I’ve
mentioned my love for Dark Souls before, so it shouldn’t be a major surprise
that out of all the things in the universe for me to revisit, I would choose
this game first. Luckily, this week it will just be one week, and instead of investigating
how an area makes the player feel horrible, it will be how one area manages to
stick out as something incredible. People who have already played the game can
probably infer by now that I’m talking about the triumphant journey through the
area of Anor Londo. Yeah, they probably spent a month or two getting pelted to
death by Silver Knight arrows, but ignoring that one narrow walkway of unending
despair, it usually ends up on many players’ favorite areas list. Today I
wanted to take a look at a bit of whatever lightning From Software caught in a
bottle to make an area that stands out so much.
The
first thing about Anor Londo is the way it is introduced. At the start of the
game, all players know is that they need to ring two bells and then something
will happen. After the harrowing journey to ring both, the gate is opened to
the imposing Sen’s Fortress, a vertical, trap-filled monstrosity. Most new players
will have no idea they’re only halfway through Dark Souls, they think that
having done the objective they were given the end is near. So after conquering
Sen’s Fortress, discovering the massive city of Anor Londo is a big surprise.
Dark Souls isn’t a game that uses cutscenes often, but it uses one to introduce
you to the glorious city of Anor Londo. After beating the boss of Sen’s
Fortress, there seems to be nowhere to go, but you find a strange circle of
light on the ground. Upon interacting with it, a group of winged beasts
assaults you, which players naturally assume is some kind of bad thing. But
instead, they lift the player up and begin carrying them up over a massive
wall. When you get your first glimpse over the wall, it’s an amazing sight.
Dark Souls has so far been, well, dark, but now you see a sprawling city with
an enormous cathedral, all basked in the glow of bright sunlight. Such an
experience and dramatic introduction sets Anor Londo up as an important
location and already helps it stick out in the player’s mind.
There
are many things about Anor Londo itself that could contribute to how memorable
it is, and we’re going to look at all of them to try to reverse engineer the
secret sauce that makes thing stick out well. Perhaps part of it is the area’s
variety. As you progress through the area, you start with a tough encounter
with a big gargoyle before finding yourself treading across the rickety rafters
of a church while fighting hooded cultists where the real threat is getting knocked
off to your death. Then you return outside as you look for a route into the
city’s imposing cathedral, and once you’re in, all of a sudden the focus is on
exploration as you navigate the different rooms, fighting knights and finding
secrets before ending with a big boss battle. Anor Londo keeps changing things
up to make sure it never becomes dull. Areas in the game that aren’t as
memorable are the ones that feel samey and never really mix things up. In this
game’s Tomb of the Giants, for example, you simply walk around on stone paths
in the dark, fighting various skeletons and things very rarely change except
for one room before the boss. The extremely hated upper Blighttown is much the
same way. The entire area is on suspended wooden platforms, and the only
variety provided comes from a few stone structures. Although, as I stated in my
previous Dark Souls analysis, this is on purpose so that upper Blighttown feels
like some never-ending trudge. While Blightown is remembered for just how much
people hate it, areas that want to make it on someone’s favorite list should
probably strive for the variety that keeps them engaging.
The
area’s boss battle certainly also helps Anor Londo stick out in player’s minds
as well. The boss, the fearsome duo of Ornstein and Smough, is both one of the
toughest and most well designed fights in the game. Many players find
themselves stuck on this duo for days or weeks, and they serve as the big test
to see if both you as a player and your character in the story are fit to
proceed to the rest of the game. Even without the fact that the boss and area
are well-designed, the pure repetition and time spent in the area that comes
from being stuck on a boss for so long would make players remember the area,
even if it’s just “ugh, that’s where I got my face pounded into the dirt for
six hours straight by that one boss.” But since a lot of game’s aren’t Dark
Souls, and most games can’t expect their players to put up with a boss for so
long like Dark Souls can, our takeaway from this probably shouldn’t be that pushing
players up against an impossible difficulty spike helps make areas more
memorable. Despite being so hard, the boss is also a fan-favorite, and this
most certainly comes from the boss’ design. Ornstein and Smough are the game’s
first, and only, real duo fight. Yes you have to fight two gargoyles during the
Bell Gargoyle fight, but it’s just two of the same enemy and unlike Ornstein
and Smough, the fight isn’t based entirely around the duo mechanic. Ornstein is
small and very fast; he darts around the arena with quick spear jabs and will
almost always be hunting you down. Smough, on the other hand, is the polar
opposite. He is slow and gargantuan, but his giant hammer hits like a truck if you
let him hit you with it. Having to manage these two opposite threats at the
same time makes it such a satisfying and tricky fight. That’s just a tangent
about why the boss is great, but I can’t talk about Anor Londo without
mentioning the dynamic duo at least a little. Of course, this great boss fight
also helps the area’s memorability. First, quality content just helps make an
area good. An area is nothing except for the content that it’s made of, so the
more interesting and memorable encounters you can put into an area, the more
interesting and memorable it will be. That is probably the most obvious thing that
could be said, so slightly more nuanced is the boss’ placement, both in the
level and in the game itself. Dark Souls is a pretty open game, although there
is an intended path through the early game, you’re free to explore a lot of
different areas nonlinearly at that point. Once you beat this boss, the game
really opens up and you begin exploring the four corners of the map however you
choose for you end objective. But the stretch from Sen’s Fortress to Anor Londo
is a funnel. The only way to progress in the game is by beating these areas,
you cannot get around it or put it off for later. This funnel structure acts as
a sort of climax as you’re pushed to this one fight and it must be conquered if
you are to progress. The climactic nature of this battle just serves to elevate
its position in the player’s memory. The boss battle also, of course, gives the
individual area a definitive climax and ending. The ending of an area will be a
player’s freshest memories of the area when they look back at it. So a good ending
to an area can shine the whole thing in a positive light, while a bad ending to
even a good area can put a damper on it on the player’s mind. And along with
that, Ornstein and Smough is also the only boss of its kind in the game, and
that uniqueness also helps it stick out and make for a good conclusion.
In
fact, that uniqueness doesn’t just help make Ornstein and Smough good, it’s
actually the primary factor that makes all of Anor Londo so memorable.
Everything in the area stands out from the rest of Dark Souls in some way, and
I think that’s the main thing this area does to stick out so much. For starters
there is the visual design. The world of Dark Souls is crumbling and falling
apart, and this can be seen everywhere. All the areas you explore are either
ruined fortresses, or dark and claustrophobic caves and underground chambers.
Anor Londo is the polar opposite. There is not a hint of decay in sight.
Everything, from the big picture to the individual textures, is polished
and perfect. You won’t find cracked bricks or overgrown vines, and even all the
buildings in the distance are completely untouched by age or wear. The bright
sunlight that coats the entire area helps too. The rest of the game has some
pretty dim lighting, but Anor Londo is bright, and, once again, the only area
to be this way. Besides that, all the enemies in Anor Londo are wholly unique. The
player hasn’t seen them before and they won’t see them again outside of the
city. The undead soldiers and brutish abominations you’ve fought before are
gone. The only enemies here are regally armored giants, those weird winged things
that carried you in, prestigious silver knights, and robed cultists in the
church. And notably, they too lack the feeling of decay the rest of the enemies
in the game have. The knights and giants all have perfectly functional armor
and weapons, a huge contrast from the hollow knights in the rest of the game
that wield broken and old equipment and armor. The cultists attack smoothly and
like a normal human would, nothing beastly or messed up about them. Anor Londo
is distinct and separate even just physically from the rest of the world.
Everywhere else in the game you can reach by walking, but to get to Anor Londo,
you have to be lifted high over a giant wall, to the top of the world. The area
feels prestigious and unique because of this, like you can’t just walk to Anor Londo, you have to be
carried in by a monster taxi service, and the fact that the area isn’t
connected at all to the rest of the world makes it feel important and unique.
The average player probably won’t notice all of these details when they are
just playing the game, but they all subconsciously do a lot to make Anor Londo
feel distinctly different than the rest of the game. And even if they can’t put
a finger on it, it helps make the area stick out in their mind, and makes it
real easy to distinguish from the rest of the game.
All
of these points may have seemed pretty obvious, and there are a lot of things
you can do to make an area feel memorable that aren’t listed here. But by
analyzing what Anor Londo did right, we can see what things we can do to help
our own areas, or if you aren’t into making games, you can at least have a
greater understanding of how much went into making the area what it is. It’s
important to remember though that you can’t try to do this for every area in a
game. Just like how every scene in a movie, book, or game, every area can’t be
the kind of unique and special level that these techniques would help you make.
Yes we all dream of the perfect game where every level is wholly unique and
memorable, and that is achievable to some extent, but if you try to ramp up
every level as the most memorable and important one in the same way, then there
will be nothing for them to stick out against.
Key
Takeaways:
- Do whatever you can to make sure an area that you wanted to be important is introduced in an important and unique way. By cutscene, buildup, spectacle, or mechanics, do something so that the beginning of your area lets players know they’re in for something unique and memorable.
- Areas that you really want to stick out in player’s minds can’t be areas they get tired of. Switch up structure, location, and actions to keep the area from feeling dull, and be sure to never overstay your welcome.
- If you want your area to be looked back upon fondly, make sure it ends with a high note. The ending of an area will be the freshest memory a player has once done with an area, and it will shape the way they look back on the rest of the area.
- An area that has both a strong beginning and ending will feel complete and be easily remembered. A strong beginning will hook players in and a strong closing will let them leave feeling satisfied, both of which will help players remember your area.
- Most of all, a memorable area must contrast the rest of the game. You must stay true to your game, but use contrast in every little detail, both in the area you’re trying to make unique and in the rest of the game, to send a message that this one area is completely unique.
And of course, if you
have something you’d like to add, whether supporting what I said or arguing
against it, share it in the comments below. I’d love to hear your feedback and
I love discussing game design.
Also, starting in August (so basically next
week), I’m going to be testing out a slight shift in content. Instead of
choosing one game design topic and then finding an area that represents it (or
vice versa), I’m going to attempt to go through an entire game, doing kind of
like what I did with my two part Dark Souls series, analyzing the level design
and discussing shifts, changes, progression, and just general design. I will be
trying this out for however long it takes me to get through Super Metroid, so
if you’re a fan of that game, be on the lookout, and I’ll see how it goes. As
much as I enjoy the variety of this format, quite frankly everyone and their
mother does analyses this way and it makes it hard for me to not just copy what
someone else already said, or to find a topic and game that hasn’t already been
covered. I know I don’t really have a “reader base” at this point to even warn
about this, but I’m announcing it anyways just so anyone who may be reading can be aware.
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