warragh's review
3.0
Dark Souls is a franchise which has some very distinct themes outside of its gameplay elements. It uses a lot of strange dialogues, the story is muddled and ambiguous, the worlds are decaying, the characters slowly going mad. Its presentation is rather unique and so any property bearing this name will have a very hard time reproducing the atmosphere of a Souls game.
Starting with the good, the art is amazing. The designs are very well made and most of the time manage to evoke the Souls style very well. The enemies look impressive and menacing although maybe not very original. I'm not an artist so I can't talk about how natural the postures are or how realistic the anatomy or other technical details, all I can say is that my eyes were happy with the pretty pictures.
Unfortunately this is where the good things stop and everything goes into mediocrity. The dialogue feels very forced and unnatural. It feels like it was written by someone who watched a few videos of Dark Souls characters talking and just added some old english words here and there. The structure of the comics is also very linear and disappointing. The main character talks a bit, walks a bit, fights a Boss then the comic ends. It's not bad per se, but just bland.
Finally, the Dark Souls connections. How much of Dark Souls is in this? Well, not much. There are some characters seemingly from the games but without any explanation of what they're doing here. The kingdom in which the action takes place doesn't seem to be part of any place referenced in the games. Chronologically it appears to take place after Dark Souls 1 but it's impossible to say. The author has tried to insert some of the themes of Dark Souls in here, but like the dialogue it feels forced and out of place. It's like someone read a short summary about what Dark Souls is about, inserted some reference to flames and a curse and called it a day. Again, not exactly bad, but bland.
I didn't pick this up with any kind of expectation and so I was neither impressed nor disappointed. It is a difficult franchise to transpose into a comic and the result was to be expected. It tries to do some fan service but it just falls on its face. My advice, ignore the title and just read it like a random fantasy comic. And don't forget to look at the pretty pictures.
Starting with the good, the art is amazing. The designs are very well made and most of the time manage to evoke the Souls style very well. The enemies look impressive and menacing although maybe not very original. I'm not an artist so I can't talk about how natural the postures are or how realistic the anatomy or other technical details, all I can say is that my eyes were happy with the pretty pictures.
Unfortunately this is where the good things stop and everything goes into mediocrity. The dialogue feels very forced and unnatural. It feels like it was written by someone who watched a few videos of Dark Souls characters talking and just added some old english words here and there. The structure of the comics is also very linear and disappointing. The main character talks a bit, walks a bit, fights a Boss then the comic ends. It's not bad per se, but just bland.
Finally, the Dark Souls connections. How much of Dark Souls is in this? Well, not much. There are some characters seemingly from the games but without any explanation of what they're doing here. The kingdom in which the action takes place doesn't seem to be part of any place referenced in the games. Chronologically it appears to take place after Dark Souls 1 but it's impossible to say. The author has tried to insert some of the themes of Dark Souls in here, but like the dialogue it feels forced and out of place. It's like someone read a short summary about what Dark Souls is about, inserted some reference to flames and a curse and called it a day. Again, not exactly bad, but bland.
I didn't pick this up with any kind of expectation and so I was neither impressed nor disappointed. It is a difficult franchise to transpose into a comic and the result was to be expected. It tries to do some fan service but it just falls on its face. My advice, ignore the title and just read it like a random fantasy comic. And don't forget to look at the pretty pictures.
loop's review
2.0
Okay attempt at a Dark Souls comic.
Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat: this is not canon. The quicker you get over the fact that this isn't in continuity with the games, the quicker you can enjoy it. The story may bug out some lore purists, especially concerning certain characters from the games. However, the writer did satisfactorily convey some of the themes from the games, such as undeath and the accompanying memory loss. and the concept of cycles that was introduced in Dark Souls 2.
The art is a mixed bag. While the book is well drawn in a traditional sense, it feels as though the artist isn't used to drawing comics. The action felt stiff and awkward, movements didn't flow well from one panel to the next, and the attacks felt unimpactful and lacking momentum. Sometimes it was hard to tell if a character was attacking or just holding up their arm, due to the lack of motion lines or other indicators of velocity and direction. At times, proportions were also abnormal. All that aside, Alan Quah does a great job at depicting each of the locations and characters. While he did not have enough time in each issue to elaborate on each area, he managed to make each one feel distinctly Dark Souls. He really needs to come up with some better weapon designs though (does every single sword really need to have a crystal in the middle of the hilt?).
As far as the coloring is concerned, the team does a decent job for the most part. They create a good sense of atmosphere, but I couldn't help but feel like they could've used heavier inks and/or darker colors. It ends up feeling very muddy and inexpressive.
Overall, this book is just okay. Don't expect a great comic, and don't expect good fanservice. I could only recommend this to both big fans of the games and big fans of comics. Hopefully volume 2 will expand on the decent foundation laid out in this first trade.
Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat: this is not canon. The quicker you get over the fact that this isn't in continuity with the games, the quicker you can enjoy it. The story may bug out some lore purists, especially concerning certain characters from the games. However, the writer did satisfactorily convey some of the themes from the games, such as undeath and the accompanying memory loss. and the concept of cycles that was introduced in Dark Souls 2.
The art is a mixed bag. While the book is well drawn in a traditional sense, it feels as though the artist isn't used to drawing comics. The action felt stiff and awkward, movements didn't flow well from one panel to the next, and the attacks felt unimpactful and lacking momentum. Sometimes it was hard to tell if a character was attacking or just holding up their arm, due to the lack of motion lines or other indicators of velocity and direction. At times, proportions were also abnormal. All that aside, Alan Quah does a great job at depicting each of the locations and characters. While he did not have enough time in each issue to elaborate on each area, he managed to make each one feel distinctly Dark Souls. He really needs to come up with some better weapon designs though (does every single sword really need to have a crystal in the middle of the hilt?).
As far as the coloring is concerned, the team does a decent job for the most part. They create a good sense of atmosphere, but I couldn't help but feel like they could've used heavier inks and/or darker colors. It ends up feeling very muddy and inexpressive.
Overall, this book is just okay. Don't expect a great comic, and don't expect good fanservice. I could only recommend this to both big fans of the games and big fans of comics. Hopefully volume 2 will expand on the decent foundation laid out in this first trade.
etienne02's review
2.0
I went into this one expecting something as dark and epic as The Last Gods series... it wasn't. I never really feel the sense of pic quest I was going in for and it wasn't really dark, or not enough for me at least, both in term of story and artwork. I didn't enjoy it!
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