History VideoGame / DarkSouls

See also ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' (a spiritual predecessor to the ''Souls'' trilogy), ''{{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}'' (a game with similar themes with a Victorian GothicHorror[=/=][[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] setting and increased focus on mobile unarmoured combat and gunplay), ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' (a game with similar gameplay and a mythical feudal Japan-esque setting, but retains the style of the ''Souls'' games), and ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' (a spiritual successor created in collaboration with Creator/GeorgeRRMartin), all also by [=FROMSoftware=]. Together, the so called "Soulsborne" style of gameplay has [[SoulsLikeRPG inspired many imitations and seeped into the broader game design culture]].

The series as a whole serves as a SpiritualSuccessor to FROM's UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 game ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', and borrows many elements, including:

* Money and ExperiencePoints combined into a single currency that is dropped on death and lost forever if the player died again before reclaiming it.

[-{{Novel}}'s include:-]

''YOU DIED''\\

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* AbilityDepletionPenalty: Running out of stamina makes you unable to do any actions that require it (sprinting, rolling, attacking, etc.) until you're regenerated enough. If your stamina is depleted while you're blocking, you will be Guard Broken, causing you to take more damage during the recoil animation, as well as leaving you vulnerable to a well-timed [[CriticalHit riposte]].
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Each time a stat is raised by one point, a level goes up. Since each stat caps at 99, the maximum level in these games is around the mid-700s to low 800s (depending on the specific game). Typically speaking, one can reliably defeat the FinalBoss at around level 100. Since actually reaching that level cap takes ''forever'', most players intentionally limit themselves, at least as far as [=PvP=] is concerned.
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Ornstein's Dragonslayer Spear, [[InformedAbility apparently]]. His Leo Ring states that it is rumored to have cleaved a boulder in two.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The Depths look a lot like this, though some parts of them also resemble catacombs.
* AchievementMockery: The achievement that nobody wants, but everyone gets: It's the "This is Dark Souls" achievement you get for dying the first time in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII''.
* AcidAttack:
** The Acid Surge is a pyromancy spell foreign to the Great Swamp. The user emits a cloud of acid that corrodes weapons and armor.
** The [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Acid Horn Beetle]] residing in the Shrine of Amana is a subspecies of the Poison Horn Beetle. They can emit an acidic cloud which corrodes weapons and armor.
** The [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Corrosive Ant Queen]] is a species of corrosive ants native to Jugo. [[UniqueEnemy Only one exists in Drangleic]]. She can emit a blue acidic mist which corrodes weapons and armor, but [[HelpfulMook cures poison]]. The fact that she lives in the Gutter implies that she used to be one of Lord Aldia's experiments until she outlived her usefulness.
** The [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Corrosive Urn]] item is filled with secretions harvested from giant corrosive ants, in which you can throw it at someone to inflict acid damage on their equipment.
* ActionSurvivor: The player character is this compared to other action games. You aren't all that powerful compared to enemies, and you always need to be careful and on the defensive. Most of the other {{NPC}}s are this as well.
* TheAgeless: The Everlasting Dragons. The Gods. Undead who have a steady supply of humanity.
* AirborneMook: The Mosquitoes in Blighttown, double as GoddamnBats.
* AlwaysCheckBehindTheChair: Useful items are often hidden inside or behind containers, furniture, and other such objects.
** As a prominent example, [[spoiler:you'll never find Ash Lake and the Path of the Dragon covenant unless you notice that a particular chest hidden by an illusion wall is actually in front of ''another'' illusion wall]].
* AnAdventurerIsYou: Its pretty standard set of jobs. Many of them return from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''.
* TheAlcatraz: The Undead Aslyum, where civilization locks up people cursed with the Darksign, either out of fear or to fulfill the ancient prophecy Oscar mentions.
* AmbiguousGender: Due to the nature of the Japanese language, many characters lack a defined gender. Popular examples include Great Grey Wolf Sif and the Furtive Pygmy. A lot of minor bosses/characters such as the Stone Dragon, Moonlight Butterfly, Belfry Gargoyles, and all of the Demon Bosses are referred to, if at all, using gender neutral language.
* AnAxeToGrind: There are numerous axes in the game, and a fully ascended elemental Greataxe is one of the, if not ''the'' most destructive weapon in the game. Gargoyles have axes for tails that can be cut off and used. Apparently, it's also the WeaponOfChoice for [[PlayingWithFire Pyromancers]], considering they start off with one.
* AncientConspiracy: The games' plots have you walking into one.
* AndIMustScream: The eventual and inevitable fate of all those cursed with the Darksign and [[spoiler:whoever links the Fire]], the latter of which adds [[spoiler:''being burned alive'']] into the mix. Worse, [[spoiler:it's heavily implied that linking the Fire and continuing the Ages bring more curses like the Darksign or the death of civilizations]].
* AnAesop: Of them all, the most optimistic you'll find is the central mechanic of being an Undead, in that you can die a hundred times but still get back up to try again and achieve success. It's a common theme in videogames in general but is reinforced plot-wise by the fact that others with the Undead curse must always persevere and never lose hope, or they will go Hollow and become a shell of their former selves. [[spoiler: This is all unfortunately undercut by the fact that all of your perseverance is in vain as you are only attempting to prolong what was already long lost. To phrase it optimistically; the adventure and the hunt is what provides meaning to our lives, not the prize at the end of the tunnel.]]
* AnimalMotifs: The Four Knights of Gwyn are themed around specific animals, which are represented by the signet rings they wear;
** Artorias the Abysswalker's animal was a wolf, he was one of Gwyn's most powerful knights and he was an inspiration to his fellow knights and civilians. He was also accompanied by his wolf, Sif, and he would later inspire the Undead Legion of Farron, who fought as a wolf pack.
** Lord's Blade Ciaran's animal was a hornet, she was an assassin who worked for Gwyn and would kill people under Gwyn's orders. Ciaran's "hornet ring" also boosts the power of critical attacks.
** Hawkeye Gough's animal was a hawk, he was an archer during the war against dragons. His title was to reflect his accuracy with a bow, his "hawk ring" also reflects this.
** Dragonslayer Ornstein's animal is a lion, he is the alleged captain of the four knights and the lion was to represent his leadership capabilities.
* AnimatedArmor: Most of the golems are giant walking suits of armor.
* {{Animesque}}: Notable Inversion; despite being made in Japan, the Souls games are mistaken by casual fans or non-fans as a western-made game due to its aesthetics.
* AnnoyingArrows: Played straight with the weaker arrows. Enemies can potentially require multiple headshots before they die. Anything less than a headshot and it seems they barely feel it.
** Averted with heavier ammunition like Dragonslayer Arrows. Getting hit with one of these will do heavy damage or at least knockback targets a noticeable amount if they try to tank it — one of the more noticeable hazards in Anor Londo in the first game are knights carrying dragonslayer arrows to knock the player off of narrow ledges, of which there are many. One of Gwyn's four knights, Hawkeye Gough, is able to cripple a dragon with a single greatarrow.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', taking an arrow hit at a bad time can inflict a stagger with a startling duration while the archer's friends put sharp things into places you don't want sharp things to be put.
* AntidoteEffect: If the player character has enough health or healing, one can just wait out a poison effect. Yet there are situations where a poison moss is necessary.
* TheAntiNihilist:
** A common interpretation of the hollowing process, [[spoiler:that Undead only keep from hollowing if they have a mission that they can dedicate themselves and stay motivated towards]], is essentially a metaphor for this. Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.
** Interpretations of letting Ages of Dark fall on the realm also play with this — though the world ends, it's just a natural cycle of things, and life will go on.
* AnyoneCanDie: Any NPC could die, either at one another's hands or due to you killing them. This even applies to some merchants/trainers, so watch out! Several named merchants wander off and become hollow after purchasing everything they have.
** No {{NPC}}s get PlotArmor, so even some of the more important characters can disappear for good. Though you can talk to a variety of {{NPC}}s and even go on some side-quests for them, you don't ''have'' to at any point. It's entirely possible to complete the game as an anti-social and/or psychopathically murderous character.
** Averted in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', where the Fire Keeper, Andre of Astora, and the Shrine Handmaiden will respawn when killed. The Fire Keeper will ''apologise'' for not dying, while Andre and the Handmaiden will hold a grudge — Andre will refuse to reinforce your stuff, and the Handmaiden will charge you more, until you go to the statue of Velka in the Undead Settlement or the Purging Monument in the Ringed City and pay for absolution.
* ArbitraryMinimumRange: The games have several attacks that are ineffective when the target is too close. Most of these are certain spells, and attacks using long-handled weapons. Many bosses are safest when battled up close, as most of their attacks have a minimum range, and the exceptions are clearly telegraphed.
* ArcNumber: The number 4 shows up several times in the series, which may or may not be a reference to [[Main/FourIsDeath Four Is Death.]]
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', there are four beings that possess Lord Souls who must be defeated to open the way to the First Flame an defeat Gwyn. Additionally, Gwyn had four knights who fought alongside him the dragon war.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', there are four Great Souls that must be collected to open the way to Drangleic Castle. The ''Scholars of the First Sin'' DLC pack also establishes that Manus' soul was split into four fragments, each becoming a queen and seducing their respective kings into ruin.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', there are four Lords of Cinder who must be put down and returned to their thrones to access the Kiln of the First Flame. Also, with the addition of ''The Ringed City'' DLC, Gwyn has four confirmed children.
* ArmorIsUseless: The value of armor has [[ZigZaggingTrope fluctuated rather significantly]] between different ''Dark Souls'' games and compared to ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', armor is much better than it was in ''Demon's Souls''. The armor's damage resistances can be increased by upgrades, so they don't end up being irrelevant compared to unarmored defense (which increases with level) and enemy damage (which increases as the game progresses). Heavier armor started granting Poise, a stat that makes one ImmuneToFlinching when high enough. Equipment Load is very easy to get as it's still increased by [[OneStatToRuleThemAll the same stat that governs Stamina]], plus some percentage-based boosts from rings. In [=PvE=], the heaviest armor prevents stunlock and decreases damage so much that even bosses lose to you simply because ''you can kill them faster'' even if you barely try to block or dodge attacks. Poise became a large part of the [=PvP=] metagame. Many try to get a specific value to protect against certain weapons. [[{{Whoring}} Raising Equipment Load extremely high]] to get [[LightningBruiser heavy armor and unhindered movement]] is extremely common, resulting in the [[MemeticMutation infamous]] "Giantdad" and "Haveldad" builds.
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' made armor significantly less powerful. Physical damage reduction starts out worthwhile in [=PvE=] and remains so in [=PvP=] (so much that several of the heaviest armors had their physical defense {{nerf}}ed), but is trivialized by late game enemies' enormous damage-per-hit. Elemental damage reduction becomes percentage-based, and is generally pretty marginal. The effects of Poise are nerfed significantly, so it mostly just matters when in the middle of using a large weapon's attack. On top of this, armor's cost is increased both in terms of stat investment (Stamina and Equipment Load are determined by separate stats while the corresponding rings are less powerful) and penalties for high Encumbrance (stamina regeneration penalties are much more severe).
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', armor is heavily revamped compared to the previous games. The biggest change is that, instead of armor and natural defense adding together, various stats add Defense (flat damage reduction) and armor adds Absorption (reduces percentage of damage after Defense is subtracted[[labelnote:*]]Although there's a penalty to Defense if you wear ''nothing'' in a given armor slot, even wearing tattered rags gets rid of it.[[/labelnote]]). The difference in Absorption between medium and heavy armor is so small that it doesn't justify the extra points in Vitality itself, but Vitality also raises Physical Defense, and the penalties for higher Weight Ratio aren't nearly so severe (no difference in stamina regeneration and fairly little difference in roll invincibility) as long as you're below 100%. Poise now reduces stagger damage by a percentage (1% per point of Poise), but this only matters during attacks that already have hitstun armor, making it both more situational (only the heaviest weapons have ''any'' attacks that grant armor) and often excessive (these attacks tend to be difficult to interrupt even with almost no Poise).
* ArmorPiercingAttack: Most armor and shields are ineffective against lightning weapons and spells.
* ArrowsOnFire: Fire arrows are not only on fire, they add fire damage to attacks. In the second game, one will [[StuffBlowingUp cause an explosion]] if it hits a player or enemy covered in pitch.
* ArtificialStupidity: Sometimes the enemies will commit suicide accidentally by jumping off a ledge.
* AsceticAesthetic: The path that leads to the [[spoiler:Kiln of the First Flame]]. It's unlike anything else seen in the game. The area is almost a WhiteVoidRoom with a downward staircase floating in the void. Ghostly apparitions of the [[spoiler:Black Knights]] walk across the staircase. It really builds up the dread of [[spoiler:TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]].
* AuthorAppeal: Director Miyazaki has stated that he isn't a sadist, like many assume, and more of a masochist and that he made the game based on what he liked. The game is also DarkFantasy and loaded with ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' references, which he has admitted is an influence.
** The extreme StoryBreadcrumbs was inspired by Miyazaki reading poorly-translated fantasy novels that made him piece together their plots himself.
* AutomaticCrossbows: The Avelyn, a unique crossbow that can shoot three bolts at once.
* {{Autosave}}: The game autosaves almost constantly, so don't even think about SaveScumming. The "Now autosaving" icon pops up every time you kill an enemy.
* BackFromTheDead: Those afflicted with the Darksign, repeatedly.
* BackStab: Many humanoid enemies (and a few nonhumanoid ones) can be backstabbed. Especially effective when paired with the Hornet Ring, which increases Critical damage by 50%.
** In multiplayer, backstabs are infamous for being overpowered or at least very unfair because of HitBoxDissonance and lag, especially since the moment you start an attack from a position considered the "back" your opponent is immobilized until the attack is complete, letting people "fish" for backstabs by suddenly rolling to someone's side, locking on mid-roll to change direction, then attacking. For this reason ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' changed the mechanic so an attack from the back just starts a stab which doesn't immobilize the enemy until it makes contact, giving them a chance to dodge or turn around.
** The Ironclad enemies in ''Dark Souls II'' wear armor that resemble tortoise shells that NoSell backstabs. Getting behind them is actually a bad idea since they will simply fall backwards to deal heavy damage. Player characters who wear the armor also enjoy immunity to backstabs. The Jester's Robe also prevents backstabs and other sources of [[CriticalHit Critical Hits]] from doing extra damage, though the animation will still play.
* BadassBoast: Several [=NPC=]s have some type of BadassBoast should the player make them hostile.
* BadassLongcoat: The Wanderer's Coat and the Black Cleric Robe, and Chester's longcoat in the DLC.
* BarrierMaiden: The Fire Keepers, for reasons that aren't exactly clear, are all female and all use their "infinite humanity" to kindle and protect certain bonfires found throughout the world.
* BagOfHolding: Present in the form of the Bottomless Box, a sort of portable bank that can only be used at bonfires.
* BareHandedBladeBlock: Downplayed. While the player can't actually block attacks empty-handed, they can still parry by slapping the offending weapon aside.
** Occasionally played straight (while averting BlockingStopsAllDamage) with a mis-timed parry; the player will still take the full brunt of the damage, but won't be knocked down or back, even if they have no poise whatsoever.
* BasiliskAndCockatrice: Basilisks are common monsters, who are, however, more reptilian than serpentine in appearance. Basically, they look like Labrador-sized short-tailed lizards with giant eyes (even though those aren't really eyes). They do, however, share the most important attribute with classical basilisks — turning people into stone. Thankfully, petrification occurs not through their stare, but through giant clouds of poisonous gas they exhale when attacked.
* BeautifulVoid: Lordran, excluding all of the unpleasant monsters and zombies.
* BeefGate: The Skeletons near Firelink Shrine when first encountered. They teach players pretty quickly that this is the wrongest path you could possibly take. Realizing that it doesn't deter the most hardcore of {{Determinator}}s, ''Creator/FromSoftware'' made the skeletons in the area from that path, Catacombs, ''reassemble themselves'' upon death, just to make sure the message hits home.
** Darkroot Garden has ''three'' such gates, though two of them only function as such as a result of SequenceBreaking with the Master Key:
*** The entrance by the Undead Parish is blocked by a Titanite Demon, which is a pretty tough fight compared to most of the enemies fought between there and the Undead Burg.
*** The entrance from the Undead Burg is blocked by Havel The Rock, a miniboss capable of one-shotting low-level players.
*** The entrance from the Valley of Drakes is "only" guarded by a Black Knight, which can be tricked into jumping off the cliff. That being said, the player has to go through a narrow canyon populated with lightning-spewing LightningBruiser drakes to get there, so the Valley itself would be the gate in this case.
** The mace-wielding Old Knight in Heide's Tower of Flame in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII''. If you can't get past him, you're not going to stand a chance against some of the later fights.
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Notable by its absence. Throughout all three games, there is not anybody consciously directing the terrible things happening as a whole; there is no great evil you can defeat to save the world, and most of the bosses you fight are too insane or mindless to be called willingly evil. There are evil characters here and there taking advantage of the situation (and who is evil and who is good is often ambiguous, left open for the player to decide), but they are not particularly important in the grand scheme of things. The closest thing to an overarching villain and antagonist is ''entropy'', the slow decay and death of all things as a natural consequence of time.]]
* BigFancyCastle: Anor Londo is a city built like this. Lothric Castle has a similar aesthetic in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII''.
* {{BFS}}: There's a weapon category called Greatswords which are somewhat big. Then you have a weapon category called ''Ultra'' Greatswords, which are huge. Both categories see a lot of use in PVP, specifically the Zweihander, which is an Ultra Greatsword that becomes a GameBreaker with the right character build and weapon upgrade path.
** In many cases, the enemies whose weapons can be looted at least twice the size of the player. Those weapons don't get scaled down when you pick them up. The Gargoyle Halberd, for example, has only slightly better stats than the regular Halberd, but is half again as large.
** The prize for most comically oversized weapon probably goes to [[AwesomeButImpractical Smough's]] [[DropTheHammer Hammer]], which has a barrel-sized head.
** Another good example would have to be the [[BlackKnight Fume Knight]] [[{{BFS}} Ultra Great Sword]]. The damn thing's large enough that it works as a ''shield'' simply by putting its rock slab of a blade between you and the other guy. Heck, doing so is the windup for its heavy attack.
* BlackMagic: Sorcery spells, which are related to souls (most likely dragon souls). Abyss sorceries and hexes, which draw on the power of the [[spoiler:Dark Soul]], take this UpToEleven.
* BlackoutBasement: The Tomb of the Giants is pitch-black. And filled with some of the toughest monsters in the game.
** The, [[{{Pun}} aheh, torch]] is carried into ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' by No Man's Wharf and the Gutter, although there are things you can ignite for persistent lighting.
* BladderOfSteel: There is no pausing, so you'll need to park your character in a (relatively) safe location if you want to take a break without quitting entirely. Your world can also be invaded by other players so long as you have online connectivity and you reversed hollowing at a bonfire, so leaving your character idle means risking being invaded while you're not there to defend yourself.
** Averted, if you are not participating in multiplayer. In every other moment, you can quit the game (assuming that you aren't going to get your ass murdered while you're accessing the menu). When you reload the game, it will be (mostly) in the state that you left it.
** In [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI DSI]], at least, not even bonfires are safe. Getting kicked from the bonfire menu and invaded is a nasty surprise to those who thought themselves safe.
* BladeOnAStick: Some weapons classify as this, such as the varying types of spears and halberds.
* BleakLevel: [[spoiler:Kiln of the First Flame.]]
** Blighttown. Sure, the Depths wasn't sunshine and rainbows, but it mainly just looks like a typical unlit sewer. But the ''precise moment'' you step through the door from the Depths to Blighttown, the tint of the game becomes a sickly green, darkness becomes inky and barely broken by improvised torches, and solid stone structures give way to ramshackle, rickety wooden planks over a putrid swamp full of disgusting giant bugs. You see ruin before Blighttown; in Blighttown, you see ''rot''.
** The end of the Ringed City DLC. [[spoiler:You emerge from the cutscene in front of the mummified corpse of Filianore to find a vast region of ash and dust, with ruins jutting out — including ruins of the city you were just in. The only things still alive there are you, one invasion to pay you back for what you've done, the FinalBoss of the DLC, and a single Ringed Knight, and the area is huge.]]
* BlobMonster: [[http://i.imgur.com/g40rT.jpg The Slimes]] found in the Depths.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Certain enemy attacks and several special attacks of various weapons, most notably the Black Knight weapons.
* BlowGun: The blowdart snipers in Blighttown carry these.
* BoringButPractical:
** The combination of a spear and a shield is neither the fanciest or the most destructive of styles, but the long reach and the ability to block even when attacking is about as safe as you can get in this game. The v1.06 patch increased the amount of stamina that attacks from behind a shield consume in an attempt to take some of the "practical" out of this.
** Upgrading your initial armor set (particularly for Thieves and Wanderers) provides one of the most useful armors for many situations with a balance of weight, damage block, and resistances, as there is not a universal "best" armor for lightweight armor, and they're pretty simple to upgrade. The best thing for players to do is just ''stick'' with an armor set, rather than progressively upgrade several ones. For heavy armor, the player has the ability to access Havel's armor and the Black Iron set by the mid-game, as well as the aforementioned Stone Giant set, and sticking with one of these is best. The reason these are awesome instead of boring? Havel's set and the Stone Giant armor are carved from solid stone and the Black Iron set is identical to fan favorite Iron Tarkus's equipment.
** Most Straight Swords are this, being an excellent balance between range, speed, and power, and many of them have great stat scaling to boot. You don't need any flashy elemental effects when normal versions of the Longsword or Balder Side Sword work even better.
** Just a stout medium shield and a good one-handed weapon will get you through ninety percent of your enemies with a simple strategy of block the enemy's attack, counter attack, repeat. It is not a flashy technique, is not heavy on damage, and any [=PvP=]-er worth their salt knows how to get around it, but it is very hard to mess up and enemies keep falling for it if you have enough patience.
** Simply kicking your enemies when they have their shields up to you can be quite effective. Not only does it stagger the enemy for a few precious seconds for a follow-up attack, but if they're close to the edge of a BottomlessPit you can kick them repeatedly and let gravity finish them off. This even works against human players, and in fact is often the ''only'' way to deal with hackers, since pits don't care how much HP your opponent has given themselves.
* BossInMookClothing: The Black Knights early on. Havel the Rock. The Titanite Demons, which the game seems to enjoy making you fight them in tight areas with little ability to maneuver.
* BossOnlyLevel: [[spoiler:The Kiln of the First Flame]] in ''Dark Souls III'' is the last area of that game, and only consists of two bonfires, an empty "Flameless Shrine", the walkway to the FinalBoss, and then the boss fight with the [[spoiler:Soul of Cinder, with the First Flame bonfire appearing in his arena when he dies.]]
** The Throne of Want in ''II'' is a long stone bridge, starting at a door in Drangleic, that culminates in the boss arena for the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender. [[spoiler:The FinalBoss will appear through the boss fog when you defeat them.]] There are summon signs, and [[spoiler:the Emerald Herald]] will appear near the entrance until you talk to her, but there's nothing to do but head for that that one boss arena [[spoiler:that gets used twice]].
* BossSubtitles: Downplayed and not shown as an introduction, but most bosses (and NPC invaders) who are established characters have a title added to their names atop their health bars. For example: Dragonslayer Ornstein; Mytha, the Baneful Queen; [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Aldrich, Devourer of Gods]].
* BossTease: ''Dark Souls'' is extremely fond of showing off bosses before the player can fight them.
** Just after leaving your cell in the asylum, the Stray Demon can be seen in a cavern through a small window. It is impossible to fight this boss until the character leaves the asylum and returns.
** The Hellkite Wyvern will land on a bridge directly in front of the player quite a while before it can be fought.
** The Depths contains a miniboss in the form of a giant rat. You can see the creature through bars in several different areas before fighting it.
** The Iron Golem can be seen from the roof of Sen's Fortress.
** In the Demon Ruins, the Centipede Demon can be seen clinging to the wall near the second bonfire.
** Seath the Scaleless also counts, as the first time that you fight him, he's [[HopelessBossFight impossible to kill.]] You must destroy his MacGuffin in a different area before fighting him for real.
** Similar to the Hellkite Wyvern, the dragon Kalameet will briefly touch down in front of the player long before he can be fought.
* BottomlessPits: All over the place, and one of the most common reasons of death in the game. However, this works both ways, and can be used offensively with a little maneuvering on the player's part and careful timing of their kick attack.
* BranchAndBottleneckPlotStructure: All games in the series are built around complementary branches, giving you a quest to defeat four powerful bosses, each found at the end of one of the respective game's major areas. Said quest usually occupies the middle bulk of the game and is preceded and followed by largely linear sequences of objectives (except in the [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI first game]], where the first act also contained two complementary branches in-between the Undead Asylum and Sen's Fortress[[note]]even though the Bell of Awakening atop the Undead Church is ''much'' easier to reach than the one in Blighttown, it doesn't really matter in which order you ring them, as long as you do both[[/note]]).
* BreakableWeapons: All equipment is subject to wear and tear, though it's easy enough to repair everything. Crystal equipment is especially bad since it can't be repaired and has very low durability in the first place. A few enemies use attacks with the nasty side effect of breaking your equipment.
* BrightCastle: Anor Londo is an absolutely stunning castle city, with beautiful Gothic architecture. [[spoiler:Although it becomes a lot more shadowy if you attack the illusion of Gwynevere.]]
* BrokenFaceplate: The Balder Set. Good armor, but it is clear it has seen better days.
* BubblegloopSwamp: Blighttown, the Gutter, Harvest Peak, the Road of Sacrifices, Farron Keep. From Software ''love'' this one.
* BurnTheUndead: Yep, pyromancy can be even more effective than sorcery against common undead, as can flame weapons.
* CameBackStrong: Those branded with the Darksign spontaneously return to life, effectively making them immortal. However, they grow closer and closer to becoming a mindless zombie called a Hollow every time. TheProtagonist uses a magical essence often called "humanity" to reverse this process, making it more of a case of being ''CursedWithAwesome''... though it is still only delaying the inevitable. [[spoiler:There's a ''reason'' it seems to take you so long to simply become a mindless hollow, and Kaathe clues you in to it later in the first game.]]
* CameraCentering: The button that allows for locking on also centers the camera if no enemies are present.
* CameraLockOn: Returns from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', finicky as ever, though a patch has helped somewhat.
* CentralTheme:
** The heart of ''Dark Souls'' is what beauty means in a CrapsackWorld, according to Director Miyazaki. There's no obvious moral here, but
** The passing of time and the finitude of all things are both topics present throughout the games. All three games feature bosses and villains obsessed with the past, hoping to maintain an era that is long gone. They go through great suffering in their attempt to stop their own deaths or power from fading, simultaneously causing too much damage to the entire world in the process, and unknowingly pushing away not only any hope for that Age to return, but any hope for the future (better or worse) to blossom.
* ChainmailBikini: Like ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', this is mostly averted, as all of the armor is now unisex. You're only going to see boob-curves if your character is wearing something flexible and form-fitting like leather armor (even then, it's still sensible). The major exception to this is the "Hollow Warrior" armor set, which really doesn't cover that much at all. The pants/shoe component is just one shoe (and no pants!) and the chest armor covers just the shoulders and upper chest. It doesn't look that skimpy on a zombie, but on a healthy human female it's ''hilarious''.
* ChallengeRun:
** The entire point of the Deprived class is to make the beginning of the game harder. In the long run, class doesn't matter. The Deprived start at the highest level of any class, meaning it takes longer to get stat increases compared to the other class. They start with the absolute worst equipment of any class for any purpose. The fact they have 11 in all their stats makes them a MasterOfNone out the gate, so they need to spend points just to get one aspect of the game they are moderately good at. Due to the other class selection, absolutely any character concept would be better served by a different class selection, even weird ones without a class really designed for it. For example, Thief starts with a better combined Intelligence and Faith score than Deprived, despite that not being a focus of the class.
** This is the only purpose behind the Calamity Ring, which doubles all the damage you take without adding any benefits whatsoever.
** The "No-Bonfire Run" challenge — a.k.a. completing the game without ever using a SavePoint — became so popular that the developers added the Illusionary Sword in the game as a reward for completing it.
* CharacterCustomization: You're given a choice of classes to determine your starting abilities, "gifts" that can be added to your starting equipment, and you have access to a powerful appearance editor with more options than you can shake a stick at (even though you're hollow most of the time in ''I'' and ''II'', and you're probably wearing a [[ConcealedCustomization face obscuring headpiece]]).
* TheChainsOfCommanding: In ''Dark Souls II'' and beyond, the Kiln of the First Flame is referred to as a ''throne.'' A throne that the heroes must sit on to sacrifice his or her self if they truly want to be the lord of the world. ''Dark Souls 2'' is about King Vendrick, who threw away his life avoiding the throne, and goes down in history as a false king. And in ''Dark Souls 3'', the player must hunt down previous Lords of Cinder who once took the throne and abandoned it in an undead stupor.
* ChestMonster: The mimics. Opening one accidentally will cause them to do a massive attack that will most likely kill the player, and teach them to never open a chest without attacking it first. Then ''II'' starts punishing you by causing chests and their contents to be destroyed if they take too many hits.
* ChromeChampion: The effect of the Iron Flesh pyromancy makes you look like this.
* CobwebJungle: Quelaag's Domain. The entire area is almost entirely covered with cobwebs and filled with giant spider eggs.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Instead of just having Black and Blue Phantoms, the color will change depending on which covenant you are in during Online Play and which multiplayer item you use.
* CombatPragmatist: ''You''. Standing toe-to-toe with many enemies and fighting them head-on is asking for [[YetAnotherStupidDeath another "YOU DIED" screen]]. The game itself actively encourages you to not fight fairly, and many boss arenas have areas where you can hide and snipe with relative impunity. Running around behind a foe to backstab him, sniping him with arrows or magic from across the map, climbing up onto ledges they can't reach and plinking them, luring them into running off cliffs or into traps... all's fair in this game. Really, the only reason to fight "fairly" is so you can figure out the enemy's tells, moveset, and patterns by receiving their abuse firsthand.
* CompetitiveBalance: Each character class is given the chance to thrive in the world of ''Dark Souls''.[[note]]This is just in the beginning; during the game, you can build your character to whatever playstyle you like best.[[/note]] This also extends to the three most common forms of combat, all of which have their own advantages and disadvantages.
*** Melee combat is extremely practical, dealing out a huge amount of damage, reliable attacks against rushing enemies, and a massive arsenal at your disposal, all while having a very low cost to repair weapon durability. However, a large percentage of the enemies encountered can murder you easily if they get up close, and about a third of the bosses are very resistant to melee, and most mid-to-late-game weapons require high levels in four of the main stat categories (Strength, Dexterity, Magic, and Faith).
*** Archery plays it safe, with clever use of sniper spots that enemies can't reach, exploitable blind spots against bosses and mobs, and weak points (usually the head) that can't be reached without manual targetting. There are many downsides, though; a decent arrow costs a rather large amount of souls, and you have to buy them in the hundreds to keep going; most bows are weaker than melee weapons; [[DoNotRunWithAGun you have to remain stationary when preparing to fire an arrow]], and manual aim is impractical at close range.
*** Magic has a large variety of uses, with healing, defensive, and offensive spells that can potentially devastate most enemies and bosses with little effort. However, most of the stronger spells are acquired late in the game, often sold at a very high price (sometimes way more souls than you can gather for one level up), and wielding them requires investing into Magic/Faith and Attunement, stats that don't show a considerable increase in power until you reach around 30-40, yet requires long casting times, and inevitably this translates to "Enemy hiding behind the corner takes your head off." Also, magic has a finite amount of charges, and some enemies (such as Chaos Witch Quelaag) will have extremely high magic resistance, rending your primary form of offence only a fraction as effective against them, and possibly causing you to run out of charges before you can down them.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: If your attacks hit a wall, they'll bounce right off. If your enemies' attacks hit a wall... they'll clip right through.
** Remember how the VancianMagic nature of spells means that you run out of spells after so many casts? Don't expect that to happen to enemies.
** On the other hand, AI Black Phantoms and White/Gold Phantoms always perform overweight "fat" rolls, despite their equipment suggesting that, at your level, they should be able to roll at <50% weight speeds.
** Your arrows go straight where you fired them — enemies can have their arrows ''curve mid-flight'' to hit you.
** When an enemy dodges, he is immune for the entire animation, unlike the player.
** The Dark Hand is a weapon that creates [[SomeKindOfForceField an energy shield]] that provides no [[http://darksouls.wikidot.com/deflection deflection]]... when used by the player. When the Darkwraiths in New Londo Ruins block with their own Dark Hand, they deflect any melee attack with ease.
* ConstructedWorld: While there is a lot of elements from Medieval cultures, ''Dark Souls'' is a very separate fantasy world.
* ContinuingIsPainful: Dying returns you to the last bonfire you rested at and respawns all monsters that aren't bosses or minibosses. You'll also drop all of your souls and humanity where you died, and if you die before recollecting them, they vanish permanently. Finally, if you were in human form, dying ''always'' returns you to hollow form, effectively losing the humanity you spent getting it.
* CoOpMultiplayer: Returns from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', with the same summoning rules.
* CosmicKeystone: The First Flame. The Lordvessel.
* CounterAttack:
** Parrying returns from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', but has been made a bit easier to execute. Certain enemies can also do this to ''you'' if you're not careful.
** A well-timed normal hit after blocking an enemy attack may also cause additional damage.
* CrapsackWorld: The world of ''Dark Souls'' is a pretty bleak place to live. For starters, the First Flame is on the cusp of dying. When this happens, all fire will die, and there is absolutely no telling what will happen to the world other than the gods losing their power and possibly going hollow. In addition to that, a curse called the Dark Sign has absolutely ravaged the humans of the world. This curse makes its victim undead, allowing them to return to life after death. However, as they die, they lose some of their humanity, eventually becoming [[AxCrazy mindless, violent hollows]]. Many nations have [[ZombieApocalypse collapsed]] because of this curse, including Lordran, the setting of the game. Undead that still have their senses are [[FantasticRacism brutally mistreated]], hunted, and sacrificed to maintain the First Flame. Most of the [[TheGodsMustBeLazy gods are MIA]], although it doesn't seem like [[JerkassGods they would]] or could do anything even if they weren't. It really seems as though the world [[JustBeforeTheEnd is on the brink of ending]]. [[FromBadToWorse And that's just the start of it.]] This doesn’t cover the vast amount of [[OurMonstersAreDifferent deadly monsters]], [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[CruelAndUnusualDeath terrible ways to die]], [[BodyHorror the]] [[AndIMustScream torturous]] [[FateWorseThanDeath fates]] of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the many]] characters, and [[AncientConspiracy the multi-millennia long conspiracy]] and battle to control the fate of the world.
* CreepyCathedral: The Undead Parish, Cathedral of the Deep, and [[spoiler:corrupted Anor Londo]]. Averted with the Cathedral of Blue in the second game, though; it's gorgeous and, apart from the Old Dragonslayer boss fight, is pretty much monster-free.
* CriticalHit: Backstabs and ripostes (the latter initiated after parrying an opponent) deal a high amount of damage whenever they connect, often enough to kill most lower enemies in one hit. This works mostly for human-sized [=NPC=]s and other players. You can also parry some bosses, though riposting them is rarely possible.
* CriticalStatusBuff: The Red and Blue Tearstone Rings, which grant their user a whopping 50% increase in damage and defence respectively when their health drops below 20%.
* CriticalResearchFailure: For some reason, all the shields in the series are held as if they were bucklers, in one's hand by a single grip, as opposed to strapping it onto one's forearm. [[http://press2reset.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/DarkSoulsIIScreen1.jpg Normally well-hidden by camera angles, but extremely disconcerting when seen clearly.]]
** Not to mention the fact that any shield with a tapered end has had its grip rotated 90 degrees. Where real-world shields had a tapered lower end to protect against cuts at your legs, in the world of ''Dark Souls'', the taper...gives additional protection to your elbow?
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Oh, yes. Most enemies have special attacks that will end your life in the most brutal of ways. Getting your throat sliced by assassins, cursed and turned to ashes by monstrous amphibians, lethally poisoned by blowdart snipers or baby skeletons, eaten alive by too many nasties to list them...
* CrystalDragonJesus: The nation of [[TheTheocracy Thorolund]], including the Way of the White. The religion surrounding Velka might be this as well, given that they mention bishops by name.
* CursedWithAwesome:
** Bearing the Darksign means your character ''is incapable of staying dead'', through there are drawbacks. See CameBackStrong and CameBackWrong above for details.
** The actual "Cursed" status effect, on the other hand, is pretty horrible: when your curse resistance meter fills, you die and become cursed, which halves your [=HP=] and prevents you from gaining Humanity or using it to become human again. The halved [=HP=] effect used to ''stack'' before being fixed in a patch. But cursed beings and weapons are the only things that can hurt the otherwise invincible ghosts in the New Londo Ruins. There is no downside at all to using Transient Curses (which inflict a temporary and harmless curse on you) or "Cursed" weapons.
* CurseRelay: All curses work like this. When someone is cursed, they can't simply have it be broken. Instead, they must find someone or something else to pass the curse onto, causing them to become inflicted by the curse instead.
* CurbStompBattle:
** Most boss fights go down like this (in the boss's favor) on the player's first one or two tries before the player understands the boss's tells.
** A few mobs can kill the player if they're not careful: the Stone Knights and the Demonic Foliage guarding the Elite Knight Set can ZergRush you and prevent you from escaping with a movement-reducing spell; Black Phantoms spawned by a Gravelord infection often fight alongside their original counterparts, making crowd control difficult for players.
** Since bosses don't scale to the player, you can flip this the other way around by level grinding enough. For example, the Skeleton Lords in ''II'' are much, ''much'' less scary if you hit them thirty levels after you were supposed to.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D-F]]
* DarkIsEvil[=/=]DarkIsNotEvil: Zigzagged. Dark-aligned [=NPCs=] like the Darkwraiths, the Four Kings, and generally anything to do with the Abyss wreak havoc and suffering on everything around them, but at the same time, there are implications that the overextension of the Age of Fire is taking a toll on the world and is responsible for numerous calamities, such as the Darksign.
* DarkFantasy: It takes place in a Tolkien-style world that's full of the undead, tries to stave off the age of dark while recovering from past ones, and has humanity be the potential for the greatest darkness. Many fates end in death — or worse. Many enemies have tragic backstories through no fault of their own. By ''Dark Souls III'', it's implied that all civilizations are on their last legs.
* DarkSkinnedBlond: According to the character creation screen, silver hair is common among the Catarinans, who are Black.
* DayOldLegend: Played straight and subverted. Many weapons you upgrade get the normal treatment, but a few of the truly unique weapons require using [[PoweredByAForsakenChild soul of their owner]] to forge them, implying that you are literally remaking that legend again.
* DeadToBeginWith: The player character starts off as an undead.
* DeathAsGameMechanic: It is ''theoretically'' possible to not die ([[NintendoHard although not likely]]), but dying is not the end. When you're killed, you can play the game as undead and there are various different mechanics in play, both beneficial and detrimental. In fact, with the Soul Tendency system, death is actually a tool to get cooler loot by making the game harder. Also, the mechanics of multiplayer in the games revolve around death: undead players can become phantoms who assist living players, and get rewards for doing so including being resurrected. Undead players are also protected from invasion by other players, so it can be quite to one's benefit to not revive.

* DeathIsCheap: Unlike ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', coming back to life (regaining humanity) in the first game is not only more common, but the item to restore it is no longer dropped rarely by a single, and very hard, enemy. Also, death no longer takes away half of your health (unless you get cursed), meaning that death, while still hefty, comes much cheaper than in ''Demon's Souls''. The health penalty comes back slightly in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', with your maximum health being slowly lowered with each death until you restore your humanity, while it makes a comeback in full in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', where dying lops off a good 40% of your maximum health until you use an Ember to restore it (although ''DSIII'' may have been balanced around being in Unkindled form rather than Lord of Cinder form).
* DeathOfAThousandCuts:
** A [[SurvivalMantra common motto]] for ''Dark Souls'' players is "If you can hit it, you can kill it." And this is true. Any weapon can be used to kill any enemy under the right circumstances. Just don't expect it to be done quickly this way. It's not uncommon to see conventional weapons barely even dealing ScratchDamage to later bosses, usually to emphasize that there's a better way.
** Poisons will generally do this to the player. It turns into more of a hassle than an actual threat because if you lack any items to remove it, all you can do is immediately turn around and head back to your bonfire or try to keep pushing through to get to one. Without an appropriate number of estus flasks or a fairly high health pool, you ''will'' die from it, but it will take a long time.
** Poisons will also do this to certain bosses. [[spoiler:Slave Knight Gael]], for example, is vulnerable to poison, but his 15,000-ish HP isn't just going to succumb to a couple of measly Dung Pies.
* DeathOrGloryAttack: Considering the difficulty of the game, and the fact that the more a weapon is big and powerful, the slower its attacks are. Because of bad timing, missing a hit or being parried by a powerful enemy leaves you stuck and unable to block or attack again for a few seconds, which makes you very vulnerable. If the enemy is close enough, it has enough time to strike, which usually results in the loss of a lot of hit points (or a OneHitKill for some bosses or DemonicSpiders).
* DeathWorld: All of the nations that fell to the [[ZombieApocalypse Darksign]] are implied to be this, which is why the curse of undeath is so frightening.
* DemBones: [[http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/oracrest/Dark%20Souls/12-noscale.jpg The skeletons,]] giant skeletons, and feral skeletons.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Undead without a purpose or goal to keep their minds focused eventually become hollow. There are several [=NPCs=] you can assist with goals they are pursuing, but this almost inevitably ends with them going hollow and attacking you, since you are also taking their purpose away from them.
* {{Determinator}}: The undead hero, and by extension the player controlling him or her. And boy, do you earn it.
* DieChairDie: Occasionally, the player may come across some breakable items that are just in the way. It's a lot easier to just smash the things to bits than go around them.
* DifficultButAwesome:
** Fireball class spells are powerful, but are much less intuitive than other offensive spells. These spells arc when thrown, requiring you to figure out the distance and drop of the spells when throwing them at the target. The arc and height of the shot are also dependent on where the lock-on icon is located, and since taller enemies have higher lock-on reticules, you can throw the spells at longer distances than with smaller enemies. Therefore, any use of fireballs is going to involve you figuring out arcs and distances. But once you figure out the range issues with the spells, and level up the pyromancy flame high enough, the damage output is ''insane''.
** Greatswords, and other slow two-handed weapons like them. What makes them difficult is the fact that they're slow as crap, require two-handing unless you have lots of strength, and usually makes your dodge roll crap. The awesome part is due to their insane damage (especially with a [[GameBreaker Zaphander or a Chaoshander]]) and reach compared to similarly-leveled one-handers. They're also great against some of the larger enemies since a blow with a large weapon can interrupt their attacks, and sometimes even knock them flat on their backs, leaving them vulnerable to a follow-up attack, while a smaller weapon will only take away a sliver of their health without interrupting their attack animations at all.
*** The Black Knight weapons (Sword, Greatsword, Halberd, and Greataxe) take these up a notch: they're even slower than most other two-handers, they weigh a ton, their damage scaling is average (and in the first game can't be upgraded to do elemental damage, relying solely on their physical damage), but they deal ridiculous amounts of damage (to the point that most mooks and some bosses can be killed in 1 or 2 hits), can break just about any enemies' block in 2 hits, will stagger most enemies and some bosses (including Havel the Rock in the first game, who has a ridiculous amount of poise), ''and'' do 20% extra damage to demons (one of the more prevalent types of boss and mini-boss). Once you get used to how slow they are and how vulnerable they leave you, many bosses can be slaughtered by just tanking hits until you get close enough to wail on them.
* DiminishingReturnsForBalance: The higher the attribute, the less you benefit from increasing it further. All attributes have a hard cap of 99, but they have two "soft caps". The first is at 20 with the greatest returns up until then. After that, the returns are less, but still appreciable until level 40 or 50 (which one depends on the stat and game). Any level after that provides minimal/no benefit. For example, in ''Dark Souls II'', every level of Vigor adds 30 HP to the player up to level 20; 20 HP per level up to 50, and only 5 HP per level after that.
* DiscOneNuke: The games tend to leave a handful of very powerful weapons to the players early on.
* DistantSequel:
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' takes place at least a thousand years after the events of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', by which point the Chosen Undead's journey to determine the fate of the Age of Fire is nothing but a faded memory.
** While the first two games take place close enough to each other that the First Flame is showing no sign of permanently fading, ''VideoGame/DarkSouls3'' is set countless thousands of years in the future after so many cycles have come and gone that the Flame is at risk of permanently going out and the events of the first two games aren't just legends, but the legends of long-dead civilizations. ''The Ringed City'' DLC is implied to be set even further in the future.
* DivineBirds: Crows are strongly associated with the mysterious goddess Velka, so whenever you spot a crow (especially a giant one), you can be sure that she has her fingers in the surrounding events.
* DoNotDropYourWeapon: Get gnawed on by the Gaping Dragon? Get your throat slit by an undead thief? Get stomped on by a giant? You aren't dropping your sword and shield.
* DownInTheDumps: Blighttown.
* DownTheDrain: The Depths are your classic sewer maze, complete with giant (zombie) rats.
* {{Dracolich}}: The undead dragons and the bounding demons, considering that the latter are the lower half of the former. [[spoiler:Seath is also considered one by virtue of his Primordial Crystal, which grants him CompleteImmortality unless it's destroyed.]]
* DraconicHumanoid:
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', the Chosen Undead can become one by joining the Path of the Dragon covenant and using the Dragon Stones. By becoming a dragon, the Chosen Undead receives a pair of claws for unarmed combat, as well as the ability to breathe fire and a roar that can stagger their foes. However, in order to turn back into a human, they have to die either as a phantom, which turns them back into a human, or to die in their own world, which turns them into a hollow.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the Dragon Remnants covenant achieves similar results. Unlike the previous installment, the dragon form resembles a suit of light armor, but you still can breathe fire and roar.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', the Ashen One can become one as well, with the additional Twinkling Dragon Stones for summoning the illusion of dragons. There's also Oceiros the Consumed King, who's [[spoiler:the former king of Lothric]] [[WasOnceAMan turned into a draconic humanoid]].
* DrawAggro: Through the series, tough players (such as those starting with the Knight class) and [=NPCs=] can get bosses to go after them while the ranged characters shoot them from afar. You can get items such as the Skull Ring and the Atonement miracle to increase this effect.
* DropTheHammer: Many of the blunt weapons, the most ridiculous of these are Grant and Smough's Hammer.
** On the more sensible side of this trope, we also have a good number of [[CarryABigStick maces and clubs]], the former of which is apparently the WeaponOfChoice for newly-created Clerics.
* DualWielding: As in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', you can equip an off-hand weapon, sacrificing your ability to parry for extra attacks, unless that weapon is something like the Parry Dagger, curved swords, katanas, thrusting swords, whips, or fist weapons.
* DungeonShop: Merchants tend to set up shop in hostile environments.
* DungeonTown: Most of the game. The Undead Burg, Undead Parish, and The Depths are all part of one large city. Several other areas are cities as well like New Londo and Anor Londo.
** Lordran is in fact a dungeon ''country'', as it's completely surrounded by a huge castle wall (visible from the Firelink Shrine).
* DysfunctionJunction: The cast by and large is more messed up than they appear, even if they are nice people overall.
* EarnYourFun: Like its predecessor, ''Dark Souls'' is going to make you work your ass off to make it to the end. One of the game trailers puts it best.
-->''PREPARE TO DIE. FIGHT. STRUGGLE. ENDURE. SUFFER. LIVE''
** This even includes the DLC. While many other games would allow you to access your DLC purchase immediately, this series doesn't. The earliest parts of it are available somewhat early, but for the rest of it you may need to sink quite a few more hours into the game before the relevant parts are unlocked. ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' doesn't let you get ''anywhere near'' the Ringed City DLC unless you've 1) beaten the Ashes of Ariandel DLC and its hard-as-nails final boss, or 2) gotten up to just before (as in, like 50 meters before) the FinalBoss of the main game.
* EatenAlive: Several enemies will do this to you; the [[ChestMonster mimics]] being one of the sneakiest, since they don't look dangerous until they chomp on you.
* EliteMook: Several, from the boulder throwing trolls to the Dark Knights.
* EmoteAnimation: Aside from writing messages on the ground, the small list of gestures such as waving or bowing is by design the only way players can directly communicate with each other in-game. Breakable totems containing pre-recorded messages perform the same function.
* EmptyShell: Undead that have hollowed become this, and it's also the only way for them to be KilledOffForReal. [[spoiler:Gwyn himself has turned hollow after burning in the Kiln of the First Flame for a millennium.]]
* EncounterBait: There is a thrown item that lures certain types of enemies wherever it lands. Very useful around environmental hazards like ledges and open flames!
* EnergyEconomy: This is how souls work. You can use them up (energy) or sell them to other people, who also probably use them as energy for themselves.
* EscapeRope: The Homeward miracle and the Homeward Bone items allow you to instantly warp to the last bonfire rested with all your belongings intact.
* EtherealChoir: If it isn't OminousLatinChanting or a OneWomanWail, its this.
* EventFlag: Often occurs by talking to someone.
* EverythingFades: Averted, areas stay littered with broken bits of scenery and enemies' ragdoll corpses. Only bosses and elites disintegrate.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The only things that don't are a handful of [=NPCs=] (and even then, some of them do eventually go hollow and try to kill you). The things that are trying to kill you include: zombies, walking skeletons, knights that have gone insane, giant rats, giant cats, giant leeches, mosquitoes the size of cats, vicious dogs, blobs of slime, lizards that turn you to stone, metal boars, animated statues, snake men, dragons, demons, ghosts, mushrooms, the inhabitants of a painting... and that doesn't even cover the bosses (which includes gods and even more demons) or the other players who will invade to try and steal your humanity...
* EvilIsBurningHot: Sure enough, all the demons originate from the FireAndBrimstoneHell full of lava, and are resistant to pyromancy.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Sen's Fortress. The area is also incredibly malicious, filled with countless [[BoobyTrap Booby Traps]].
* ExclusiveEnemyEquipment: Unique weapons tend to be rare drops off enemies or forged from special souls, while their armor is usually found hidden in a chest somewhere.
* ExperienceBooster: The Covetous Silver Serpent Ring and the Symbol of Avarice helm. Also the overkill mechanic, where you get more souls if you deal 150% of the monster's max hp in one blow.
* ExperiencePoints: You acquire souls by killing enemies or consuming certain items, which can either be spent to level up or used as currency.
* FactionCalculus: There are several covenants the player can swear themselves to the games.
* FakeUltimateMook:
** Ceaseless Discharge can be seen as this. It is the largest boss in the game and very intimidating, but is one of the easier bosses in the game.
** Capra Demon also qualifies; when you first fight one, it is in a small area aided by two extremely fast enemies, so beginners would naturally find this difficult. However, fighting them alone is much less hassle, but it is rare to happen, as once they become a regular enemy, they are placed tightly together so you will usually attract two or three at the same time.
* FallingDamage: Damage is based on the height fallen and your equip load.
** In the first game, you could use the spell "Fall Control", which negates falling damage as long as the distance wouldn't have killed the player.
** In the second game, you also get equipment which negates damage based on hard amounts. So even fatal distances can be leaped and survived (while still needing to take a healing item).
* FanDisservice:
** Try stripping off your clothes/armour whilst Hollow.
** If you're a bit uncomfortable about scantily dressed dudes, male armor is a loincloth thong, whereas female characters have briefs.
* {{Fanservice}}:
** After beating Smough and Ornstein, the player is rewarded with, among other things, Gwynevere's lavish cleavage.
** Try stripping off your clothes/armour while not in Hollow form. Or wearing Hollow armour.
* FightsLikeANormal: Often invoked by players running a [[StrongAndSkilled "quality build"]] in PVP; that is, putting all of your points into strength and dexterity (40 in both) and ignoring the magic stats (intelligence and faith), and to a lower extent, [[UnskilledButStrong pure strength]] and [[WeakButSkilled pure dex]] (60 in respective stat). The advantage is mix and matching and versatility (and in ''[=III=]'', generally higher base damage to compensate for lower highest potential damage vs [[MagicKnight hybrid builds]] using [[SpellBlade spell buffs]]).
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]] in ''Dark Souls I'' and [[spoiler:The Soul of Cinder]] in ''Dark Souls III'' are the very final enemies fought in gameplay in those games, with the First Flame bonfire that is the goal of the game appearing in their arenas immediately after they are defeated. As for ''Dark Souls II'', the final boss of that game's main storyline is [[spoiler:Nashandra]], although you can [[PostEndGameContent continue with your playthrough after defeating them]], and ''Scholar of the First Sin edition'' adds a new TrueFinalBoss in [[spoiler:Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin]].
* {{Fireballs}}: Many different kinds, thanks to pyromancy.
* FireIceLightning: The three forms of magic you can use. Pyromancy allows you to wield fire-based spells, miracles allow for the use of lightning, and sorcery, while not ''technically'' ice-based, is characterized by bright blue and white colors and many of the spells sound like ice breaking when they impact. Further solidified by the sorcery spells that generate enormous ice-like crystals when they detonate.
* FishingForMooks: At times an essential tactic.
* TheFlameOfLife: The series centers around a cycle of Ages of Fire and Ages of Darkness. The series portrays souls as small fist-sized flames, and the mystical art of [[PlayingWithFire pyromancy]] is tied directly to the caster's soul.
** From the game's opening cinematic:
--> In the Age of Ancients, the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of gray crags, Archtrees and Everlasting Dragons. But then there was Fire and with fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course, light and dark. Then from the dark, They came, and found the Souls of Lords within the flame.[...]Thus began the Age of Fire. But soon the flames will fade and only Dark will remain. Even now there are only embers, and man sees not light, but only endless nights.
* FlamingSword: Quelaag's Fury Sword. Also wielded very effectively by [[spoiler:Gwyn, Lord of Cinder. You can also gain it if you keep his soul and use it in a Weapon Ascension, though the crafted version isn't on fire]]. Normal upgradeable weapons can be temporarily this by applying [[StatusBuff Charcoal Pine Resin]], which adds fire damage to your weapon.
* FlavorText: Most weapons, keys, and other equipment have a lot of flavor text on them. Unique souls from bosses will often explain parts of the backstory you wouldn't understand otherwise. The only way to even attempt to piece the backstory together is to try and gather every piece of equipment, find a safe spot to park it, and start writing.
* ForgotICouldFly: It's entirely possible (and beneficial) to lure winged enemies to fall to their deaths off cliffs.
* FragileSpeedster: The Thief, The Wanderer to start out. Any character who builds into light armour is this (or possibly GlassCannon) by default, as the main advantage of wearing it is being able to dodge more easily.
* FreelookButton: Is available when you find and use the binoculars.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G-I]]
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** One of the defining characteristics of Dark Souls is how much gameplay mechanics translates to the storyline and lore of the world, the most obvious example being how the main character is undead and thus [[TheManyDeathsOfYou will continuously revive whenever they are killed to justify the player retrying again and again]].
** A major example of this trope is how time is [[TimeyWimeyBall more like guidelines than actual rules]] in Dark Souls. As such, it's generally believed when you die as the last remaining Hollow in your world (who will no longer [[ResurrectiveImmortality respawn at a bonfire upon death]]), instead of getting KilledOffForReal, in reality you're arriving in an AlternateTimeline where the people you killed are still alive, but you cease to exist in the world you just left. This is especially apparent in Dark Souls 2, in which if you kill enemies enough times to grind them, you start running out of worlds where they still exist. Nothing is infinite, not even timeline branching, it seems.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** There are a number of segregations across the three games, but the most recurring one is whenever the player character faces something which in lore ''should'' make them go Hollow and suffer a FinalDeath (such as the Abyss and its corruption, which can affect ''anything'' including the fabric of space and time), you somehow still revive in the bonfire.
** In regards to time convolution described above, items from people you kill somehow persist even if you die before you can collect them and end up in another version of the world.
* GangUpOnTheHuman: The Hollows somehow know not to attack each other, just ''you'' and any other Undead that still has his or her mind.
** It is implied that they can sense that you have Humanity, and they mindlessly want it to try and cure their own EmptyShell status.
* GardenOfEvil:
** The Darkroot Garden is one of the more lush areas, but it's full of living plants that are trying to kill you.
** This notably still applies to its Oolacile counterpart/[[spoiler: equivalent from millennia in the past]] the Royal Garden, which is full of stone giants and animated scarecrow "gardeners" who are none too pleased by your trespassing.
** Lost Izalith is some kind of twisted inversion of the usual traits of this trope. It's a deep underground city full of lava and demons, but everywhere you go, there's bare tree roots covering everything. The source of it all is the Bed of Chaos, [[spoiler:or rather what's left of the Witch of Izalith]]. So it follows the "plantlife everywhere" part of the trope while visually reminding you of death and fire instead of smothering greens and poison like most gardens of evil.
* GenderBlenderName: A recurring motif. No, Gwyn is not a girl, he's a guy, as is Gwyndolin (though he was RaisedAsTheOppositeGender), Ingward, Sif, Tseldora, and Aldia. On the other hand we have Ciaran, Lucatiel, and Guthry.
* GlassCannon: The Bandit, The Hunter
** Depending on how point allocation goes, anyone doing a pure quality build. This is because they invest a lot of their stat points into STR (strength) and DEX (dexterity) to use a lot of different weapons, and maximize on damage output.
* {{Golem}}: If it's a giant enemy, but wearing full armor so you can't see anything underneath, it's likely a golem.
* TheGoomba: The Hollow Warriors seen in the first section of Undead Burg. Their move set is almost identical to that of the Dreglings in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', and are the easiest enemies in the game to fight. That said, they still pose a threat, especially in groups.
* GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: The Duke's Archives. Naturally, Big Hat Logan loves hanging out here and reading the unbelievably vast collection of tomes. [[spoiler:A little too much for his own good.]]
* GreatBow:
** The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is the Dragonslayer Greatbow from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', a bow so large that it towers over the wielder, to the point it requires an AnchoredAttackStance to be used. Naturally, due to its immense size, it can fire lance-sized projectiles made for hunting dragons, and the Silver Knights are more than happy to knock you down from the roof of Anor Londo with their bows and arrows. Hawkeye Gough, the predecessor of the Silver Knights, has his own homemade bow that is heavier, bigger, and [[spoiler:he uses it to shoot down Black Dragon Kalameet [[ImprobableAimingSkills despite being blind himself]]]].
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' has the Alonne Greatbow, a type of Greatbow brought by the Alonne Knights from the Far East to entertain the Old Iron King. Another one is the Possessed Armor Greatbow, carried by the Possessed Armors, who [[BowAndSwordInAccord wield a bow and a sword at the same time]].
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has the Millwood Knight Greatbow, which comes with a Weapon Skill that creates a shockwave when the arrows land onto the surface, knocking down anyone nearby. There's also a giant living at Undead Settlement, who shoots anyone next to the white branches all over the world. [[spoiler:He's actually trying to help you; should you have the Young White Branch given by him in your inventory, he helps you to shoot down your enemies from a far distance.]]
* GreatOffscreenWar: The lore makes the occasional mention of an event called the "Occult Rebellion" where a group of humans or giants made war upon the gods of Anor Londo using forbidden weaponry that channeled Dark. The only name tied to this event was Havel The Rock, who was apparently exiled. The ember used to make the weapons was hidden in the Painted World and the entire conflict, [[{{Unperson}} as well as it's participants]], was otherwise erased from history.
* GroinAttack: When you use a sword to riposte enemies the same height as you, you drive your sword through their midsection. When you riposte enemies slightly ''taller'' than you, your animation is exactly the same, resulting in vicious crotch stabs. Conversely, when {{Backstab}}bing taller enemies, the animation looks like an AssShove.
** Projectiles aimed at the arm or leg hitboxes deal about 10% extra damage, making it look a lot like this.
* GuideDangIt: The hidden walls and secret areas. Almost nothing in-game will tell you where they are or how to access them. The one thing that keeps this trope from being played 100% are the player messages. If the online servers for these games are ever shut off, then this trope will be played straight as an arrow from then on.
* GunsAkimbo: You can wield in the same time in each hand any combination of catalysts, talismans, pyromancy flames, and crossbows, and attack/cast spells with the left-hand weapon too.
* HailfirePeaks: The Ash Lake is a mix of PalmtreePanic and TheLostWoods. The Painted World of Ariamas is a mix of SlippySlideyIceWorld and BigFancyCastle. New Londo Ruins is a mix of BigFancyCastle and BigBoosHaunt.
* HammerSpace: Any weapons you equip or switch to appear out of thin air, no matter how massive they are.
* HandWave: The game explains the ability to help other players clear areas and bosses that you've already beaten in your own game as time distortion and leaves it at that.
* HauntedCastle: New Londo Ruins.
* HealingCheckpoint: The bonfires.
* HealingPotion: Estus. It looks like glowy orange juice, which led to a lot of players referring to it as [=SunnyD=].
* HealthDamageAsymmetry: Averted, most normal enemies go down in just a few hits, but so does the player.
* HelloInsertNameHere: Every game has it. ''Dark Souls II'' and ''III'' have censors that prevent you from putting in swear words, but they, uh, [[https://plus.google.com/+YosukeHanamuraFromJunes/posts/QGyvseEGXxE don't work very well]].
* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Averted. While there are a few helmets that let you show off your face, most of them are pretty obscuring. There is no option to cosmetically hide the helmet either.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Swords are the most numerous weapons in the game. In addition, four of the ten classes start with swords as their weapons.
* HeroicWillpower: The defining trait of the Chosen Undead. As a person cursed with virtual immortality, they must resist going insane, and powering through dying numerous times while being pitted against all-powerful beings.
* HighClassGloves: Fancy outfits include fancy gloves as part of the ensemble. This includes the lace gloves for the Antiquated dress in the first game, and the brocaded gloves for the Archdrake set in the second game.
* HitAndRunTactics: Essential for most powerful enemies and bosses.
* HomingProjectile: Sorceries like soul arrow, soul spear, homing soul mass, and arrows. The Hurl Lightning and later lightning miracles don't home, but they move so fast that it doesn't matter.
* HowDoIShotWeb: If you try to use a spell item without having a compatible spell attuned, your character will hold the item out, shake it around a little, and then scratch their head in confusion.
* HubLevel: Firelink Shrine is the center of the game world, houses most of the trainers should you find them, and has quick access to many areas of the game once you unlock the shortcuts.
* HumansAreCthulhu: Humans are treated as something alien, incomprehensible, and kind of scary by the gods and their disciples, and [[spoiler:the entire Age of Fire is built around regulating them and the Dark Souls they carry so that they won't get out of hand]]. This is because [[spoiler:Humanity is linked to the world-destroying Abyss, and an excess of it turns you into Cthulhu. Or it does now, once Humans could outright wield the Abyss uncorrupted, but Gwyn was scared of their power matching his and cursed them to be corrupted by their own magic]].
* HumansAreGood: Miyazaki has said that he wanted to show that deep down, people are truly good. This is shown through how concerned a majority of the [=NPCs=] act towards the player. Even [[spoiler:Lautrec]], a selfish, murderous undead, fervently loves the goddess of Fina and does everything he does out of his devotion to her.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: On the other hand, the extremes of humans are portrayed as a very, very bad thing. [[spoiler:Manus is a crazed ape from having his humanity go wild, and "Humanity" is the Dark Soul, swallowing everything else up.]] By contrast, the Gods tend to be portrayed as good even when they do some questionable things, [[spoiler:like fabricating the myth of a "Chosen Undead". Or creating the curse that caused "Humanity" to run wild and corrupt those who wield it]].
* HumansAreSpecial: Implied through Humanity in general. In addition, according to Elizabeth, [[spoiler:Artorias stood no chance against the Abyss because he wasn't human, whereas the Chosen Undead can defeat Manus thanks to being human — though the Chosen Undead still needs the Covenant of Artorias to traverse the Abyss itself to defeat the Four Kings]].
* HyperspaceArsenal: There's no limit on how much junk you carry around other than your patience for scrolling through long menus of worthless Hollow armor. (Your weight limit is for the stuff equipped on your body). If that gets tedious but you don't want to throw anything away permanently, you can also get a "bottomless box" to throw stuff into.
* IaijutsuPractitioner: The Iaito's strong attack.
* ImmortalityHurts: The Curse of the Undead leaves humans unable to die, but still feel the pain of death. Then there's [[spoiler:The Four Lords, who are all immortal, insane, and suffering]].
* ImmortalityImmorality: The overarching theme of ''Dark Souls'' is that nothing lasts forever, and efforts to make it so (whether literally or figuratively) are either doomed to fail or a FateWorseThanDeath if successful.
* InexplicableTreasureChests: They're just chilling in odd spots around the world.
* InfiniteStockForSale: About half the items merchants sell is in limited quantity, with the limited ones being more useful or more powerful.
* InfinityMinusOneSword: All the DiscOneNuke equipment and some of the Ascended weapons seem like InfinityPlusOneSword material, but the often limited upgrade options compared to the generic equipment make them qualify for this. Certain magic spells have a high number of uses, but actually end up using most of them during one casting.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Averted, since you can excel with any decently upgraded weapon, whether they're acquired early or late in the game, and [[NewGamePlus subsequent playthroughs]] make sure you're never out of tough enemies. However, the Moonlight Greatsword, which is acquired [[spoiler:by cutting Seath's middle tail]], is a potential candidate for this, due to its unique scaling and damage type, making it a favourite for magic builds.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: By in-game definition, any hollowed humans and demi-gods are essentially empty husks with all traces of personality and sanity gone, hence the name "hollow". They are all extremely violent and hostile to any beings with their sanity intact, for some reason. The knights remaining in Anor Londo too, although just simply insane and not exactly hollowed, are inexplicably hostile towards the undead player despite the player doing nothing except passing through.
** Some undead manage to [[AvertedTrope avert that]], most notably those residing in cells of Undead Asylum and upper New Londo. While obviously hollowed and insane, they're devoting their time to sobbing or [[HeadDesk headbanging the nearest wall]], and pose no real threat unless the player hits first.
* InsurmountableWaistHighFence: You can't climb ''anything'', but ladders and what can or can't be stepped over isn't always obvious. This is part of what makes the cities so maze-like.
* InterchangeableAntimatterKeys: Averted, all of the keys in the game are permanent and — besides the [[SkeletonKey Master Key]] — only open specific doors.
* InTheHood: The Thief starting set, the Hollow Thief hood, the Gold Hemmed Robe hood, etc. The Dark Set is a hood with a metal skull mask, and Knight Artorias's helmet is a hood with a metal top.
* InvincibleMinorMinion: The Skeletons in the catacombs. You can defeat them, but they'll quickly revive and reassemble themselves as long as the necromancer hiding himself nearby is alive. Or, if you kill them with a Divine weapon, they can't revive themselves.
* InvisibleMonsters: Two of the Forest Hunter [=NPC=]s. Semi-invisible at least.
* InvulnerableCivilians: Monsters and non-Phantom [=NPC=]s will completely ignore each other (unless a mob unintentionally hits them, in which case, those same [=NPC=]s end up attacking ''you''); also, [[PlayerVersusPlayer invading]] phantoms are unable to attack [=NPC=]s and monsters alike.
* IronicNickname: "Trusty" Patches, who is a greasy son of a bitch who will try to trick you into death traps multiple times so he can loot your corpse (then again, [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl you can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest]]); and Hawkeye Gough, who is blind (although he wasn't back when he first got the nickname, and even now he still [[ImprobableAimingSkills exemplifies it quite well]]).
* ItemCrafting: Weapons and armor can be created and upgraded with the right materials and some help from a blacksmith NPC or a toolkit usable at bonfires.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J-L]]
* JackOfAllStats: The Deprived
* JokeItem:
** The whip. The item's description states that it's not intended for combat and extremely ineffective against enemies. Whip-based characters are a common self-imposed challenge.
** One of the starting gifts, the pendant. It was only added for roleplaying purposes, and thus has no actual use.
* KaizoTrap: You can pretty much '''guarantee''' that after slaying a boss or KingMook, a regular enemy will appear out of nowhere, blindside you, and give you a cheap shot. This can prove fatal if on low health. The games ''never'' let you get complacent or have a breather after a victory.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: At least for Dexterity-focused characters, as their damage increases with higher Dex. They tend to be quick, too.
* LaserBlade: The Moonlight Greatsword is something of a magical version of this. The actual physical blade is tiny, about the size of a dagger. The larger blade that makes up the bulk of the weapon is a magical projection of moonlight.
* LavaAddsAwesome: So many areas are loaded with lava.
** Chaos pyromancies leave lava on the ground.
* LeapOfFaith: Some hidden pieces of loot require this to reach them. One can buy items (Prism Stones) specifically meant to check how far down the bottom of a pit is.
* LethalLavaLand: The Demon Ruins and the first half of Lost Izalith.
* LevelGrinding: Leveling up a couple stats to to their "soft caps" of 40 or 50 isn't so bad. Leveling up most stats that high will take a lot of soul farming.
* LevelLockedLoot: ''Dark Souls'' uses stats to determine the effectiveness of weapons. Any player can equip any weapon, but if the player character doesn't have the minimum stats to properly wield it, that weapon's performance will be severely penalized.
* LifeDrain:
** Some weapons restore a small amount of your health with every hit. As does the Ring Of The Evil Eye with every kill.
** The Dark Hand weapon uses "The art of Lifedrain" to steal the Humanity of [=NPCs=] and other players.
** The "Ring of Evil Eyes" restores HP when you kill an enemy.
* LifeEnergy: The player character levels up by absorbing the energy of the souls of fallen enemies. ([[WeirdCurrency You can also buy things with it.]])
* LightningBruiser:
** Some starting builds are this, due to having high stamina, a strong weapon, and light armor.
** Many of the toughest bosses and enemies are because of their high speed and power.
* LightningLash: The whip, though generally weak, can be upgraded to a lightning whip.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: High end spells in these games can devastate most enemies more than high end melee attacks. Though the sequels downplay this more than the first game.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: Those statues of people you find around Basilisk nests? Yeah those were other players who got cursed by them. And you can smash them.
* LivingCurrency: Souls are the standard currency in the game.
* LivingStatue: The Titanite Demons. The Stone Guardians. The Demon Statues.
* LockedDoor: Lots and lots of them. Many give way to convenient shortcuts as the player progresses.
* {{Loincloth}}: Your character underneath all the armor.
* LoadingScreen: There are surprisingly very few. Aside from a few select zones, all of the areas are interconnect and devoid of loading screens. For the areas that aren't connected, the loading is masked by cut scenes. However, there are loading screens when the player dies or warps to a different location, which shows a description of a random item.
* LostInTranslation: There are ''dozens'' of misconceptions and inaccurate translations throughout the main 3 games and their expansions, ranging from relatively minor things such as [[SpellMyNameWithAnS the names/titles of characters and bosses]][[note]]such as "Manus, Father of the Abyss" actually being "Manus, ''Master'' of the Abyss"[[/note]], somewhat important things such as the origin of certain spell classes [[note]]the most infamous of which is the Demon Catalyst versus Ceaseless Discharge — [[WordOfGod Miyazaki himself]] had to clarify that the latter was the first demon in a developer interview contrary to the former's item description[[/note]] to outright story-critical things [[spoiler:such as the Lord Souls [[GodNeverSaidThat never being explicitly stated to be from the First Flame; rather, they were found ''near'' it as told via official release info in Japan at the time of the original game's release]]]]. It does ''not'' help that misconceptions of lore have morphed into [[WordOfDante commonly accepted fact]] which everyone accepts despite said "facts" not being true. However, the English lore community along with the major members of it (Vaatividya being the most well-known example) are coming to correct past mistakes via people referencing original texts to verify official ones' integrity.
%%* TheLostWoods: Darkroot Garden and Darkroot Basin.
* LovecraftLite: With enough patience and skill, you too can kill {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and gods.
* LuckManipulationMechanic: Humanity increases the drop rates of items, capping out at 10 humanity. The Golden Serpent Ring also provides a big boost in item drop rates. This ring plus 10 humanity gives the highest possible drop rate.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: No matter what class you're playing as, you ''need'' a shield. It is suicide to play without one; that's why even the "Deprived," who starts off naked, gets one.
** Averted for the knights of Carim, who are noted in-game to fight without shields, preferring the use of an off-hand or two-handed weapon instead. The player can also do this, naturally.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-O]]
* MagicalEye:
** The Red Eye Orb allows players to invade and kill others, while the Eyes of Death let players curse others' worlds and generate stronger versions of typical enemies. The Ring of the Evil Eye is also said to contain a demon of the name. It lets you heal by killing people.
* MagicIsMental: Sorcery at least. The player gets spell bonuses from catalysts when you increase you Intelligence.
* MagicKnight:
** Due to the classes being nothing more than starting status, hybrid builds are quite common. Some weapon upgrade paths even allow you to base weapon damage off intelligence or faith instead of strength and dexterity.
** Pyromancy is practically made for this. It doesn't have any stat requirements, what you need to cast it is weightless, and damage increases simply by upgrading the Pyromancy Catalyst (but just in the first game). There isn't a single build in the game that doesn't benefit from having some pyromancy available aside from giving a few levels to open up an attunement slot or two.
** In general, it is highly unwise to try and go for a "full Pyromancy/Sorcery/Miracle" build, where you only attack using spells. This is because spells are limited use and can run out in the heat of battle, often requiring you to fall back on your weapons to survive. However, each spell type has a number of support spells to assist you in melee combat — sorcerers get access to free Magic Weapon buffs and a number of other useful support spells like Hush or Spook, pyromancers get access to free Fire Weapon buffs and can use strong AOE debuffs like poison clouds or magma pools, and Miracle builds get (you guessed it) free Holy Weapon buffs and a number of versatile healing and support spells. As mentioned above, many weapons scale with Intelligence or Faith just as well as they do with Strength or Dexterity, often making it beneficial for a player with a high amount of either of those stats to invest in some unique weaponry. In the first game, sorcerers are even given incentive to build some Dexterity, since spell cast time is tied to how high the stat is, making it (and Intelligence and Attunement) the three core stats of a decent wizard build.
* MagicStaff: Catalysts. They can also be used as melee weapons.
* MagicWand: All three types of spells require the appropriate catalyst/talisman to cast.
* MascotMook: The Black Knights appear on the game's disc and various promotional images.
* MasterOfNone: Whenever you level up and increase stats, the cost of leveling up ''any'' stat after that also increases. This means that if you're trying to have every option available to use with a single character, you'll eventually hit a point where further leveling becomes prohibitively expensive. It is still possible to eventually become a MasterOfAll, but you'll have to grind a lot of souls to do so and your options for online co-op or invasion might get reduced pretty drastically due to the level range typically required for each.
* MasterSwordsman: Gwyn and Abysswalker Artorias.
* MedievalEuropeanFantasy: This is a dark HighFantasy world.
* MenuTimeLockout: Averted. Time will not stand still as one burrows through their inventory.
* MercyKill: Many of the franchise's enemies and bosses are heroes gone insane or Hollow, with the player putting them out of their misery, and their Souls to positive use.
* MetalSlime: The crystal lizards/geckos (making a return from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''), which shine brightly but tend to turn invisible (and are thus un-attackable) when you run into them. Should you manage to catch one, you're likely to get some rare ores for weapon refinement.
* {{Metroidvania}}: These games involve one connected world, where players find ways to unlock paths to new areas, or sequence break to them.
* MightyGlacier: The Warrior
* MilkingTheGiantCow: The "Praise the sun!" gesture the player can learn. It's also performed by Warriors of Sunlight, including Solaire of Astora, when the player summons one of them as a helpful Phantom.
* MooksAteMyEquipment: The Gaping Dragon and his acid vomit AOE attack. There are also different enemies that could do the same — most of them reside in Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith, where there's no blacksmith around.
* MonsterKnight: A few enemies qualify. The Capra Demons, the Balder Knights, the Black Knights, and the Darkwraiths.
* MortalityGreyArea
** The Dark Sign cursed Undead are stuck "in-between" life and death. Non-Hollow Undead still possess souls and are thus technically "alive", but they're quite literally incapable of dying and will get back up so long as the Undead in question still has HeroicWillpower to not go Hollow. Hollows, which act more like typical zombies, are also hit with this, as it's left ambiguous if Hollowed Undead really die once killed as Hollows, or if they too eventually get back up. Contrasted with the animated skeletons of the Catacombs, which are explicitly just bones given souls and animated by necromancers, the Undead cursed by the Dark Sign are a very explicit anomaly in the world, and a sign of things going very wrong.
** Dragonslayer Ornstein is stuck with a very bizarre case of this: In the first game, he's fought as a DualBoss with Smough the Executioner and killed by the player in order to progress through the game. Then came along ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' with a boss called the Old Dragonslayer...who was all but named to be Ornstein, despite the game being a DistantSequel of the first game. Then came along ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', in which his armor can be found and described the fact that he left "the ruined cathedral" (the place where he's fought in the first game) in search of the Nameless King, and thus [[MindScrew it's technically impossible for him to have been fought in the first game at all]]! To say that this created a lot of EpilepticTrees is an understatement.
** Smough himself gets in on this as well. Despite being fought as a DualBoss with Dragonslayer Ornstein and killed by the player character, his armor description in ''Dark Souls III'' states that he made a LastStand in Anor Londo as it was conquered by Pontyff Sullyvan's forces, an event implied to have happened millenias after the events of the first game.
* MultiPlatform: The ''Dark Souls'' games are published on multiple systems, with Bandai-Namco and From continuing to make them available on additional ones. This is in contrast to the other 2 games in the ''Soulsborne'' ThematicSeries, ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', which are published and owned by Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment and are therefore exclusive to UsefulNotes/PlayStation consoles.
* MultiplayerOnlyItem: Summon orbs. They allow you to "invade another player", which means entering another player's game to do [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]]. Of course, they are absolutely useless in solo mode — the few times you can invade [=NPCs=] ([[spoiler:Lautrec]] in the first game, [[spoiler:Licia]] in the second) requires using unique orbs meant only for that purpose.
* MsFanservice: Gwynevere displays some generous proportions and cleavage.
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Enemy [=NPC=]s have unlimited ammo, whether arrows, bombs, or spell casting.
* MythologyGag: The games contain some recurring elements:
** The Sword of Moonlight, a sword that appears in nearly every game made by Creator/FromSoftware, including ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore''.
** Dragons in the ''Souls'' series love bridges (and burning those who try to cross said bridges).
** The yellow [[http://darksouls.wikidot.com/xanthous-crown "crown"]] worn by Xanthous King Jeremiah is a direct reference to the "Monk's Head Collar", a head gear from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''. Both are enormous pieces of clothing that are a bright yellow. The definition of the former pokes fun at that fact by saying: "The crown bears high-quality cloth which is quite soft to the touch, but its bright yellow color stings the eyes, and it is clearly far too big.".
** The infamous Pendant is a CallBack to the Onyx Pendant from ''Shadow Tower Abyss'', both of which are useless except for a trade in VideoGame/DarkSouls. For a time, Miyazaki trolled the community by pretending the VideoGame/DarkSouls' pendant had a use, before confirming later that it didn't.
** In both ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' and ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', there's a moment where a group of gargoyles will grab the player and carry him to an area not accessible otherwise. Said gargoyles are met later as enemies.
** Trusty Patches is a recurring character in the series: in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', he would try to trick you into a fight with a giant bearbug and would also try to trap you by kicking you into a pit. In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', he kicks you into a pit again, in addition to another attempted murder earlier in the game.
*** In addition, said pits the player gets kicked into happen to contain [=NPC=]s that need rescuing. ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' has Saint Urbain; ''Dark Souls'' has Rhea.
*** He appeared also as Patch the Good in Armored Core For Answer, and utilizes a sneaky fighting style in that game, not too far from his roguish ways in the other games.
** Arguably, the Lady of the Darkling is the Brass Maiden; i.e. Wynne D. Fanchon from ''Armored Core''.
** Ornstein appears in ''Armored Core''; his logo has the symbol of a large cat (maybe a mountain lion)
* NatureIsNotNice: The Age of Dark may be "natural" (compared to [[spoiler:the human-engineered Age of Fire]]), but that's pretty much the only good thing said about it.
* NewGamePlus: ''Dark Souls'' is designed for these; the developers have implemented secrets that they don't expect players to find until their second or third time playing through the game!
* NightOfTheLivingMooks: Many of the enemies encountered are undead of some sort: zombies, skeletons, ghosts, etc. Then again, almost everyone you meet is undead, including the player character.
* TheNightThatNeverEnds: The Age of Dark, which is the opposite of the Age of Fire, and will occur if (or, rather, ''when'') the First Flame completely dies. [[spoiler:Kaathe calls it the Age of Man, but he may not be telling the truth.]]
* NintendoHard: One of the things this series, as well as its [[VideoGame/DemonsSouls predecessor]] and [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} successor]], is most famous for. Brutally powerful enemies who respawn every time you use the bonfires or warp, bosses with numerous deadly moves that can easily kill you in a couple of hits, deviously-hidden traps and ambushes, ShmuckBait ''everywhere'', minibosses who will come out of nowhere, and in a few select points there are enemies set up in positively ''sadistic'' locations. The TagLine is entirely accurate.
* NoArcInArchery: Completely averted. At longer distances, arrows will start travelling in arcs, losing some damage in the process. This is why range is a stat for these weapons, as it lets players know how far the arrow will travel before it arcs.
* NoHuggingNoKissing: Love and sex are never mentioned in the series, though marriages are.
%%* NoobCave: Undead Burg.
* NoticeThis: Fallen bodies (either of your enemies, or other unfortunates who have passed on) with items to loot have a huge glowing soul-like aura above them. This even applies to treasure chests that are opened but unlooted.
* OddlyShapedSword: Quelaag's Furysword, shaped like a piece of a spider's exoskeleton. Also, [[FlamingSword it ignites]] when you swing it.
* OminousFog: As in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', it serves as a gateway into boss battles and new areas.
* OminousLatinChanting: It isn't Latin, but there is lots of chanting in the music and it is ominous.
* OncePerEpisode: The series has a lot of elements that recur across all three installments, as well as the other two entries in the series (''Demon's Souls'' and ''Bloodborne'').
** Every game has a dragon that sits above a bridge periodically breathing fire at you, forcing you to time your runs across the bridge to avoid being incinerated (''Bloodborne'', despite not having any dragons, repeats this by having you cross a bridge while an [[EldritchAbomination Amygdala]] fires lasers at you).
** Every single game has featured the Sword of Moonlight.
** Patches shows up in every game but ''Dark Souls II'', and he plays roughly the same role in each (''II'' features an {{Expy}} of him in the form of Pate).
** Strangely, each game has a boss whose gluttony turned it into a monster (Gaping Dragon in the first, Covetous Demon in the second, Aldrich in the third).
** Additionally, seeing as the series owes much to ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', a boss in each game's DLC content is in some way an {{expy}} of Guts (Artorias in the first game uses his fighting style and lacks use of his left arm, the Fume Knight in ''II'' wields an {{expy}} of Dragonslayer, the Orphan of Kos in ''Bloodborne'' shares his backstory of being born from a corpse into a life of violence, and [[spoiler:Gael]] in ''III'' uses a very similar fighting style alongside an AutomaticCrossbow).
** Each game features a large poisoned swamp area where walking in the swamp water slows you down (Valley of Defilement in ''Demon's Souls'', Blighttown in ''Dark Souls'', Shrine of Amana in ''Dark Souls II'', the Nightmare Frontier in ''Bloodborne'', and Farron Keep in ''Dark Souls III'').
** The Wheel Skeletons appear in every ''Dark Souls'' game, one of the few enemies to do so.
* OneHandedZweihander: You can use a variety of heavy weapons with only one hand, and if you have a high enough Strength stat, you'll be able to do it without penalty (the listed strength requirement is to wield one-handed, wielding two-handed effectively increases your strength by 50%). Amusingly, the inverse is also possible, allowing the player to use a six-inch dagger or small shield with both hands. Artorias himself does this in his boss fight because of his bad arm, although he could wield it one-handed anyway due to his skill with it. That said, even with enough strength to wield a greatweapon in one hand, the possible moveset is more limited than when wielding it with both hands.
** The Farron Greatsword and Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords in ''III'' are greatswords that ''cannot'' be two-handed — pressing the button to do so [[DualWielding draws the offhand weapon instead]].
* OneTimeDungeon: Averted. All areas of the game can be revisited.
* OneWomanWail: Several of the boss themes and the ending credits.
* OnlyAFleshWound: Averted. While armor isn't generally region-specific (excepting the head), being shot with an arrow or bolt in the leg or arm does ''more'' damage than being shot in the torso.
* OrchestralBombing: Used to great effect in the boss battles, especially Ornstein and Smough in the first game.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: They're powerful, monstrous, AlwaysChaoticEvil creatures born from the Bed of Chaos, [[spoiler:the Witch of Izalith's failed attempt at recreating the First Flame]].
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Western-style dragons, but with stone scales instead of reptilian hide and two pairs of wings instead of the one. Then there's Seath, Wyverns, the Hellkite Dragon, the Gaping Dragon, Kalameet, et cetera. They are made even more different since Miyazaki has said that the everlasting dragons are "half living half element", something like a powerful spirit creating a bodily construct.
* OurGodsAreDifferent: They're [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek pantheon]]-style superhumans with magical powers and range in size from 10ft to 30ft. Some of them are exceptions to the humanoid form, like Gravelord Nito.
* OurGiantsAreBigger: There are multiple types of giants. First are the Lords and gods like Gwyn and Izalith and demigods like Smough and Ornstein[[labelnote:Spoilers]]though given that the human race is descended from "the furtive pygmy", it's implied to be less a case of them being unusually large as humanity being unusually ''small''[[/labelnote]]. Then there are the enormous stone giants who seem to be the manual labor of the gods, as they are seen operating machinery, smithing, and opening gates. There's also a separate race of giants that came into conflict with Drangleic in the backstory of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', which apparently lack faces and have tree-like properties.
* OurHumansAreDifferent: Humans are a race of beings descended from [[spoiler:the Furtive Pygmy, who created mankind by sharing fragments of the Dark Soul]]. Because of this, mankind has an inherent link to the dark, with "Humanity" implied to be fragments of the Dark Soul watered down over the years and maintaining mankind's human characteristics. When the First Flame starts to fade, mankind becomes marked with the Darksign, a curse that leaks Humanity out of humans [[spoiler:cursed onto mankind when Gwyn branded the pygmys with fire in hopes of controlling the Dark]] and turning them into the Undead, unable to die and slowly wasting away until they become Hollows. Conversely, get ''too much'' Humanity, and you'll lose control and become a HumanoidAbomination like Manus. An alternative title for "the Age of Dark" is even called "the Age of Man".
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Souls are more like LifeEnergy than western definitions of the soul, and symbolized by ''fire'' in the ''Dark Souls'' franchise. A person can have many. An ''Undead'' is a human whose souls are burning out until they become Hollow. An Undead can gather more souls from enemies. The curse of the undead is a direct result of the First Flame burning out. Finally, [[spoiler:The First Flame can only be rekindled by Chosen Undead with powerful souls when he/she sacrifices themselves in the First Flame, burning all their souls up until they too become Hollow]].
* OurWyvernsAreDifferent: While the true dragons are long gone by the time of the franchise, various four-limbed dragons collectively referred to as wyverns show up at various points in the franchise. While still very large and powerful creatures by human standards, these wyverns are still of much lesser power and intellect than their mighty progenitors that used to rule the world.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Undead are unmistakeably zombie-like, at least the hollow ones are. Before they go mad, they are revenants.
* OutsideContextProblem: Regardless of which side you choose, the central conflict of the game doesn't become apparent until halfway through the game, and it isn't all that [[StoryBreadcrumbs apparent]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:P-R]]
* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:Sieglinde, who has just lost her mother and is chasing after her dad, who left their family looking for adventure. By the end of the game, she loses her father as well.]]
* PeekABangs: One of the male hairstyles.
* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: The area next to the hidden bonfire in Darkroot Garden. Two Darkmoon soldiers in [[spoiler:Dark Anor Londo]] are also a good grinding spot.
* PermanentlyMissableContent:
** All acquired souls and liquid humanity are permanently lost if the player dies a second time without retrieving them.
** The Darkwraith Covenant if you [[spoiler:bring the Lordvessel to Kingseeker Frampt rather than Darkstalker Kaathe in The Abyss]].
** Seven of the nine Covenants can be lost forever if the player gets a bit bloodthirsty. The exceptions are the Warriors of Sunlight (because you don't need an NPC to enter, just kneel at a statue with enough Faith) and the Path of the Dragon (the Everlasting Dragon is completely impossible to kill). Although permanently barring yourself from the Forest Hunters requires attacking Alvina ''and'' Oswald (you can't kill Alvina, she just leaves if you attack her until you get Oswald to pardon you).
** The Ring of Favour and Protection if you remove it.
** Anything offered by [=NPC=]s will be lost forever if you kill them before getting it.
** The "tail" weapons if you kill the enemies without cutting off the tails first.
** Because all the above can be re-obtained or re-accessed upon [[NewGamePlus restarting a playthrough]], the only true items that can potentially be lost forever in a single character savefile are covenant items such as unique weapons ([[spoiler:or armor, in the case of Darkwraiths]]) should you decide to drop them and fail to recover them for one reason or another.
* PersonalSpaceInvader: Several enemies have devastating grab attacks.
* PiecesOfGod: WordOfGod states that [[spoiler:Humanity are pieces of the Dark Soul, the soul of the Furtive Pygmy, who was the first human. [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in that humans also have regular souls]].
* PinataEnemy: The Forest Hunters and the Darkmoon Soldiers. They are quick, cheap sources for souls. The single respawning Titanite Demon is this as well for the Upgrade Stone it drops.
* PlanetHeck: The Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith are clearly meant to evoke this. They're underground, [[LethalLavaLand Lethal Lava Lands]] filled with decrepit ruins and overrun with demons.
* PlayerDataSharing: The online component allows players to leave each other notes and also leaves blood stains to show where other players have died. There is also a more direct co-op element, which allows players to join one another's games during boss fights or "invade" their game and kill them (see Player Versus Player below).
* PlayerVersusPlayer: There are a variety of ways to go toe to toe with other players, whether invading and killing them to steal their humanity, or hunting down aggressive players in the name of justice. The Battle of Stoicism Gazebo in the Artorias The Abysswalker DLC matches players with each other based on soul level tiers (1-50, 51-100, 101-200, 200-713) for the sole purpose of dueling each other.
* PlayingWithFire: Pyromancy spells
* PlotCoupon: The Twin Bells of Awakening. [[spoiler:The Lordvessel. The Lord Souls.]]
* PointOfNoReturn: Averted. All areas of the game can be revisited as many times as the player desires.
* PoisonedWeapon: Certain unique weapons can poison enemies, as can poison arrows and throwing knives. Blighttown has enemies using poisoned darts and poisoned ''giant wooden clubs!''
* PossessionImpliesMastery: [[AvertedTrope Nope.]] While you can use all weapons and armor you pick up, using them without the proper stats will make using the weapon less effective, leading to awkward attack animations and severely reduced damage. One-handed weapons even need to be used with both hands to wield even remotely effectively. One place where this stumbles slightly is the use of the Painting Guardian Sword, which is explicitly stated to be a weapon and technique exclusive to that order — there's no way for the player to properly imitate their DualWielding style.
** In a meta sense, some weapons have quirky movesets or unique attacks that require practice on the player's part to use effectively even if the player character has no issues performing them.
* PowerCrystal: The most powerful sorceries are crystalline.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: It's subtle, but it's still a major theme. Players in general are encouraged to summon allies, as they tend to make this NintendoHard series easier. Killing shopkeepers is also discouraged, as they don't respawn. Also, sidequests can happen if players visit them enough.
* PowerFist: The Dragonbone Fist, crafted from a fist weapon and the Iron Golem's core.
* PowerfulPick: The war pick, and the pickaxe which both deals thrust damage and has very good strength scaling.
* PrepareToDie: Not only is the whole game based on the premise of dying repeatedly, this very trope is used as a tagline for the game. Even the [[http://preparetodie.com official site]] has its URL named accordingly!
* PressXToDie: Using the Darksign "kills" you, warping you back to the last bonfire. Unlike regular deaths, you don't leave behind a bloodstain, which means that all the souls you're currently carrying are lost forever. On the upside, the Darksign doesn't Hollow you, and any souls and humanity left by a "regular" death are unaffected, meaning that [[NotCompletelyUseless you can use the Darksign to "reset" your attempts to reclaim those souls with no limitations, until you either succeed or die trying]].
* PressurePlate: Show up as a way to activate elevators, and to trigger deadly booby traps that will kill you.
* RagdollPhysics: Fully in effect and as wonky as ever; even large stone giants turn completely weightless after they die, sending them sliding around from the smallest touch. You'll also every so often see enemy corpses getting stuck on your character and wobbling around for a while as you move before falling off.
* RainbowPimpGear: The game attempts to avoid this by providing most armours as a full-set, but the upgradable armour and greater variety of choices (compared to ''Demon's Souls''), combined with the equipment weight limit, further combined with differing abilities with certain equipment, means it can be quite easy to end up looking like this.
* RandomlyDrops: Many enemies drop rare unique weapons, like the Titanite Demons and the Channelers. A few drop rare armor, like the Mimics.
* RandomDropBooster: The games let you equip the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring and the Symbol of Avarice (the latter is a helmet that also increases soul drops, but does damage over time when worn).
* RazorWind: The Drake Sword and the Dragon Greatsword. Both are unique from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''[='=] Stormruler in that its special ability can be used anywhere. That said, the special ability takes a huge chunk out of the sword's durability.
* RecurringTraveler: Solaire, Siegmeyer, and Sieglinde.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: A lot of hollows have these.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red and Blue Tearstone Rings. They both activate when HP is below 20%, but the red ring increases damage while the blue one increases defense. There are also Red and Blue Eye Orbs, used by [[PlayerKilling Darkwraith]] and [[BullyHunter Darkmoon Blade]] covenants, respectively.
* ReducedManaCost: The Dusk Crown Ring, effectively, with it doubling the number of sorcery casts at the price of halving HP.
* ReforgedBlade: The True Greatsword of Artorias, forged from a broken sword!
* ReligionIsMagic: Grants healing powers, shockwaves, the ability to instantly teleport to the last bonfire you used, and [[BoltOfDivineRetribution Bolts of Divine Retribution]].
* RenovatingThePlayerHeadquarters: Many characters the player meets throughout the game will come back to Firelink Shrine after being discovered, becoming merchants or performing other useful services.
* ResetButton: Visiting a bonfire (or dying and returning to one) heals you to full and fills up your Estus Flask, but also makes all the enemies (except bosses, minibosses, and a few assorted EliteMooks) reappear.
* ResourcesManagementGameplay:
** You're going to have a very tough time in ''Dark Souls'' if you don't learn to how ration your spells and healing items between bonfires.
** Spamming attacks in this game is ill-advised, as each attack/roll you make will deplete your stamina meter. Failing to take this into account will make things difficult for the player. But at least the stamina regenerates rather quickly.
* RespawningEnemies: The immediate area is repopulated with baddies whenever you use a bonfire.
* RespawnPoint: The bonfires serve as these in addition to granting you healing items and also allowing you to level up and use storage.
* ResurrectionDeathLoop: TheUndead are cursed to forever wander the world until they die enough times that they become Hollows, and lose their self completely. However, this is more or less a GameplayAndStorySegregation. While you, the player character, can't permanently die and are relocated back to a bonfire, [=NPCs=] and bosses don't spawn back when they die. It's also left vague if dying after becoming a Hollow results in permanent death or not.
* ResurrectionSickness: When you die, you drop all your humanity and souls where you died and come back looking hollowed. Being hollowed means you can't summon assistance and can't kindle bonfires to increase how much estus you get from them.
** There are rings you can wear to avoid losing anything when you die, but in the first game, the ring is {{Permanently Missable|Content}} (though you can get more), while in the second game, if it breaks, you have to spend 3,000 souls each time you need to repair it.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Undead, at least until they turn Hollow, after which they die for good.
* RevivingEnemy: The skeletons in the Catacombs.
* RevenantZombie: The closest form of zombie the Undead resemble. Revenants in other fiction tended to be driven by a single purpose (so strongly that they refuse to let death stop them), and many of the Undead you meet are indeed on a quest of some sort, though none of them had a choice in becoming Undead. The game's director has even implied that a loss of purpose and giving up on everything is what ultimately turns an Undead Hollow (and killable).
* RitualMagic: In the sense that it's "Magic anyone can use", Pyromancy's effectiveness is unaffected by Intelligence or Faith scores. In the setting, most pyromancers come from a place called "the great Swamp" and it's seen as "uncivilized" magic.
* RoamingEnemy: The various special NPC hollows, which appear under special circumstances, and are tragic to fight.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Giant evil rats!
* RollingAttack: Wearing pieces of the Thorn armor set will allow you to damage any enemies you touch while rolling.
** The skeletons in the Catacombs all use some kind of rolling attack. The normal ones start to roll when you are far away to close the distance and then go to a lunging attack when you are in reach. [[spoiler:Later, you will find skeletons fused to spiked wheels. They will roll around at lightning speed and do extremely heavy damage if they catch you full on.]]
* RoyalRapier: Richard's Rapier, the rapier of a prince of a distant nation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S-U]]
* SacredFlames: The First Flame is the origin of all light and souls (except the Dark Soul, which the setting's humans possess) in the game.
* SavePoint: It's easy to think of the bonfires as save points, but the game actually auto-saves quite frequently. If you see a little flame in the upper-right hand corner of the screen, the game has just saved.
* ScaryImpracticalArmor: A variety of armor is like this, Ornstein's and Smough's armor sets immediately come to mind.
* SceneryGorn: There are many decrepit and ruined areas in the game.
* SceneryPorn: The levels in these games are designed to look amazing, whether to awe or horrify the players. The high amount of detail was even a major cause of framerate issues in the first game (so the second game had to reduce the graphics in the 7th generation system versions compared to the PC and 8th gen versions).
** A commonly found, tongue-in-cheek message you can find from other players is "Be wary of gorgeous view."
* SchizophrenicDifficulty: Due to the open-ended nature of the game, you'll end up running into a place meant for a much higher-leveled and better equipped character. Especially in the beginning, where the way to Undead Burg is at the very side, and the most obvious paths available lead to an area filled with ghosts immune to regular weapon damage or a graveyard with high-level skeletons, which if you manage to get past, you'll have to fight resurrecting skeletons and exploding skulls that do high damage.
** Blighttown as well. It's right after the sewers, which has OneHitPointWonder enemies that give humanity after dying and a boss that can be defeated with two NPC summons. The area is filled with enemies that telegraph their moves and can easily be backstabbed, but there are a shitload of them and they actually seek ''you'' out. On the plus side, it has a lot of loot in obvious places. Too bad the loot can only be accessed by jumping over bottomless pits, maneuvering around swaying bridges, or should you find an easy place to jump down to it, you'll find that the floors collapse if they're jumped on from a certain height.
* SchmuckBait: Nearly every trap in the games are designed to draw the unwary player in. Savvy players will be able to spot the trap or at least go in with their eyes open for the ambush that's coming, while the unsavvy will keep falling for it.
** The Mimics are {{chest monster}}s that look almost identical to real treasure chests and actually contain treasure. The moment the player tries to open then, they sprout MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily and an OverlyLongTongue and proceed to messily devour the player. Attacking them doesn't help much either, as they're quite difficult enemies for first-time or unprepared players.
* SchrodingersPlayerCharacter: Complete sets of player equipment for all the classes you didn't start as can be found throughout the game. Whoever you weren't playing as still left their equipment behind when they died...
* ScoldedForNotBuying: All the merchants have several responses to the player leaving without making a purchase, including the first one encountered in the game telling you to go fall off a cliff and calling you a cheap bastard.
* SequenceBreaking: Possible through a variety of ways, from glitches to intended paths. These games aren't designed to be linear.
* SerpentOfImmortality: The description of the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring: "The serpent is an imperfect dragon and symbol of the Undead."
* ShapeShifterShowdown: In player vs. player battles, you can use the "Chameleon" spell to disguise yourself as random clutter objects like jars and chests, but you also have to worry about your opponents using the same ability to sneak up on you.
* ShieldBash: Greatshields and smaller shields with spikes on them can do this instead of parrying, with the main benefit being breaking the enemy's guard. Other shields can only bash if used in your main hand, only allowing you to use them as a weapon, making it rather useless.
* ShieldBearingMook: The Giants in Anor Londo. Completely invincible from the front. Other enemies have shields, but they aren't as difficult or invulnerable as these guys.
* ShiftingSandLand: While the heat has mostly died out, the [[spoiler:Kiln of the First Flame]] is a desert made of ash and cinder.
* ShockAndAwe: There are a variety of enemies that use lightning as an ability, such as the Titanite Demons and Dragon Slayer Ornstein. The player can forge lightning weapons which have additional lightning damage and are some of the best weapons in the game and can also obtain three miracles that lets them throw lightning bolts Zeus-style.
* ShockwaveStomp: The two-handed power attack of the Dragon King Greataxe is slow, but damages all enemies around you with a shockwave at the cost of weapon durability.
* ShoutOut: The games are full of these, usually to ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' (as confirmed by WordOfGod).
** In Royal Garden, there is [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 a mushroom that says]] [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle the princess you seek is no longer there]].
* ShownTheirWork: When blocking with a zweihander, your character puts on one hand on the blade and holds it vertically, which is an actual German technique called ''Halbschwerten''. Most of the weapon designs based on historical swords are actually accurate, as they are thin and sharp instead of being [[{{BFS}} slabs of steel paddles]] seen in other fantasy roleplay games.
* SinisterScimitar: Many of the curved swords and greatswords.
* SinisterScythe: There are two various available as weapons.
* SliceAndDiceSwordsmanship: Averted. The majority of thrusting weapons can only thrust, and most slashing weapons only slash. There are a few oddities like the estoc, a long, unsharpened sword meant for thrusting, having a slash attack.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Painted World of Ariamis and the Crystal Caves.
* SmashMook: The Infested Barbarians.
* SoulPoweredEngine: Pyromancy and sorcery. A pyromancer's flame grows by being fed souls, and sorcery spells are often soul-themed. While this [[GameplayAndStorySegregation isn't represented in-game at all]], it's played straighter with Hexes from ''DSII'm, some of which consume your souls with every cast, but in exchange are ''extremely'' powerful.
* SpecialAttack: There are a large variety of weapons with unique special attacks. These can range from devastating uppercuts with powerful [[{{Knockback}} knock-back]], the Drake Sword and Dragon Great Sword's RazorWind attacks, special grabs in which you steal another's humanity, and many others.
* SphereOfDestruction: The Wrath of the Gods miracle. Grant, the holy hunk of iron on a stick, has this as its special ability. This is also true of the two-handed attack of the Dragon King Greataxe.
* {{Speedrun}}: The speedrun community in ''Dark Souls'' is still going strong. The game even has a class seemingly designed just for quickly and efficiently traversing levels: The Assassin. The class comes packaged with Spook, which negates fall damage and allows speed runners to completely bypass massive sections of many levels.
* SpinAttack: The heavy attack of certain weapons. The Belfry Gargoyles in Anor Londo also have an aerial one.
* SprintMeter: The stamina bar will drain when running, as well as various other actions.
* SpiritualPredecessor:
** ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}},'' itself a spinoff by the same company (From Software). Replace [[spoiler: undead gods with alien {{Eldritch Abomination}}s]], shields with guns, zombies with werewolves, Undead with [[MonsterSlayer Hunters]], and souls with blood. Then constrain the gameworld to late 19th century Prague. There you go.
** ''VideoGame/DeadCells.'' An [[ResurrectiveImmortality invincible (but not invulnerable)]] undead creature who uses a certain part of the enemy to upgrade themselves (Souls in DS, stem cells in DC).
** ''VideoGame/HollowKnight.'' A resurrectively immortal, void-touched ghost searches a bleak fallen kingdom for the means to undo the curse placed upon it. You also respawn on the last bench you sat on, similar to the Bonfires of DS.
** ''VideoGame/SaltAndSanctuary.'' A fantasy ARPG with combat based around dodging and stamina management. It also takes the plot point of fighting [[spoiler: zombie gods]] and runs with it. The enemy that kills you takes all your EXP and buffs themselves with it. While Salt is not souls, it is derived from the souls of mankind and levelling up uses it in a ritual to grant you its power.
** ''VideoGame/HyperLightDrifter,'' which is also very much a [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda-like]].
** ''VideoGame/TheSurge, Dark Souls'' [[InSpace IN SPAAAACE!!!]] Er, TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and with giant robots!!! Yes, anyways, monstrous difficulty while directly using bits of the enemy to upgrade the player character.
** Similarly, ''VideoGame/ImmortalUnchained'' transports Dark Souls' dark lore of endless suffering and eternal conflict to the distant future and gives a particular emphasis on firearms.
** ''VideoGame/LordsOfTheFallen'' and ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'', both {{Alternate Company Equivalent}}s belonging to Deck 13 and Square Enix respectively.
* SquishyWizard: The Sorcerer starts out with high intelligence and spell slots, but weak attack and defense. Players may still stick with this at higher levels if they prefer.
* StabTheSky: The Stone Greatsword's special attack does this before casting a spell that slows enemy movement speed.
* StanceSystem: Your attacks depend on whether you choose to wield your weapon with one or two hands.
* StandardFantasySetting: Downplayed: No elves, no dwarves, but definitely swords, magic, and dragons.
* StandardJapaneseFantasySetting: The first game was originally inspired by a Japanese guy reading and only partly understanding Western fantasy novels. As such, it has many of the hallmarks of this trope, including complex and fallible deities of Light (not entirely good) and Dark (not necessarily bad), deities of Life and Death (the flaws in both of which give rise to tormented demons and soulless undead hordes), KnightTemplar priesthoods and holy warriors who draw on the Light to perform miracles and morally suspect offensive magic (divided into scholarly sorcery and primal pyromancy).
* StarterEquipment: Each of the game's ten classes has its own set, though you can find all of those equipment sets lying around somewhere.
* StatusBuff: Nearly every single ring provides you with a bonus, from the obvious (increasing elemental resistance), to the awesome (changes rolling to cartwheels), to the tricky (deals extra damage with a pierce weapon when the enemy is in mid-attack animation/stagger from attacking your shield). Other status buffs include attack power increase granted by the Dragon Torso Stone's ability to roar and the Channeler's Trident dance.
* StatSticks: The Grass Crest Shield is sub-par as a shield, but it improves stamina regeneration rate when out, which is enough to make it [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome the most widely used item in the entire game]]. You will see every type of character from {{Glass Cannon}}s to {{Mighty Glacier}}s with this shield, and they will all be wearing it exclusively on their back while two-handing their weapon.
* StealthPun: Catarina's distinctive armor would make its wearer a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII Onion Knight]]. And given the situations its wearers tend to be in, that makes them [[spoiler:pickled onions]].
* StoneWall: The Knight
* StoryBreadcrumbs: There is a lot of story and lore if players care to look for it, but it is very unintrusive and requires players to go out of the way to look for it in the form of item descriptions, bits of NPC dialogue, and being observant of your surroundings.
* StrongEnemiesLowRewards:
** The skeletons in the cemetary by Firelink Shrine serve to indicate to a new player that they're going in the wrong direction; they have a ton of hitpoints and drop a mere fifty souls on death (in contrast, the [[TheGoomba Hollows]] on the "correct" path go down in two hits and drop upwards of sixty apiece). The player is intended to come back when the skeletons and Hollows pose about as much of a threat.
** Crystal Cave is home to a number of [[DegradedBoss Moonlight Butterflies]], most of which don't act unless provoked. A new player may eagerly recall the 10000+ soul reward achieved from defeating the first one... only to find out these butterflies drop a mere 400 souls apiece, without dropping one bit in difficulty. It's best to leave them alone unless you're farming for certain items.
** The Chaos Bugs in Lost Izalith really only exist for two reasons: to create a gut-punching revelation regarding Solaire, and to be farmed for Sunlight Medals. They're also one of the few completely non-hostile mobs in the game (not counting [=NPC=]s) and only drop a mere 20 souls apiece; no point in bothering them unless you really need those Medals.
* SummonMagic: A particular covenant gives you the ability to summon black phantoms into three random players' realms. The phantoms will chase them down relentlessly and attack them without asking questions until they are destroyed by the invaded player. This gives benefit to the summoner via giving him half the souls of the slain player each time they are killed, as well as [[ItAmusedMe the satisfaction of giving another player a hard time]]. You hear it right, guys, ''Dark Souls'' has a freaking '''[[{{Griefer}} griefing]] mechanic'''! However, it can backfire if the invaded players find the sign you used to summon the phantoms.
* SuperDrowningSkills: Sufficiently deep water is instant death. Yeah, you can cartwheel on [[LavaAddsAwesome lava]], but deep enough water is instant death.
* SwampsAreEvil: The swamp section of Blighttown, an obvious callback to ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' Valley of Defilement.
* SwordAndGun: Instead of wielding a shield, you can choose to bear a crossbow or a magic-related item in the left-hand, allowing you to throw bolts or cast spells with one hand while hitting with the other.
* SwordBeam: The Moonlight Greatsword has this as its special attack, making it even more reminiscent to the Moonlight Sword seen in previous From Software games.
* SwordDrag: The Black Knight Great Sword and Black Knight Great Ax do this as part of the build-up for their strong attacks.
* SwordLines: Great Grey Wolf Sif when wielding the massive Greatsword of Artorias.
* SwordSparks: Hitting a wall causes this.
* TempleOfDoom: Sen's Fortress. While it isn't in a jungle or desert, its an ancient fortress built as a testing ground for undead who want to succeed [[spoiler: Lord Gwyn]]. It's one of the most dangerous places in the game and packed full of booby traps.
* TinTyrant: Several enemies wear full armor, if not being only armor, when you fight them.
* TragicMonster: The Hollows are all undead humans, just like the PlayerCharacter, whose minds cracked as a result of their condition. Some of the few lucid people you encounter will inevitably share the same fate.
* TreacherousCheckpoint: The series has Bonfires that normally serve as checkpoints, but:
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', [[spoiler:the very last bonfire is actually the First Flame: by "activating" it, you Link the Fire, which is the ending where your character burns themselves to cinders in order to prolong the Age of Fire for a few more centuries]].
** Subverted in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'': If you have the DLC installed, some Bonfires explode in your face when you try activating them, sending you flying across the room and releasing what seems at first to be an unholy monstrosity. The subversion comes when you realize that fiery explosion didn't hurt you and the "monster" is actually a talkative NPC who leaves and lets you use the Bonfire normally after a CrypticConversation.
* TrialAndErrorGameplay: The whole game is learning how long you can go without dying to a hazardous area or a boss, and what mistakes to avoid whenever you do wind up as a smear on the wall.
* {{Troll}}: The game can be a haven for them, considering the difficulty and the ability to leave online hints for other players to find. What distinguishes a "troll" from a "{{griefer}}" in this matter is that unlike in griefing, the comments left have no ability to ''directly'' make life difficult for another player. However, some trolling players get kicks by the thought of NaiveNewcomer players falling to their deaths after reading messages saying "Try jumping" near a BottomlessPit, and other such things. Players must quickly learn to be careful about what messages they trust.
* TrueCompanions: Both Solaire and his covenant, the Warrior of Sunlight. Solaire is available as a summon before a large amount of the game's boss fights, and in an incredible case of consensus among a game's community, members of the Sunbros are unfailingly helpful to anyone who summons them, even to the point of self-sacrifice. If you see a golden summon sign, the guy you summon will not troll you and will not betray you, and will fight VERY hard to make sure you succeed. This attitude leads to [[EnsembleDarkhorse Solaire and the Sunbros being quite beloved]] by the ''Dark Souls'' fandom. This attitude extends to the other games in the series, too.
* TwentyFourHourArmor: Invoked. Without it, you would die more often.
* UnblockableAttack: Many bosses and normal enemies possess powerful grapple attacks that ''have'' to be dodged.
* TheUndead: Almost everyone you meet is undead, whether or not they look or act like it. This makes sense within the setting, as those who bear the Darksign stay warm and fleshy for a while before they turn into mindless ghouls.
* UndeadChild: The baby skeletons in the Tomb of the Giants.
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:The Furtive Pygmy, who never shows up or is even properly mentioned outside of the intro, unless you buy the speculation that he became Manus, Father of the Abyss. Artorias for the original version of the game, but averted in the UpdatedRerelease.]]
* UndeathAlwaysEnds: Theoretically, a human cursed with the Dark Sign lives forever, but people rarely live that long in ''Dark Souls''. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it is inverted as no cure for the Dark Sign is found by the end of the game. Linking the Fire ends it for a time, but only until the Flame wanes again and the curse returns. It also turns out to be an unintended side effect of the Dark Sign, which Gwyn ''meant'' to use to prevent the Dark Soul from becoming too powerful.]]
* UndergroundLevel: The Catacombs and the Tomb of the Giants.
* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Your primary method of dodging attacks. Tap the Circle/B button to somersault in any direction, granting you precious invincibility frames to avoid damage. If you're brave enough to play without a shield, this is the only way to avoid getting hit.
* UnstableEquilibrium: Multiple examples:
** It is far easier to remain indefinitely hollow than to keep up your human form, but being human (as well as holding "soft humanity") confers multiple advantages. Humans can summon NPC helpers in some areas as well as other players if playing online. Higher humanity gives a better chance at items that randomly drop, and some items dropping early in the game allows for {{Disc One Nuke}}s that can help players snowball into further success. Higher humanity increases resistance to curse, a rather nasty status effect that persists through death and halves your maximum health until cured. Being human as opposed to hollow does suffer the disadvantage of being open to invasions by {{NPC}}s and other players, but since NPC invaders can provide useful items upon defeat, there is still an incentive to open yourself up to at least those invasions. To further rub it in, the items that grant human status and soft humanity are somewhat rare or otherwise difficult to obtain, leading to players typically either starving for humanity if they're doing poorly or having an excess of it if they're doing well.
** When you die, you lose your souls and humanity, though you do get one chance to recover them. (This can to be boosted to more than one chance, but that requires the use of a rarely available and finite-quantity item, which is its own little UnstableEquilibrium scenario, since skilled players can use it as insurance while poorly performing players will lose it for no gain.) Since souls function as a combination of xp and currency, losing your souls frequently likely means you are worse off than a player who only rarely dies. The game also doesn't care about the amount of souls at stake. Whether it's a measly 100 or a hefty 1,000,000, when they are lost, they are gone for good. Even worse is the fact that particularly bad losses can actually reward ''other'' players with a unique vagrant enemy.
* UselessUsefulStealth: Stealth isn't really all that great in the game, because even though there are many branching paths, they almost all include small paths with enemies packed in too tightly to avoid. Though some enemies with their back turned to you can pick up on your clattering armor. If you walk slowly up to them, you might get a backstab in, dealing heavy damage. There are also rings that obscure the sound of your movement or turn you mostly invisible, but you can still be seen when you get close enough, and in ''III'', you can still be targeted. Plus, enemies will still turn hostile if you get close enough within their line of sight, and once they see you, they can keep tracking you until they de-aggro. Being invisible also doesn't stop them from pinpointing your exact location if you attack from range.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V-Z]]
* VaderBreath: Human (i.e., non-phantom) players make a subtle breathing sound effect while standing still. This adds to the games' atmosphere, and makes it easier for invaders to find you while you're staying in one place.
* VancianMagic:
** Spells have a set number of uses. Items will partially restore uses while resting at a bonfire restores them in full. There are also pieces of equipment that increase the number of uses.
** In the second game, increasing attunement (which determines how many different spells can be used at a time) also increases spell uses at certain level amounts (which varies per spell). There are also consumable items which restore spell uses, and the eponymous Crown of the Old Iron King restores 20% of spell uses every two minutes.
** The third game opted to [[AvertedTrope do away with this entirely]] and just had a ManaMeter. You can turn any or all of your Estus Flasks into Ashen Estus Flasks which restore your [[CallAHitPointASmeerp Focus Points]].
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Kiln of the First Flame]]
* VideoGameCaringPotential:
** Yes, the co-op focused Covenants give you rewards if you follow through on their missions, but many players enjoy co-op simply for its own sake, helping other players who are in trouble progress through the game or defending them from Invaders. It's not unknown to find players who identify themselves as Warriors of Sunlight, Darkmoon Blades, or Blue Sentinels because they agree with the Covenants' mission of improving the gameplay experience for others, not just for the rewards.
** Benevolent Invasions are rare, but documented. This happens when an Invader, whose job is generally to kill whomever they invade, instead drops useful items for their target before banishing themselves away. There is absolutely zero reward in-game for doing this... indeed, it harms the player who does it, since the items they drop cannot ever be recovered.
** Quelaag's Sister, aka the Fair Lady, is an extremely sympathetic NPC. Despite her monstrous appearance, she's helpless, non-hostile, self-sacrificing, and in terrible pain. Pain that can be alleviated by giving her Humanity. There are records of players giving her ''thousands'' of Humanity items, despite the fact that actual rewards for doing so cease after 30, and cosmetic changes cease after 80.
* VideogameCrueltyPotential: It is perfectly possible to kill any and every NPC (including the blacksmiths and merchants) that you come across, should you feel inclined to do so. There are some exceptions, such as in the first game [[spoiler:the Everlasting Dragon in Ash Lake which you can damage for a weapon, but will neither die nor turn hostile]].
* VideoGamePerversityPotential: The developers ''tried'' to limit this by requiring player-set messages to be assembled from a given list of words. In response, the fans got creative with their double entendres:
** "need head"
** "[[MostCommonSuperpower Amazing chest ahead]]"
** "try holding with both hands"
** "try tongue, but hole"
* VulnerableCivilians: All [=NPC=]s can be killed. Even worse, one accidental hit on one, be it a merchant, or a blacksmith, and that NPC is permanently hostile, and often leads to their death, which can be disastrous later on if you happen to kill a merchant. You can, however make all hostile, yet alive, [=NPC=]s non hostile by paying Oswald of Carim an obscene amount of souls. 500 souls times your Soul Level to be exact, resulting in (for example) people at level 50 needing to amass 25,000 souls just so the woman who sells moss doesn't try to kill you. If you made ''Oswald'' hostile, however, you're boned.
* VirtualPaperDoll: You get a fair variety of armor set in the games, that are not only visible when worn, they are all split into four parts (head, hands, torso, legs), so players can mix and match as they like (usually for exploiting stat bonuses for each armor).
* WeaponAcrossTheShoulder: Single-handed greatswords, ultra greatswords, great axes, and large hammers are carried resting on the shoulder by the player character and enemies that have them equipped. Some, such as the Greatsword of Artorias and its variations, are carried this way even two-handed.
* WithThisHerring:
** You find a proper weapon and shield within the tutorial dungeon, but just starting out, you have nothing more than the broken hilt-shard to wield against zombies. Justified since you are in a literal dungeon.
** The Deprived's "proper weapon and shield" are a wooden club and plank. He/she also doesn't start with any armor.
** Averted in ''II'', where apart from the Deprived, all the classes start out with swords, daggers, magical catalysts, and maces after talking to the Fire Keepers in Things Betwixt...except the Warrior, who gets a shield (the only class to have one from the word go) but has to wield a Broken Straight Sword and ''like'' it, especially if the {{Random Drop}}s aren't forgiving.
* WhenTreesAttack: The Demonic Foliage that patrol Darkroot Garden, and the Curse-Rotted Greatwood in ''III''.
* WhipItGood: Two different whips are available weapons.
* WhiteMagic: Miracle spells are this by default, although ''III'' also has dark miracles.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The premise is that your hero can never die, no matter what, he'll just keep coming back (though the form is the usual game respawning).
** The ''Dark Souls'' universe views death as good, natural, and in the events of the games, a ''luxury.'' A differentiation between life and death did not exist before the First Flame, and as it dies out, humans become ''Undead''. Sure, they can't die, but ''their soul'' burns out instead.
* WorldTree: The Great Hollow. The level is just one long descent down the inside of an enormous tree. The Ash Lake shows that there are hundreds of these under the world.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: Given an in-story justification. You can find copper, silver, and gold coins which the FlavorText notes are perfectly valid currency ''outside'' of Lordran. However, they are worthless to you since everyone in the land uses [[WeirdCurrency souls as currency]] instead. ''II'' has a room full of gold coins that your character doesn't even touch, because to all appearances, ''everywhere'' is on the soul standard.
* {{Wutai}}: The "Far East" is like this, and we meet a few characters from there who are a Samurai and a Ninja, but we never get to go there personally.
* YetAnotherStupidDeath: Letting your guard down or trying to rush forward because you're facing enemies you've easily beaten before is generally a terrible idea and ''will'' end up with you feeling like an idiot for dying to simple zombies or skeletons you could've easily beaten with some patience. There's also repeatedly dying by falling off into a BottomlessPit because of preventable causes.
* YouAreNotAlone: In a meta sense — winning the games are largely dependent on shared knowledge and assistance between players, hence the use of online messages and summons. The games may be harsh and unforgiving, but players can feel safe in the knowledge that ultimately, they aren't going through the struggle alone.
* YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead: [[TheChosenOne The Chosen Undead]] is ''undead,'' remember. They can't be killed in a way that matters. They just teleport back to the last Bonfire they used, reverted to their RevenantZombie form.
* YourSoulIsMine:
** The level-up system is explained as absorbing the souls of fallen enemies into the player character's own. The game raises questions about what exactly is the soul.
** Enemies and players who have the 'Lifedrain' ability (Dark Hand weapon) can drain humanity from a target.
* ZombieApocalypse: Many nations, including Lordran, were absolutely devastated by the Darksign's appearance.
[[/folder]]

** All three games also heavily paint the actions of [[spoiler: Gwyn, the king of gods, as responsible for all the problems in the world. Gwyn created the darksign in his paranoia over the power of Humanity, creating a curse to weaken the power of Humanity before it could rival the power of his own Godhood and family. In cursing humanity, he inadvertantly created Manus, a man consumed by the "curse of humanity", who began the downfall of Gwyn's entire reign starting with the loss of Artorias. Manus' existence in turn created the BigBad for Dark Souls 2, and led to the effects of the corruption and blight that live in the world of Dark Souls 3, while also cripplied the First Flame, the source of Gwyn's own power and reign. Essentially Gwyn's own attempts to prevent the cycle of his reign eventually ending naturally led to the creation of the Dark Souls cycle of life, undeath, death, and rebirth]]

* GunsAkimbo: You can wield in the same time in each hand any combination of catalysts, talismans, pyromancy flames, and crossbows, and attack / cast spells with the left-hand weapon too.
* HailfirePeaks: The Ash Lake is a mix of PalmtreePanic and LostWoods. The Painted World of Ariamas is a mix of SlippySlideyIceWorld and BigFancyCastle. New Londo Ruins is a mix of BigFancyCastle and BigBoosHaunt.

* TheLostWoods: Darkroot Garden and Darkroot Basin.

* VendorTrash:
** The equivalent of it, anyway. Some enemies and fallen bodies have static soul items for you to snag, which, when used, grant you some souls to spend.
** Once you get far enough into the games, you will unlock a way to dispose of all the trash-armor accumulating in your inventory.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Like ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', giving your character a custom hair colour is possible.

See also ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' (a spiritual predecessor to the ''Souls'' trilogy), ''{{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}'' (a game with similar themes and gameplay but a very different setting), ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' (a game with similar but altered gameplay and a Feudal Japan setting, but retains the style of the ''Souls'' games), and ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' (a spiritual successor created in collaboration with Creator/GeorgeRRMartin), all also by [=FROMSoftware=]. Together, the so called "Soulsborne" style of gameplay has [[SoulsLikeRPG inspired many imitations and seeped into the broader game design culture]].

* AutomaticCrossbows: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvuRq7HgEKY#t=6m27s Avelyn.]]

* LostInTranslation: There are ''dozens'' of misconceptions and inaccurate translations throughout the main 3 games and their expansions, ranging from relatively minor things such as [[SpellMyNameWithAnS the names/titles of characters and bosses]][[note]]such as "Manus, Father of the Abyss" actually being "Manus, ''Master'' of the Abyss"[[/note]], somewhat important things such as the origin of certain spell classes [[note]]the most infamous of which is the Demon Catalyst versus Ceaseless Discharge — [[WordOfGod Miyazaki himself]] had to clarify that the latter was the first demon in a developer interview contrary to the former's item description[[/note]] to outright story-critical things [[spoiler:such as the Lord Souls [[GodNeverSaidThat never being explicitly stated to be from the First Flame; rather, they were found ''near'' it as told via official release info in Japan at the time of the original game's release]]]]. It does ''not'' help that misconceptions of lore have morphed into [[WordOfDante commonly accepted fact]] which everyone accepts despite said "facts" not being true. However, the English lore community along with the major members of it (Vaatividya[[https://www.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya]] being the most well-known example) are coming to correct past mistakes via people referencing original texts to verify official ones' integrity.

* SuperDrowningSkills: Sufficiently deep water is instant death. Yeah, you can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk-wilWUSQM cartwheel]] on [[LavaAddsAwesome lava]], but deep enough water is instant death.

** ''VideoGame/TheSurge, Dark Souls'' [[InSpace IN SPAAAACE!!!]] Er, TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and [[LikeThatShowButWithMecha with giant robots]]!!! Yes, anyways, monstrous difficulty while directly using bits of the enemy to upgrade the player character.

** One of the defining characteristics of Dark Souls iz how much gameplay mechanics translates to the storyline and lore of the world, the most obvious example being how the main character is undead and thus [[TheManyDeathsOfYou will continuously revive whenever they are killed to justify the player retrying again and again]].
** A major example of this trope is how time is [[TimeyWimeyBall more like guidelines than actual rules]] in Dark Souls. As such, it's often believed when you die as the last remaining Hollow in your world (who will no longer [[ResurrectiveImmortality respawn at a bonfire upon death]]), instead of getting KilledOffForReal, in reality you're arriving in an AlternateUniverse where the people you killed are still alive, and when you die you cease to exist in that universe. This also plays into the themes of Dark Souls 2, where if you kill enemies enough times to grind them, you start running out of universes where they still exist. Nothing is infinite, not even the multiverse it seems.

** There are a number of segregations across the three games, but the most recurring one is whenever the player character faces something which in lore ''should'' be capable of making them go Hollow and suffer a FinalDeath (such as Abyssal corrution, which can corrupt ''anything'' in the setting, and persist even across {{Alternate Universe}}s), you somehow still revive in the bonfire.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Time is [[TimeyWimeyBall more like guidelines than actual rules]] in Dark Souls. As such, while you appear to be the only Hollow who will [[ResurrectiveImmortality respawn at a bonfire upon death]] instead of being KilledOffForReal, in reality you're simply arriving in an AlternateUniverse where the people you killed are still alive, and when you die you cease to exist in that universe. This also plays into the themes of Dark Souls 2, where if you kill enemies enough times to grind them, you start running out of universes where they still exist. Nothing is infinite, not even the multiverse it seems.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Despite this fact, items from people you kill somehow persist even if you die before you can collect them and end up in another version of the world.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: Love and sex are never mentioned in the series. Though marriages are mentioned.

** Most boss fights go down like this (in the boss's favor) on the player's first one or two tries, before the player understands the boss's tells.

* DarkFantasy: It takes place in a Tolkein-style world that's full of the undead, tries to stave off the age of dark while recovering from past ones, and has humanity be the potential for the greatest darkness. Many fates end in death — or worse. Many enemies have tragic backstories through no fault of their own. By ''Dark Souls III'', it's implied that all civilizations are on their last legs.

** Poisons will generally do this to the player. It turns into more of a hassle than an actual threat, because if you lack any items to remove it, all you can do is immediately turn around and head back to your bonfire or try to keep pushing through to get to one. Without an appropriate number of estus flasks or a fairly high health pool, you ''will'' die from it, but it will take a long time.

** Fireball class spells are powerful, but are much less intuitive than other offensive spells. These spells arc when thrown, requiring you to figure out the distance and drop of the spells when throwing it at the target. The arc and height of the shot is also dependent on where the lock-on icon is located, and since taller enemies have higher lock-on reticules, you can throw the spells at longer distances than with smaller enemies. Therefore, any use of fireballs is going to involve you figuring out arcs and distances. But once you figure out the range issues with the spells, and level up the pyromancy flame high enough, the damage output is ''insane''.
** Greatswords, and other slow two-handed weapons like them. What makes them difficult is the fact that they're slow as crap, require two-handing unless you have lots of strength, and usually makes your dodge roll crap. The awesome part is due to their insane damage (especially with a [[GameBreaker Zaphander or a Chaoshander]]) and reach compared to similarly-leveled one-handers. They're also great against some of the larger enemies, since a blow with a large weapon can interrupt their attacks, and sometimes even knock them flat on their backs, leaving them vulnerable to a follow-up attack, while a smaller weapon will only take away a sliver of their health without interrupting their attack animations at all.
*** The Black Knight weapons (Sword, Greatsword, Halberd, and Greataxe) take these up a notch: they're even slower than most other two-handers, they weigh a ton, their damage scaling is average (and in the first game can't be upgraded to do elemental damage, relying solely on their physical damage), but they deal ridiculous amounts of damage (to the point that most mooks and some bosses can be killed in 1 or 2 hits), can break just about any enemies' block in 2 hits, will stagger most enemies and some bosses (including Havel the Rock in the first game, who has a ridiculous amount of poise), ''and'' do 20% extra damage to demons (one of the more prevalent type of boss and mini-boss). Once you get used to how slow they are and how vulnerable they leave you, many bosses can be slaughtered by just tanking hits until you get close enough to wail on them.

** While the first two games take place close enough to each other that the First Flame is showing no sign of permanently fading, ''VideoGame/DarkSouls3'' is set countless thousands of years in the future, after so many cycles have come and gone that the Flame is at risk of permanently going out and the events of the first two games aren't just legends, but the legends of long-dead civilizations. ''The Ringed City'' DLC is implied to be set even further in the future.

* HumansAreCthulhu: Humans are treated as something alien, incomprehensible, and kind of scary by the gods and their disciples, and [[spoiler:the entire Age of Fire is built around regulating them and the Dark Souls they carry so that they won't get out of hand]]. This is because [[spoiler:Humanity is linked to the world-destroying Abyss, and an excess of it turns you into Cthulhu]].

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: On the other hand, the extremes of humans are portrayed as a very, very bad thing. [[spoiler:Manus is a crazed ape from having his humanity go wild, and "Humanity" is the Dark Soul, swallowing everything else up.]] By contrast, the Gods tend to be portrayed as good even when they do some questionable things, [[spoiler:like fabricating the myth of a "Chosen Undead"]].