It was only in May of this year that Kentaro Miura, author of the beloved Berserk and several other manga series, left this world well before his time. True fans of the Dark Souls franchise know just how much Miura’s work inspired Hidetaki Miyazaki and the rest of the Dark Souls development staff. 

Homages to Miura’s Berserk abound throughout the series, ranging from as obvious as Artorias the Abyss Walker to as subtle as various enemy and weapon designs such as the Wheel Skeletons, the Avelyn, and the Greatsword. At its core, Berserk is a manga about never giving up, even when faced with astronomical odds and extraordinary opposition. Miyazaki and his team have perfectly replicated that sentiment through the core design of all three entries in the Dark Souls series (yes, even Dark Souls 2. Don’t @ me).

Of course, “Never give up” is much easier said than done. Existential despair has become one of the defining traits of my generation, and for good reason: 

Our world is slowly beginning to burn and die around us as climate change continues to accelerate. 

Covid-19 has shown just how unprepared most of the world is for major disasters. 

We struggle under an ever-crumbling economic system to reach even the most basic achievements of autonomy, such as being able to pay rent each month. 

We are set to inherit a world on the verge of collapse that has done next to nothing to help prepare us to prevent it or deal with the aftermath. 

Worst of all, some among the older generations do not hesitate to blame us for our plights, calling us weak, lazy, and unmotivated. 

“Don’t Give Up” sounds like pretty quaint advice in the face of all that, doesn’t it? But it’s precisely the advice our generation and the ones to follow need to take. The only way out of this mess is to power through adversity, and here’s how the Dark Souls franchise teaches you to do just that.

Patience Is A Virtue 

If there is one thing that the franchise is known for, it’s its many boss encounters. While the quality of these encounters from area to area and even from game to game (there, I’ll concede that about Dark Souls 2. Happy?), one thing remains constant: Nearly all of them require patience and careful pacing. The number of bosses in any given game who you can reliably rush down or brute force can probably be counted on less than a single hand. The most reliable path to victory in this franchise is observing your opponent, learning their openings, and exploiting those opportunities without getting greedy. 

Even exploration follows this same basic principle. A given area will have enemies laying in wait around each corner, and rushing through blindly is a surefire way to end up back at the bonfire with none of your hard-earned (or ill-gained, I don’t judge) souls. Take your time and keep your wits about you, however, and you’ll probably be fine. 

Rome wasn’t built in a day. The solutions to the problems we face aren’t going to be found in one either. Most of these issues are decades to whole centuries in the making, and it’s unlikely that we’re going to see a fix to everything within our lifetimes. But that’s okay. Even if we aren’t alive to see the full fruits of our labor, the progress we make will still greatly help those who come after us. Sometimes you have to know when to play the long game. 

Perseverance Is Essential 

There’s a good reason one of the franchise’s key mottos is “Prepare to die.” These games are all about making mistakes, falling flat on our faces, and then dusting ourselves off as we get right back up again. Every time you die to a boss, a normal enemy, or an area hazard, it’s an opportunity to reflect on what went wrong, how it went wrong, and how you can avoid it in the future. 

Practice makes perfect in the Dark Souls series, and there’s no real way around that when playing legitimately. You’re probably going to die a lot before you start seeing any significant success in these games. Even once you’ve finally gotten good, you’re still going to occasionally die from a hiccup or two here and there. The important thing is that you refuse to stay down no matter how many times you get put down. 

No one has the answers to all of the problems we’re facing right now. Our generation and the ones that come after are likely going to have to find them ourselves. And there’s probably going to be a lot of mistakes and missteps along the way. Regardless of how things play out, we must stay objective and reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and how and why. The worst thing we can do for ourselves and our descendants is to give up and accept our fate. 

Nothing Is Hopeless 

Each entry in the Souls series centers on a bleak plot in an even bleaker world. In the original entry, you are little more than a lonely, forgotten prisoner fighting through the ruined realm of the gods as forces beyond your ken string you along for their purposes. 

In Dark Souls 2, you are a nameless vagabond whose past is forever lost, thrust into the post-apocalyptic remains of Drangleic and told little more than to seek the long since abdicated king and gather the souls of the many horrors standing between you and his throne. 

In Dark Souls 3, you are everywhere and nowhere at the end of time. You arise from the graves as a failure of times long past, given a second chance to do what you and so many others who rested alongside you in the Cemetery of Ash were originally unable to: Link the First Flame one more time. 

In all of these scenarios, one thing remains as a constant motivator. Hope. The hope to uncover what has happened in these lands. The hope to grow strong enough to survive (aka “get good” as some of the more try-hard die-hard fans will spout; and yes, I did use it ironically earlier). The hope to link the flame one more time, or maybe to let it fade, and nature finally take its course. No matter what challenges or setbacks you face, these faint hopes persist in the background. 

Despair isn’t just the enemy here. Despair is the antithesis to your whole journey. Because no matter how many times this cycle churns, the dim light of hope continues to burn in the hearts of the undead heroes who answer the call. It burns in the hearts of many of the NPCs you meet on your journey, still managing to cling onto their sanity and sense of self despite being stranded in a world that has largely gone insane. 

I know it’s hard to get over the existential despair that’s wormed its way into most of us. But it’s possible. You just have to find something to cling to. Something to work towards, to put your hope in. For me, that hope was to gain financial freedom and live as I please. For you, it might be something else. And that’s fine. Happiness is subjective.

But if you have no idea where to even begin, here’s something: Let’s hope to make a better future for our descendants than the one we’ve been handed. There’s a lot of bucks that have to stop with our generation if this world will survive. So long as there are people in this world who care about righting its mistakes, there’s always hope for a better tomorrow. 

In Closing

Patience, Perseverance, and Hope. Those are the three lessons that Dark Souls instills into its players. None of them are easy lessons, but all of them are worth learning. And they’re exactly the ones that millennials and zoomers alike will have to master if this world is going to stand a chance. We may not be the heroes this world wanted or needed, but we are nonetheless the only ones it currently has available.

And perhaps, in some ways, we’re also the ones it deserves. 

If you come away from this article feeling overwhelmed or helpless, don’t be. Current times may look like the end, but they’re actually an opportunity for a new beginning. But that change has to start now, in the very way we think about ourselves and how we regard the future. 

In the words of Mariame Kaba, “Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.”