Dark Souls trailer to player: Screw you, you're going to be crap at Dark Souls

From Software's Demon's Souls managed to make even the grizzled old warhorses of RPG gaming cry into their eyepatches and facial scars with its uncommonly demanding gameplay, so of course it stands to reason that for the spiritual successor – Dark Souls, which expands the series onto Xbox 360 come its October release – the company would promise “greatly increased difficulty.” Hell, even just following this new trailer is a bit of a challenge, with the game's satisfyingly moody visuals giving up little in the way of gameplay details beyond a fairly stark statement of your playing prospects.

This clip's official title, Bartholomew, comes from the backing track by Canadian saloon-rockers The Silent Comedy, which provides a nice change from the soaring orchestrals and wailing choirs usually mandatory within these sorts of clips (peep the title's Gamescom clip for plenty of both). Still, if this trailer has you expecting equal parts brooding dark fantasy, high-budget drama and a tendency to murder anyone damn-fool enough to press Start, it's probably done its job.

Aug 22, 2011