Profaned Capital

Preface Without a doubt, the Profaned Capital is the most context-dependent area in Dark Souls III. (DS3) With few relevant item descriptions compared to other areas and even a smaller relative map size, first impressions render it the most dubious portion of the game, with the most mysterious Lord. However, dig a little deeper, and […]

Shrine of Storms

Preface I was immediately intrigued by the Shrine of Storms based on aesthetics alone. Once I scratched the surface of this haunting aesthetic, I found the substance to the mystery wanting. But delving even more thoroughly into these layers left me intrigued once again. The story to this area may not be as complicated as […]

Alken & Venn

Preface When I first started working on this topic, I didn’t expect it to be as enamored with the subject as I ended up being. Alken and Venn are two kingdoms that have a very simple dynamic fleshed out to an absurd degree, comparable probably only to Drangleic itself. While their duality mostly plays out […]

Boletaria

Preface As the first castle map to lie at the core of a Souls setting, Boletaria could have easily been made just a generic medieval European-style kingdom. Instead, it became a deconstruction of that romantic image, setting the brutal tone for game Director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s first fantasy title. In fact, in terms of pure attention […]

The Monumentals

Preface At its core, Demon’s Souls is the story of a hero setting out to defeat the demon king, an all too common premise in modern Japanese fantasy. But it is easy for this thought to never cross the mind, in large part thanks to the underlying conflict between the Old One and the Monumental […]

Rosaria

Preface Rosaria being such a mysterious figure for most is perhaps for the best. The topic is, admittedly, difficult to stomach, even if it isn’t the first time that Dark Souls broached such subject matter. But get past a queasy gut and you are offered one of the series’ most provocative characters. Silent, repulsive, yet […]

Olaphis

Preface It is always fascinating to see how fantasy worlds incorporate magic into the setting. Dark Souls is rather mild in this regard, magical power, while ubiquitous, not seeing universal practice — it is only those relative few with the will and ability to manipulate the power all around them who earn that privilege. Even […]

Aldia

Preface Despite my public criticism of Dark Souls II in total, I can still recognize that Aldia is one of the best characters introduced into the franchise as a whole. He may not have as creative an appearance or backstory as Seath in the original Dark Souls, (DS1) but he nonetheless stands out among the […]

Demon’s Beginning

Preface What makes us human? What makes us not? Even though the world of Demon’s Souls is far less fantastical than the setting of its spiritual successor Dark Souls, it is no less fascinating due to how it revolves around such simple yet fundamental questions. Better still, the world is constructed so that we must […]

The Deep

Preface Aldrich, and the Deep in general, is an aspect of Dark Souls that I can’t help but be morbidly fascinated with. From a thematic standpoint, they provide a perfect response to questions posed in its predecessors. From a story standpoint, they add another major faction foreshadowing the underlying problems that we will be expected […]