My first exposure to Dark Souls was watching a review of it on GameTrailers.
I hadn't owned a video game console since 2002 with the PS2. I had basically stopped playing video games for a decade after moving to Asia. I had so many other distractions in my life that I never considered buying an Xbox 360 or PS3 (despite still following gaming news).
My friend ended up leaving Shanghai in 2013, and he gave me his Xbox. I was pretty stoked as I had a ton of different games to play that I had missed out on. But there was one game that always lingered in the back of my mind. I re-watched Ryan Stevens' review of Dark souls, and say screw it, it may be super tough, but I've got to try it. It looked so up my alley, so I went out a bought it.
Because of that GT review, I bought the game, and ended up buying a PS4 for Bloodborne. It awoke my love for video games again, and I've never looked back.