The Bombastic and Sinfully Sweet Dark Souls Soundtracks

Two years ago I was suggested by a childhood friend to try and play a game that is called Dark Souls not really knowing what the game was about or how difficult that game was. Little did I know that this game, which would turn into a series, was one of the most challenging games to be released in current day video game market place. After a few attempts with the game, I finally told myself I need to actually fight through this game and beat it and after my 80 hour play through I fell in love with this game and would for the series. 

The Dark Souls series was created by Japanese based developer From Software in the October 2011 to critical acclaim, but not high sales numbers. There are a total of three Dark Souls games with the most recent one Dark Souls III releasing Tuesday April 12, 2016.Dark Souls games are action RPG games with a fantasy setting and famous for their large and interconnected worlds, very distinct controls and challenging bosses. This is a game that take patience and a calm mind. You can not just pick up the game and be the best at it you need to find your own play style. 

Throughout all three of the games in the Dark Souls series the composer Motoi Sakuraba has worked on them all. Sakuraba has worked in many different mediums including video games, anime, films and progressive rock albums as well. Most of Dark Souls music is made by orchestras and choirs. When it comes to music in Dark Souls it is only used in two parts of the game. One of the parts is when you are in the safe home base of the game and the other part is when fighting the intense and crazy bosses. I will be pulling songs from each game in the series that are my favorite and how they work for the boss.

The first song I will be talking about is the first boss in the game Dark Souls that I was stuck on for hours upon hours and that would be the "Bell Gargoyles". As you climb your way to the roof of a church you are then attack by a gargoyle and the boss fight begins. If you manage to get the gargoyle to half then another gargoyle will fly on to the roof and start to attack you as well. The music for this fight just explodes at you as soon as the fight begins you keep you on edge and ready to dodge and roll. The music has a heavy choral theme throughout the whole song playing on the church roof setting. I heard this song time and time and time again during the fight it still haunts me to this day, but I will always remember it for that reason tho and that is why it has a special place in my heart.

I will talk about one more song from the first Dark Souls game and that is played during the "Great Grey Wolf Sif" boss fight. In this fight you fight a giant grey wolf that wields a sword in it mouth to attack. The fight is mandatory in the game to obtain a ring that you need later which makes the fight that much more of an emotional fight because throughout the fight the more you hit Sif the more the wolf starts to limp and show his pain. The music of the fight completely fits this haunting idea of fighting a wolf that can show the fact that it is injured and make the player feel bad for what they do. The music is slower with another choral theme that adds a haunting sound to the battle.

The next song will talk about is from the second game Dark Souls II during the boss fight "The Rotten". The Rotten is a great boss in the game that is a large pile of corpses that turns into one person that fights. This boss is very gross and is dangerous. The Rotten's theme is very creepy and mysterious with sour notes and always building and swelling string instruments. 

The last song I will be talking about is from the new Dark Souls III and so far the only boss have beaten "Iudex Gundyr." Iudex is the first boss and a test to make sure that your skills are in check to progress. Iudex is a giant stone man that fights will a long range weapon and who will transform into a monstrosity for the last 50 percent of his health. The theme is classic Dark Souls epic boss music. Sadly I killed the boss before the whole song could play so I had to listen to it on the CD later.   

Dark Souls stands out in the gaming community now because of the challenge in the game and only the brave and patience will survive until the end. All of the soundtrack are available on Youtube and able to purchase on Amazon or iTunes. Thanks for reading.