History VideoGame / DarkSouls

''Dark Souls'' is a series of critically acclaimed 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.

* NoobCave: Undead Burg.

* AnAesop

* DifficultySpike: Even given that the games are tough as nails, there are usually bits where it goes from "very hard" to "much harder than that": Blighttown in the first game, for example, is like having all your teeth pulled out by a dentist with very dirty hands, while the Cathedral of the Deep in the third starts off a sequence of 4-6 {{That One Level}}s ''in a row''.

* 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 PlayStation consoles.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: The sequels will have features that make things easier for players of the previous games.
* SequelDifficultySpike: The sequels will ramp up the difficulty in certain ways.

* {{Determinator}}: The undead hero, and by extension the player controlling him or her.

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), and ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' (a game with similar but altered gameplay and a unique setting, but retains the style of the Souls games), 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]].

** 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).
** The third game opted to [[AvertedTrope do away with this entirely]] and just had a ManaMeter.

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), and ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' (a game with similar but altered gameplay and a unique setting, but retains the style of the Souls games), all also by [=FROMSoftware=]. Together, the so called "Soulsborne" style of gameplay has [[FromClonesToGenre inspired many imitations and seeped into the broader game design culture]]; see SoulsLikeRPG for many other examples of games with this same style.

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), and ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' (a game with similar but altered gameplay and a unique setting, but retains the style of the Souls games), all also by [=FROMSoftware=]. Together, the so called "Soulsborne" style of gameplay has [[FromClonesToGenre inspired many imitations and seeped into the broader game design culture]].

* 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.

* HandWave: The game explains the ability to assist other players clear areas and bosses you've already beaten in your own game as time distortion and leaves it at that.

* 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.

* MercyKill: Many of the franchises enemies and bosses are heroes gone insane or Hollow, with the player putting them out of their misery, and their Souls to positive use.

* MilkingTheGiantCow: The "Praise the sun!" gesture the player can learn. It's also performed by Warriors of Sunlight, including Solaire of Astora, when the players 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.

* MultiPlatform: The ''Dark Souls'' games are published on multiple systems, with Bandi-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 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.

* MythologyGag: The game contains some recurring elements:

** Dragons in the ''Souls'' series loves 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", an head gear from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''. Both are enormous pieces of clothing that are a bright yellow. The definition of the former poke 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.".

** In both ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' 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.

** 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)

* TheNightThatNeverEnds: The Age of Dark, which is the opposite of the Age of Fire, and will occur if the First Flame completely dies. [[spoiler: Kaathe calls it the Age of Man but he may not be telling the truth.]]

** 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).

* 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]].

* 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.]]

* 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.
* 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.]]

* OutsideContextProblem: Regardless of which side you chose, the central conflict of the game doesn't become apparent until halfway through the game, and it isn't all that [[StoryBreadcrumbs apparent]].

* 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.]]

* 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.]]

** 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.

* 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 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.

* PlotCoupon: The Twin Bells of Awakening. [[spoiler: The Lordvessel. The Lord Souls.]]

* 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.

* 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]].

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* ReligionIsMagic: Grants healing powers, shockwaves, the ability to instantly teleport to the last bonfire you used and [[BoltOfDivineRetribution Bolts of Divine Retribution]].
* 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.

** 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.

* ResurrectionSickness: When you die, 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.

** 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.]]

* 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 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 swaying bridges, or should you find an easy place to jump down to it, you'll find the floors collapse if they're jumped on from a certain height.

** 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.

* SerpentOfImmortality: The description of the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring: "The serpent is an imperfect dragon and symbol of the Undead.".

* 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.

** 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, they are thin and sharp instead of being [[{{BFS}} slabs of steel paddles]] seen in other fantasy roleplay games.

* 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, 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}} knockbacks]], 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.

* SprintMeter: The stamina bar rill reduce when running, as well as various other actions.

* 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.
* 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 '''griefing mechanic'''! 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 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk-wilWUSQM cartwheel]] on [[LavaAddsAwesome lava]], but deep enough water is instant death.

* SwordDrag: The Black Knight Great Sword and Black Knight Great Ax do this as part of the build up for their strong attacks.

* {{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 quickly must learn to be careful about what messages they trust.

* 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 an 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.]]

** 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. (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 the deagro. Being invisible also doesn't stop them pinpointing your exact location if you attack from range.

** 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).

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: Kiln of the First Flame]]

** 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.

* 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]].

* 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.

** 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 dungeon.

** 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.

** 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

** 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.]]

* 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]]).

* 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, the 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.

* 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]].

* 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]].

* InsaneEqualsViolent: By ingame 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 in 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 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.

* 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 kill them with a Divine weapon.

** 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

** 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.

* BossTease: Dark Souls is extremely fond of showing off bosses before the player fight them.

** 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 [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption impossible to kill.]] You must destroy his MacGuffin in a different area before fighting him for real.

* 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 the 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 do both[[/note]]).

* BrokenFaceplate: The Balder Set. Good armor but it is clear it has seen better days.

* 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.]]

* CentralTheme: Fire, death, and what beauty means in the CrapsackWorld of Dark Souls according to Director Miyazaki.

** 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.

* TheCombatPragmatist: ''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.

*** 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 gotten to 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).

*** 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, 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.

** Your arrows go straight where you fired them -- enemies can have their arrows ''curve mid-flight'' to hit you.

* 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.

* 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?

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

** 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.

* 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 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 all civilizations are on their last legs.

* 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 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).

** 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.

** 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.

* 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 provide 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 for level up to 50, and only 5 HP per level after that.

** ''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 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* EmptyShell: Undead that have hollowed become this, and it's also the only way for to be KilledOffForReal. [[spoiler: Gwyn himself has turned hollow after burning in the Kiln of the First Flame for a millennium.]]

* 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...

* 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.

** 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.

** If you're a bit uncomfortable about scantily dressed dudes, male armor is a loincloth thong, where as female characters have briefs.

* 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]].

--> From the game's opening cinematic:

* 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.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: One notable recurring example is the fact that many characters in the games are cursed with the Darksign like you are, making them undead, but you are the ONLY one of them who will [[ResurrectiveImmortality respawn at a bonfire upon death]] instead of being KilledOffForReal.

** The Darkroot Garden is one of the more lush areas, but it's full of living plants trying to kill you.
** 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.

** The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is the Dragonslayer Greatbow from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', a bow so large that it towers 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 predecessors 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/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.]]

* 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]].

* 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.

* 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]], an 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 fabricate the myth of a "Chosen undead".]]
* 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 to Covenant of Artorias to traverse the Abyss itself to defeat the Four Kings.]]

* 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 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.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Ornstein's Dragonslayer Spear, [[InformedAbility apparently.]] His Leo Ring states that it is rumored to have cleaved a boulder in two.

** 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.]]

* 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 linking the Fire and continuing the Ages bring more wrath and curses like the Darksign or the death of civilizations.]]

** 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.

** 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.]]

** 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.

* 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.]]

* BlackMagic: Sorcery spells, which are related to souls (most likely dragon souls). Abyss sorceries, which draw on the power of the [[spoiler:Dark Soul]], take this UpToEleven.

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), and ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' (a game with similar but altered gameplay and a unqine setting, but retains the style of the Souls games), all also by [=FROMSoftware=]. Together, the so called "Soulsborne" style of gameplay has [[FromClonesToGenre inspired many imitations and seeped into the broader game design culture]].

* DesparatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: 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.

** Artorias the Abysswalker's animal was a wolf, he was one of Gywn'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 and .