History VideoGame / DarkSouls

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''[[caption-width-right:350:[[NintendoHard Prepare to Die...]]''

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''Dark Souls'' is a series of HackAndSlash ActionRPG games developed by Creator/FROMSoftware and published by Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment. The series, developed by a Japanese developer, is rooted in [[EasternRPG Eastern]] game design principles, but also has a [[WesternRPG Western]] flavor, making it very well-received on both sides of the pond.

See also ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' (a spiritual predecessor to the ''Souls'' trilogy) and ''{{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}'' (a game with similar themes and gameplay but a very different setting), both also by [=FROMSoftware=]. Together, the so called "Soulsborne" style of gameplay has inspired many imitations and seeped into the broader game design culture.

** 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.

* WhenTreesAttack: The Demonic Foliage that patrol Darkroot Garden.

* WhiteMagic: Miracle spells

* 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.

* BrightCastle: Anor Londo is an absolutely stunning castle city, with beautiful gothic architecture.

* 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 heal, 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.

* NintendoHard: Brutally powerful enemies who respawn every time you heal, 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.

* {{Autosave}}: The game autosaves almost constantly. The "Now autosaving" icon pops up every time you kill an enemy.

** Pyromancy spells are powerful, but are much less intuitive than other offensive spells. Most pyromancy 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 pyromancy 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''.

* DifficultButAwesome gameplay that encourages players to learn enemy tells and draw out opponents one at a time. This goes double for bosses, which can kill even high level players in only a few hits. The games auto-save every few seconds, so you live with the consequences of every single action you take.

** 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...protects your already-armored forearm.

* MooksAteMyEquipment: The Gaping Dragon and his acid vomit AOE attack. There are also different enemies that coould do the same - most of them reside in Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith, where there's no blacksmith around.

* LightingBruiser:

* 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]].

** The actual "Cursed" status effect 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.

The games take place in a DarkFantasy world, where humans coexist with giants, dragons, gods, monsters, and "[[TheUndead Undead]]", humans marked with a [[MarkOfTheBeast cursed brand]] that grants them ResurrectiveImmortality, but slowly leeches their body and mind till they're a SoullessShell. In each game, you take the role of one of these Undead, who finds him or herself swept up in a quest to rekindle the flame that keeps the world alight, and hold off the coming age of darkness... that is unless you choose to usher in that age yourself.

'''YOU DIED'''\\

'''YOU DIED'''\\

-->--'''You Died''', ''Music/MiracleOfSound''

* Weapon upgrades allow you to improve different stat bonuses to weapon damage, or add lightning / fire / magic / etc. damage instead.
* Character classes that only determine starting equipment and stats. Builds are instead based on which stats you choose to level up and what equipment you wear. Each point you put into a stat counts as a "Soul Level", which decides the level range of other players you can encounter online.
* Atypical online components. Examining bloodstains while playing online will replay the last ten seconds of another player's life, highlighting potential hazards. You can also leave messages on the ground about potential enemies, hazards and treasure (or to [[ForTheEvulz lure others into traps]]). Additionally, while online you can summon other players to help you. However, you can also be invaded and killed by others. By entering one of the games' various covenants, players gain benefits to co-op play, invasion, hunting invaders, and so forth.

See also ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' (a spiritual prequel to the ''Souls'' trilogy) and ''{{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}'' (a game with similar themes and gameplay but a very different setting), both also by [=FROMSoftware=]. Together, the so called "Soulsborne" style of gameplay has inspired many imitations and seeped into the broader game design culture.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The only things that don't are a handful of NPC's (and even then some of them do 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...

** 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.