FromSoftwaredevsaresomeof
thegreatestprankstersingame
development.ByJamesDavenport
MISCHIEF
MAKERS
M
aybeyou’vemetKite
Guyalready.Inthe
earlyhoursofSekiro,
theplayerascends
AshinaCastleby
leapingbetweenrooftopspatrolled
byagile,featheredNightjar
Assassins.Thefirstishiddenwell
enoughtotakeplayersbysurprise,
a forcedintroductionforwhatlies
ahead.MoreNightjars hide behind
cornersorbelow awnings in places
theplayerwill likely intuit and
approachfrom a cautious angle,
takingoutthe assassins silently. It
feelslikea victory over the game
designer,butas always,
FromSoftware is one step ahead.DIVEBOMBER
Attentiveplayers might notice the
kitebillowingabove Ashina Castle,
andtheymight
squintandsee an
Xprintedonits
surface.They
probablywon’t
knowwhatthe
Xmarks,atleast
untiltheyhear
theapproaching
“wooooo”asa
Nightjarleaps
fromthekiteand
careenstoward the player like a
clumsymeteorite.
Someplayers get hit, some dodge
justintime,but if the hundreds of
YouTubevideos showing players’
firstencounter with Kite Guy are
anythingtogo by, everyone smiles.
A littlejoke goes a long way in
FromSoftware’s dreary worlds. It
takesa lightheart to even consider
pressingonthrough the compounded
ruinsofhumanity’s failures in Dark
Soulsortheperpetually, aimlessly
warringstates of Sengoku-era Japan
inSekiro. SoFromSoftware has
alwaysfucked with its players.FROM WOULDN’T
MAKETHE
VERYFIRST
CHESTA
MIMIC,RIGHT?TOPRIGHT:Dressing
uplikeanidiotis
intrinsictotheDark
Soulsexperience.BOTTOMLEFT:
Someofthefunniest
charactersarealso
themosttragic.Patterns in enemy placement, item
and NPC behaviours, level design
tricks and traps and combat are often
instilled and then subverted in clever
ways just as soon as the player forms
habits to anticipate or counter them.
One of the biggest foes players
encounter in the original Dark Souls
is a wyvern that harasses them on
their initial journey through the
Undead Burg. It eventually roosts at
one end of a large bridge, breathing
fire at anything
that approaches.
New players
often assume
that’s it, there’s
no getting by.
But with a bow
and a couple
bundles of iron
arrows, it’s
possible to get
underneath the
bridge and shoot the poor bastard’s
tail over and over and over again. Do
this (and only this) and the Drake
Sword will drop, which is an
incredibly powerful weapon for the
first half of the game.
Mimics, or those creepy chests
with teeth, are right at home in the
Souls series, and From frequently
uses them to prank players. In the
original Dark Souls players won’t
encounter a mimic until deep into
the game at Sen’s Fortress, long after
they’ve built up the habit to instantly
open most chests. From there, it’s
business as usual in Dark Souls 2,jTRAGEDY I PR ANK I LORE I INVADE I FA SH IONFEATURE