A Few Thoughts About the Dark Souls 3 Opening Cinematic Trailer (Minor Spoilers)

The Souls community is all about making comparisons. This continues to be true with the recently released Dark Souls 3 cinematic trailer, and I think that is the point. The following are some quick thoughts I have about the Dark Souls 3 opening cinematic, and how it stacks up against it predecessors.

I don't go into great detail about the specifics of the trailer, but if you're looking to go in dark I will warn you that there are MINOR SPOILERS.

Dark Souls 1 has the strongest opening cinematic. It sets up the mythology of the world, and to my mind, provides a foundation of truth for us to then judge the unreliable narration that will follow. It is a masterfully crafted opening that says so much about the world and conveys the character of the major players in the mythology.

That being said, I am excited about the opening cinematic for Dark Souls 3. I don't think you can beat the Dark Souls 1 opening because it is laying the foundation of the world, but Dark Souls 3 isn't trying to do beat it. The Dark Souls 3 opening cinematic is building upon the mythology of Dark Souls 1. In the opening are references to "Lords of Cinder", "linking the Flame", and "accursed Undead", and all read as callbacks designed to make sure we are all on the same page. It works to summarize and build upon the player's knowledge.

From here, I actually get some Demon's Souls vibes. I'm talking about the opening when you begin a new game, where the situation is called out and a bunch of heroes names are rambled off. I see the Lords of Cinder in the opening more akin to the listed heroes in Demon's Souls then the gods of Dark Souls. Yes, it is like Dark Souls is that they are clearly presenting the big bosses of the game, whilst the heroes in Demon's Souls are NPCs who you meet. Like Demon's Souls though, I think it is presenting a mystery. In Demon's Souls, it mentions that these heroes have failed in their task, and you will meet them and discover why. Likewise, the opening says that the Lords of Cinder will "abandon their thrones". The fire is not linked, and the lords are not returning to their thrones. Why?

While they are mega powerful creatures, the Lords of Cinder are not the gods of Dark Souls 1, and the opening does not present them as such. They are also not the heroes of Demon's Souls, who are an aside to the main story mentioned to garner interest and foreshadow characters you will meet. They are the main focus of the story. The Lords of Cinder are abandoning their thrones as the fire goes unlinked, and why they are doing this is the big question. The cinematic does not tell us much about these characters. They are meant to be left intentionally vague because (I assume) figuring out these Lords of Cinder is a major focus of the narrative.

Now I could be off base on this, but I like a good mystery. Bloodborne presented Yharnam as a mystery that must be unraveled, and that got me hooked right away. While Dark Souls 1 has my favorite opening, it served the functionally different purpose of presenting the mythology and rules of the world. The opening in Dark Souls 3 is building upon the mythology and rules previously established, and then sets the stage for the narrative.