Giantness and Excess in Dark Souls

Abstract

Using the Dark Souls series as an example, I examine how a frame of ‘monster of excess’ can be used to read giantness in digital games. The monster of excess finds a paradigmatic example in the giant, an age-old mythic figure still prevalent within digital games. Many elements are directly borrowed or translated from other artistic forms such as film and literature. But, in this paper, I focus on how excess is encoded ludically, and how that links with the more representational and aesthetic depictions of excess within the games. I find that elements such as the camera and the game’s interface, along with the player-character are all affected by giantness, with giants seeming to exist in excess of the games’ established frames.