Level Atlas

Dark Souls · Souls

Undead Burgdraft

The first real area of Dark Souls and the clearest demonstration of the series' folded-world design. It climbs, doubles back, and finally opens an elevator that drops the player at the hub they started from, collapsing an hour of travel into thirty seconds.

Year
2011
Platform
PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Genre
Action RPG
Layout
loop
Engine
Proprietary FromSoftware engine
Designers
FromSoftware

Layout notes

A vertical climb through a ruined town, gated by a boss on a bridge, with several one-way ladders and a gate shortcut opened from the far side. The defining move is the elevator in the church that connects the top of the Burg back down to Firelink Shrine.

Intensity curve

00.510% through, demand 20%10% through, demand 40%: First hollows20% through, demand 55%30% through, demand 35%40% through, demand 70%: Balcony ambush50% through, demand 50%60% through, demand 85%: Taurus Demon70% through, demand 45%80% through, demand 80%: Drake bridge run90% through, demand 40%100% through, demand 15%: Elevator to FirelinkFirst hollowsBalcony ambushTaurus DemonDrake bridge runElevator to Firelinkstartend
Demand on the player (combat pressure, platforming difficulty, disorientation), not fun. Relative within this level only.

Space graph

The level as places and the connections between them. Left to right reads as progression, top to bottom as elevation. Dashed outlines are optional spaces; select any space or callout to read it.

Firelink Shrine path Graveyard. A soft gate: nothing stops the player, and nothing survives it either.Firelink Shrine path Burg entranceBurg entrance path Lower Burg streetsLower Burg streets path Balcony ambushBalcony ambush shortcut Burg entrance. A gate opened from the far side, which shortens every walk back after a death.Balcony ambush path Taurus bridgeTaurus bridge gated Drake bridge (opens with: Taurus Demon)Drake bridge path ChurchChurch path To Undead ParishChurch shortcut Firelink Shrine. The elevator. An hour of climbing collapses into thirty seconds, and the area stops being a corridor.Lower Burg streets sightline Church. The spire is visible from the streets below long before there is a route to it.ROOMGraveyardGraveyard: room, optional path. Open from the first minute, unmarked, and far above the player's level. Difficulty is the only signpost.ENTRYFirelink ShrineFirelink Shrine: entry, critical pathCORRIDORBurg entranceBurg entrance: corridor, critical pathROOMLower BurgstreetsLower Burg streets: room, critical pathARENABalcony ambushBalcony ambush: arena, critical pathARENATaurus bridgeTaurus bridge: arena, critical pathCORRIDORDrake bridgeDrake bridge: corridor, critical pathROOMChurchChurch: room, critical pathEXITTo UndeadParishTo Undead Parish: exit, critical pathOptional: The Graveyard optionCritical path: Burg entranceEncounter: Balcony ambushEncounter: Taurus Demon bridgeEncounter: Drake bridgeCritical path: Church elevator
PathShortcutGatedSightlineOptional space

Select a space, a connection, or a callout to read it. 9 spaces, 11 connections, 6 callouts on this level.

Read the graph as a list

Spaces

  • Graveyard room, optional
  • Firelink Shrine entry, critical
  • Burg entrance corridor, critical
  • Lower Burg streets room, critical
  • Balcony ambush arena, critical
  • Taurus bridge arena, critical
  • Drake bridge corridor, critical
  • Church room, critical
  • To Undead Parish exit, critical

Connections

  • Firelink Shrine → Graveyard path
  • Firelink Shrine → Burg entrance path
  • Burg entrance → Lower Burg streets path
  • Lower Burg streets → Balcony ambush path
  • Balcony ambush → Burg entrance shortcut
  • Balcony ambush → Taurus bridge path
  • Taurus bridge → Drake bridge gated, Taurus Demon
  • Drake bridge → Church path
  • Church → To Undead Parish path
  • Church → Firelink Shrine shortcut
  • Lower Burg streets → Church sightline

Techniques

  • Shortcut looptopology

    The church elevator ties the far end of the area back to the starting hub, retroactively reframing the entire climb as a single loop rather than a corridor.

  • Gatingtopology

    Soft gates dominate: the path to the Graveyard and the Taurus Demon bridge are both open early and simply lethal, leaving the sequencing decision with the player.

  • Foreshadow the destinationguidance

    The bridge, the church spire, and the drake are all visible from below long before they are reachable, so the vertical route is legible from the ground.

  • Sightline controlguidance

    Rooftops and broken walls repeatedly show the player where they have already been, which is how the world's interconnection becomes felt rather than explained.

Notes

The reference case for the shortcut link kind: the church elevator is the one edge whose discovery changes the shape of the area rather than adding to it. Read the graph with that edge covered and the Burg is a dead-end climb.

Sources

  • interviewHidetaka Miyazaki interviews on Dark Souls world design