Dark Souls: Design Works

Like many, my relationship with Dark Souls started a bit rough. I wasn't quite sure I wanted to continue on with such an abusive relationship. But then, all of a sudden, there was a brief serenity and calmness in all the death and stun-locking that taught me the value of the experience. If you work hard enough, you'll reap the ultimate reward: experiencing that majesty that is Dark Souls. It was at that point that my liking became an obsession. To this day, if I pick up the game I have to know that it will be a while before I put it down again, just for a breather and perhaps a swig of estus. In fact, my obsession was so real that I had the original Japanese Dark Souls: Design Works imported from Japan less than a year ago. I knew that I had no chance in deciphering the vast text in the interview section but, for me, the art alone was worth the premium. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we North Americans would be intentionally treated to such a great work of art. Then, the wonderful people at Udon Entertainment made a dream come true with their announcement of an English translation of Dark Souls: Design Works. After the long and eager wait that comes with pre-ordering an item months ahead of its release, it finally arrived at my doorstep. I was immediately greeted by the grandiose facade, very fitting for Dark Souls, that is its cover. The slipcover is a matte metallic silver stock with a sandpaper texture. The black title plate planted atop it is contrastingly glossy and smooth. On that back is a deeply implanted silver sword silhouette. But the real beauty comes when you remove the luxurious slipcover and reveal the ash black hardcover with text and ornaments as orange as a raging bonfire. As if the presentation was not enough to warrant five stars, inside this tome you will find nothing but the most stunning content. Chapter 1: Concept Art The first 30 pages feature no words - solely massive, sprawling concept art on every page, all featured on glossy black stock. I spent a good minute at least on each page, just admiring the beauty and quality of each work. Chapter 2: Design Materials The following 80 pages are broken up into sections, each visually describing the design process of various elements and showing insight into the design of World Materials, NPC Materials, Boss Monster Materials, Monster Materials, Player Equipment Materials, Weapon Materials, Unused Materials (very interesting!), and a brief look at the First Edition Purchase Bonus Poster Materials from the collector's edition release of the game. Chapter 3: Interviews This section is undoubtedly what I looked forward to most. Having held onto the Japanese edition for so long with no hopes of gaining insight into the thought process of the masterminds who crafted the masochistic symphony that is Dark Souls, I couldn't help but skip first to the twelve-page interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, Daisuke Satake, Hiroshi Nakamura, Masamori Waragai, and Mai Hastuyama. It was everything I could have hoped for. Their insight is breathtaking and inspiring and truly something I don't wish to spoil to any readers, but these twelve pages alone were worth the $30 purchase price. I really cannot say enough to try and convince onlookers to purchase this, but please do it. Not only will you treat yourself to something truly unique and amazing, but you will be convincing Udon Entertainment to continue their great practice of bringing English translations of beautiful Japanese books to the west.

This is a wonderfully put together book, with a lot of awesome art. The exclusive interviews with the developers is a cool piece of insight as well. I would highly recommend this to any Dark Souls fan. You won’t be disappointed. Especially if you can catch this sale like I did. I got it for about $28 instead of the usual $40. I also received mine in wonderful condition. It was packaged precariously with no protection around it except for the cellophane it comes in from the publisher. Amazon did no part to secure the book with bubble wrap or paper. It was just loose in a box, and that is how all these other people end up with bend and busted corners on their books. I’m lucky mine was fine, but Amazon’s packers at order fulfillment need to do better with items such as this.

From the beautiful silver and textured slip cover that adorns the exquisitely designed cover beneath, this book is brilliant from beginning to end. Only true fans of the game will buy this book and you will not be disappointed in your purchase. All of our favorite locations, bosses, NPCs, weapons and enemies are seen from the fresh perspective of actual detailed art. Sure we love the 3D versions of these from the game, but seeing them (as they were freshly conceived by the ingeniously gifted team that produced them) is a delight that I will experience again and again through the years of this book's ownership. The extensive interview that ends the book by the director of the game and his four righthand designers will delight each fan as you learn vastly more about the backend of the game than you ever could before. Tidbits and the game's journey from conception to completion is understood at a very personal level when we hear the masters tell their tales of how it all came to be. The only negative I have is that I'm sure it could've been at least four times bigger & I would've gladly paid four times the price! If you have beaten the game, I can safely say that you should buy this book. If you conquered the NG+, you NEED this book!

I bought this as a Valentines Day gift for my boyfriend. The book is in great shape, no damages. Love the design, high quality, cool artwork. Hopefully he likes it 🩷

If I'm buying a design works style book, I want something more substantial than just photos and concept art. I like to see notes and discussions about the designs used during the preliminary work on the game. This book does that. Very well done!

The English translated edition of the Dark Souls artbook ダークソウルデザインワークズ is finally out. It's another good job at translating by publisher Udon. The book's still hardcover, 128 pages. The cover is nicer. I like the sandy texture and the cover design is somehow printed over it in high gloss. Since I've already reviewed the Japanese artbook. The review that follows is roughly similar with minor changes. This artbook collects the concept art for characters, enemies, background, weapons and items. There are two chapters, one on concept art and the other on early designs. The chapters are not necessary because they are all concept art. In fact, the organization of content is a bit chaotic. Take the weapons section for example. They are not strictly grouped by type. There are axes together with broad swords, spears with shields, etc. Same thing with the characters and enemies. The concept art featured are nice but with a slightly rough art style. I would have preferred a more finished look especially for the environment art. They are printed quite small because they don't have enough detail to go big, or too unfinished. The designs are great but somehow they don't have the same forbidding feeling you get when playing the game. The Dark Souls world is quite big and I'm surprised they didn't include more environment art. I love the character designs for this game. The enemies are incredibly scary. There are lots of enemies featured. It's good that some have included many design variations, but many also come with just one design by itself. There aren't any 3D renders. The weapon designs are interesting, but I felt that not all weapons are included. I've the game guide and there are a lot of weapons not included here. The last few pages are interviews with the designers of the game. The book makes more sense to me now that I can understand the captions. One of the highlights would of course be the interviews with the creators Hidetaka Miyazaki, Daisuke Satake, Hiroshi Nakamura, Masanori Waragai and Mai Hastuyama. This book is a bit underwhelming for me. Maybe it's because of the rough style of art (but hey, it's concept art), or because there aren't as much environment art which I was really looking forward to. Anyway, it's still a very fine video game art book, especially if you're into the mythical-knight-armor-castles-monsters fantasy art. (See more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Certainly not a "must have" for your average gamer, but an absolute treasure for any Dark Souls obsessed gaming fan! I'll keep this simple and straight to the point. This is a high quality book of art from the Dark Souls game that is presented in a quality way from cover to end. The art is fantastic and the developers commentary may be relatively sparse, but it provides some intriguing information and background perspective. I am an obsessed fan, I enjoy collecting games & gaming related items, and I actually picked-up two copies because I wanted to keep one sealed. I'd highly recommend this book for it's art, overall quality & design, the developer Q & A, and especially for the collectability. If you pick one up I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

I love Dark Souls - something about the world felt very creepy and real to me in spite of the dragons and skeleton dudes. It's a similar feeling to when I played Super Metroid. The isolation and fear, the excitement of exploring. Dark Souls really captures loneliness and hopelessness. One of the key components to its success is the way the game looks. It's not super graphics intensive, but the monsters are horrible and terrifying, and the locales are stark and sort of empty and bleak. Design Works sets out to capture the bleak and terrifying world of Dark Souls. This hardcover book is page after page of high quality prints of the concept art used to create one of my favorite games from the last generation of consoles. The book itself is super nice with heavy pages, a shiny gloss, and neat descriptions of the pictures. My only complaint is that I wish it had more, but honestly for the price it's great. Definitely worth picking up if you enjoyed the world of Dark Souls as much as its tough gameplay.