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Dark Souls III Music
Immersive Storytelling Through Music
– Dark Souls III Soundtrack
The Game
Imagine that you wake up in an abandoned graveyard. Looking around, thick smoke from raging fires shrouds the entire sky, and the gloomy sunlight could barely penetrate through it. A sound in your mind tells you that the fire that used to sustain the world is now dying out. And you, as the unkindled, with no fame or power, have to start off a journey across this apocalyptic, hostile world and beat the greatest figures of the age - the King, Pontiff, Saint, and heroes, in order to seize their power and turn it into fuel. Then, you will determine the fate of the world – either to slightly delay the inevitable doom, or end the world once and for all.
As my first AAA game, Dark Souls III really stunned me with its unique, dark, imaginative, and intimidating art style. What amazes me the most is its restrained narration: the key information is often hidden at unnoticed corners. As a reckless explorer, however, I usually focused only on the main storyline. Therefore, it was commonplace for me to step into some room and find in surprise that a giant I had never heard of was charging straight at me, waving his gigantic ax – and I had no idea what the point of this battle was.
Nevertheless, as a role-playing game, Dark Souls III still did a great job in immersive storytelling. One of the crucial contributing elements is the soundtrack. Oftentimes, the music itself is already an excellent storyteller. When I played the game the first time, the music could always captivate me as soon as it began and immerse me in the scenes, even without knowing the story. Now that I’ve played it several times, I feel that the music could evoke the exact feelings I had while playing, and I don’t even have to enter the gameplay part – just listening to the soundtrack achieves the same thing.
Atmosphere and Storytelling Music
The way how the music achieves this is by effectively creating atmosphere. As a feature of its unique narration, Dark Souls III has barely any explicit in-game guidance, like written instructions or an in-game narrator. Instead, it’s always the atmosphere that urges me to take certain actions. One of the most memorable examples was when I spent tens of hours battling a single boss. For several times I was on the verge of giving up and considering just “cheese” the boss. However, whenever I failed and restarted once again, as the epic music roared across the battlefield, I would feel courage surging through my body and the sword in my hand.
Although every piece of music in the game aligns perfectly with the game’s overall dark, epic style, each one also has its unique listening experience. For this boss specifically, the first phase focuses on elements of the storm and the rain, and what amazes me is that you can literally sense them from the music.
At the very beginning (0:00 to 0:10), the storm is gathering, as indicated by the pulsing rhythm. Then you hear the storm approaching - the continuous, descending notes under the main melody (0:26 to 0:30). Suddenly the storm ceases for a while, giving its way to the aggressive rain that abruptly pours down, as can be heard from the harpsichord (1:00 to 1:08). When it comes to the second phase (2:02), the melody becomes majestic and regal, as if the king stepped through the storm and the rain - and that’s how I realized I should fight back in a dignified way to show my respect.
Interaction and Storytelling Music
Atmosphere is not the only thing that consists of effective storytelling. Interaction is another part that would immerse the player into the game world. Although Dark Souls III doesn’t let the player control the music in any explicit way, the transition in the boss battle’s soundtrack still impresses me. The process was always similar – when I dealt enough damage to the boss, the music would suddenly transition to a possibly different style, which could always reflect the shift in the battle’s style. Such an experience was always surprising and, sometimes, even a bit frightening.
For example, in a boss fight, I was dueling against a warrior. At some point, he suddenly raises his sword up to the sky, and the violin makes a piercing anger, together with a wolf howl (1:50). I didn’t last long under the wolf’s attack, mostly because I was too thrilled due to the sudden transition in the music.
Despite its thrilling effect, the violin is a perfect fit for the transition. Its high pitch strikes a contrast with the previous, which clearly marks a different phase of the boss. In addition, it resembles the soprano in the music and the howl in the game so well that it brings a sort of unusual harmony.
For another example, in a boss fight in the DLC, the player was against a weakened soldier. As I emptied his health bar, the game visuals turned dark and the slow, low-pitched music ceased (1:48). I thought this was the end of the battle, until the music suddenly burst, and the soprano sang at an extremely high pitch, and the boss, who seemed to be tired during the first phase, rushed rapidly towards me, waving his long sword, and stripped me into pieces.
Interactions like this added much fun to the game and gave me an illusion as if I had been actually part of the story.
The Final Battle Music
Bosses in the game tend to remain silent. However, the music is enough to make me resonate with them and even bring me to tears.
In the final battle, my opponent was the soul of all lords of cinder – the heroes who had founded and continued the era. During the first phase, with the deep, resonant bass vocal intoning the epic, the story of each heroic foe kept popping up in my mind, and I knew I was to beat them as always. Then the bass exited, while the drum became even more powerful and the brass section began to ascend in pitch, creating a more tense atmosphere (1:58 to 2:14). While I was expecting a burst during the phase transition, the piano notes appeared – delicate and gentle, completely unobtrusive within the melody – but they were so clear and sad as if striking my soul. Although the bass came into an outburst, more powerful than ever, I realized that this time the music was the epilogue of the heroes. Eventually the brass turned dim, the drums became distant and the vocals faded away. All of a sudden, what was left was a requiem played by the piano and the violin alone.
I’ve played many video games, and it was not unusual for me to feel a sense of loss after the ending. However, the final battle of Dark Souls III was undoubtedly the most impressive. Whenever I recall it, the melody would drift through my mind, and I would once again feel the deep resonance. The music is a storyteller, not only about the game itself, but also about the player’s experience, both during and after the game. As the prolongation of the last note gradually diminished, memories during the game would flow through my thoughts – challenges overcome, companions met, and heroes taken down. Eventually all of such were burned away together with the last cinder in the world, and the game screen faded into darkness.
Conclusion
The Dark Souls III soundtrack has deeply impressed me, so about two years ago I set the main theme as the music of my wake-up alarm. Sometimes it woke me up, and I felt as if I were to embark on the grand adventure in the game again. Although I don’t really play the game quite often these days, I would still frequently listen to the soundtrack. As always, the vocals would remind me of the heroic foes and their stories, the piano would evoke a sense of sadness in me, and the church bell, which symbolizes the beginning and ending of the game, would take me back to the curtain call, when I brought the Age of Fire to an end.
