Brandon Sandersonhas a lot of opinions when it comes to video games, which should come as no surprise to fans of his work. One particular franchise that he has nothing but good things to say about is the iconic Soulsborne universe ofDark Souls, which he discusses at some length in various interviews and discussions on his YouTube channel.
In one particular interview of his ongoing Five Favorites segment on Sanderson’s officialYouTubechannel, Sanderson says that the level of world-building inDark Soulsis simply unmatched. According to Sanderson, “you could never have done this in a book,” he says, and he backs up his argument by pointing to the environmental storytelling aspects and grand scale of theDark Soulsuniverse that is built across multiple games.
Sanderson Applauds The Scale Of Dark Souls' World-Building
Author’s Love Of Dark Souls Is About “How They Do The Lore”
As Sanderson sits down with esports legend Travis Gafford, they discuss their five favorite game worlds and dive into their rationale for choosing each one. Sanderson’s #4 pick is theDark Soulsuniverse, and he highlights that it only obtained that place because he enjoys"how they do the lore, rather than the lore itself"inDark Souls.
This makes a lot of sense from a “Sandersonian” perspective, as he tends to love games thatdeliver story and world-building in unique ways.However, thelore inDark Soulsis infamously nebulous and hard to decipher most of the time, despite being incredibly interesting and enchanting for players during gameplay.
As Sanderson points out,Dark Soulsdoes world-building unlike any other franchise, and it happens on a massive scale. He emphasizes that they come up with"lots of cool iterations on the same idea if you play through the whole series.“When looking at theDark Soulsuniverseacross multiple games, Sanderson appreciates how each game"lends a cool weight to how this world is falling.”
Sanderson also gets excited over the fact that playingeach game in the series has callbacksto the previous entries, stating,“I love playing [Dark Souls 2] and finding the references to 1, and I love playing 3 and finding the references to 2 and 1.”
Sanderson Prefers Dark Souls To Elden Ring When It Comes To World-Building
Sanderson Has A Deep Appreciation For Soulsbornes
While Sanderson definitely has a deep appreciation for all things Souls-related,he opted for theDark Soulsuniverse overElden Ringwhen it comes to world-building, which is somewhat surprising given the depth of lore and massive scale of theElden Ringuniverse.
This is not to say thatDark Soulsdoesn’t have equal depth in its lore and world-building, however. It seems thatSanderson prefers the more drawn-out aspects ofDark Souls’lorethat occur across multiple games as opposed to the lore established in a more “concise” experience inElden Ring.
It’s hard to compare the two when it comes to world-building, as they are similar in many ways but also incredibly unique.Dark Soulsdraws connections across thousands of yearsbetween games and embeds the player in the process of time passing (assuming they play each entry), whileElden Ringis only able to imply this sense of time passing with references to its history from the present state of the world.
Sanderson’s preference forDark Souls’world-building overElden Ring’sstems from the variance in gameplay and thesense of connection across games.Dark Soulshas the benefit of three different games to establish its depth of lore, whereas Elden Ring must rely on itself and theShadow of the Erdtreeexpansion to reach that same depth.
Dark Souls Tells Its Story Across Thousands Of Years
Time Is An Integral Part Of The Larger World-Building In Dark Souls
As Sanderson continues discussing his love forDark Souls, he mentions the grand scale of its world-building and the"hundreds or thousands of years"that pass between games,“and even the names have been lost to time,“addinga profound sense of realismto how the universe and lore would evolve.
The significance of this time passing isan integral part of theDark Soulsexperiencewhen looking at each of the games in the series and how each one builds on the previous game’s established lore. EachDark Soulsentry"reinforces the idea that everything is going downhill, and it’s been going downhill"for thousands of years.
Quite simply,Dark Soulsdoes world-building on an epic and incredible scale thatno other game can truly emulate, and as Sanderson puts it,“it just lands.“If you weren’t convinced already thatSanderson is a huge Souls fan, his comments here should do the trick.
TheDark Soulsuniverse is a prime example of how world-building can be done in unique and innovative ways in video games, and it’s a reminder that it’s not always dependent on a deliberate and straightforward storytelling experience. Sanderson’s love forDark Soulsstems from this amazing world-building, and it’s a testament to the novel approach to storytelling in the epic dark fantasy franchise.
