Another day, another Dark Souls III video hot off the presses.
Taxing, isn’t it, keeping up with all this information?
Well, stifle those yawns. I have something besides in-game footage to show you. Dark Souls III publisher Bandai Namco tried something fresh, mobilizing famous horror director Eli Roth and animation studio Six Point Harness for a little atmospheric magic.
As Roth’s latest directorial credit, “’The Witches’ is an original story set in the world of Dark Souls III where a lonely world-weary knight finds himself in an incredibly deadly situation when confronted by three witches.”
A redundant title to be certain, but Roth’s knack for “torture porn” ‒ a cinema subgenre that he was credited with reviving ‒ complements the barbaric Dark Souls tone. Discarded corpses lay strewn about, undisturbed; carnivorous rats patrol for their next meal; crows tear the eyes of a living victim free; and a cinder giant annihilates all the wildlife in a hundred-mile radius.
While he might not be the first director that jumps to mind when I picture Dark Souls III, Eli ‒ renowned for films like Cabin Fever, Hostel, and Hostel: Part II ‒ fulfilled his job flawlessly. It requires a separate mindset ‒ when you lack props and actors ‒ to bring animated films into being.
Hungry for more? An accompanying behind-the-scenes feature catalogs the production of “The Witches,” from interviews to animatics.
A Dark Souls fan himself, Roth states:
I’ve always loved medieval history. I’ve always wanted to do something in this space with knights and fire ‒ something that was dark, that combined magic and something of the classic horror storytelling elements, but something that was very different for me.
What do you think? Is “The Witches” enough of a departure from Eli’s violent, live-action works? Does it clash with your vision of the From Software franchise?
Let us know in the comments, and expect a full review of Dark Souls III soon.