The fictional land of Lordran is a very grim and dour place, full of undead, dragons, monstrous abominations, demons, and worse - in short, there's a reason it's the setting for a game called "Dark Souls". But what happens when a modder makes the simple change of cranking up the notoriously gloomy game's brightness?
Turns out you get a place that, you know, aside from all the monsters that want to murder you, seems like it might be nice to visit! Here, have a tour:
If you're feeling bold and want to try this unique version of Dark Souls (or should it be "Bright Souls"?) for yourself, the modifications made are quite minimal. The video's creator claims that all they did was remove the game's DrawParam folder and tweak some RGB values. The DrawParam files dictate how the game handles lighting effects for each area, so removing it altogether results in a sort of default lighting state.
Unfortunately, this also creates a few strange quirks in what few shadows remain. You may notice at certain parts in the video that a creature's shadow is either entirely absent, or stretches to a ludicrous length in a direction that doesn't make sense.
Still, it seems like the community is having fun noticing little details they may have missed. On Reddit, the top-voted comment is about how one player never realized the Blight Town elevators are powered by fire dogs walking in giant wheel devices. Me, I'm just enjoying the scenery - Dark Souls takes place in a time where the world has fallen to ruin, but these simple changes give perhaps the best look we'll ever get at what Lordran was like in its heyday.
I've included some of my favorite locales below. See if you can guess where they are without all the murk and fog that would typically be present.
Dark Souls originally came out in 2011, but recently got a re-release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC, and will arrive on Nintendo Switch later in 2018. If you've managed to avoid this formative series until now, read up on why Dark Souls Remastered is the perfect jumping on point.
