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Dark Souls III is an award-winning third person action RPG by From Software. Set in a mystical medieval world that has hollowed and decayed, the player must find and defeat three “Lords of Cinder” so that the curse upon the world would be lifted. To do so, the player must travel through disparate areas such as castles, villages, swamps, and cathedrals – to name a few – each with its unique style, layout, and enemies. Within each level, players must fight through hostile mobs and reach one of 2-3 checkpoints scattered within the area to restore their health bar and make further progress. There are also valuable items scattered and sometimes hidden in various corners for players to pick up. The ultimate goal of each area is to either reach the next area or to defeat the area’s boss, which is often the prerequisite of the first.
In this short article, I will be exploring the intricacies of DSIII’s level design by zooming in on the High Wall of Lothric. This area is particularly important and interesting because it is the first non-tutorial level of the game, where players face a complete DSIII area alone and without guidance for the first time. It therefore contains many of the core patterns that subsequent levels will build and vary themselves upon without too much extra variety and complexity, making it suitable as a lens to look at DSIII areas in general. In addition, it is also much more important here to guide players regarding how the area works so they are not overwhelmed. As we will see, designers and artists behind The High Wall were able to accomplish all this through careful control of elevation that subtlely paces, guides, and complements player progression.
Let’s begin with a broad overview of our level. The High Wall of Lothric introduces players to the general pattern of Dark Souls III areas. It is composed of a mostly linear path of progression that the player must work through. Within that linear path are numerous optional branches that may contain additional objects of interest, alternative paths that eventually converge with the main path, or relatively open arenas that can be freely explored before moving along. New paths may also open up to link two points on the original path, creating shortcuts or allowing access to another branch. Lastly, the player faces off against the boss in a final room
Fig 1. A rough sketch of DSIII’s level design scheme.
What the considerable number of optional branches, open arenas, and alternative paths does is that a mostly linear level is given a highly non-linear feel. This is especially true of several later levels, such as the Road of Sacrifices, where the open arenas are very large, giving players more freedom to choose their order of exploration.
The High Wall of Lothric, on the other hand, is one of the more linear levels in which there are no open arenas that are very large. This is reasonable since this is much less stressful for new players who are still familiarizing themselves with combat and pathfinding. Nevertheless, the placement of branches and alternative paths still urges players to explore and, aided with beautiful skyboxes and the fact that the player is never given a full view of the entire map, makes the area feel much larger than it actually is.
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Fig 2. Map of High Wall of Lothric. Red points are checkpoints. The green line illustrates the main path of progression. The Blue line indicates a shortcut that the player could unlock. Optional areas are highlighted in purple. Original image from Polygon. Highlighting mine.
The High Wall is most unique, however, for its masterful manipulation of elevation and verticality. As the name of the level suggests, the area is set on the outer rim of a castle-like structure, which provides designers with ample opportunities to create verticalities that make sense architecturally. Importantly, controlling elevation allows designers to do two things: 1. adjust the level of information available to the player by placing them in spots of high or low prospect, respectively, and in doing so 2. pace the player’s progression. More specifically, placing players in places of high elevation allows them to more clearly understand the spatial layout of the visible area and make better plans of combat approach, whereas placing players in the low or in more confined spaces limit what information is available to them and create tension.
Vid 1. Opening space of The High Wall of Lothric. The slow dramatism of the door opening animation and the grand vista it opens up constitute a big reveal that gives players a sense of awe and excitement. The title that appears spells out the name of the area.
Let us start from the very beginning of the level to see how this is executed. Opening the door to an expansive vista of Lothric Castle, the player is placed without delay at a point of high prospect and elevation. Here, the level already establishes its overarching spatial theme by having the player start at a high place and then descend, a pattern that is repeated throughout the level. In fact, the level begins at the very high point of the entire area and ends at the very lowest, where the player has to descend another flight of grand stairs to reach the boss room. This stable spatial organization, introduced so early on, means that players will have a better idea of where they should eventually be heading. Compared to later levels such as Cathedral of the Deep, where players are directed up and down more unpredictably, the High Wall’s design is significantly more friendly to new players, who could still be adapting to the fact that Souls games do not feature any maps.
Vid 2. The dominant direction of this area is “up-to-down” (enemies have been cleared for a smooth demonstration).
This is also not the only way the game tries to provide pathfinding cues. The fire-breathing dragon that is constantly moving in the distance, for instance, functions also as a “weenie” that provides a point of reference but also a point of interest for the player just starting out in the level (Vid 3: 0.01). Unsurprisingly, the two checkpoints (bonfires) in the level prior to defeating the boss are also placed at high elevations so that players are always reoriented after dying and losing progress.
This overall spatial pattern also means that there will be plenty of opportunities for designers to give players points of prospect. Such locales can serve a wide variety of different functions that guide players through the level: it allows them to either (1) plan their combat approach before facing off against a swarm of enemies occupying an area, (2) better conceptualize where they wish to proceed, or (3) get a preview of what is to come later in the level. This technique is deployed at the beginning of the game as well, where the player is presented with two possible paths downward, to achieve both effect (2) and effect (3). Standing on the stairs, the player could observe both paths, their enemies, and where they lead without being spotted (Vid 3).
Although these techniques are also deployed in later areas, it appears especially frequently in The High Wall of Lothric. In fact, the designers seem so intent on providing prospects in this level that one of the items players could pick up at the end of one of these paths is literally a functional binocular. Needless to say, the large number of high-prospect locations also contributes to making this area more straightforward to players.
Vid 3. Players are given the chance to observe both paths, their enemies, and where they lead from afar before proceeding. We can see two higher platforms at the end of both paths, which are potential points of prospect. We can also see that dogs are present on the second path, a more annoying enemy to deal with, while a dragon lurks afar along the first.