Return To Lordran

Why fans of the original DARK SOULS are teaming up to revive their favourite game

- Steven T. Wright

Lordran, the dusky, desolate world of the original Dark Souls, is a famously punitive place. The gruelling atmosphere extends to the game’s optional multiplayer, which enables other players to ‘invade’ your game and ambush you for your hard-earned resources. Now, just over six years after the game’s debut, franchise fans turn to the community to give both returning veterans and fresh blood the same sense of unease and competition that they experienced back at launch.

“What originally prompted the event was the celebration of /r/darksouls hitting 100,000 subscribers,” says Cody, also known as e_0, a moderator of the Dark Souls subreddit, and the organiser of the event. “A user by the name of JoeDaddy92 suggested that we host a ‘Restart Day’, that would encourage massive online play – similar to Return to the Nexus, in a way.”

Return to the Nexus was an event that came about in 2013, when YouTuber Peeve Peeverson put out a call for players to dust off their PS3s and pop in Demon’s Souls, the predecessor to Dark Souls. Many of the collectibles in Demon’s Souls are locked behind a cryptic system where the playerbase’s behaviour can affect things like enemy difficulty or even prompt special events. It lent the game to a community-driven revival event.