I had to ban myself from playing Elden Ring for a while because I was getting too sucked into it. Instead I decided to read this, which scratched the itch nicely.

Oddly enough, considering how big the franchise is, I haven’t read a Dark Souls inspired LitRPG before and this one was a strong start. Interestingly enough it’s both a ‘suddenly RPG Apocalypse’ and a ‘trapped in a videogame’ story. The general premise is that about a decade before someone unleashed a demon from the VR game Pyresouls, which smashed him and then dragged all the dark and dismal creatures from the game into the real world, along with the underlying game mechanics. Mankind was not prepared and, with weapons that didn’t really work and stats that couldn’t be changed outside of the game, they quickly fell. Only a few pockets of resistance remained.

In a last desperate attempt to save the world our main character is sent back in time to play the game, get to the demon first and stop the apocalypse. But he’s in a race against all the other players because whoever finishes the game first is promised massive wealth.

It nicely solves my main problem with most ‘trapped in a videogame’ LitRPGs by having actual stakes. Even when you just respawn at a bonfire after you die there’s an ever present ticking clock and actions have real consequences. This conveys a good sense of urgency.

It’s also nice to see the main character reacting to having all his stats nerfed from battling in the real world and being sent back to the basics. He still has all his experience but lacks the muscle memory to use the sword skills he’s mastered. I’m a bit of a sucker for a swordfighter so watching him relearn how to fight with a sword and begin to use other weapons as well was fun to watch.

It all was fun, really. There’s a nice air of mystery to the novel as the lines between what’s obviously a game and what isn’t become blurred. There’s good character interactions, there’s good combat scenes and in general it’s a fun read. I really loved the end because it’s exactly what I would have wanted it to be and was very fitting with the tone and composition of the novel.