My Favourite Souls Game Is Twitch

Souls games are revered titles that sell extremely well and are usually played for well over hundreds of hours. Heck, I can even bet that some people out there are still playing Demon Souls! I could go on about it spawning its own genre of gameplay and arguably, a whole different type of speedrunning but that's beside the point.

I am not a Souls player and I honestly don't see myself ever being a Souls player. I do not derive fun from succeeding past a nigh impossible hurdle. I do not find it particularly interesting in fiddling through pages of guides and lore and advice to understand how to use a particular item or pose to proceed. I am not a speedrunner nor do I replay games frequently. In all aspects, I cannot find enjoyment in partaking in a Souls-type game.

But I absolutely love watching it on Twitch.

Souls games are inherently fun to watch and I believe the whole speedrunning hype around it is largely due to that aspect. Whether you watch it recorded on YouTube or live on Twitch, that's honestly down to preference but the fact of the matter is that I find it way more fun to watch someone get through the games rather than slogging through them myself.

Souls games are difficult. I should clarify that I am including Bloodborne, Sekiro and even Nioh into this collective phrase. They are difficult games that require patience, precision and more than a little bit of skill. I do not think I am incapable of playing these games. In fact, I think I'd probably be one of the better ones going through them. But I do not think it is worth the time investment. What do I get out of dying 60 times to beat this boss? Everyone has mentioned that the best dopamine dose for the game comes from the catharsis of succeeding. That's a good enough reason and if I was earning money playing this, I would agree with that notion but it simply is too much of a time investment for catharsis to be the sole reason. It's simply a matter of a difference in enjoying the medium and this does not do it for me.

But it IS fun watching someone succeed after failing continuously. Who doesn't love an underdog story? So of course I enjoy watching someone beat a boss after dying non-stop for an hour. It's not my success but hey, neither was it my time sunk into getting over that digital hurdle. Some might argue that I'm watching on Twitch, hence, my time. But I usually multitask when on Twitch and sometimes, I pop in just in time for them to beat the boss. I didn't watch them fail but by context, I can still garner some sort of supportive feeling for the player. And that's enough for me honestly. I don't intend on trying too hard on a video game boss that serves zero purpose other than allowing me past a gate. No emotional build up towards the fight, no context, no reason, no sob story, no nothing. I do think gameplay takes precedence over anything else in a video game but having JUST gameplay without any context feels empty and pointless.

Of course, the argument here is that there IS context. The Souls games are filled with lore and everything is done for a reason! Even dying serves a purpose! That's true but the world building is mainly done via flavour text. Sure, art and aesthetics play a huge role in it too and I absolutely adore the design for the games but again, it's a lot of time invested into learning the lore as opposed to just being enveloped in it via the story or cutscenes or whatever it is. The more time you invest, the more you learn about the game. Which is a great choice for design of course but again, I cannot justify the time investment. I can, of course, just watch a streamer who explains it or does an action that, through context, relays that info to me. I don't get the entire lore of the game but I never needed the whole understanding to begin with. It strikes a good balance for me. It allows me to jump right into a stream and enjoy the show without needing to prepare beforehand. That's another reason why it's just so easy to jump into a stream for Souls games.

I'm sure someone is going to use this as some sort of metaphor for my laziness to get through problems in life and why humans love watching other people succeed but whatever it is, if you feel that way, post in the comments and let me know! I watch Souls games, I don't play them but who knows! If they decide to add more to the characters and story, I might just end up regretting this article.