Dark Souls

Lore & Background

Dark Souls takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran, where the player assumes the role of a cursed human character who escapes from the Northern Undead Asylum and sets out to discover the fate of undead humans. The plot is primarily told through environmental details, in-game item flavor text, and dialogue with non-playable characters, requiring players to piece together clues rather than being told the story through traditional means such as cutscenes. The game is considered a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls (2009), as 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.

Gameplay is played in a third-person perspective, focusing on exploring interconnected environments while fighting enemies with weapons and magic. Players battle bosses to progress, interact with non-playable characters, and can create a character of varying gender, appearance, name, and starting class. Classes include knights, barbarians, thieves, and mages, each with its own starting equipment and attributes that can be tailored as the player progresses. Souls gained from battles act as both experience points to level up and as currency to buy items, with more difficult enemies yielding more souls.

A core mechanic is the handling of progress, death, and player improvement. Bonfires serve as checkpoints, restoring health and resources but respawning most enemies. Upon death, players lose their souls and reappear at the last bonfire; if they return to their bloodstain without dying again, they regain all lost souls. If they die again before reaching the bloodstain, the souls are permanently gone. Online interaction is integrated into the single-player experience, allowing players to see ghosts of others, leave messages, and engage in player versus player combat or cooperative gameplay through invasion or summoning mechanics, as well as covenants that serve as factions.

Reader's Guide

Dark Souls is the foundational title of a series that has shipped over 39 million copies worldwide. Its high level of difficulty is among its most discussed aspects, and it is often cited as one of the greatest games of all time. The game's design, including its interconnected world, bonfire checkpoint system, and soul-based progression, established core mechanics that would define the series and influence the creation of the Soulslike subgenre. Other FromSoftware games such as Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring share related concepts. A version with graphical and gameplay enhancements, Dark Souls: Remastered, was released in May 2018, though it received mixed reviews criticized for reasons including its price being double compared to the original release, the original and remastered PC versions not being sold together, and the original version being removed from stores. The 2012 release Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 included the base game and the Artorias of the Abyss downloadable content.

Did You Know?

• Dark Souls is considered a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls (2009) because Sony's ownership of the intellectual property prevented FromSoftware from developing a direct sequel on other platforms.
• The game's plot is primarily told through environmental details, item flavor text, and NPC dialogue rather than traditional cutscenes.
• Players who die can regain lost souls by returning to their bloodstain without dying again; dying before reaching it results in permanent loss.
• Online features include seeing ghosts of other players, leaving messages, and engaging in PvP or cooperative play through invasion and summoning mechanics.