Image Analysis - Dark Souls II Promotional Art

 The image I am analyzing is promotional art for the game Dark Souls II. The slogan of the series is "prepare to die", as the game is very challenging and punishes those who don't learn from mistakes. The game also gives a fulfilling feeling when you overcome an obstacle due to its difficulty, which is much of the appeal of the series. This image encapsulates the nature of Dark Souls. The center of the image is the player character riddled with arrows and kneeling down, as if in defeat. Obviously, the player character had just come out of battle, as you can see two bodies on either bottom corner. The player character is looking upwards at the sun, possibly the goal that they are trying to reach, but failed before they could reach it. The sun representing the goal of the player also represents the constant uphill struggle that the player faces in the game. The sun is also the brightest point in the picture, which brings the eye up from the player character towards it, again symbolizing an uphill challenge. With the nature of the game, one would assume from this image that the player has now learned what lies ahead, and instead of being defeated at this point, they will be able to pass with more success and get closer to their goal.