, were super satisfying. And I think the bow can break the game in a few places. I took every advantage of it.

The stamina management is much more important in this, and I later found out that if you have to dodge roll fast, you have to be lower than 50% of your max weight. That is a bit harsher than Elden Ring, but some items can increase that equip load and make things work.

I also noticed that blocking with shields is much more effective in Dark Souls. But I hated the durability of armour and weapons in the game. Good thing they got rid of that.

Camera Control: A challenge in itself

One of the worst things about older games is their horrible camera movement. The way it gets awkwardly placed when you go through tight corridors and narrow staircases. The lock on system is a bit challenging when you are fighting multiple enemies. Nothing unplayable, but clearly the remnants of an old game.

Difficulty: The biggest surprise

I was expecting it to be much harder than Elden Ring. But my experience has been a bit different.

Sure, it had some horrible runbacks, really annoying bosses and infrequent bonfires that make it hard, but the enemy patterns are not as bad as I thought. Almost every enemy gives you enough time to prepare against their attack. They have patterns that can be easily learned, and how shields are effective against many attacks; it is not that bad.

But some areas are much harder than others. So many things are unexplained, and some mechanics are much more punishing, like the curse system that can mess with you so much until you find a way to remove that curse.

The bonfires in Dark Souls are less frequent as well. And worse, one of the main bonfires, the Firelink Shrine, can get extinguished, and that will make you suffer for more than half of the game. I know there is a way to save it at the start, but for a blind playthrough, it is almost impossible to save it.

Firelink Shrine reminds me of my favourite aspect of Dark Souls. The level Design! The way a lot of areas are interconnected in this game is amazing. I remember being pleasantly surprised each time I looped back to Firelink Shrine. My mind was blown a few times when I thought that I had gone far, but ended up in Firelink Shrine again. What an interconnected world they made; it is not easy at all.

I am enjoying it a lot. There are occasional frustrating parts, or long runbacks, which I hate, but overall, it has been a blast. Even small victories feel very satisfying. Maybe that's why people love these challenging games? If it were easy, why would it feel special and satisfying to progress... right?

Have you played these types of games? Let me know how you compare and contrast them.