Dark Souls II is one of the finest, and most challenging, games released this year. The notoriously difficult action-role-player is as brutal and soul-destroying as it is rewarding, but its dark-gaming magic keeps players coming back for more.
Publisher Bandai Namco has been keeping track of what gamers are up to in Dark Souls II — including how they’re dying and what they’re killing — and we’ve been keeping an eye on these official stats via the Beyond the Fire website. Breaking them down, we’ve found some cool facts and figures that seem pretty unbelievable.
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How many Dark Souls II players die every second — that’s 23 times faster than the real-world death rate
Console gamers die 150,443 times per hour in Dark Souls II. That’s 2,507 deaths per minute, or 42 every single second.
By contrast, the world death rate in 2011 was 105 deaths per minute, around 2 every second. That’s according to the Population Reference Bureau & The World Factbook.
Above: Death comes all too easily in Drangleic. It’s more dangerous to live there than in the real world.
1
The Pursuer dies every time you take a breath
The Pursuer is one tough opponent, but he’s still dying 735 times every hour, or 12 times a minute. That’s the same as the resting respiratory rate of an adult human, according to A. Chandrasekhar, M.D.
PlayStation 3 gamers account for 501 of his hourly deaths, with Xbox 360 gamers nailing him the remaining 234 times.
Above: …and breathe.
327 billion
The number of Drangleic insects that gamers have saved this year
National Geographic estimates that a spider eats 2,000 insects a year. By killing over 163 million spiders since launch, Dark Souls II players have done Drangleic’s insect population a serious favor.
Best stick some bug spray in that inventory.
Above: The spider population of Drangleic has taken a serious hit recently. They probably only wanted to get out of the rain.
15 trillion
The number of souls console gamers have lost. If souls were dollars, that would have paid off the U.S. national debt back in 2011
Souls are the lifeblood of Dark Souls II. Currently, players have lost 15,786,935,133,325 of them. That’s pretty careless.
The U.S. National debt was $14,790,340,328,557 in September 2011, according to Treasury records. Unfortunately, it’s now over $17 trillion.
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Above: Well, I’m not going back to retrieve those souls. No sirree.
6
Every second, a human foe kills six players
Drangleic is an unfriendly place even when you take away the traps and enemies. Eight percent of deaths are from fellow gamers making trouble. Every minute, 360 players get struck down by a human opponent. That’s six every second.
Above: Human players insist on piling on the misery in Dark Souls II.
16 million
The number of deaths due to something other than a fall, an enemy, a trap, or another player
Is it possible to die from the humiliation of repeated failure? Well, something must have caused those 16,721,802 deaths.
World War I also resulted in an estimated 16 million deaths, according the U.S. National Archives.
Above: Feel like you can’t go on? Yep, we’ve all been there.
1,074
The number of hounds killed every minute. That’s 1,546,166 per day. Dark Souls II players clearly aren’t dog people.
According to the U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, the U.S. dog population was 69,926,000 in 2012. They’d all be dead within 45 days if Dark Souls II players were let loose into the real world.
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Above: It’s a dog’s life in Dark Souls II. Unfortunately, a dog’s life doesn’t last long.
403
How many players clear Dark Souls II every hour
As tough as Dark Souls II is, plenty of gamers are beating it. Every hour, 168 Xbox 360 players and 235 PlayStation 3 players defeat the final boss. That’s ever so slightly more efficient than a robot chef, which can crank out 400 gourmet burgers an hour.
Currently, a total of 431,567 console gamers have made it to the end of Dark Souls II. And one very keen PC gamer.
Above: Altogether now: “Open up your heart and let the sunshine in.”
860
The number of deaths the PlayStation 3 community has registered for each member that’s cleared Dark Souls II. On Xbox 360, that figure is only 421
Does this mean that PlayStation 3 gamers are more careless? We’ll leave that open for discussion. …
Above: A PlayStation 3 owner hangs his head in shame.
51 million
The number of deaths in Dark Souls II that were the result of falls
It’s treacherous underfoot in Drangleic, and console gamers have already plummeted to their death 51,256,592 times.
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In the U.S., falls killed 26,009 people in 2010. That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Above: This probably isn’t going to end well. Pardon the pun.
All statistics based on Bandai Namco’s current figures — found at Beyond the Bonfire — were correct at the time of writing. We tracked Beyond the Bonfire over a 48-hour period to calculate all timed statistics.