DarkSouls

Dark Souls is a series of action role-playing games created by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series began with the release of Dark Souls in 2011 and has seen two sequels, Dark Souls II (2014) and Dark Souls III (2016). Dark Souls has received critical acclaim, with the first title often cited as one of the greatest in video games, with the series as a whole being both praised and criticized for its high level of difficulty.

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is the first game in the series; it is considered a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls (2009). FromSoftware wanted to develop a sequel to Demon's Souls, but Sony's ownership of the intellectual property prevented them from doing so on other platforms. It was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In 2012, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, featuring the base game and the Artorias of the Abyss downloadable content. The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran. Players assume the role of a cursed human character who sets out to discover the fate of undead humans like themselves. The plot of Dark Souls is primarily told through environmental details, in-game item flavor text, and dialogue with non-playable characters (NPCs). Players must piece together clues in order to understand the story, rather than being told the story through more traditional means, such as through cutscenes. Dark Souls and its predecessor Demon's Souls garnered recognition due to the series' high level of difficulty. A version featuring some graphical and gameplay enhancements, Dark Souls: Remastered, was released in May 2018.

Dark Souls II

Unlike the previous two games, director Hidetaka Miyazaki did not reprise his role as he was busy directing Bloodborne, although he was still involved in supervision. It was released in 2014 for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. In 2015, an updated version featuring The Lost Crowns downloadable content was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, under the title Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - with the latter two platforms receiving retail releases. The game takes place in the kingdom of Drangleic, where the player must find a cure for the undead curse. Although set in the same universe as the previous game, there is no direct story connection to Dark Souls.

Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III was released in 2016 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The gameplay is paced faster than previous Souls installments, which was attributed in part to the gameplay of Bloodborne. The game takes place in the kingdom of Lothric, where the player must end the cycle of linking the Flame. In 2017, the complete version containing the base game and both expansions (Ashes of Ariendel and The Ringed City) was released, under the title Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition. Dark Souls III was both critically and commercially successful, with critics calling it a worthy and fitting conclusion to the series. It sold over 10 million copies by 2020, making it the fastest-selling game in Bandai Namco's history at the time (until it was overtaken by Elden Ring). In 2015, Miyazaki said that Dark Souls III would likely be the last of the series, with FromSoftware choosing to move onto new games of unrelated IPs in the future.