There is a concept in video gaming called comfort gaming. It’s pretty easy to figure out what it means–games that soothe you as you play. Well, not exactly. I mean, it can be that, but it could also just be a game that you can play without thinking. Johnny Chiodini mentions it in their series when they were with Eurogamer, Low Batteries. They call that game they play when feeling down a sadgame.
They emphasize that the game itself does not have to be sad. It’s just a game they gravitate towards when they feel sad. Yesterday, I stumbled over a much more recent video in which they participated with their old workplace (Eurogamer) about how video games helped with mental health issues. I have included that video below.
For me, it’s FromSoft games. For the longest time, it was Dark Souls III. It’s my favorite game of all time, though Elden Ring has essentially moved itself into a tie. Oftentimes, I flummoxe people by saying cheerfully that I know it’s not the best Dark Souls game, but it’s my favorite. By the way, I love being contrary like that. I mean it, though. And interestingly, I’ve had people say it actually is the best Dark Souls game overall.
I guess it’s depends on what you mean by ‘best’. I’m talking specifically of the three Dark Souls games. The first is considered a game-changer, the second is the ignored stepchild, and the third is the greatest hit album. In other words, the first was seen as a breath of fresh air and mind-bending (if you ignored Demon’s Souls) that ultimately ran out of time to be truly great.
The sequel was a disappointment to most people, but I have a fondness for it. It tried to do some things differently in order to differentiate it from the original. Did it work? Not completely. But it tried. And I have to give it credit for that. In addition, if it didn’t have ‘Dark Souls‘ in its name, I think it would have been much better received.
As for the third game, it was the most polished of the three. Plus, it took the best from the first two games and seamlessly blended it together. I’ve called it the ‘best of’ hits album by a group that has been together for twenty years. It has all the hits that the fans love and maybe one or two new originalsongs. Some people think it’s the hardest, which is probably true objectively. But because I had played both of the other games twice in the lead up to the release of this game, it felt like coming home.
I think that’s the reason it’s my favorite, by the way. That and because it’s the first From game I played in real time. Meaning as soon as it was released. Ian bought the season pass for me when it came out, and I got to be in on the discoveries this time around. I hadn’t played either of the previous games until years after they were released. Now, FromSoft games are one of the few I will buy as soon as I can. I know I will at least try to play a From game (I gave up fairly quickly on Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon).
I played Dark Souls III every day from the day it was released until, well, I ended up in the hospital. That was September of 2021. That’s over five years. Then, once Elden Ring came out, I played that every day until a few months ago. I still play it now and again now.
These are my comfort games. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve put into Dark Souls III (well, I could, but I’m not going to look it up.I think it’s around the 800+ hours mark?), but it’s a high number. Elden Ring is not far behind. Remmeber, it took me 200+ hours for my first playthrough.
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has also been a comfort game for me. For at least a year, I would do the daily run every day. There are other roguelike-lites that I play as comfort games, which is something both Johnny and Bertie mentioned in the video I included with this post. That roguelikes are good for chilling out because there’s enough to engage your brain without demanding too much of you (if you’ve played it a lot already).
That’s the thing with a comfort game–it’s usually something that you have played enough so you don’t have to think about as you play it. I know Dark Souls III like the back of my hand. I know every corridor, every enemy placement, and everything else in the game. I do. I could play it with my eyes closed–well, not really, but you know what I mean.
I play it the same way every time. There may be a few things I do differently (like sequence-breaking on NG+), but for the most part, I do the same thing. Start as a Pyro. Keep pyroing. Get the Irythill Straight Sword. Upgrade and use that until I get the Executioner’s Greatsword. The reason I want that weapon is because it gives back FP (mana) for each fallen enemy. That carries me throughout the game until I get to the Twin Princes. Once I kill them, then I get Lorian’s Greatsword, and I don’t look back.
Spell-wise, I need four slots. I use a ring to get one more. Then it’s regular fireballs and Great Chaos Fire Orb until I kill the Old Demon King and get his soul. Which I turn into Chaos Bed Vestiges. That takes 25 intelligence, I think. 20 intelligence and 10 faith. I use that, Hidden Body, and Tears of Denial as my spell set. I wear the Black Witch Set once I get it from the second DLC, and Big Sage Hat for the whole game.
Oh, I know why I stopped playing it every day. Two reasons. One, Elden Ring came out. Two, the servers went down. Right before Elden Ring came out, the PC servers for all the From games were hacked. They used something different for Elden Ring, but did not get around to patching the rest of the games until more than a year later. The servers are back up, thankfully, and people are still playing Dark Souls III.
I have played two soulslikes in the last few months. I did not enjoy either for different reasons. I don’t know if I’ll finish Lords of the Fallen or not because I’m finding it a real drag. I hate that the lesson other devs have taken from the FromSoft games is that parrying should be the main way to play the games. One thing I love about the Dark Souls series is that you can play them without ever having to parry. You can do that with both Lies of P and Lords of the Fallen, but you’ll have a miserable time in both if you can’t parry. Or if you have bad reflexes. Or if you don’t have any periphery vision. Or if you have spatial issues.
I have all of these problems. Therefore, these games are not fun to me. I managed to finish Lies of P, but I was numb for the entire last chapter. I only got through that by chucking throwables almost constantly. That’s really all you can do if you can’t parry. As for LoF, I just can’t with the mobs. All mobs all the time. With egregiously long tracking. Enemies have crossed through three different zones to get to me, which I think is unacceptable.
I’ll probably go back to playing Elden Ring.