Dark Souls was the game that catapulted FromSoftware into the mainstream gaming consciousness. The game built off the cult success of its predecessor, Demon’s Souls, and introduced many players to a new style of game that felt equally fresh, but also reminiscent of the days of retro gaming. This was felt particularly from Dark Souls’ unforgiving approach to difficulty.
Dark Souls’ steep difficulty curve did push some players away, but those that persisted with the game were rewarded with a rich dark-fantasy world full of interesting locations and characters with striking visual designs. The main draw of Dark Souls became its many varied boss fights which would act as tests of the player's ability.
The game’s most infamous player-testing boss fight is against Ornstein and Smough, who are often seen as Dark Soul’s make or break obstacle. The Ornstein and Smough boss fight sees the player fighting two enemies at once. The smaller of the two is Dragon Slayer Ornstein, and a stunningly detailed figure of this character has been found in Tokyo by a Dark Souls fan named iBoyToyi on Reddit.
The Ornstein figure measures 26.5 inches tall and 22 inches wide. This is extremely impressive, considering most figures made for video game characters usually only measure around six inches tall. These smaller figures will also usually lose a lot of the character’s more intricate details as it becomes more difficult to accurately sculpt and paint these smaller details. Large statues have also been made depicting other infamous FromSoftware boss fights such as Malenia from Elden Ring. However, these to-scale characters are meant for promotional purposes and are not readily available for fans to purchase.
The Dragon Slayer Ornstein figure is made by First 4 Figures, and it is priced on its website at an eye-watering $599.99. A “making of” video for the Ornstein figure on First 4 Figures website gives a closer look at the stunning model and the sheer scale of it compared to a person. First 4 Figures has also made other figures of characters from Dark Souls including Solaire of Astora, the jolly sun-praising NPC.
Ornstein and Smough’s memorable fight has become industry shorthand for an asymmetrical dual boss design, and the pair have been replicated and referenced in many games, including in Elden Ring with the Godskin Duo. But since Ornstein is the small one in this boss fight duo, a figure of Smough made to the same scale as the Ornstein figure likely wouldn’t fit on the same shelf.
Dark Souls: Remastered is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
