Souls (series)

The Souls series (ソウルシリーズ, Sōru shirīzu) refers to a series of action role-playing video games created and developed by FromSoftware. The series began with the release of the PlayStation 3 video game Demon's Souls in 2009. Demon's Souls was followed by Dark Souls in 2011, and its sequels, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III, in 2014 and 2016 respectively.

The Souls games are played in a third-person perspective, and focus on weapons- and magic-based combat with disfigured monsters, and exploration. Players battle bosses, interact with the strange non-playable characters, and journey through the medieval-like, interconnected environments in order to progress through the story. The series is particularly notable for its difficulty.^[1][2][3]

Setting

The games take place within a medieval fantasy setting, where the player coexists with the likes of knights, dragons, and various monsters. The recurring theme of the games' settings is that of a once powerful and prosperous kingdom which eventually fell into decadence and damnation after a series of unfortunate events. The players' goal varies between installments; the plot of Demon Souls follows an attempt to halt the spread of a demon-infested fog that would eventually shroud the world, while the plot of Dark Souls involved prolonging an age of prosperity and in the sequel finding a cure for the ailment known as "hollowing".

Gameplay

The protagonist of each Souls game can have a varying gender, appearance, name, and starting class.^[4] Players can choose between classes, including knights, barbarians, thieves, and mages. Each class has its own profile that can be tailored by the player's experience and choices.^[5] The player gains Souls from gameplay battles which act as both experience points to level up and as currency to buy certain items.^[6] Souls gained are usually proportional to the difficulty of fighting certain enemies; the harder the enemy, the more Souls the player will gain.

One of the core mechanics of the series is that it uses death to teach players how to react in hostile environments, encouraging repetition, learning from past mistakes, and prior experience as a means of overcoming its difficulty. Upon death, players will lose all of their Souls and be teleported back to a checkpoint, known as Bonfire, where they last rested. Only one chance is given for the player to recover their lost Souls in the form of a Bloodstain, which are normally placed where they last died. If the player dies before reaching their Bloodstain, the Souls are permanently lost.

Online interaction in the Souls games is integrated into the single-player experience. Throughout levels, players can briefly see the actions of other players as ghosts in the same area that may show hidden passages or switches. When a player dies, a Bloodstain can be left in other players' game world that when activated can show a ghost playing out their final moments, indicating how that person died and potentially helping the player avoid the same fate in advance. Players can leave messages on the floor that can either help players warning of upcoming hazards, or harm players by leaving false hints.^[7] Players can also engage in player versus player combat and cooperative gameplay using invasion or summoning mechanics.^[8][9]

Games

Demon's Souls

Released in 2009 for PlayStation 3, Demon's Souls is the first game in the Souls series.^[10] The game has also been described as a spiritual successor to the King's Field series of games.^[11] It takes place in the fictional kingdom of Boletaria, which is being ravaged by a cursed fog that brings forth demons who feast on the souls of mortals. Unlike its successors, Demon's Souls uses a central hub system known as the "Nexus" where players can level up, repair equipment, or buy certain items, before venturing into either one of the five connected worlds. The "World Tendency" feature is also exclusive to Demon's Souls, where the difficulty of exploring a world is dependent on how many bosses have been killed, and how the player dies. The gameplay involves a character-creation system and emphasizes gathering loot through combat with enemies in a non-linear series of varied locations. It has an online multiplayer system integrated into single-player, in which players can leave messages and warnings for other players' worlds, as well as joining other players to assist and/or kill them.^[10]

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is the second game in the Souls series; it is considered a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls.^[11] It was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[12] In 2012, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, featuring the base game and the Artorias of the Abyss downloadable content.^[13] The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran. Players assume the role of a cursed human character who has been chosen to discover the fate of the Undead. The plot of Dark Souls is primarily told through descriptions of in-game items and dialogue with non-playable characters (NPCs). Players must piece together clues in order to understand the story, rather than having it laid out for them by the game. Dark Souls garnered recognition due to its grueling difficulty and unforgiving challenge.^[8]

Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II is the second Dark Souls game and the third installment in the Souls series. Unlike the previous two games, director Hidetaka Miyazaki did not reprise his role.^[14] It was released in 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.^[15] In 2015, an updated version featuring The Lost Crowns downloadable content was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, under the title Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin^[16] - with the latter two platforms receiving retail releases.^[17] The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Drangleic, where the player must find a cure for the undead curse.^[9] Although set in the same universe as the previous game, there is no direct story connection to Dark Souls.^[18]

Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III was officially announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015, and is currently expected to be released in Japan on March 24, 2016,^[19] and internationally in April 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.^[20] The gameplay was stated to be much faster paced than previous Souls installments,^[21] which is attributed in part to the gameplay of Bloodborne.^[22]

Related titles

King's Field

The King's Field series debuted in the mid 1990s for the PlayStation with King's Field and its two sequels. After the original trilogy, a fourth game was released for the PlayStation 2, after which, the series had some spinoff titles. King's Field as a whole is considered a spiritual predecessor to the Souls series.^[11]

Bloodborne

Bloodborne was released on the PlayStation 4 in March 2015, directed by Souls series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki. Although it is its own intellectual property (IP) and not an official Souls installment,^[23] it shares many of the elements and concepts from the series.^[24] Thus, Bloodborne is often associated in discussion of Souls games.^[25]

Other media

On January 19, 2016, Titan Comics announced that a comic book is to be released based on the series. The first issue will debut on April 6, to coincide with the international release of Dark Souls III.^[26]

Reception

The Souls series has had a very positive reception. Demon's Souls won several awards, including "Best New IP" from GameTrailers,^[34] and overall Game of the Year from GameSpot.^[35]

Dark Souls originally did not have a port for Microsoft Windows, but upon seeing the fans' demand for it, Bandai Namco community manager Tony Shoupinou lauded their support,^[36] and a Windows port was released the following year.^[37] Dark Souls is also considered by some critics to be one of the greatest games of all time.^[38]

Dark Souls II also received critical acclaim, and is the highest rated game in the series.^[33] Before release, Dark Souls III was one of the most anticipated games of 2016.^[39][40][41]

Sales

As of March 2015, Demon's Souls had sold over 1.7 million copies, while as of July 2015, the Dark Souls games had sold over 8.5 million copies.^[42][43]

See also

• List of Japanese role-playing game franchises

References