Dark Souls is a series that’s known for having environments which are dreary, dank, and oftentimes poorly lit, it is called *Dark* Souls after all. However, if the idea of a Dark Souls experience that cranked the brightness levels up to 11 appeals to you for whatever reason, you’ll definitely want to check out the newest video from Redditor and Dark Souls modder theelfriede.
As they recounted on Reddit, theelfriede was able to create an interesting new version of Dark Souls which they aptly refer to as “Bright Souls.” Note that the below video does contain spoilers in regards to Dark Souls’ level designs and boss encounters, so if you’ve yet to play the game for yourself, consider this an official warning.
As theelfriede notes in the video description, they were able to lift the darkness by tinkering with Dark Souls’ DrawParam folder and the RGB values for individual levels. As Kotaku’s Cameron Kunzelman explains, the DrawParam folder for Dark Souls’ PC version dictates how the game’s visual effects (such as fog) and lighting are presented. Each individual level in Dark Souls is given its own unique DrawParam settings, hence why each level looks so visually distinct. However, by modifying and in some cases outright deleting the DrawParam folder, theelfriede was able to create a version of Dark Souls that’s still creepy and foreboding, but not quite as dark (at least in terms of lighting).
Messing with the DrawParam folder is also how fellow Dark Soul modder notaprofi was able to create the Pure Darkness mod, a mode which pretty much does the exact opposite of what theelfriede managed to accomplish. Notaprofi is also the modder behind this sadistic Dark Souls mod that disables all forms of movement other than rolling.