vermis: the game that doesn't exist
Vermis is a strategy guide for a video game that doesn’t exist. A Dark Souls game, specifically. There’s the same sense of a doomed world more than half-dead, the same obscure lore gleaned in fragments from item descriptions and enemy placements, and the same sense that Vermis would be punishingly difficult, if it were actually a game.
The book starts, naturally, with the character selection screen. You can (pretend to) choose from one of 12 classes, including the Murk Sage (“description”), the Infant Seeker (“description”), and of course Rat Man (“become Rat Man”). Each class comes with its own stats, bio, and starting item. Choose one in your head and follow them on a step-by-step quest through a dying land full of solitary NPCs who chuckle and gurgle and mumble at you in little dialogue boxes.
The writing here is not as rich as a true From Soft product, and it clunks at times. Ther tendency to yoke full sentences together with commas eventually grates. It’s effective enough, though, at conjuring an opressive and dreadful atmosphere, and at any rate it isn’t the real draw here. The strength of the book is in its art, and that is gorgeous. Each page feels richly textured, clearly meant to evoke the art style of a retro game while remaining thoroughly modern in its presentation and quality.
Despite the book’s self-styling as a strategy guide, it reminds me more of the printed instruction manuals that game with the old SEGA and SEGA Genesis consoles I inherited from my older brother. We all miss game manuals, but the booklets that came in PSX and N64 games which most milennials fondly remember were largely anemic things compared to their 80s forebears. These would often list full enemy guides, as Vermis does, and even offer partial walkthroughs to get you started on the game. I have fond memories of studying the bestiaries of games like Wonder Boy In Monster Land, and this book summons the same sort of ethos. I was also reminded, faintly, of Escape the Dark Castle, a roguelike card game with similarly lush retro horror art which even has its own soundtrack.
You can, of course, read the book on its own and savor its lovely horrific illustrations, but it also seems tailor-made for running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The characters even have stats. Just plug some in for the monsters and you’ve got a set guide through a well-realized world with loot, boss battles, enviroments, and setpiece dungeons.
Vermis is properly titled Vermis I: Lost Dungeons and Forbidden Woods, and a Vermis II has been promised. It just finished its fourth printing from Hollow Books, but a new run is set for the 15th of July.