So RVA Mag (and GayRVA) moved into some sweet new digs a few weeks back, just about the time From Software’s Dark Souls 2 was released.
So RVA Mag (and GayRVA) moved into some sweet new digs a few weeks back, just about the time From Software’s Dark Souls 2 was released.
It had to have been fate.
The Branch House, built between 1916-19 and designed by famed Architect John Russell Pope, is a modern masterpiece of Tudor-Revival architecture.
Pope, a world renown architect, also designed The Jefferson Memorial, the National Gallery of Art building, and Richmond’s Union Station (now the Science Museum of VA.)
Our office is on the top floor, one of the building’s 63 rooms. It’s easy to stay warm with 14 fireplaces and there’s never a line at one of the 15 bathrooms. Add to the mix the narrow hallways and tight stairwells and every time I come into work I get flashbacks of running through the Lost Bastille.
This house is massive. And the massive wooden doors with complex iron work certainly don’t help sell the Branch House as NOT a video game fantasy world.
As for the brutal world of Dark Souls 2, a game known for its bleak atmosphere, feelings of loneliness, and often claustrophobic environments, stepping one foot into the Branch House will make you ask how much humanity you have left.
Here’s an official gameplay trailer which gives you a glimpse of what I’m talking about:
Have a look at our office through the lens of Dark Souls, and notice what a difference our crack design man Tony Harris makes when he simply drops DS2 elements into the frame.
It’s terrifying, now imagine working here….
Please check your coat and souls at the front door.
Mind the Pursuer in the reading room.
Lowly times these are… at work.
Just another day at the office.
Praise the sun!
I’m yet to take out my long sword and find out if there’s a room behind this book shelf…
Sadly, I haven’t found the soldiers key for this door yet.
