So, in talking about Dark Souls I have to discuss how much this game means to me as a person. I started Dark Souls years ago, got stuck and frustrated and put it to the side, always recognizing its greatness while never understanding it myself truly. What is so interesting about this is that I came back to it on a whim, something to try out for the hell of it, and I was engrossed.
This game consumed me for a solid three weeks, and in retrospect I feel as if I needed it. In some ways I found that playing a game this good made me want to clean up my act, get my shit together, and pull my life back up the bad spiral of poor mental health and self hatred I had been down. In the end, this game is about the love of being alive, holding on to the importance of life and living for the sake of it. You come from nothing and eventually you kill God. I can't explain the feeling of euphoria I felt finishing this game. I had my duty and I had fulfilled it, and the fun only started there. In learning the unique, intentionally vague lore, an entirely new appreciation was brought for the people who are just trying to survive in this world and their stories.
And so I say, if this is a game that can exist, a game with so much passion (and not always polish), then I think I can too. I can hold on to my life and try to scrape out a semblance of meaning for it. It is obtuse, it is difficult, it is insanely rewarding.