Dark Souls' most famous city is as beautiful as it is deadly

When reviews of the first Dark Souls surfaced, many writers likened their experience to a tour of Hell. The game’s legendary difficulty begs for a metaphor of molar-grinding torment on a sufficiently grand scale, and the Hell allusion is a natural one considering that Dark Souls draws so much inspiration from spiritual iconography, with its demons, cathedrals, curses and souls, liturgical chanting