While “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” won my Game of the Year in 2011, there was another role-playing game I passed up that year for simply being too difficult. A game that was so unforgiving and tense, it has been dubbed one of the most difficult games of this console cycle. That game is “Dark Souls” developed by From Software and published by Namco Bandai.

I patiently waited for the price to decrease. I didn’t want to spend the full $60 on a game and stop playing, because I wouldn’t have been able to complete it. So I studied it and learned from the failures of others as I watched several different walkthroughs on YouTube. The preparation I did before playing “Dark Souls” was staggering and had not done for any other game before it. The game enticed me not with its difficulty, but with its unique dark fantasy art design and deep, rich hidden story. As a screenwriter in training, “Dark Souls” shows the player, rather than telling in cut scenes, a deep world that is ripe for exploration and discovery.

Then came the day where I owned “Dark Souls,” and it was unlike any other game I have ever played. Much like “XCOM: Enemy Unknown,” “Dark Souls” punishes foolish mistakes and hasty actions. One minute you’ll feel powerful slaying the weaker soldiers, and then you will come upon one of the many unique fights that “Dark Souls” has to offer. Even if I painted the most vivid picture of a dragon split in half with thousands of rows of teeth down the center or a half-woman/half spider that vomits lava, the image still wouldn’t register in your brain. “Seeing is believing” as the old adage goes. see more