On the surface, it’s a pretty simple concept to understand: much like in real life, if your video game avatar falls from too great a height they can sustain damage and even die. However, in the Dark Souls series, such fall mechanics aren’t quite so simple. In the newest entry of his ‘Dark Souls Dissected’ video series (which we’ve covered before), YouTuber Illusory Wall shows that, much like many other elements of the series, Dark Souls’ falling mechanics have their own unique quirks.
According to Illusory Wall’s findings, Dark Souls measures height using a binary units system. A player can fall up to five “units” of distance without taking damage, but if they fall for 20 height units or more, the fall will prove fatal. The amount of damage taken from a fall is also not only determined by the distance but also by how heavy the player’s equipment is. If a completely naked character and a character wearing a full set of heavy armor fall from the same height, the heavy armor character will take more damage proportional to their weight.
Illusory Wall also touches on the subject of kill boxes and how Dark Souls developer FromSoftware used them in both clever and not-so-clever ways. For example, the player should technically be able to survive a fall from the top of the Undead Parish church (where they fight the Twin Gargoyles), but a kill box trigger makes it impossible to do so. However, since the fall is so long, the fact that the player dies doesn’t feel cheap or unfair. Sadly, the same cannot be said for many of Blighttown’s kill boxes.
If you’re at all a fan of the Dark Souls series (or how video games work in general), Illusory Wall’s Dark Souls Dissected series is definitely worth a watch. Or, if you prefer to delve into all of the cut content that remains buried in the Dark Souls game files, we’ve got you covered on that front as well.