What is it?

Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. It uses all the mechanics people enjoyed in Demon's Souls and reworks them into a more streamlined but still infuriatingly difficult action role-playing game.

Why is it cool?

Demon's Souls was an unprecedented hit because of its revolutionary take on multiplayer and combat complexity, but it really wasn't graphically stunning. Dark Souls is deliciously vibrant and approaches multiplayer with a deeper emphasis on co-op and, strangely, griefing.

What really sets Dark Souls apart is the focus on exploration rather than carefully moving through a linear path fraught with danger. The game encourages players to sidestep overwhelming enemies and search every winding staircase and meandering corridor, but danger still lurks in the shadows. This time you've got more opportunities to get stabbed while clumsily rounding a corner.

The moment I couldn't help but be frightened

The Black Iron Knight class specializes in crossing between player worlds expressly to track down another players and kill them. While Demon's Souls has similar mechanics, the gleaming wickedness embodied in the knight's ornate black armor comes to life when you slip into an opponent's world as a murderous red-tinted ghost. The knight moves through the crowds of AI enemies unnoticed as he tracks down the player. Seeing his hulking figure suddenly start chasing me down a corridor was one of the scariest things I've seen in a long time.