In the past, we covered the more technical aspects of Soulsborne games, as well as many of their wilder narrative themes. It’s always a pleasure to talk about the beautifully cryptic legacy of FromSoftware, but now it’s time to talk about something even more serious.
Yes. Now that our homework is done, I believe it’s perhaps time to kick back and relax while reminiscing about the best, safest, and comfiest Hub areas in the otherwise relentlessly murderous worlds of these games.
7. Roundtable Hold (Elden Ring)
Elden Ring might just be my favorite Soulsborne game, but I have to file a complaint regarding the level of coziness provided by the Roundtable Hold.
The Roundtable Hold stays true to Elden Ring‘s mission of amplifying the scope of all things Souls, and that part I get. The hold is a massive palace that’s fully garnished with useful tools. It feels like a proper base of operations for the prototype Avengers, but that’s also its biggest problem.
Navigating the Roundtable Hold can come across as confusing for newcomers, and, even after we’ve fully mapped it, this place doesn’t feel like your home. This is a larger thing meant for a wider group of people. It also doesn’t help that some of its tenants, like, say, the Dung Eater, are quite bad at making you feel at ease. Maybe I’m being mean, but I just don’t vibe with his personal choice of placement for the dozens of defiled victims that he uses as decoration.
Also, the Roundtable Hold is the only “safe” area where you’re targeted for an assassination attempt so, despite all of its potential, it’s still the least comfy hub in the series.
6. The Nexus (Demon’s Souls)
I like the Nexus in Demon’s Souls because it’s easy to navigate and because it’s very well-lit, but that’s about it.
From an architectural standpoint, the Nexus is gorgeous — too gorgeous. I have a hard time imagining peasants and even knights whose idea of maximum luxury is a candle-lit castle dungeon entering that place without immediately freaking out to the point of going hollow. The Nexus in Demon’s Souls is as close as you’d get from a medieval UFO. I wouldn’t be surprised to find corpses of little grey aliens somewhere in there as a neat easter egg.
Also, even though it only opens up near the end of the game, and the fall somehow turns out to be non-lethal, that hole in the middle just strikes me as the last thing I’d ever build in my cozy place. I’d never be able to rest knowing that my IRL sleepwalker character type could have me dodge-rolling into that absolute thing of nightmares.
5. Dilapidated Temple (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
I like Sekiro‘s temporary home because it features cool ninja secret passages and also because his roommate is an old-timey tech wiz who creates incredibly wacky contraptions. Outside of that, however, It seems breezy and cold. Sekiro, unlike most other protagonists in Soulsborne games, isn’t undead, so I’m guessing it isn’t very comfortable.
Also, at some point, our pal gives in to pure hatred and goes away on a journey of total destruction, which sucks because it leaves us without our cool roomie. Going back once you’ve completed the game and knowing that he’ll never come back to give you a bazooka that shoots bees or something similar is nothing short of heartbreaking.
4. Firelink Shrine (Dark Souls)
The original Firelink Shrine is both the crowning jewel of the masterful level design in the original Dark Souls, as well as technically the best safe zone in the history of gaming.
It sits in the middle of the game’s world like a cozy single-room home with various doors that all lead to a different death. Still, even though I’m well aware that the twisted developers of this game would never want you to feel too cozy, I feel like it could still feel a bit warmer and comfier.
Also, I’m not crazy about the looks that that the Crestfallen Knight/Lautrec/Creepy priest/weird god snake/giant crow keep giving me while I’m just trying to rest by the bonfire.
3. Firelink Shrine (Dark Souls 3)
I know that barely anyone would agree that the Firelink Shrine in Dark Souls 3 is better than the original one, but I do believe it’s quite the step up.
In DS3, we might be playing as a zombie who couldn’t care less about the weather, but anyone playing is, to the best of my knowledge, a living human being. Two things we human beings like are warmth and a place where we won’t have to worry about rain and wind. The Firelink Shrine in DS3 is pretty much a bunker where absolutely no element will ever get to you.
It also helps that, for once in the series, this hub is populated entirely by decent folk, or at least by folk who won’t try to kill you or the other NPCs while you’re not there.
2. The Hunter’s Dream (Bloodborne)
Even though I’m not even sure if it’s a real place, the Hunter’s Dream in Bloodborne is the only Hub in the series where we get an actual house, so that’s naturally a step up from the previous hubs.
The Hunter’s Dream also features two easily accessible stores, two workshops, a neat storage unit, an old man who will never bother you because he’s always asleep, and tiny monsters that my analysis of the lore says are my fans. There’s even a human-looking doll who states her love for the player, but who somehow never lets it get any weirder than that. The Hunter’s Dream rocks.
1. Majula (Dark Souls 2)
Majula is a place of breathtaking beauty. It’s so gorgeous, in fact, that it nearly feels out of place in this series.
Majula features natural sunlight that will warm you up should you decide to peer into the distance of its gorgeous ocean. It also has an obelisk that makes you feel like a badass by asking if you want to make the game harder, and another one that congratulates you on the number of courageous deaths you’ve achieved. It also has a bunch of houses that you can totally roleplay as the owner of.
Majula’s only fault is that it only exists in Dark Souls 2, meaning that it serves as a marvelous hub to the wackest and blandest world in the series. Also, it has rats in some of its houses. Get rid of those, renew the ceilings, and Majula becomes a damn paradise.
