As anyone who follows me on twitter will know I have been trying to get my friend to play Dark Souls. A game I firmly believe to be one of the most involving and immersive experience ever created and one of my all time favourites.Unfortunately Dark Souls is a game which you have to find the love for, or to be more precise you have to hate it until you realise you love it (it is kind of like a romantic comedy character in that respect). Unfortunately so many people (like I did the first time I tried it), don’t get past the hate to get to the love.

So a few recommendations (not spoilers) for a new Dark Souls player. The first being that you will die, a lot. And sometimes you will get annoyed, or maybe even angry. This is a natural part of the process and is understandable. So at this times take a little break, perhaps put some whale songs on and relax. Trust me the itch to play it won’t go away.

Don’t be afraid to grind a few levels, I know that goes completely contrary to everything I believe, but in Dark Souls it is fairly essential. And Dark Souls is unique in that grinding still requires your full attention. Even if you are just grinding a few mobs, if you lose focus then the game will kill you. I guess that sort of applies to the game as a whole. This is not the sort of game you can play whilst you have one eye on a tv show.

Explore. There are lots of hidden passages and goodies to find and that is partly what the online messages are for (when they aren’t suggesting you jump of ledges that will kill you). There is a story to Dark Souls but it never lays it out for you, much like it never lays out the route you should take. It always equally rewards and punishes you for being adventurous. Which I suppose is where my final piece of advice comes in. Fight the urge to look stuff up on the internet. This, probably above any other game, it about learning how to overcome your obstacles. I was always learning about the world and the enemies, and there is undoubtedly stuff I have missed.

Now go and enjoy the the best rpg most people are too afraid to play.

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