Dark Souls

by Namco

• Extremely Deep, Dark & Difficult - Unforgiving in its punishment, yet rewarding for the determined
• Explore a completely integrated world of dark fantasy where dungeons are seamlessly intertwined, with great height.
• Player success depends on their eventual mastery of how and when to use the magic spells, choice of armor
• Players may cross paths with one another, interacting with each other throughout the game even as each player plays their own game.
• As the player progresses, they must carefully choose which of their character's abilities to enhance as this will determine their progression style.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004NRN5DU
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 4, 2011
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (306 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #7 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Games > Action > Fighting

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360 | Edition: Standard

From the Manufacturer

Strategize and use your mind to conquer seemingly impossible challenges. View larger.

Live Through A Million Deaths & Earn Your Legacy
Enter a dark world filled with despair and threaded by hope where your ability to creatively strategize, learn and overcome unpredictable and unique challenges determines your fate. Dark Souls will demand your absolute concentration, unflinchingly punish your mistakes, but reward your ability to learn from death. Each challenge is a mind game met with endless combinations that will test your ability to creatively strategize a way to conquer unimaginable monsters and progress deeper into this bleak and forbidding environment filled with the un-dead.

Key Game Features

• Extremely Deep, Dark & Difficult – Unforgiving in its punishment, yet rewarding for the determined – learn to strategize freely and conquer seemingly impossible challenges. You will organically design your own gameplay style by developing your character and continuously trying different strategies to finally achieve successful progression.
• Fully Seamless World – Explore a completely integrated world of dark fantasy where dungeons are seamlessly intertwined, with great height.
• Mastery Earns Progression – Contains 60 hours of gameplay, with nearly 100 uniquely despair-inducing monsters & an incredibly nuanced weaponry & magic spells system, the effectiveness of which is determined by combat situation, fighting style and character attributes. Player success depends on their eventual mastery of how and when to use the magic spells, choice of armor, the number of weapons, the types of weapons, and the moves attached to the weapons.
• Network Play – Players may cross paths with one another, interacting with each other throughout the game even as each player plays their own game. Networked play allows users to cross paths with one another to enhance the single-player gameplay experience without destroying it.
• Flexible Character Development & Role Play – As the player progresses, they must carefully choose which of their character’s abilities to enhance as this will determine their progression style. Players can choose to play as a sword master and a wizard, for example.
• Community – See other real players and empathize with their journey, learn from seeing how others died, find and leave messages for your fellow players; helping them or leading them into death.
• Symbolic of Life & Hope – The Beacon Fire is an important feature of Dark Souls for many reasons. Though in gameplay it serves as a recovery and re-spawn point for players whose health gets low, it is also where players can emotionally share experiences with other players, and is the one place in the dark world where players can find a fleeting moment of warmth and calm.

Additional Screenshots:

Will your fellow peers steer you from evil...or lead you to them? View larger.

Cross paths seamlessly with other adventurers during Network Play! View larger.

Savor the few moments of warmth and calm in a world of darkness. View larger.

Explore a world of fantasy and evil lurking around every corner... View larger.

Product Description

Dark Souls (XBOX 360)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

105 of 114 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Epic game that requires time and effort October 24, 2011

By krazedant

Platform for Display:Xbox 360| Edition:Standard|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I found out about Dark Souls through one of my close friends who is an absolute Demon's Souls fiend. After reading all the previews and checking out the game play footage, I decided to buy this game and give it a try (and yes, I knew about the difficulty going in).

After spending about 10 hours on the game, I eventually decided to trade it in. Contrary to what most people are probably thinking (and before any of you Dark Souls fan boys start bashing me), I didn't trade it in because of the insane difficulty. I traded it in because I am a new father and after playing the game for about 10 hours, I knew I would not have the necessary time and effort needed to complete this epic game. If you are a dedicated gamer like my friend, I salute you. There were plenty of moments in this game that left me with a terrific sense of accomplishment after completing a certain area or defeating a certain boss (asylum demon, gargoyles, taurus demon, etc.), but in the end, this game just wasn't for me.

One word of advice to anyone who is considering purchasing this game and has not done any research on it... DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT buy this game if you are susceptible to gamer rage, or if you are prone to getting frustrated very easily. This is not the type of game you buy if you want to relax and take your stress away.

PROS
* The level of character customization is ridiculous. There are plenty of classes to choose from and plenty of weapons, armors, spells, rings, etc. to equip on your character throughout the game.
* The unique multi-player experience is second to none. The ability to read messages left by other players helps tremendously, not to mention the fact that you can summon another player to help you defeat a difficult boss....
* The world of Dark Souls is HUGE. There are a ton of areas to explore in this game. The graphics were superb in my opinion. The enemies looked great. And the music was tension-filled during boss battles.
* You really get a sense of accomplishment when you complete a certain area that you've been playing for a while, or you finally defeat a boss that has been giving you problems.

CON
* I would've given Dark Souls 5 stars if not for the fact that you lose all your souls if you die before reaching a bonfire. Yes, you can reclaim your lost souls if you make it back to the place where you died, but you only get one shot at it and the repetition of having to play the same area over and over again just kills it for me after a while. I just felt like it was a layer of difficulty that wasn't needed and doesn't add much to the overall experience of the game. I can deal with the challenging gameplay, the inability to pause the game, the limited number of bonfires, the dying after getting hit 2-3 times, etc. But I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to play an hour or two, collect thousands of souls, then lose it before reaching a save point. This is where "not having the necessary time and effort" comes into play.

So overall, would I recommend Dark Souls to someone? If they have patience, dedication, and are not prone to frustration, then hell yes I would recommend it. But if they are just looking to relax and get away from their everyday lives, then I would steer clear of this game. Read more ›

129 of 142 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Souls will consume yours October 9, 2011

By TMH

Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Edition:Standard

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I own both a PS3 and an Xbox 360 and my personal favorite type of game to play are RPGs, so when Demon's Souls Greatest Hits generated huge buzz upon it's release in 2009, I had to try it. Man, I'm glad I did because the game quickly became one of my all-time favorites. So, when the (sort of) sequel Dark Souls was announced, I knew I had to get it as well. Now, I went with the Xbox 360 version simply because I wanted the achievements for my Xbox gamer score, plus I just prefer Xbox Live over the PS3 Network. Both are great, but I just prefer the Xbox slightly. Now, on to the review...

This game, if given a chance, will consume you. You'll think about it constantly, think of ways to get better and will count the hours until you can play it again. Yes, it's difficult in the beginning. Most RPGs are, but this takes it to ridiculous levels of frustration at times. With that said, if you stick with it and level up I actual think it gets easier. However, some players may think it's too difficult, which is understandable. Everyone's tastes are different and if dying repeatedly and losing valuable souls forever that took you hours to accumulate doesn't sound like fun to you, then don't buy this game. I urge anyone on the fence about this one to rent it first. This is a unique gaming experience and it definitely wont appeal to everyone. I like it because I don't like to lose and when this game crushes my character with ease, I become all the more determined to pick up the controller and try again and achieve victory, because when you finally do, there's no better gaming experience!

Is there are story? Not really. Is it all just difficult combat? For the most part. Then what makes this game so special?... The experience, it's the ride man. It's all about starting out with a weak character in the beginning that gets squashed by just about every enemy it comes in contact with, but ending with a powerful character than can take out just about anyone with ease! That's what isn't being said enough about this game in my opinion. Everyone is focusing on how weak you are in the beginning, but trust me, you have the potential to become God like in this! The maximum level you can reach is level 792 (for the record, it will cost you 11,938,030 souls to reach level 792), but just reaching level 100 makes you incredibly powerful. There are an array of amazing weapons you can master that at first are so heavy that you'll literally swing them in slow motion, but once strong enough you can swing them with ease. There are rings like "The Evil Eye" ring (gives you HP from fallen opponents) that give you an advantage over any foe. There's armor like the "Armor of Thorns" you can earn that covers you in spikes so that when you roll into enemies you'll deal out damage to them! You can take ordinary weapons and enchant them with special powers and abilities. I could go on, but simply put this is an RPG and gaming experience you'll never forget... and I haven't even mentioned the online capabilities! In online mode, you can enter other player's games and help them fight demons and be a heroic figure or you can be evil and invade other player's games with the intent to assassinate them and rob them of their items and souls. If you do this, your name can be entered into an online book that will allow others to hunt you down and assassinate you in order to avenge the player you killed. Plus, you can leave messages for other players regarding key moments of the game that either help... or hurt them. It's a fascinating world and experience that I strongly urge everyone to at least try. Don't let all the talk about difficulty keep you away. Yes, it's tough, but it's not impossible or nearly as bad as people make it out to be (in my opinion) in other reviews. I defeated Maser Ninja mode on Ninja Gaiden II and that was a million times more difficult than this. The worst thing that can happen to you in this game is that when you die the first time, you leave a blood stain on the ground in the exact spot where you were killed and however many souls you had on you at the time are now in that blood stain. So, you restart at your last bonfire checkpoint with zero souls. If you want those souls back, you'll have to fight your way back to where your blood stain is located and touch it. This is easier said than done because all the enemies in that location that you previously killed have respawned, so you have to kill everyone again in order to get them back. And if you die again on your way to that blood stain... you can kiss those souls goodbye for good. The most souls I ever lost was in Demon's Souls, I once lost over 150,000. It was a real spirit breaker to say the least! The most I've lost playing this game is a little over 1,500. Souls are important because they're like money in the game. The more you have, the more you can level up, upgrade weapons, buy items, etc.. So, if you can deal with that potential loss, than you can handle this game.

Now, I want to give people that are new to this series some tips in playing this game, if you don't want any spoilers, than stop reading now, but if you want some valuable advice that will save you some potential mistakes early on, then please read...

Tip #1 - I've read a lot online on Dark Souls forums that people are attacking and killing the first merchant they come across in the game, don't do this! It's kind of easy to do, because he looks like one of your enemies, but don't harm him! He sells some very important and valuable items that are critical to your survival early on in the game. He's located in the Undead Burg, which I highly recommend you start your game in. After the crow cut scene at the end of the tutorial, the crow drops you off at the Firelink Shrine. The path to the Undead Burg is located up a long hill and the entrance is guarded by some undead soldiers, one of which is constantly tossing firebombs at you. Defeat these guys and head inside the tunnel with the undead rat. Kill him, walk down the tunnel and out onto the steps and your at the Undead Burg. You'll find the area to the merchant guarded by two lone undead soldiers both holding spears and shields. They're easy to spot because they're both standing far out on a landing by themselves. Defeat them and then destroy the wooden crates that's guarding the lower level entrance to the merchant. Kill the lone soldier in this room (he's hiding behind furniture... sometimes) and then head into the outdoor room. The undead merchant is sitting on the ground, just talk to him to start buying from him. He has a pretty good bow (don't bother using crossbows, you can't really aim them) and has a large selection of arrows too. Also, he sells firebombs which are very important. Stock up on these to easily kill the large knights you'll find scattered thru out the game (target them, toss a firebomb, back up, repeat... easy). All of the knights have a low level tolerance to fire, so burn them up!

Tip #2 - Never consume special souls! I've also read online where people have consumed the first Fire Keeper Soul they come across, which is early in the game. Don't do it! Instead, head back to the Firelink Shrine bonfire, head down the path next to the man who is sitting close to the bonfire and give the soul to Anastacia of Astora (she's the mute woman in the cell). She will upgrade your Estus Flask to +1. She will also upgrade the flask every time you send here a Fire Keeper Soul, so save them. By upgrading your Flask, each drink will give you more health. All of the unique souls you find in the game can be used to perform an upgrade or can be traded for something really cool, so never consume them. The only souls you should ever consume are the ones you find from dead humans in the game, and those should never be consumed until you're at a bonfire and ready to level up. For example, if you consume a hero's soul as soon as you find it, die and then fail to get your souls back from your blood stain, it's gone for good! So wait to consume them at bonfires only.

Tip #3 - Once you reach the blacksmith in the Undead Parish start upgrading your favorite weapon immediately! You can upgrade most weapons to level +5 using souls and titanite shards. Don't worry, if you haven't got any enemies to drop any titanite shards yet, the blacksmith sells them, and pretty cheap too. Do this asap! It will allow you to kill enemies way quicker than if you kept using standard weapons. To increase weapons past +5, or enchant them, it'll take more powerful stones and items that you'll find later in the game, but if you play Undead and Undead Parish in that order, you can easily reach the blacksmith and can start making +5 weapons. I would also upgrade my armor to as high as it will let you at this part in the game. Read more ›

56 of 65 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Skill and patience required October 5, 2011

By Timothy Himes

Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Edition:Standard

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

Dark Souls is an extremely demanding action RPG that requires a lot of practice and patience to progress. It's brilliant in many ways, it looks great, the combat is fast and responsive, and it will have huge appeal for hard-core gamers. I salute those of you who have the moxie and determination to master this game, but I'm afraid I don't.

After spending nearly eight hours on the first boss in Undead Burg, after doing the research, after grinding for levels and gear, I still can't manage it. I've come close twice (after nearly 20 attempts), but this game is just beyond my skill level. I'm a little older and have never been great at twitch games, so the blame is mostly mine. Just be aware of what kind of gamer you are and what you want out of a game before you harrow your soul with this game. You may end up weeping on the floor trying to unclench your dead fist from the controller. Good luck!

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything Gaming is About October 12, 2011

By Joshua H

Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Edition:Standard

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Dark Souls is a surprisingly fantastic game that is absolutely not for everyone. Some people are saying that this is a game that is even better than Skyrim will be, and some are saying that is is a terrible game. I believe that it is neither. Or both.

I was not inclined to like Dark Souls, and only picked it up on the insistence of a friend. I had heard about Demon Soul's brutal difficulty level and did not feel like starting a game that had the goal of killing the player over and over again. So against my better judgement I started playing Dark Souls. To my complete and utter shock, I was swept away into a dreary world of death, despair, and hope that produced in me a feeling that I haven't felt since I was a little child playing the original Zeldas for the first time.

Dark Souls's environment is completely awe-inspiring and pulls the player in. The storyline is utterly weak, and all of the enemies are unexplained and largely unknown quantities. However, instead of feeling like a confusing mess as one might expect, instead it produces a sense of wonder. The player doesn't know what fantastic creature is waiting around the corner (and there are brutally challenging enemies around literally every corner). For instance, after pillaging a key from a giant spellcasting butterfly I went into a dark tower where I was confronted by a short little creature with a giant hammer. I was intrigued and ran up to him, and was promptly squished flat in one blow. After about the seventh time of trying to beat him I finally did, and went into a lushly dark and moody forest, where I was promptly slaughtered by a hydra shooting bolts of death at me.

Death is the ranch dressing that Dark Souls pours liberally on this salad of nostalgic wonder.... I considered myself a decent game up to this point, but almost every new enemy manages to kill me at some point. It is not possible to die. You WILL die TONS playing this game. But through that death comes perseverance and hope. I thought that I would get super frustrated at the game and that my controller would end up through my TV, but I haven't felt like that. Every death just challenges me to do better. None of the fights seem cheap, just strategic. And you aren't alone on this journey of death and exploration.

The online integration is possibly the most thoughtful and effective that I've ever seen in a game. Players can leave messages for one another either helping or hurting their fellow players (NEVER follow the suggestions to jump off a cliff ;)), and players can be summoned into other worlds to help their fellow players with boss fights. But no meaningful communication is established (no use of mics), and all too soon the player is left to fight alone. But knowing that you are in a community of people who are experiencing the same joys and frustrations at you somehow adds so much more to the mood that the game sets.

I could go on for a long time about what this game means to me in terms of the nostalgic feeling that I used to get as a kid playing games that I've never been able to recapture until now, but suffice it to say that Dark Souls accomplishes everything that it wants to in this game. That being said, what it wants to accomplish will simply not please everyone.

This isn't a game for 'only pro gamers' to prove how great they are. This isn't a game for casual gamers just looking for a fun afternoon. This is a game selling an experience, not bragging rights (although they may come). This is not necessarily 'relaxing' to play, nor is it emotionally taxing. Rather, it is a complete escape into an undefined world that is what you want it to be. You will be beaten bloody and made to come back for more, but in the process you will start to overcome the challenges that killed you before and start to master the death that rules over the whole game. If you don't think you want a game this frustrating and (at times) unfulfilling, then this isn't for you. But I do recommend it to gamers who want to see what the gaming genre is capable of producing. This isn't a masterfully written epic, or a revolutionary system, but it is what games are meant to be, and as such can be extremely satisfying at times. Then you die again and have to take a break before you get too frustrated :)

Overall:
PROS:
Graphics are great, detail is stunning
Sound effects are very well done
The mood that the game creates is intoxicating and addictive

CONS:
Music is at times underwhelming
Game difficulty is brutally difficult and death is assured

This game is not for everyone. But it is for some people. If you're on the fence, I recommend borrowing it or renting it for a bit before committing to the purchase, just to see if it's for you. Hope this helps you make a decision. Read more ›