A unique game and an instant classic, Dark Souls is a game oozing with atmosphere and challenges. What Dark Souls seems to stand out in is environmental storytelling, the environments you inhabit are well designed in terms of connectivity, ambience, and especially lore. The lore is told through implications with casual NPC dialogues and item descriptions which help the player connect the laws and relationships of a rich world. This boon however comes shorthand into the one main issue with Dark Souls which that there is no story. It is mostly a disconjointed series of events reliant on atmosphere but that atmosphere is so excellent it creates an entirely unique experience. An interesting mechanic of DS is death, upon which all of your unspent experience points are left at the area you died and you respawn at a save point which the opportunity to reclaim your points, however dying again nullifies your points entirely. This leads to a gameplay style that is ‘High-Risk, High-Reward’ which is compounded by unpredictable enemy behaviour, booby traps, difficulty spikes, and a clunky combat system. There is a thrill of exploring the unknown and also knowing that you could lose everything if you’re not careful. It is also one of the few games where dying becomes an incentive rather than a deterrent to continue playing, which is a fundamental difference which should not be understated.