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On Soulsring Worlds

Narrative Complexity, Digital Communities, and Interpretation in Dark Souls and Elden Ring

Marco Caracciolo author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:26th Feb '24

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

On Soulsring Worlds cover

The first book-length study devoted to FromSoftware games, On Soulsring Worlds explores how the Dark Souls series and Elden Ring are able to reconcile extreme difficulty in both gameplay and narrative with broad appeal.

Arguing that the games are strategically positioned in relation to contemporary audiences and designed to tap into the new forms of interpretation afforded by digital media, the author situates the games vis-à-vis a number of current debates, including the posthuman and the ethics of gameplay. The book delivers an object lesson on the value of narrative (and) complexity in digital play and in the interpretive practices it gives rise to.

Cross-fertilizing narrative theory, game studies, and nonhuman-oriented philosophy, this book will appeal to students and scholars of game studies, media studies, narratology, and video game ethnography.

"If Dark Souls and Elden Ring deliver us ludic incomprehension, then Caracciolo delivers his customary analytical clarity. The book’s replay value promises to attract both gamers and academics, keeping all of our intellectual health bars high."

David Ciccoricco, author of Refiguring Minds in Narrative Media and Reading Network Fiction

ISBN: 9781032683997

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 272g

118 pages