Dark Souls

About

Dark Souls is a dark fantasy action role-playing game series developed by From Software. The game centers around the player using a custom created character from various classes battling powerful enemies and other players by either invading or being invaded in the game. Players level up their character by collecting souls from defeated enemies and spending them on bonfires to increase their stats. However, players can lose these souls if they are killed before spending them. Since its release, the series has gained an online following due to its themes and high difficulty curve.

History

Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls is an action role-playing game directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and developed by From Software for the Playstation 3. The game was published in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio on February 5th, 2009, in North America by Atlus USA on October 6th, 2009, and in Australia & Europe by Namco Bandai Games on June 23rd and June 25th, 2010, respectively. Demon’s Souls is regarded as the spiritual predecessor of Dark Souls.

Dark Souls

Dark Souls was released in Japan on September 22nd, 2011, and worldwide in October, 2011. The first game was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and was released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. A PC port of the game was released on August, 2012, worldwide and on October 25th, 2012, in Japan.

Dark Souls II

On December 7th, 2012, Dark Souls II was announced during the Spike Video Game Awards. Unlike the previous game, Hidetaka Miyazaki serves as supervisor while Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura serves as directors during development. The game was released on March 11th, 2014 in North America and March 13th, 2014 in Japan for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 while the PC version was released on April 24th, 2014. On April, 2015, an updated version of the game titled Dark Souls II: Scholars of The First Sin was released on the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Dark Souls III

On June 5th, 2015, Rooster Teeth news channel The Know reported leaked info and screenshots for Dark Souls III that they exclusively obtained from an anonymous source (shown below). The video gained over 967.000 views in 2 weeks and was reported by several news sites such as Polygon^[1], Kotaku^[2], Forbes^[3], and Techno Buffalo^[4].

On June 9th, 2015, IGN reported that they claimed to have obtained Dark Soul III’s promotional image which is going to be shown at E3 2015^[5].

On June 15th, 2015, Dark Souls III was announced during E3 2015. The game is confirmed to be directed once again by Hidetaka Miyazaki and is planned to be released in early 2016 for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne is a dark fantasy action role-playing game developed by From Software and published by SCEA Japan Studio exclusively for the Playstation 4. Due to the similar gameplay mechanics, Bloodborne is considered to be a spiritual sequel to both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. The game was released on March 24th, 2015.

Reception

As of June, 2015, Demon’s Souls holds a metacritic score of 89^[6]. Dark Souls holds a metacritic score of 89 on the Xbox 360^[7] and PS3^[8] while the PC port holds a score of 85^[9]. Dark Souls II holds a metacritic score of 91 on all platforms^[10]^[11]^[12] while Scholar of The First Sin holds a metacritic score of 87 on the Playstation 4^[13], 89 on the Xbox One^[14], and 78 on the PC^[15].

Online Presence

Dark Souls has become the subject of discussion on a number of sites such as Tumblr^[16], 4Chan^[17], and Gamefaqs^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]. The official Dark Souls Facebook has over 477.000 likes as of June, 2015^[22]. The Dark Souls wiki was created on October 5th, 2011 and has gathered over 2.900 pages regarding the series in 3 years^[23]. Dark Souls has 3 main subreddits that represents each installment of the series with /r/DarkSouls and /r/DarkSouls2 having over 74.000 and 68.000 subscribers respectively^[24]^[25]^[26].

Videos

The series has inspired a number of video play throughs, parodies, and remixes.

Fanart and Cosplays

On the art sharing site Deviantart, typing the keyword “Dark Souls” would yield more than 145.000 results^[27] while on Pixiv, typing the same keyword would yield more 4.700 results^[28].

Additionally, the series has inspired cosplays based on the various characters and bosses in the games.

Controversy

Dark Souls II Graphics Downgrade

On March 9th, 2014, a thread on NeoGAF titled “Dark Souls 2 Lighting changes/Downgrade” was posted which highlights graphical downgrades which was noticed by early players of Dark Souls II in comparison to what was advertise prior to the game’s release. The thread gathered 4.422 posts in 1 month^[29]. On March 12th and March 19th, 2014, respectively, Youtuber HyperBitHero uploaded a 2 part video that compares the graphical difference of Dark Souls II between what was shown in the game’s trailers with the released product.

On March 19th, 2014, From Software released a statement regarding the downgrade to MCV^[30].

Throughout the game development process, a game is constantly being balanced not only in game playability, but also in the realm of resource management.
A developer is always challenged with creating the most rewarding gaming experience while delivering continuity in graphical quality, gameplay dynamics, and balance within the game. The final version of Dark Souls II displays the culmination of this delicate balance and we’re very proud of the positive media and fan reception for the game.

On March 20th, 2014, Forbes reported from an anonymous source that Dark Souls II’s graphics was downgraded due to the game encountering serious frame rate and playability issues with the original settings on the Console version^[31].

Related Memes

Solaire of Astora

Solaire of Astora is a character from the 2011 video game Dark Souls. The character has gain a fan following due to his personality and quotes, with the latter popularizing the phrase Praise The Sun and Jolly Cooperation.