Dark Souls has been quite the journey thus far; my soujourn as an undead warrior has been laden with traps completely capable of killing me outright and enemies who are far better equipped than I feel I will ever be. Yes, I have died a lot—as the game box advertised that I surely would—but with each death I feel as if I’ve been imbued with a greater knowledge of my enemies and my surroundings. In a game more about survival than conquest, preparation has proven a more effective weapon than a broadsword ever has.

Like its PS3-only predecessor Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls feels difficult because it does things that normal games don’t do. Mean things. Like, things that normal games might think about doing, but then never end up actually doing because they’d feel guilty and remorseful afterwards. You know, things like giving regular enemies near one-hit KO levels of strength and impenetrable defensive stances, or taunting you with empty treasure chests after you’ve ventured for hours to reach them, or rigging treasure chests to kill you when you open them and providing you with absolutely no discernible clues that you are about to meet your untimely demise yet again. 

All of these things have happened to me on more than one occasion, but they don’t occur as frequently anymore because I’ve learned from the repeated punishment. Dark Souls is not shy about being its own game, and it forces you to adapt your play style if you’re going to survive. Like I said before, it only feels difficult because of preconceived notions of how RPGs should behave, and this game is anything but conventional. But there’s good news: for every dubious act the enemies have done unto me, I’ve done something equally diabolical unto them, like kicking them off cliffs to quickly reap their souls, or causing bosses to plummet to their deaths when they still had over three quarters of their HP.

Often I’ve noticed that I’ve resorted to veritable scheming in a desperate effort to try and progress through certain parts of the game, and it feels like From Softwave have preordained my nefarious machinations and made them possible, if not absolutely correct. It’s as if this is how they want players to wade through their game. The slow-paced melee combat requires so much strategy that it feels more like a mind game than an exercise of timing or brute strength. Every area shelters enemies that are jacked up with elemental and damage resistances and outputs to the point that you’ll need different gear wherever you go. And I hope you are navigationally inclined like a fucking oceanic mariner, because there is absolutely no map in this game; out of necessity I have committed to memory every area I’ve explored, which makes me feel incredible given the size of the world.

On paper—or in this case, digital medium—this appears to be nothing more than a collection of features that I would list if someone asked me to describe the bad aspects of a game I liked that I wish I could change. Yet somehow, when all simultaneously present on one disc, the list becomes a gargantuan mountain that players can scale, and while the ascent may be sandpaper-dickingly difficult, the view from atop one of the game’s many peaks and zeniths is gorgeous, rewarding, and immensely satisfying. Dark Souls is great if you have the patience to adapt your play style and give all of what it asks of you; if you’re prone to throwing controllers and rage-quitting, however, you may want to just hold out for Skyrim.

Also, try jumping…