I'm pretty much a single player gamer, but lately i've been getting into the multiplayer side of dark souls. Personally, I think it's my new favourite multiplay

I'm pretty much a single player gamer, but lately i've been getting into the multiplayer side of dark souls. Personally, I think it's my new favourite multiplayer system. It's focused around co op and invasions and is built into the story enough that it just feels like part of the game, while again not being forced in any way. It's entirely optional to the point where being able to invade more than a limited number of times is locked behind an obscure, difficult route in the game that's missable and entirely unlikely to be discovered the first playthrough. There's a few different invasion mechanics based around in game covenants that provide different game experiences, both in single and multiplayer that are a lot of fun. Coop's pretty fun too. It's a pretty awesome feeling helping out another player with a boss or area they've been struggling with and I'm not ashamed to say I needed to summon a bit of help for Ornstein and Smough the first time. But, my favourite thing I think is the asynchronous multiplayer. The notes and specters. You can leave notes with predefined phrases for other players that can be helpful, or not as well as getting small glimpses of other players 'ghosts' as they play the game, or die horribly to something. There's no other actual interaction between players though. You can't message people, there's no lobbies, it's all very ephemeral and unnoticeable and just feels like part of the game. The only thing it really reminds me of is the counter-op mode from perfect dark, which was a hell of a lot of fun, even if it seemed a bit lacking at times. Personally I'd love to see this system recreated and improved in other games. It's the first time i've been interested in multiplayer gaming since I was a teenager playing StarCraft and diablo. I know someone who regularly plays grand theft auto online. Whenever i've watched them play lately I can't help but think how much better it would be if they'd built a similar system. The game would be perfect for it. The online mode it has seems pointless and pretty lazy by comparison.