According to the Golden Joystick Awards Dark Souls is the Ultimate Game of All Time

[Cosmic Janitor]

I'm actually (pleasantly) surprised that alot of people seem to think that DS is kinda overrated, certainly for such an extreme title. I kinda feared DS being the second coming had become dogma already.

[exochaft]

Ultimate game of all time?

It should be a game that has had such a huge, widespread impact on ALL of gaming, that only the most niche corners of the internet have eye-batting at it. On page 1 of this thread, multiple people disagree whole-heartedly. This is hardly a niche corner of the internet, it's a massive 3rd party website dedicated to WoW and other games to a lesser degree.

UGoAT should go to a game a bit older, probably, that's at least affected more than one genre and had a major impact. Whether it created a genre or changed that genre forever, and maybe impacted others as well.

Really, I am thinking something like Mario, Zelda, FF, or similar.

Dark Souls ain't it... but there's other games that could be it for sure, though really... can one game truly hold such a title?

That's where my mind was headed, as "Ultimate game of all time" is soooo incredibly vague, and depending upon what metric you go by would change the top contenders.

I think the best metric (or at least one that should be considered) is the cultural impact, as it transcends the "well I did/didn't like the game" arguments as they don't really matter. The cultural impact can be subdivided into other categories that further refine the definition (such as relevancy over time, impact on game development or genre, etc), as well. If you're trying to find a GOAT in the main category of cultural impact, it'd likely be a game that dominates all sub-categories (or at least most of them).

Going by that alone, Dark Souls (whether you love it or hate it) probably doesn't even come close to other games. I mean, I think everyone here could at least agree on certain games or franchises that would at least be contenders... and Dark Souls would likely not be one of them.

As a slight aside... "ultimate" GOAT? Seriously, who came up with that? That's almost something a child would come up with. I'm sure this award will be superceded by the "super ultimate GOAT" eventually.

[Nerph-]

I enjoy Dark Souls games, albeit being shit at them, but calling one of them the best game of all time is a stretch and a half.

[exochaft]

I'm actually (pleasantly) surprised that alot of people seem to think that DS is kinda overrated, certainly for such an extreme title. I kinda feared DS being the second coming had become dogma already.

I think people can separate their love and adoration of a game with what it takes for a game to be heralded as a GOAT compared to all other games. For example, I think TLOU 2 was horrendous, but I think someone who absolutely loved TLOU2 would agree with me when it comes to saying TLOU should never even be mentioned as a GOAT game. People do have emotional attachments to their favorite games and genres, but people tend to not have completely lost all perspective.

...except maybe most game journalists. I think most of their souls were sold a long time ago.

[Jastall]

I'm actually (pleasantly) surprised that alot of people seem to think that DS is kinda overrated, certainly for such an extreme title. I kinda feared DS being the second coming had become dogma already.

I don't think that many people actually believe that outside of the rabid parts of the fanbase- you know, the same types who shout "git gud" at anyone daring to criticize their perfect little gem. They're pretty vocal but hardly a majority within said fanbase, let alone gaming discourse as a whole. Seems a lot of them did vote for it there however.

Anyway polls like that are always subject to far too much statistical bias to be useful in any way. IIRC IGN did something similar not too long ago and there God of War 2018 won.

[Munson85]

Skyrim is better than Dark Souls ffs, clown poll for easy headline attention

[Rendark]

Have you played Demons Souls? The bosses are a joke, hitboxes are as broken as in DS2, the inventory system is atrocious and the world tendency system is confusing and useless.

And yet it's still better then the first dark souls. Dark souls is good but it's just not done.

[Thelxi]

I just finished the remaster and I don't agree. It's an inspired game for sure that pretty much invented an entire new genre, but it's still pretty niche. More niche than the other two souls games even, let alone other games. To call it the best game of all time is a reach.

[SinR]

I used to work in a manufactring company as the senior marketing manager years ago.

Once in a while, i got a phone call from someone saying: do you want to be announced brand of the year in your industry? It will cost you this much. We will hold a conference, you pay us and we will give you a trophy. You can then use it for marketing material.

Now, im not saying that Dark Soul does not deserve it or not, just a heads up where most these awards coming from.

Like I said, Dead Presidents are the jury on the "Ultimate Greatest of All Time"

[Leyre]

A game who punish you for not playing the correct way, its NOT a game

[oplawlz]

I don't really think any of these awards matter anymore after The Last of Us 2, definitively a shit game, won like every award. Game journalists and awards presenters literally just fucking pander to devs for access. Watching them run cover for TLOU2 trying to portray everyone that disliked it as sexist somehow was truly eye opening.

Yeah game journalism was already a laughingstock, tlou2 made it too pathetic even to laugh at.
OT all time is a bit too strong, but I'd agree it is up there in impact. In a market that was increasingly pandering to people who don't actually like video games they showed it was okay to make a game some people simply weren't good enough to play.

[Beastiel]

Dark Souls is good but overrated. Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 and even Demon's Souls (not the remake) are better games.

Pretty much this. Dark souls is good but there are entire zones that are unfinished at best. Feels a bit like calling streetfighter 1 the ultimate fighter when streetfighter 2 exists.

Also I don't even think darksouls is THAT good. It's got some well tuned difficulty and some cool world building and that's about it. But I've accepted that people worship it at this point and can atleast come to terms with the fact that it's a good game.

[Sammonoske]

A game who punish you for not playing the correct way, its NOT a game

Besides sandbox's, that's sort of most games and the reality is that Souls games are far more flexible in allowing you to do whatever you'd like than most. So I don't know what you're on about. It's ok to say it's not your kind of game.

[Selah]

Oh please, let's not pretend like it's something more than a stupid marketing label that'll be used to increase profits.

[Mysterymask]

A game who punish you for not playing the correct way, its NOT a game

By that logic the only game that exists is Minecraft and Second Life and even then those have rules

I mean by that logic you would complain you can't play Mortal Kombat as a Pacifist or that SMB1 punishes you for trying to hug 1-1 Goomba

[dope_danny]

On one hand these awards are dumb bullshit for clicks and across a medium with multiple genres no one game can be the best at everything.

But on the other watching Last of Us fanboys go into nuclear meltdown at the number two spot getting beaten by a game with "no story" is worth a sensible chuckle.

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I'm actually (pleasantly) surprised that alot of people seem to think that DS is kinda overrated, certainly for such an extreme title. I kinda feared DS being the second coming had become dogma already.

Kind of hard to do when everything after Anor Londo is mediocre to dogshit and i've beaten that game 27 times. Its good but really not fromsofts best game in any regard.

[draynay]

I like the part of it I've seen, the beginning. Maybe if I ever get any further I'll agree.

[ParanoiD84]

Amazing serie for sure but i dont think the first one is the best in the serie

[Tenjen]

A game with immersive and interesting lore you put together through exploration and trial and rewarded you for learning and skilled play (which you could achieve through many different builds). It always stuck to its design philosophy, while also developing further and using its lessons to grow and improve for future titles. All that without falling prety to commercialization and Microtransactions. Varied up its formula with the likes of bloodborne and Sekiro and now Elden Ring.

It created its own genre's of soulslike game and influenced titles in other genre's with soulslike elements, some really fantastic ones too. Its profound influence on the industry in general was a heavy counter to the executive push for making everything a Live Service with MTX, either directly or through the games that resulted from it. Though ofcourse it wasnt the only game to do this.

Putting all those elements today, it's definately one of the handful of games/franchises which contend for the position, and not a suprise it was chosen in the end.Though all of those "handful" are just as deserving.

[Devilyaki]

I wouldn’t go that far with it. Good game but best of all time?