is a series of
action role-playing game
An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Definition
The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
s created by
Hidetaka Miyazaki
is a Japanese creative director, designer, scriptwriter, and executive for the video game company FromSoftware. He joined them in 2004 and was a designer for the ''Armored Core'' series before receiving wider recognition for directing the '' Da ...
of
FromSoftware
FromSoftware, Inc. is a Japanese video game development and publishing company based in Tokyo. Founded by Naotoshi Zin in November 1986, the company developed business software before releasing their first video game, ''King's Field (video game) ...
and published by
Bandai Namco Entertainment
is a Japanese multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in ...
. The series began with the release of ''
Dark Souls
is a series of action role-playing games created by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series began with the release of '' Dark Souls'' (2011) and has seen two sequels, ''Dark Souls II'' (2014) ...
'' (2011) and has seen two sequels, ''
Dark Souls II
is a 2014 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Games. An entry in the ''Dark Souls'' series, it was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Taking place in the kingdom of Drangleic, the gam ...
'' (2014) and ''
Dark Souls III
is a 2016 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. The third and final entry in the ''Dark Souls'' series, it is played in a Virtual camera system# ...
'' (2016). ''Dark Souls'' has received critical acclaim, with the first title often cited as one of the
greatest in video games, with the series as a whole being both praised and criticized for its high level of
difficulty.
By 2022, the series had shipped over 33 million copies. Other FromSoftware games, including ''
Demon's Souls
is a 2009 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 3 under the supervision of Japan Studio. It was published in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment in February, in North America by Atlus USA in October, and in PAL ...
'', ''
King's Field
is an action role-playing video game series developed by FromSoftware. Titles in this series have been released for the PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media cente ...
'', ''
Bloodborne
is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. ''Bloodborne'' follows the player's character, a Hunter, through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian-era–inspired ...
'', ''
Sekiro'', and ''
Elden Ring
is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayS ...
'', share several related concepts and are commonly grouped together as
Soulslike
A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing and action-adventure games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. It had its origin in ''Dem ...
s.
Setting
The games take place within a
dark
Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown.
Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...
,
medieval fantasy
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic (fantasy), magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those ...
setting, where the player's character fights against knights, dragons, phantoms, demons, and other monstrous or supernatural entities. The accretion, loss, and recovery of souls are central to the narrative and gameplay of ''Dark Souls'' games. These games are linked through their setting and an overarching cyclic narrative centering around fire, and are linked through common themes and elements, including interactions with phantoms and battles with demons. At the end of each game, characters may reignite the "first flame" or allow it to fade, recurring a choice others have made before.
Gameplay
The ''Dark Souls'' games are played in a
third-person perspective, and focus on exploring interconnected environments while fighting enemies with weapons and magic. Players battle
bosses to progress through the story, while interacting with
non-playable character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...
s. The protagonist of each ''Dark Souls'' game can have a varying gender, appearance, name, and starting class via
character creation
Character creation (also character generation or character design) is the process of defining a game character or other character. Typically, a character's individual strengths and weaknesses are represented by a set of statistics. Games with a ...
. Players can choose between classes, including knights, barbarians, thieves, and mages. Each class has its own starting equipment and
abilities
Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various actions. They include common abilities, like walking, and rare abilities, like performing a double backflip. Abilities are intelligent powers: they are guided by the person's intention and exec ...
that can be tailored to the player's experience and choices as they progress. The player gains souls from gameplay battles which act as both
experience points
An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...
to level up and as currency to buy
items. Souls gained are usually proportional to the difficulty of fighting certain enemies; the more difficult an enemy, the more souls the player will gain.
One of the core mechanics of the series is that it uses death to teach players how to react in hostile environments, encouraging repetition, learning from past mistakes, and prior experience as a means of overcoming its difficulty. Upon losing all of their
health points
Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the for ...
and
dying
Dying is the final stage of life which will eventually lead to death. Diagnosing dying is a complex process of clinical decision-making, and most practice checklists facilitating this diagnosis are based on cancer diagnoses.
Signs of dying ...
, players lose their Souls and are teleported back to a bonfire where they last rested, which serves as a checkpoint. One chance is given for the player to recover their lost Souls in the form of a bloodstain, which is placed at or around where they last died.
If the player dies again before reaching their bloodstain, the Souls are permanently gone.
As most enemies are
respawned following player death, or if the player should rest at a bonfire, the player has the opportunity to regain more Souls by
repeated combat encounters. The bonfire is a type of campfire in the action role-playing game ''Dark Souls'' and its sequels that functions as a checkpoint for the player character's progress, as well as reviving most enemies that the player previously killed. Later in the game, and in ''Dark Souls II'' and ''III'', they function as warp points. Another core aspect of the series is its dependency on endurance in battle. Performing attacks, blocking, or dodging consume stamina, which otherwise quickly restores if the player stands still or just walks around. Certain moves cannot be executed if the player lacks a certain amount of stamina, making them vulnerable to attack. Players must balance their rate of attacks against defensive moves and brief periods of rest to survive more difficult encounters.
Online interaction in the ''Dark Souls'' is integrated into the single-player experience. Throughout levels, players can briefly see the actions of other players as ghosts in the same area that may show hidden passages or switches. When a player dies, a bloodstain can be left in other players' game world that when activated can show a ghost playing out their final moments, indicating how that person died and potentially helping the player avoid the same fate in advance. Players can leave messages on the ground that can either help other players by providing hints and warnings or harm them by leaving false hints. Players can also engage in both
player versus player
Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...
combat and
cooperative gameplay Cooperative game may refer to:
* Cooperative board game, board games in which players work together to achieve a common goal
* Cooperative game theory, in game theory, a game with competition between groups of players and the possibility of cooperat ...
using invasion or summoning mechanics.
Games
''Dark Souls''
''Dark Souls'' is the first game in the series; it is considered a
spiritual successor to ''
Demon's Souls
is a 2009 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 3 under the supervision of Japan Studio. It was published in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment in February, in North America by Atlus USA in October, and in PAL ...
'' (2009).
FromSoftware wanted to develop a sequel to ''Demon's Souls'', but Sony's ownership of the intellectual property prevented them from doing so on other platforms.
It was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3 and
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
. In 2012, ''Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition'' was released for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, featuring the base game and the ''Artorias of the Abyss''
downloadable content
Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...
. The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran. Players assume the role of a cursed human character who sets out to discover the fate of undead humans like themselves. The plot of ''Dark Souls'' is primarily told through environmental details, in-game item
flavor text
Flavor text is text for action figure character backgrounds, video games, playing cards, or within the pages of a role-playing game's rulebook. While appropriate to the product's or game's story concept, it usually has no effect on the mechanics ...
, and dialogue with
non-playable character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...
s (NPCs). Players must piece together clues in order to understand the story, rather than being told the story through more traditional means, such as through
cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
s. ''Dark Souls'' and its predecessor ''Demon's Souls'' garnered recognition due to the series' high level of difficulty.
A version featuring some graphical and gameplay enhancements, ''
Dark Souls: Remastered'', was released in May 2018.
''Dark Souls II''
Unlike the previous two games, director Hidetaka Miyazaki did not reprise his role as he was busy directing ''
Bloodborne
is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. ''Bloodborne'' follows the player's character, a Hunter, through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian-era–inspired ...
'', although he was still involved in supervision.
It was released in 2014 for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
In 2015, an updated version featuring ''
The Lost Crowns'' downloadable content was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
, and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, under the title ''Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin'' - with the latter two platforms receiving retail releases. The game takes place in the kingdom of Drangleic, where the player must find a cure for the undead curse.
Although set in the same universe as the previous game, there is no direct story connection to ''Dark Souls''.
''Dark Souls III''
''Dark Souls III'' was released in 2016 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
The gameplay is paced faster than previous ''Souls'' installments, which was attributed in part to the gameplay of ''
Bloodborne
is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. ''Bloodborne'' follows the player's character, a Hunter, through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian-era–inspired ...
''. The game takes place in the kingdom of Lothric, where the player must end the cycle of linking the Flame. In 2017, the complete version containing the base game and both expansions (''Ashes of Ariendel'' and ''The Ringed City'') was released, under the title ''Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition''. ''Dark Souls III'' was both critically and commercially successful, with critics calling it a worthy and fitting conclusion to the series. It sold over 10 million copies by 2020, making it the fastest-selling game in Bandai Namco's history at the time (until it was overtaken by ''Elden Ring'').
In 2015, Miyazaki said that ''Dark Souls III'' would likely be the last of the series, with FromSoftware choosing to move onto new games of unrelated IPs in the future.
Other media
![Cover art for the first Dark Souls comic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Cover_art_for_the_first_Dark_Souls_comic.jpg)
A
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
by
Titan Comics
Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...
based on the series debuted alongside the release of ''Dark Souls III'' in 2016. A
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign for a licensed board game by Steamforged Games, ''
Dark Souls – The Board Game
''Dark Souls – The Board Game'' is a miniature-based exploration board game created by Steamforged Games. It was released in April 2017 and is based on the '' Dark Souls'' video game series by FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment. A cro ...
'', was also announced around the same time. The campaign was funded within the first three minutes of its launch and was released in April 2017.
''
Dark Souls – The Board Game
''Dark Souls – The Board Game'' is a miniature-based exploration board game created by Steamforged Games. It was released in April 2017 and is based on the '' Dark Souls'' video game series by FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment. A cro ...
'' (2017) is a combat-centric miniatures game for 1-4 players. From tabletop gaming publisher, Steamforged Games, Dark Souls™: The Board Game emulates the video game in its challenging difficulty and has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. Now (2022) two new core sets for Dark Souls™: The Board Game have been released, each visiting iconic locations from the video game - Tomb of Giants & The Painted World of Ariamis.
In February 2017, music from the series composed by
Motoi Sakuraba
is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. He is known for his numerous contributions in video games, such as for '' Tales'', ''Star Ocean'', ''Mario Golf'', ''Mario Tennis'', '' Golden Sun'', and ''Dark Souls'' series, as well as several other ani ...
was performed by a live orchestra at the
Salle Pleyel
The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by acoustician Gustave Lyon together with architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed in 1927 by ...
concert hall in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. In September of that year, a limited edition vinyl box set containing the soundtracks of all three games was released in Europe. In Japan, a box set containing the enhanced versions of all three games for the PlayStation 4, the soundtracks for each,
bookend
The bookend is an object tall, sturdy, and heavy enough, when placed at either end of a row of upright books, to support or buttress them. Heavy bookends—made of wood, bronze, marble, and even large geodes—have been used in libraries, sto ...
s, artwork prints, and dictionaries detailing every in-game
item
Item may refer to:
Organizations
* ''Instituto del Tercer Mundo'' (ITeM), the Third World Institute
* ITEM club, an economic forecasting group based in the United Kingdom
Newspapers
* ''The Item'', an American independent, morning newspaper ...
was released on May 24, 2018.
Related games
''Demon's Souls''
Released in 2009 for the
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
, ''Demon's Souls'' is considered the spiritual predecessor to the ''Dark Souls'' series.
It has also been described as a
spiritual successor to the ''
King's Field
is an action role-playing video game series developed by FromSoftware. Titles in this series have been released for the PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media cente ...
'' series of games,
while at the same time being described as a separate entity "guided by differing core game design concepts."
It also drew inspiration from
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s such as ''
Ico
is an action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, released for the PlayStation 2 video game console in 2001 and 2002 in various regions. It was designed and directed by Fumito U ...
'', ''
The Legend of Zelda
''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...
'',
and FromSoftware's ''
Otogi: Myth of Demons'', as well as
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
such as ''
Berserk'', ''
Saint Seiya
, also known as ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'' or simply ''Knights of the Zodiac'' (translated from the French title ''Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque''), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It ...
'' and ''
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...
''.
Unlike its successors, ''Demon's Souls'' uses a central hub system known as the "Nexus" where players can level up, repair equipment, or buy certain items, before venturing into one of the five connected worlds. The "World Tendency" feature is also exclusive to ''Demon's Souls'', where the difficulty of exploring a world is dependent on how many bosses have been killed, and how the player dies. The gameplay involves a character-creation system and emphasizes gathering loot through combat with enemies in a non-linear series of varied locations. It had an online multiplayer system integrated into single-player, in which players could leave messages and warnings for other players' worlds, as well as join other players to assist and/or kill them. The multiplayer servers were shut down in early 2018 due to inactivity.
''King's Field''
The ''
King's Field
is an action role-playing video game series developed by FromSoftware. Titles in this series have been released for the PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media cente ...
'' series, also developed by FromSoftware, is considered a spiritual predecessor to the series. It debuted in 1994 with ''
King's Field
is an action role-playing video game series developed by FromSoftware. Titles in this series have been released for the PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media cente ...
'' for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
and had three sequels.
Other
In February 2016,
Bandai Namco Entertainment
is a Japanese multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in ...
partnered with American retailer
GameStop
GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,5 ...
to release ''
Slashy Souls
''Slashy Souls'' is an endless runner video game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment as a GameStop-funded promotional tie-in to '' Dark Souls III''. It was released for iOS on February 28, 2016. The game was critically panned f ...
'', a
free-to-play
Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...
mobile
endless runner, to promote ''Dark Souls III''. The game was presented in a
pixel art
Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphics software, graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers a ...
style, and shares the series' level of difficulty. The game was met with highly negative critical reception, with reviewers such as Chris Carter of ''
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
' ...
'' and
Jim Sterling
James Stephanie Sterling, also known as Jim Sterling, is an English-American freelance video game journalist, critic, pundit, YouTuber, and professional wrestler. Before becoming independent in September 2014, they were the review editor for ...
both giving the game a 1/10.
Reception
The ''Dark Souls'' series has been met with critical acclaim. The first ''Dark Souls'' has been cited to be among the
greatest video games of all time
This is a list of video games that multiple reputable video game journalists or magazines have considered to be among the best of all time. The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from differ ...
,
''Dark Souls II'' also received critical acclaim upon release. Before release, ''Dark Souls III'' was one of the most anticipated games of 2016, and also received critical acclaim upon release.
The "bloodstain" gameplay mechanic has been given praise by critics. David Craddock of ''
Shacknews
''Shacknews'' (originally Quakeholio, then ShugaShack) is a website that hosts news, features, editorial content and forums relating to computer games and Video game console, console games. It is currently owned by a company called Gamerhub Cont ...
'' called them one of the core tenets of the series.
He stated that the harshest punishment one can receive in a Souls game is "not dying once, but twice."
''
GamesRadar+
''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
'' called bloodstains, in combination with ''Demon Souls's'' message system, "a graceful, elegant way of letting players guide each other without the need for words", and said that "rarely has the price of failure been balanced on such a precarious knife edge" as being forced to retrieve one's bloodstain. The series inspired a
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
app for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
and
Android called Soapstone, which uses a similar online messaging system used in the series adapted for the real world, using
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
to determine a user's location and bringing up a list of cryptic messages posted by other users in the area.
The bonfire concept was similarly praised. Matthew Elliott of ''GamesRadar+'' called bonfires a powerful symbol of relief, and "a meaty cocktail of progress, exhaustion and joy",
and that, while other games evoke emotions with their save points, no other game does so as effectively.
''
Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
'' called the Bonfire a "mark of genius" that "reinvented the save point" and allowed the player to reflect on their progress.
Sales
The ''Dark Souls'' series had shipped 33.4 million copies outside of Japan . ''Dark Souls III'' broke sales records upon release, selling over three million copies worldwide by May 2016 and was Bandai Namco's fastest-selling game until being surpassed by ''
Elden Ring
is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayS ...
'' in 2022.
Legacy
The
Soulslike
A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing and action-adventure games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. It had its origin in ''Dem ...
genre was inspired by common features of the series, resulting in many games using similar mechanics. Other FromSoftware games directed by Miyazaki, such as ''Demon's Souls'', ''
Bloodborne
is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. ''Bloodborne'' follows the player's character, a Hunter, through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian-era–inspired ...
'', ''
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice'', and ''
Elden Ring
is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayS ...
'', share many of the same concepts of ''Souls'' and are often associated with the series and grouped under the "Soulsborne" label.
The series has also been cited as an influence on several
PlayStation Network
PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
features, including asynchronous messaging, social networking, and video sharing, as well as for the television show ''
Stranger Things
''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...
''.
Notes
References
{{Bandai Namco franchises
Action role-playing video games
Video game franchises
Video game franchises introduced in 2011
Video games adapted into comics
Bandai Namco Entertainment franchises