Dark Souls is challenging, but have you ever tried playing it drunk, on psychedelics, about to vomit, or any combination of the three? A new, totally unnecessary mod simulates that experience by making almost every texture in the hardcore action role-playing game scroll endlessly, making it seem as if the world around you is about to fall apart at the seams.
This project is the diabolical work of Dark Souls modder Dropoff, who garnered quite a bit of attention after uploading the mod to social media yesterday. There are two versions, one for the original Prepare to Die edition as well as the more recent Dark Souls Remastered, the latter of which is available on Steam. Applying the mod is simply a matter of copy-pasting the files to the appropriate folder, a process so easy that even a complete PC gaming pleb such as myself had no problem turning my own game into a barf-inducing carnival ride.
As you can see, practically everything in Dark Souls is affected by Dropoff’s mod. The walls shift and churn, the sky (complete with mountains) flies by at an unnerving pace, and even enemies become undulating masses of hard-to-define shapes and textures. The Chosen Undead, unaffected by the mod, feels even more put upon than usual, tasked with navigating a hellish landscape that no longer resembles Lordran’s natural, crumbling beauty.
Look, I’m not going to act like this is the best way to play Dark Souls. Look at it! It’s a freaking nightmare! Just watching the original Twitter video was enough to make me sick to my stomach; actually playing the game at fullscreen is even worse. It may look like I’m killing it in the footage below, but believe me, it’s incredibly disorienting. I don’t think I’ve felt this queasy since first experiencing the parallax scrolling of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Sega Genesis.
Unlike most of the things I write about, which often continue to bounce around my brain for a bit after publishing, I can safely say I’ll do my best to never think about this mod again. Dropoff, you are one sick puppy (and I eagerly await your next horrific creation).
For more of Dropoff’s work, be sure to check out their accounts on Twitter, YouTube, and Nexus Mods.
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