This was originally posted on the now-defunct Random Fury! videogame blog.
While the credits were rolling in the last of my Dark Souls videos, I mentioned that Dark Souls was like a mature Zelda. I did have a whole host of other things to talk about related to that topic, but as I was not expecting that video to be the final one, I was not prepared. Well, I am prepared now, so start reading.
When you are a child, life is black and white. It’s the good guys versus the bad guys. It’s full of definites and absolutes. As you get older, more mature, life becomes grey. Several shades of grey. Definites become maybes. Absolutes become wishy-washy possibilities. And this is how I see Dark Souls in relation to the Legend of Zelda series. It is not just the obvious visual elements that I observe as being more mature in Dark Souls. Sure, the visuals are more child-like and cartoony in Zelda, and they are more visceral and realistic in Dark Souls, but it goes deeper than that.
It all stemmed from an observation I made when trying to battle my way through skeletons in a graveyard, an area which is a mere stones throw from the starting area in the game. Well, here’s the first analogy, actually. In life, when you are young you do as you are told, you follow the path. Similarly, in Zelda you tackle areas in the order prescribed by the developers. As an adult you have choices. In Dark Souls you have choices. You can take the easy road, up towards the castle-like structure with relatively easy enemies to fight and bumper rewards, or go into the graveyard and fight unforgivingly fast skeletons who don’t take turns in attacking you, and give up next to nothing when killed. Or even better/harder, go down into the dank, dark and flooded ruins of an old city, with slippery, narrow walkways and full of ghostly enemies that under normal circumstances you can’t even hit. Choices.
So these skeletons were tough, and not rewarding me much upon their death. But I persevered, and went deeper, into The Catacombs. Now, down here the skeletons don’t perish once you’ve hacked their health bars to zero – if the necromancer that controls them is still alive, then they re-animate. You could, in theory, soldier on through the seemingly infinite skeleton hordes and kill the necromancers (you do, of course, have choices), and eventually succeed. Or, you could find a certain ember (which is a magical artefact that blacksmiths in this world use to create powerful weapons), which adds a Holy attribute to a weapon of your choice. What does this Holy attribute do? Well, it stops necromancers from reviving their skeletons. You can see why that helps.
But still, it is not a definite, binary, black and white system. In a Zelda game, your progress would be blocked outright unless you had a certain trinket, maybe a hookshot to nab far away items or a suit that enables you to breathe underwater. In Dark Souls it is a muddy grey. You can have the ember and have a crack at the area, or you could not have it, it’s up to you. You could temporarily absorb the curse of a disembodied arm which would allow your massive sword to physically affect the ghosts down in New Londo Ruins, or you could run past them and hope they eventually give up chasing you. Nah, who am I kidding, if you try that last one then you’re a dead man.
It’s not just that one example, Dark Souls is littered with mechanics that just seem like they’ve been lifted from a Zelda game and left to mature for 10-15 years. If you find and open a treasure chest in Zelda, you get a jingle and guaranteed loot. If you find a treasure chest in Dark Souls, it is considered a good idea to swipe at it first to make sure it is actually a treasure chest and not a lanky creature that disguises itself like a treasure chest and snaps shut on anyone who opens it, resulting in a swift death. On your travels around Hyrule, you are likely to spot walls that look a bit cracked and weak – try the obvious and put a bomb in front of them and they crumble, revealing a shortcut or a nice new bit of kit. There are similar walls in Lordran, and they are less hassle than the ones in Hyrule to open, all you need do is hit them once with any weapon. Thing is, they are completely indistinguishable from the regular walls around them. Both games feature doors that are unmistakable and lead to a boss – only in Dark Souls, sometimes they don’t. They just instil fear in you that you are about to fight a boss.
And one final titbit, both games feature pots or barrels that can be broken. Nearly every single item smashed in Zelda results in some currency, ammunition or some other consumable item. In Dark Souls you rarely get anything for smashing these inanimate objects – Just a little bit of therapeutic satisfaction, a mess on the floor. And if that’s not just like being a grown up in real life, I don’t know what is.
