Former Tekken series lead Katsuhiro Harada says FromSoftware boss and Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki is a "unique" developer with a "'mad scientist' side," thanks to his "deeply serious, obsessive approach to creativity." However, when it comes to Dark Souls, it's not the notorious difficulty that makes Miyazaki's creation stand out – it's the world.

Harada and Miyazaki are both legendary games industry veterans in their own right, but asked about the Dark Souls mastermind on Twitter, the ex-Bandai Namco dev has plenty of thoughts to share.

"Miyazaki is a rather unique, yet extremely serious game developer," Harada begins, noting that the FromSoftware lead "didn't become a game developer until he was almost thirty years old," meaning he wasn't even in the industry for "the dawn of the polygon era" – making his impact on the scene "remarkable." It's that latter part that makes Miyazaki's career path "exceptionally unusual," Harada adds.

As for Dark Souls, it's not the difficulty of the game that stands out to him – in fact, Harada actually hits us with a 'skill issue' midway through his essay, as he notes his belief that "Dark Souls has fairly simple action mechanics, and I don't actually consider it to be an especially difficult game." Damn, OK. Rather, Harada says, "Miyazaki's true creativity shines through in the world he created."

To be fair, I'm sure Harada's not the only one who thinks this. The Dark Souls games aren't just notoriously difficult; they're also famously complex when it comes to their world-building and storytelling. As Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead Guillaume Broche discussed recently, the majority of Souls players will "finish the game the first time and haven't understood a thing." However, look a little closer under the surface, and you can uncover deep, fascinating lore and cleverly built locations full of details.

It's no doubt partly thanks to this that the series has cemented itself as such a firm favorite amongst fans, especially over time. Speaking from his experience "overseeing both production and marketing" of the Dark Souls games and Elden Ring, Harada says: "Dark Souls didn't suddenly become a massive success overnight. It was the result of everything Miyazaki and his team had built up through their previous titles."

In fact, there were times when "his team were struggling," which Harada looks back to now that Miyazaki "receives offers from all over the world," making him feel like some folks have had "complete reversals in attitude" to FromSoftware's work since it's become so successful.

Reminiscing about Miyazaki's approach to game development, Harada also looks back to the creation of the VR game Summer Lesson (which was released in 2016, and sees you take on the role of a tutor for a high school student), when the Dark Souls lead tried an early build of the game.

"While everyone else was laughing, chatting, and having fun with it, Miyazaki alone played it with incredible seriousness," Harada recalls. "Then, after everyone had finished and started discussing their impressions, he remained completely silent, staring intently at the preview monitor, deep in thought.

"Everyone became curious and finally asked him, 'Miyazaki, what are you thinking about?' He suddenly smiled and said, 'Oh… I got completely absorbed in thinking about what I would do if I were making this, and what kind of game I'd create,'" he continues. "What he talked about after that was, in the best possible sense, completely insane. It was one of those rare moments when I caught a glimpse of what I'd call his 'mad scientist' side – his deeply serious, obsessive approach to creativity."

The former Tekken boss wraps up by discussing why Miyazaki tends to avoid appearing in live streams and video interviews, and it might not be the reason you'd expect. As well as disliking seeing "himself moving around on video," which any camera-shy person can understand, Miyazaki apparently thinks there are "many people in this industry who know games far better than he does," which makes him believe "his own understanding is still shallow," so "he's not yet in a position to be the one talking about games."

This is, of course, a wildly modest thing for the creator of Dark Souls to think, which Harada acknowledges. "I mean… it's common for well-known developers to say, 'I still have a long way to go.' But whenever someone like him says that, my reaction is always, 'Come on… if you say you're still not there yet, then the rest of us won't feel qualified to talk about games at all.' (laugh)"

In the same enormous post, Harada also speaks about Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai, who he clearly also has immense respect for. In what might be the best form of compliment, he compares him to a Dragon Ball Saiyan "who genuinely believes he's just another ordinary human" – and apparently sometimes says things that make him sound "exactly like Goku."

Hideo Kojima and Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki's games have something other AAA titles don't, former PlayStation boss says: "You can tell it's their visions."

Someone in the bowels of FromSoftware had the difficult task of playing Demon's Souls and Dark Souls before they were out. Imagine being those playtesters; the Undead Burg must be seared into their brains. A researcher at CD Projekt Red wishes he could've been a part of that team, just to see how the findings impacted the games.

"Either the original Demon's Souls or Dark Souls, even though I'm not a Soulslike player," says Dawid Zalewski, research operations coordinator and senior UX researcher, on the CDPR AnsweRed podcast, when asked about what game he wishes he could've seen early builds of. Zalewski has experience on both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 4, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"That would be a very interesting challenge, because it was something new," he believes. "It was people waiting in queues, and some saying this is the worst experience they ever had, and the other going back to the queue to play it again and again."

Within that divide, what would've been illuminating is finding just the right amount of push-and-pull for players. "Where do you draw the line between challenge that motivates you to push forward, to try again and again until you reach the mastery?" he muses. "And at what point it becomes plain frustration and you need to change something."

As he says, "the game is supposed to be challenging," so how are changes decided? What's a problem and what's something where people simply need to get better and understand what they're up against? Necessary debates, and things I imagine the devs at FromSoftware agonized over extensively for both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, all overseen by Hidetaka Miyazaki.

There aren't many simple answers, and the general obtuseness of those games will tell you From has no problem being vague or esoteric. The studio certainly found a good balance for those releases, and maybe one day developers like Zalewski can get insight into the research involved to help their own endeavors - or just defeat From's bosses quicker in future.

The Witcher 4 is "steaming ahead" as CD Projekt rapidly expands with 220 new developers in the past year, and nearly 500 in total working on the RPG

8.86% of FromSoftware's majority owner, Kadokawa Games, is now owned by an investor who infamously made a terrible pitch to Nintendo a decade ago.

As reported by GameBiz (spotted and translated by Automaton), Oasis Management Company, a Hong Kong-based international hedge fund management firm, has acquired an 8.86% share of Kadokawa, the Japanese media conglomerate behind a number of manga, anime, and video game properties. Oasis describes its acquisition of shares as being for "important proposal activities."

Most notably, the company is a majority owner of Dark Souls and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, with Sony its next-largest shareholder after talks to acquire the company.

In a 2014 request, Oasis urged then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata to develop Nintendo games for mobile devices, which it later did with games like Super Mario Run, Pikmin Bloom, and Fire Emblem Heroes. That wasn't an uncommon request. However, this same group is best known for saying, "We believe Nintendo can create very profitable games based on in-game revenue models with the right development team. Just think of paying 99 cents just to get Mario to jump a little higher," and have since been ridiculed for it in the decade since.

Of course, Nintendo did not, in fact, charge players 99 cents to make Mario jump higher, because Nintendo understands how video games work. That being said, that was over a decade ago now. Nintendo did enter the mobile game market, and aside from Super Mario Run and the best Nintendo mobile game, Dr. Mario World, it seems to have been pretty successful. And perhaps a decade of ridicule over that comment would have caused the minds behind it to understand games a bit more. Regardless, I don't expect we'll be paying 99 cents to post "try finger, but hole" in Elden Ring 2.

I played Elden Ring Tarnished Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 and rolled through the Lands Between as the new Knight class.

Dr. Doot, a streamer known for completing difficult games using a saxophone as a controller, has defeated Dark Souls hitless. This recent achievement means that he has completed the entire Dark Souls trilogy and Elden Ring without taking any damage from enemies.

The streamer, who holds a doctorate in music composition, has made a name for himself by playing difficult games entirely on an electronic saxophone called an aerophone. Dr. Doot has not only completed these four FromSoftware soulslikes without being hit using his unusual input method, but has also finished Bloodborne and Sekiro deathless.

Dr. Doot posted a clip to Twitter, showcasing his dootful, but hitless fight against Dark Souls' final boss Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, marking the end of the run.

The streamer doesn't only use his dooting skills to complete challenge runs, such as the hitless soulslike fiesta, he also completes other challenging games on the aerophone, such as Cuphead, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon.

Dr. Doot has previously completed Hollow Knight on his musical instrument of choice, but will now set his sights on full completion of the difficult Metroidvania. This includes the additional Pantheons added in the Godmaster update, which are known for their incredible difficulty.

The infamous platforming challenges, Path of Pain, isn't part of the game's 112% completion, but that doesn't mean he can't be convinced into trying it.

This streamer just beat a no-hit run of Dark Souls 3 with a saxophone controller, and they've got their sights set on Monster Hunter Wilds next.

Since the release of Demon's Souls in 2009. FromSoftware has come to be the defining studio for 'Soulslikes', games that emphasize open exploration and character-building amid strategic combat where gnarly difficulty spikes. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of many of From's releases in this vein, doesn’t necessarily agree the company deserves such credit.

He spoke about the etymology of the term to Game Informer, where he explained that, really, From just understood what some players were looking for. "I know we've been credited [with inventing the term 'Soulslike'], but in terms of the game design, this idea of having death and learning as part of the core game cycle is something that the gaming audience was perhaps ready for," he says. "But there just wasn't the perfect answer for that appetite just yet."

Originally working on Armored Core, Miyazaki requested to be moved onto the nascent Demon's Souls, then a project higher-ups at FromSoftware weren't especially sure about. He introduced ideas from King's Field, an earlier sword-and-sorcery action-RPG series From developed through-out the '90s, and merged them with persistent online play, and eventually, the core loop of dropping your 'souls' when you died, and returning to retrieve them afterward.

This became fundamental to the entire SoulsBorne lineage, encompassing Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and the assorted releases since, recurring across all Miyazaki's projects since. "What we discovered is it is okay to make games with death as part of its core gameplay loop, and our answer happened to land and resonate with various audiences," he explains.

"I don't necessarily think it's a new invention, per se," he adds, "it was more the FromSoftware DNA and our game design overlapped with what was perhaps missing from the market."

However you want to look at it, FromSoftware's games have only gotten bigger and bolder since, all connected by the frustration of losing tens of thousands of souls in an unexpected fight, then dying again on the mission back to a regular enemy you underestimate. It's not a Soulslike until you distill such frustration.

FromSoftware didn't work with Sony on Dark Souls because of how the company failed Demon's Souls, says ex-PlayStation boss: "We definitely dropped the ball"

FromSoftware inadvertently created an entire subgenre with its dour dark fantasy classic Demon Souls, which then got widespread recognition in the very similar Dark Souls. But the developer behind Peak and crustacean action-RPG Another Crab's Treasure thinks the Soulslike moniker has "kept a lot of devs stuck in a loop of recreating" what was already imperfectly perfect in the original Dark Souls.

Speaking to Game Informer about the subgenre, Aggro Crab creative director Caelan Pollock said, "I think calling games 'Soulslikes' has kept a lot of devs stuck in a loop of recreating Dark Souls. And in my opinion, the best Dark Souls game has been made already, and it's called Dark Souls."

The question of what makes a Soulslike has come about again and again in the years since. Stamina-based combat, heavy movement, tough-as-nails enemies, pattern-recognition in boss fights, and retrievable corpses? A mix-and-match? There's no clear cut definition apart from the understanding that a Soulslike is a game like Dark Souls.

"It's a deeply imperfect game, and that's why people like it and why it's resonated so deeply with players and throughout the industry," Pollok continued. "I think when you try to mimic every aspect of that experience, you're really not ending up with something worth paying attention to."

Pollock explains that the team's decision to wade into the Soulslike waters with Another Crab's Treasure came from "a deep belief that the genre can be more." Another Crab's Treasure puts you in the shoes of the titular shellfish who's fighting through a polluted kingdom and recycles various bits of plastic junk as a shell because, you know, climate change. "We made a gamble on the community being ready for that."

Here are the best 10 games like Dark Souls.

There are all sorts of quirks and eccentricities within FromSoftware games, both purposeful and accidental. One such singularity exists for Sif, the great grey wolf of Darkroot Garden and protector of Artorias the Abyswalker's grave.

During the fight, you might have noticed the playful dog jumping on your head amid its more harmful attacks, swinging around Artorias's sword to deal pain. There's a good reason for all the hopping towards you, and it’s not because director Hidetaka Miyazaki wants you to play fetch.

In the code for Sif’s moves, there's a small mistake involving two actions. As uncovered by modder kingbore, you have an attack triggering with the wrong animation. 'Att3011' is paired with movement 3009, a 180-degree flip. But they don't gel, resulting in a jump and twist that achieves nothing other than you getting a closer look at Sif's fur.

Meanwhile, there's another direction called 3009, that becomes a defensive maneuver wherein Sif leaps away if you get within stabbing distance. Pairing the proper action 3011 to the movement gives us a lunging stab. More effective and less nonsensical by some distance.

Sif’s second appearance, in the Dark Souls DLC set in Oolacile, where we learn more about Artorias, has everything functioning properly, with the bestest dog in all of FromSoftware lunging and stabbing as intended. The implication here is that the first encounter is hindered by a typo.

That's the prognosis by Dark Souls aficionado and YouTuber Zullie the Witch, and it's the most plausible explanation. Why it's never been addressed is another question. I choose to believe it's because the devs think it's cuter if Sif is trying to jump around with you. Can the next game include a boss who fetches, please?

On top of The Duskbloods and Elden Ring: Nightreign, FromSoft is reportedly deep in development on a game that sleuths think is another Dark Souls remaster

Dark Souls is returning to comics with a new Titan Comics title that expands the video game's mythos by introducing a new concept in the so-called Mother of Lillies, a dead saint who a group of knights believe can be resurrected to bring peace to the world.

Written by George Mann with art by Maan House, the comic, titled Dark Souls: Mother of Mourning, will run for four issues starting in December. Here's Titan's official description of the story:

"Hope is a fleeting feeling for the Knights of Mourning. But the knightly order are willing to bet everything on their last chance of salvation. In search of a hero to rekindle the flame, these knights turn to the Mother of Lillies, a soulless mummified saint with legends about her ability to restore balance to the world. The knights believe that her lost soul will resurrect her and bring them their sought after champion to guide them to solace. But madness looms in every knight's mind and this long-awaited goal might not be what it once seemed…"

And here's a gallery of unlettered interior pages along with covers for Dark Souls: Mother of Mourning #1, including the main cover by Bjorn Barends, and variants by Warrick Wong, The Knott, and interior artist Maan House:

The Dark Souls franchise is known as one of the most hardcore video games around, even launching an entire genre of "Soulslike" games. Dark Souls and its sister titles, such as Bloodborne and Elden Ring, are focused on intense, challenging combat and plentiful, but hidden plot details in their twisted fantasy worlds.

"It's always a dark pleasure to return to the world of Dark Souls for another tale, and Mother of Mourning may be my favourite yet," states Mann. "I'm excited for everyone to explore this new setting with us, to meet Lucadeus and the other remnants of the embattled Grand Order of the Knights of Mourning, and to join them on their quest to search out and return the missing soul of their saint.

"Maan House has rendered the whole sorry episode in his trademark blend of stunning fantasy and abysmal horror, and we're going to give everyone all the thrills, chills and YOU DIED moments they'd expect from a Dark Souls story. Working with Maan is an absolute joy, and to continue to contribute to the universe of Dark Souls is a true honour."

Dark Souls: Mother of Mourning goes on sale December 3. In the meantime, check out our picks for the best comics based on video games.

There are ridiculous speedruns, and then there are runs of Dark Souls and other FromSoftware games. Famously difficult, seeing them reduced to mere minutes as an expert traverses areas and bosses you'd spend months on is almost comical, and that's exactly what you get from the new record for Dark Souls 3.

Clocking at an impressively nonsensical sounding 24 minutes and 57 seconds, Olzku's run is mind-boggling. The start, through Gundyr, is fairly straightforward, avoiding most enemies and then killing the boss quickly and effectively. Then it immediately becomes a circus.

Soon, Olzku is tumbling through Vordt like it's nothing, ascending and descending the area with ease. The requisite ghouls laying in wait are simply too slow for them, though you can hear them wailing ominously in the background. This becomes a recurring theme, as it's a common trope among speedrunning in general because unnecessary combat is just a waste of time.

Around Wolnir is when it starts going wild. Dropping a cliff in the area unlocks a skip where you can skip a significant amount of the game through clipping out of the map. These kinds of glitches are always entertaining, showing even the most foreboding and stringent piece of work can be malleable.

Once in Aldrich, Olzku's character becomes invisible except for the torch they’re carrying, and they can now float in the air. Video games! This record outdoes the previous one by almost a full minute, setting the precedent for going under 25 minutes total. How much tighter can it get? Well, that's for the community to decide.

I'll stop spoiling it now, because you should watch the whole thing. I promise you one thing - you won't think any of these bosses are as hard afterward.

If this has you in the mood to test your skills, check out the 10 best games like Dark Souls.

FromSoftware is reportedly deep into the development of yet another unannounced game, and the studios' fans reckons it's probably another Dark Souls remaster.

That's according to a new MP1st report that claims the Elden Ring and Armored Core maker is in the "advanced stages" of a game with the codename FMC, citing an anonymous source. It's said to be due sometime in 2026 alongside post-launch support for the recent Elden Ring: Nightreign, as well the next year's The Duskbloods.

The site also notes that FMC is probably an abbreviation of some sort and that previous FromSoftware codenames that began with the letter 'F' were normally related to either Dark Souls or Armored Core projects, so make of that what you will.

Most FromSoft sleuths on the interwebs speculated that the project could be an Armored Core 7 since the last mainline mech game came out two full years ago, or maybe even a Dark Souls 3 remaster since that's the only game in the dark fantasy trilogy without a shiny re-release. Plus, the Dark Souls series' 15th anniversary is next year - time flies when you're dying and dying and dying - so it lines up pretty well.

"Next year will be going on 3 years since VI released, and it saw no major DLC or expansion," one Redditor writes. "If [Hidetaka] Miyazaki was serious about bringing Armored Core back to make it a franchise that would stick around, I think it's time." Another jokes that it's finally "Bloodborne 3 time."

Another interesting theory is that FMC could stand for FromSoftware Master Collection, or something to that effect, and compile some of the historic studio's earlier, less popular work like the King's Field games. (I'm secretly holding out hope for its super cool but super flawed JRPG Enchanted Arms, though).

While we wait for official word from FromSoft, check out our picks of the best games like Dark Souls.

Adam Robinson-Yu, creator of 2019 indie game A Short Hike, has entered the eternal debate about what makes a good sandbox game, claiming that "it's OK to have content in the game that people will never see" and holding up the original Dark Souls as a prime example.

Robinson-Yu spoke as part of a broader interview with numerous industry creatives in Edge Magazine issue 413 regarding the design and success of free-roam and sandbox games in a piece entitled "All Roads Lead to Roam." In this piece, he points to the challenge of finding much of the content in the original Dark Souls as part of the game's appeal.

"I have this feeling that it's OK to have content in the game that people will never see," explains Robinson-Yu. "You'll either read about it, or you will stumble upon something yourself that feels rare. You'll be like 'oh, I could have missed this! The game designer could have easily drawn more attention to this. But they didn't, and that made finding it for me feel special.'"

For Robinson-Yu, FromSoftware's 2011 landmark title Dark Souls embodies this philosophy to a tee. "[Dark Souls] felt like it had depth and richness, because there were always secret corridors to find and there are always places to go. And for me, the feeling of exploration in Dark Souls really got it, because there was also a struggle to get to these places. It's very easy for an RPG to give you rewards. [But] it was rewarding to explore Dark Souls because you're poking around corners, and you'll find a corridor, and that leads you to a whole new area."

Dark Souls isn't the only game Robinson-Yu holds up as an inspiration, as he also argues that "Where's Waldo moments" like Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Korok Seeds help "to stop you getting too bored" when traveling around in open world games.

Dark Souls, as well as FromSoftware's later games like Bloodborne and Elden Ring, represent a diversion from standard design practice in many open world games like Horizon Forbidden West and Cyberpunk 2077 (which even just introduced a new update where driving vehicles can be done automatically). These games use clear objective markers and even have the user interface create paths to lead players to key locations, but Dark Souls does none of this. Instead, context clues, exploration and luck are needed to find much of the game's content, including whole regions that might otherwise be missed.

Speaking for myself, I definitely agree with Robinson-Yu. I've always enjoyed the "water cooler moments" that sandbox and free roam games generate, thinking back to Skyrim and all the divergent experiences that everybody had. And as somebody who loves FromSoftware, Elden Ring brought to the forefront. "You found what? Where? A whole city?" It certainly makes my journey feel like exactly that: my journey, specific and personal to me. Still, others will have their preferences, and you can always let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Check out our list of the best open world games to see which of the many games we've mentioned here made the cut!

Everybody has their own preference when it comes to the best post-apocalypse games, but I have to say that if viewed a little more immersively, the acclaimed world of Death Stranding 2 would absolutely suck to exist in if it were real life: mooching around in bunkers and constantly reminding yourself to feed your goldfish, lest it explode and kill everybody for miles around. If not that, you're stumbling around the wasteland with a box of second-hand DVDs, trying to avoid belligerent spectres.

But that doesn't mean it's not fun to play, tackling bandits before high-tailing it away with the medicine you stole off them, and after having wandered through quiet hellscapes for forty hours, I'm rather in a mood to keep things gloomy. Well, I say gloomy, but the greatest post-apocalyptic games still definitely vary in tone. There's an argument to be made that Breath of the Wild and Wind Waker are both games set after the collapse of civilization, adorable as they are. Meanwhile, Horizon: Zero Dawn has an optimistic "things can bounce back" mindset about Armageddon, as long as you're willing to shank a titanium t-rex every now and then.

Regardless, these are the five post-apocalyptic games that I'll always hold up as the apex of end-times, whether taking place just before, during, or after those darkest of days. If you're in the mood to relax on the rubble and warm yourself by the embers of a dying civilization, these games will offer you a glorious end indeed.

5. Outer Wilds

Developer: Mobius Digital
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Outer Wilds isn't just about the end of a world, but the end of dozens of them, even if they're each only about a mile across. A gorgeous and brilliantly clever game about exploring a tiny solar system, the whole thing is given spice by a time loop that triggers every 22 minutes when the sun goes supernova and wipes out everything, throwing you back to the beginning again. The actual cause of both the supernova and time loop isn't explained at first, part of the mystery you have to discover, and what makes the game so utterly brilliant is that you don't carry anything tangible over between the loops – only whatever information you've organically discovered along the way.

The looming alien horrors that inhabit certain worlds won't be beaten with any special gun you've unlocked; you simply have to learn the special blind spots they have that allow you to navigate around them, and which you could've been doing since the very first loop. Ultimately, it's a brilliant science-fiction odyssey that manages to be cute, scary, sad, funny, thrilling, and thought-provoking all in one go – and it allows you to listen to banjo music and roast marshmallows on alien worlds. Who could object?

4. Fallout: New Vegas

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360

The first of the "well, obviously" entries, Fallout: New Vegas is largely considered to be the best Fallout game in modern times, and the true successor to original games. Teased by the Fallout TV show, New Vegas covers the titular gambling town and surrounding wasteland, now run by a series of colorful factions and warlords, none so iconic as the Oz-like "Mr. House," played by the late, great René Auberjonois.

New Vegas does away with the binary good/bad morality that Fallout 3 had before and embraces a greyer, more nuanced, and complex tone. It's a game where all sides, even the most monstrous, have coherent philosophies and can rationalise their behaviour. That means it's up to you to hear their arguments and consider who deserves the mysterious macguffin that Chandler from Friends tries to kill you over in the game's intro… Or you can fight old ladies armed with rolling pins and wash down your cockroach lunch with toilet water. There's really something for everybody, even if our Fallout New Vegas review objected to that last bit.

3. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Developer: Rockstar
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch

Canon? Probably not. Awesome? Most definitely. A spin-off saga of John Marston set during the third act of Red Dead Redemption 1, Undead Nightmare is a pulpy, post-apocalyptic zombie game where you hold off hordes of corpses with six shooters, before moseying off to find all your old friends in the hopes of stopping this strange curse that's plaguing the Wild West.

There's a lot to love about Undead Nightmare, but speaking personally, I'll always have a soft spot for the four "Horseman's Horses" (War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death) that act as secret rewards around the map… Oh, and the extra-secret rainbow-generating unicorn that you can catch and mount up as well. The zombies definitely won't be expecting that one.

2. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Developer: The Dreamer's Guild
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android

A 1995 point-and-click adventure game adapting one of the most bleakly misanthropic short stories in all of science fiction, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream tells the tale of five people – the last five people – being physically and psychologically tormented by AM, the sadistic supercomputer that killed the rest of humanity. Trapped in AM's terrifying playgrounds, you play as each of the five humans one by one and have to outwit the monstrous machine in the hope of some sort of mistake.

I'll be honest, it's AM itself that's the real star here. Voiced by the author of the original book, Harlan Ellison (who always insisted on voicing AM in any adaptation), the faceless computer ends up as one of the most compelling and terrifying villains in all of science fiction, with one monologue in particular that's become iconic in literary and video game circles.

1. Dark Souls

Developer: FromSoftware
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch

The other "well, obviously" option on this list. Dark Souls is pure fantasy apocalypse, driven less by some villainous necromancer or tyrant king, and more by… well, entropy. It's a fascinating and compelling look at a world that's dying down not because of some evil spell, but more just like it's naturally burned itself out, coming to the end of its regular lifespan, albeit one that you're unfortunate enough to witness yourself.

But that doesn't mean we can't still stab demons to death and sling lightning at dragons. If you were one of the many folks who found themselves drawn into the world of Soulsborne games with Elden Ring, now you get a chance to see a big part of that game's lineage. Sure, Demon's Souls was before that, but Dark Souls is arguably where the formula came together and what convinced the wider world of its potential, as reflected in our glowing Dark Souls 1 review from… Great Gwyn, was it really fourteen years ago?!

Feeling inclined towards more bleak works of art? Find out the best FromSoftware games to see how Dark Souls ranks, or check out more games like Fallout to see where you can go after New Vegas!

When Elden Ring Nightreign was revealed, the thing that drew the most attention was that it contained bosses from the Dark Souls series. The trailer showed the Nameless King, a very important boss from Dark Souls 3, riding around on his dragon while smiting hapless Tarnished warriors with lightning bolts.

This immediately set tongues wagging, and fans everywhere started coming up with theories as to why characters from Dark Souls were appearing in an Elden Ring game. You see, while Dark Souls and Elden Ring share many similarities and are both developed by FromSoftware, the creator has always been quick to point out they're set in different universes.

However, this hasn't stopped some fans from speculating on a "Miyazaki Multiverse," one which includes all of the studio's Souls games, regardless of who published each entry or owns the rights. FromSoftware has often fanned the flames of this theory by deliberately reusing characters, themes, and weapons across the games, with some nods being more subtle than others.

Bonfire lit

As we learned more about Nightreign's Dark Souls streak – and that the game was set in a parallel universe to the original Elden Ring – many Miyazaki Multiverse conspiracy theorists felt vindicated. Not only was FromSoftware confirming the existence of multiple universes (at least between the games that Bandai Namco published), but we'd finally get to see Dark Souls characters invade the Lands Between.

Now that the dust has settled and we've had a chance to thoroughly enjoy Elden Ring Nightreign, calling the game a Dark Souls crossover is somewhat of a stretch. Sure, the game does feature a selection of bosses from across the Dark Souls series, and while fighting them all over again with a team of Tarnished allies is supremely fun, some of us are left wondering why the developers didn't go further with this concept.

In many ways, the Dark Souls elements of Elden Ring Nightreign feel like a wasted opportunity. For starters, the game went out of its way to tell us it was set in a parallel universe, creating the perfect crossover setting, but then offered no lore or explanation as to why characters like the Nameless King were there. The fact is, Dark Souls bosses were only added to the game to pad out its roster of enemies.

This isn't a terrible thing, it's still nice to have them included, but what was the point of creating such ideal terrain for a crossover and then not fully fleshing out the idea? It feels unfinished, but this might actually end up being a blessing in disguise. For that to happen, FromSoftware needs to lean into Dark Souls in future content updates. If it does so, then not only could it redeem the lackluster crossover, but Nightreign could become the ultimate playground for fans of both franchises.

Let's be honest about Elden Ring Nightreign: we're having fun, but it's going to start getting old – and soon. There are only so many times we can jump into an expedition before the randomized gameplay and bosses start feeling stale. What it needs is a roadmap of content, and Nightreign doesn't just have Elden Ring to draw from, creatively speaking, it also has the entire Dark Souls trilogy.

There are lots of directions that Elden Ring Nightreign could go in when it comes to future expansions. Sure, it could add more expeditions, bosses and weapons from Elden Ring. But for it to really make the most of its vision and setting, the game needs to embrace all of its heritage, not just the Elden Ring parts. Why not have DLC packs themed around each of the Dark Souls games?

These don't need to be the first DLC expansions, but if Elden Ring Nightreign is going to be a game players return to for years to come, then this is certainly an idea to consider. Imagine a DLC being themed around the first Dark Souls 1 – a Lordran pack that introduces bosses like Gwyn, Knight Artorias, and even fan-favorites like Ornstein and Smough.

A second pack could bring in more bosses from Dark Souls 2, focusing on ideas like the Lost Crowns and the First Sin. It could even explore concepts like the Abyss, possibly even tying this to the Night Lord and remixing some old enemies with a fresh spin. Likewise, could Dark Souls 3 get a Lothric pack?

Elden Ring Nightreign needs content, and by looking to the past, it can secure its future. But more importantly, it needs to deliver on the promise of being the Dark Souls x Elden Ring crossover that so many fans hoped it would be – because so far, it's not.

Elden Ring Nightreign players are using an extremely rare Legendary sword to juice their stats to the moon, stacking thousands of HP and even one-hitting final bosses

The modding icon who added seamless co-op to several FromSoftware hits - including Dark Souls Remastered, Armored Core 6, and the base Elden Ring - has now turned their gaze to the developer's new multiplayer-focused game, Elden Ring Nightreign.

Elden Ring Nightreign squeezes the open-world epic into tight, 45-minute-ish rounds designed around co-op play. But at the time of writing, you can only enter The Lands Between solo or in trios - there isn't an option to start a round with only two players. Hypothetically, the only way to play duos is to begin a match with three people and hope one of them leaves.

Enter modder Yui, who got a two-player Elden Ring Nightreign session up and running just hours after the game's mammoth launch. In the description for the short demonstration of the in-development mod, Yui mentions that the mod "runs without connecting to the matchmaking server, [so] it is possible to use additional mods during gameplay."

The modder also says they "made it for fun," but hopefully it sees a proper release some day - if FromSoftware doesn't add a duos matchmaking option first, that is.

Elden Ring Nightreign director Junya Ishizaki recently admitted the team somewhat "neglected the duos aspect" while making the game since everyone was so focused on balancing trios to a tee. The lack of duos hasn't gone unnoticed, though, as Nightreign's Steam user reviews are the second-lowest in FromSoft history.

Of course, simply adding a two-player mode and balancing the game around two players are different things entirely (the latter probably takes a lot more time to get just right), but I can imagine it's worth it for the couples who want to spend their date nights in Elden Ring Nightreign without getting interrupted by a third-wheeler.

For now, you can check out Yui's other swell co-op mods on NexusMods.

Stay prepared with our guide on all Elden Ring Nightreign classes and tier list

As the 2025 papal conclave goes on in the Sistine Chapel following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, a news channel in Spain has used Dark Souls 3 footage to illustrate what could be going on.

So from my understanding, when all of the cardinals from around the world descend on the Sistine Chapel, they put it to a vote to decide who the next Pope will be, with a large majority of the vote needed to successfully elect a new person to the role. Although my knowledge is only from the film The Two Popes, as I have yet to see Conclave (although apparently a number of cardinals are watching it for advice), so perhaps I could have the wrong idea.

Spanish TV channel Cuatro aired a segment about the ongoing conclave, which was spotted by PC Gamer. While we can't get cameras into the chapel for the proceedings, they used footage from Dark Souls 3's Pontiff Sulyvahn boss fight with the player donning the Pope-like Archdeacon armor. While we can't confirm that papal candidates are in there throwing fireballs at each other, we can't deconfirm it either, can we? (Think about it, all the smoke…) Plus Pope Benedict's 'Pope Emeritus' title totally sounds like an RPG boss fight.

A Spanish news broadcast showing DS3 Pontiff footage when talking about the new Pope candidates LMAO 😭😭 from r/fromsoftware

The news report said (via machine translation) "The prediction markets are going viral these days in Italy. If we were to imagine a conclave with a video game aesthetic, it could be this battle for the throne of St. Peter," before cutting to a fantasy football pope app. We don't know when the cardinals are due to emerge from the chapel with a new pope, but we could be days away from Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa linking the first flame.

In Oblivion Remastered I returned to a village that has haunted me for years to relive one of the best side quests in the RPG.

Death, taxes, and someone demolishing a Dark Souls game in a really weird way to make you feel like a stupid scrub for struggling with a controller – these are the three constants in life. However, we pitiful controller players can rest easy, as one of the most impressive Soulslike feats has been thwarted.

Dr. Doot, PHD, lives up to his name, as he plays games by making a saxophone doot. And in the past he's conquered the likes of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Dark Souls 3, and even Elden Ring by not only completing them with a sax, but also doing it without being hit once. Not content with his dooting devastation, the woodwind wonder then set his eyes on the black sheep of the FromSoftware family, Dark Souls 2.

Things were going pretty well for Dr. Doot; he had managed to conquer the majority of the game, which is no easy feat. The sax run had managed to destroy the likes of The Rotten, Pursuer, and Covetous Demon. Dr. Doot eventually entered the final boss arena to dispatch the deadly duo of Throne Watcher and Throne Defender.

Things were going well, and the almighty dooter was all set to vanquish his foes and make way for Nashandra, only for him to walk straight into a bottomless pit and destroy what would've been a world's first run. A devastating loss. However, our brave sax soldier wasn't too discouraged, as he has already started another Dark Souls 2 run on Twitch, meaning that it's only a matter of time before Dark Souls 2 is conquered.

Dr. Doot will no doubt be taking their sax skills to the next FromSoftware game, so be sure to check out everything we know so far about Elden Ring Nightreign.

There's still another month to go until Elden Ring Nightreign and another year before The Duskbloods comes out, but you can occupy the wait with a much older FromSoft classic that's now (almost) fully playable in up to five-player co-op.

Modder extraordinaire Yui previously worked to bring seamless co-op mods to Elden Ring's base game, Armored Core 6, Dark Souls 3, and Sekiro - a hero to anyone looking to share those cloudy victories and brutal beat ups with a friend - but they've now taken their multiplayer talents to Dark Souls Remastered.

"Simply put, the mod allows you to play with friends throughout the entirety ofthe game with no restrictions," the Seamless Co-Op mod's description reads, and unlike the base game, "it's theoretically possible to play the game from the tutorial up to the final boss completely in one co-op session." Essentially, one of you won't be booted out of the game if you die or conquer an enemy boss.

Yui showed off what the mod looks like in action in a walkthrough video down below, and alas, that really is co-op Dark Souls. The modder does note that it's still in "early release," which means you might run into some unexpected bugs or errors.

Either way, it seems like a fun way to share the grim soulslike festivities with friends until Elden Ring Nightreign remixes the open-world epic and lets up to three players loose in the Lands Between on May 30. Frequent FromSoft director Hidetaka Miyazaki is also working on The Duskbloods, a PvPvE experience with eight-player matches, that's coming exclusively to the Nintendo Switch 2 next year.

See what other new games of 2025 are on the horizon.

FromSoftware's King's Field laid the blueprint for pretty much the entire Souls series – unsettling atmosphere, mysterious worlds, and brutal difficult – and while the Japan-only PS1 original is well-known among modern fans these days, the same can't be said for its similarly region-locked 2004 mobile port. That's just changed, however, as the once lost phone version has been found, preserved, and even translated into English.

This 2004 phone version of King's Field was developed internally by FromSoftware itself, and features different map layouts alongside some improved quality-of-life features, like quick-saving and automaps. It's still a first-person dungeon-crawler that might look primitive to a modern eye, but in the context of early '00s phones, it's darned impressive.

Many Japanese phone games of the era have effectively been lost to time, pending the efforts of preservationists importing these phones, hacking them, and dumping their contents for the world to see. Japanese feature phones of the era, also known as keitai, were a big deal, and many notable developers released full-on, proper entries in popular series that fans are trying to prevent from disappearing. The recent preservation of a canon Xenosaga spin-off is a notable recent example.

News of the preservation of this version of King's Field comes courtesy of keitai preservationist RockmanCosmo, who attributes this work to a user called Yuuku. You can check out the original post on Bluesky for a look at the game itself, as well as a guide on how to get an emulator that can handle it up and running.

If you're a connoisseur of retro video game memes, you might recognize King's Field for another reason: it's the game that provided the screenshot of two skeletons from an old gaming magazine captioned "the PlayStation can produce mind-boggling effects."

The quaint image of the undead warriors with that superlative description has become downright infamous over the years, and I was prepared to conclude this story with some terribly clever joke about how "mid-'00s Japanese phones can produce mind-boggling effects." But I've already been beaten to that gag. Many, many times. Ah well, it's once again proof that the internet can produce mind-boggingly similar jokes.

King's Field sadly did not make our list of the best FromSoftware games. I know, I know, I'm gonna bring it up at the next meeting.

A seamless co-op mod is finally in the works for Dark Souls: Remastered, and it's coming to the FromSoftware RPG from the creator behind the same Elden Ring mod.

Yui, the talented modder behind seamless co-op for Elden Ring, Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice, and more recently, Dark Souls 3, is back in the limelight with some big news – a seamless co-op mod is on the way for Dark Souls: Remastered. A new Patreon post from Yui highlights the upcoming mod, detailing some of the features that fans can expect, including everything from no multiplayer boundaries to PvP invasions, and generally allowing friends to play through the whole game together without restrictions (rather than being kicked out of a session after defeating a boss, for example).

"I'm pleased to announce that I have hit an important milestone in the development of the seamless co-op mod for Dark Souls: Remastered," writes Yui. "This is a a mod that aims to make the co-operative side of multiplayer in the game more fun. Features include: persisting multiplayer sessions after death, boss kills, teleports, etc., no multiplayer boundaries, a toggle for full progress synchronisation, PvP invasions, and optional difficulty modifiers."

As for Yui's progress on the mod so far, it sounds like there's still quite a while to go. "The mod is still early in development, but I will post updates here once more progress has been made," explains the creator. "I'm still actively working on Dark Souls 3 seamless co-op to get it more stable, and I'm also going through my backlog of old/neglected projects and giving them a rework. I'll make a video when there's a bit more to show."

The Elden Ring anime made entirely by fans of the RPG is almost here, and even Let Me Solo Her can't wait: "They're honestly cooking up something amazing"

The aesthetics of Infinity Nikki - the open-world dress-up game featuring pink-haired protagonists in a variety of elegant dresses - suggest to me a relatively lighthearted, fairytale narrative. But this week, I've learned that I might be completely wrong about that, thanks to an array of items from a previous game in the series that literally rival Dark Souls for their threatening, gothic lore implications.

Last week, a resetera thread highlighted a user-made quiz that tasked players with guessing whether a given item description came from the Dark Souls series or Infinity Nikki's 2017 predecessor, mobile game Love Nikki - Dress Up Queen. Everything I knew about the Nikki series comes from its most recent release, but I've already discussed its pink hair, elegant dresses, and Zelda-inspired open-world, so I assumed this quiz would not be all that difficult.

There are 96 questions to the quiz, but they're a simple A or B choice - each item description is from either Love Nikki or the Dark Souls trilogy. With only two options to pick, you'd think that a 50% score would be a given, but I'm here to tell you that that was simply not the case.

Now, I'm no Dark Souls lore buff, and I'm sure that a few classic items would be easy wins for long-term fans. But there's a good number of Nikki descriptions that are entirely at odds with my expectations of that series, and clash nicely with my actual expectations of Dark Souls. As a general rule, I found that anything that mentioned flames or ash was a FromSoft entry, but the words 'Dark' and 'Souls' were, somehow, no guarantee of the Chosen Undead's involvement in proceedings.

Eventually, having been bamboozled and hoodwinked by the mobile dress-up game many, many more times than I'd care to admit, I struggled to a final score of 56%. Given the balance of probabilities here, that's far closer to the statistically likely 50% than I would have liked - in fact, I was only six wrong answers away from that 50/50 ratio. It's an embarrassing final score, but I'll attempt to excuse myself by claiming that I simply wasn't prepared for how dark the Nikki games are. This cutesy dress-up game, it appears, is anything but cutesy.

Get studying with our list of the best FromSoftware games.

While there's no official animated adaptation of the RPG from FromSoftware yet, an Elden Ring anime made entirely by fans is arriving this summer – and even Let Me Solo Her is looking forward to it, apparently.

The fan-made Elden Ring anime was originally meant to drop late last year but was delayed to summer 2025 – a season that's just months away now. The production's director, who goes by "SteinsAlter" online, has been posting teasers since the project's initial reveal in 2024 – and his latest has managed to capture the attention of Let Me Solo Her, a legendary Souls player who rose to fame by defeating tough bosses on his own to help others.

Sharing SteinsAlter's most recent clip of the upcoming anime, Let Me Solo Her admits that he's seen some of the project "behind the scenes" himself and it's impressed him – to say the least. "I've had the pleasure of watching this team behind the scenes and they're honestly cooking up something amazing," writes the beloved player. "I hope you guys are excited as I am." Judging by fans' comments, I'd say it's safe to say they are indeed.

"This looks sick," reads one reply. "This is about to be amazing," writes another fan – and I'm inclined to agree. From Bayle to Blaidd, the fan-made animation seems to nail the design of Elden Ring's iconic cast and then some. I'm only sad that it's set to be just five minutes long once it releases, but who knows – the community might be blessed with a follow-up should SteinsAlter and his team's first launch prove as successful as it appears it will.

Elden Ring player becomes the first to beat every New Game+ difficulty back to back without getting hit, in an 8-playthrough run that somehow took under 12 hours

A prolific modder has brought full-fat co-op to yet another FromSoftware game. After enabling fans to play the likes of Elden Ring, Sekiro, and Armored Core 6 with pals, Yui has now repeated the trick with Dark Souls 3.

As they reveal on their Ko-Fi, an early testing version of Dark Souls 3: Seamless Co-op has been released on Nexus Mods. "There are still some final touches to do, but hopefully, people can play and have fun and report any issues that can be fixed to make the mod better for the future," they add.

Yui's mod essentially works by lifting all of the co-op barriers in place so you can play with the gang all the time instead of some of the time. Defeating bosses and clearing areas no longer sends an ally home, fog barriers that usually restrict the multiplayer zones are gone, and so on.

Of course, there's more to it than that. You can play with five other players in the open world, if someone dies they'll respawn in the same world at the last bonfire they rested at, and things like NPC dialogue and talk events are synchronized.

Alongside some quality-of-life improvements like a streamlined connection, you also have control over balancing as "this mod undoubtedly makes the game much easier." Expect larger health pools and new mechanics to ensure a sense of challenge remains. This is Dark Souls, after all. If you're feeling brave, you can also open yourself up to invasions for an all-out brawl.

Yui's Dark Souls 3: Seamless Co-op is free to download now.

That's one alternative to Elden Ring Nighreign if you want it.

Elden Ring and Soulsborne dataminer and content creator Zullie the Witch says they "don't know how to express how unprepared I was for the level of generosity I've received" after their community came together to help cover $15,000 in medical expenses in just one afternoon.

Zullie's YouTube channel is a veritable treasure trove of hidden details and cut content found in the likes of Elden Ring, the Dark Souls trilogy, Sekiro, and more, that chances are you'd never know about if not for their efforts. They're the same person who found that the Spirit Eels in Shadow of the Erdtree have little hidden legs, for example, and discovered that making Elden Ring's massive Great Dragon Greyoll move around like one of the action RPG's regular dragons can totally crash your game.

In a pinned comment on their latest YouTube video about Elden Ring Nightreign, Zullie said they were "reluctant" to ask for donations, but stated: "I am clawing my way out of a pit of depression, but the pit is deep and my claws are blunt. I'd been hoping to get back to making videos at the start of the month, only to find myself just slipping in at the end of it instead. Between that, the fact I haven't been able to secure a sponsor video in a while, and a looming $15,000 in medical expenses, I'm reluctant to do this, but I'm openly asking for donations."

Despite Zullie insisting that viewers shouldn't donate "anything that would actively trouble you to lose," within hours, they removed their donation links "because this has already smashed every expectation I had and I'm kind of overwhelmed by how quickly and emphatically you've all lent your support." A quick glance at their Ko-fi page illustrates just how many people have rallied together for the cause – it's packed with donations and wholesome messages that are constantly rolling in even as I write this story.

"I've always been a deeply anxious person, and a large emphasis of that anxiety lately has been financial issues, so I truly didn't anticipate seeing the bulk of those issues get crushed into nothing in the span of a single afternoon," Zullie writes. "I'd been deeply reluctant to ask for assistance, especially because I felt like I had avenues of addressing these problems that weren't available to the average person, like vying for sponsor money or trying harder to make more videos, but having finally asked, I don't know how to express how unprepared I was for the level of generosity I've received."

Zullie says the feeling is "conflicting, because I've always been ashamed of even slightly inconveniencing others," but ultimately concludes that "choosing to suffer in noble silence was still suffering." They add: "Thank you all so much, I'm hardly able to comprehend, let alone express, what I'm feeling right now."

Elden Ring Nightreign launches on May 30, and there's no doubt it's one of the most exciting new games of the year.

After almost two years of arduous attempts, one dedicated Dark Souls streamer has finally beaten arguably the hardest possible Soulsborne challenge anyone could dream of – a seven-game, back-to-back no-hit run at level 1.

We all know how hard the Dark Souls trilogy, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Demon's Souls are, but this challenge – the fabled level 1 God Run 3 – demands the total mastery of all seven games. To complete it, brave challengers must play all seven games without getting hit once, all while – you guessed it – remaining at character level 1. It's a task that'd be hard enough even for a single game – just imagine all the failed attempts you'd go through to get that one perfect run. Except, that's where God Run 3 takes things to the next level, because you have to get that perfect run of every single game consecutively. It's a back-to-back trial by fire where a single error will throw you back to the start, forcing you to play every game again.

Needless to say, this isn't a challenge for the faint of heart, and streamer Dinossindgeil went into it knowing this well. After all, he already completed a "standard" God Run 3 (without the level 1 limit) back in 2022, in an effort that took four months. This souped-up version of the challenge has obviously taken quite a bit longer – Dinossindgeil wrapped things up for good yesterday with Dark Souls 3, showing the Soul of Cinder who's boss in one final hurrah after having already smashed through the other six games flawlessly. Dinossindgeil is immediately overwhelmed with emotion as those glorious words, "Lord of Cinder Fallen" fill the screen, and I don't think anyone can blame him – it's been a very long, incredibly difficult journey. You can watch his tense final fight below.

I can't even imagine the mental fortitude Dinossindgeil must have in order to see these sorts of challenges through. You might remember that last June, one of his runs was "ended by memes" in Dark Souls 2's infamous Shrine of Amana, after a projectile inexplicably phased through a wall, hitting and killing him instantly. He'd already completed two games perfectly when this happened, forcing him to lose hours of progress for something you couldn't even call a mistake. When you consider that was just one of the failed attempts that's happened over the course of nearly two years… yikes. He certainly has more patience than me, and I've done full one-in-8,000 odds shiny hunts in Pokemon.

It's genuinely difficult to imagine this challenge ever being topped, but knowing the Soulsborne community, someone is going to come up with something even harder eventually. Who knows, perhaps in May, Dinossindgeil will do the whole thing again but include Elden Ring: Nightreign amongst the games he has to beat perfectly? After all this though, I feel like the guy has earned a break.

The random events in Elden Ring Nightreign are the funniest thing FromSoftware's ever cooked up, from a rain of ants to Morgott jump scares.

Elden Ring Nightreign's first Network Test is over, and it was hiding a feature that FromSoftware fans have been wanting for ages.

I'm talking about a DPS test dummy. A punching bag in the hub that you probably missed because the Elden Ring Nightreign servers crumbled for hours, prompting FromSoft to apologize and consider "an additional Network Test" in the future to make up for the disruption.

If stumbling servers blocked you from trying out the soulslike co-op spin off, then you can get the full rundown with GamesRadar's Elden Ring Nightreign preview. I wasn't lucky enough to go hands-on myself, but our resident Elden Ring sicko Austin Wood informed me that the opening hub area - as in, the moody castle where you jump into matchmaking from - houses both straw dummies and one of those clockwork-like wood puppets from the main game, letting you test out your moves, builds, and weapons, before properly jumping into the game's gruelling 30-40 minute matches. You can even parry and backstab the poor things.

It's a feature FromSoft players have been asking for since as far back as I can remember, but demands got noticeably louder when Lies of P - the best soulslike made outside of the Dark Souls House - had its own test dummy. It was a handy little feature to let you gauge your character's damage output or the range of certain moves, so I'm happy to see FromSoft borrowing from some games in the very subgenre it spawned.

Elden Ring Nightreign is the first FromSoftware game where co-op isn’t jank, and the team synergy already feels amazing.

The modder who bought full-fat co-op to several FromSoftware hits - via the Sekiro Online, Elden Ring seamless co-op, and Armored Core 6 co-op mods - is finally bringing their talents to Dark Souls 3, letting you share the joy/despair of beating/dying to the game's super tough boss fights with friends.

"After a long hiatus - I'm pleased to announce that I have developed a functional version of the seamless co-op mod for Dark Souls 3," the modder announced on their Ko-Fi page. "This is a a mod that aims to make the co-operative side of multiplayer in the game more fun."

Of course, Dark Souls 3 already has some form of multiplayer. You can summon other players to help out temporarily, but they'll disappear after a short while. This upcoming mod is turning the game into a start-to-finish co-op affair with "persisting multiplayer sessions after death, boss kills, teleports, etc." There's also be a toggle for "full progress synchronisation" and "optional difficulty modifiers" that let you increase enemy health or turn on friendly fire, for example.

It might sound a little too good to be true, but Yui even published a little co-op clip running through Lothric Castle as evidence. "Play with friends from the tutorial to the very end of the game, with synchronised progress, and no resummoning or interruptions," the video's description reads - see it in action below!

"The mod isn't quite finished yet and there are a few bugs to iron out and quality of life features to add - however I'm expecting to have it sometime soon," the modder explained. If their previous work is anything to go by, you'll definitely want to keep an eye on this one.

Check out our top Elden Ring tips if you're making your way through the Lands Between again.

Elden Ring Nightreign is carrying over a lot from its predecessors, but it's also saying goodbye to an iconic messaging system that's been a part of some of FromSoftware's most popular games. 

Elden Ring Nightreign's one and only trailer had so many familiar sights. The Lands Between. Some returning enemies. Bosses ripped straight from Dark Souls, like the Nameless King. But it also featured an equal amount of all-new stuff, from three-player co-op to an entirely new structure set across three in-game days. 

Those differences extend to some fan favorite features, however. "You can still see the ghosts of other players, but the ability to leave messages has been removed," Elden Ring Nightreign director Junya Ishizaki told IGN Japan, per machine translation. In games like Dark Souls, you'd be able to leave small messages on the ground that would then show up in other players' games.

Why is the feature being removed if it's so beloved, then? Because Nightreign has players fight through rounds that take roughly 40 minutes to tackle, leaving little time for anything but bashing enemies. Ishizaki has talked before about how Elden Ring Nightreign is essentially a "short RPG" that condenses what FromSoft does best into quicker multiplayer rounds. That new structure also means that fallen foes won't revive mid-match, even when you stop off at a site of grace, to keep everything moving. 

I'll miss seeing notes from other players, whether they're tricking me into jumping to my death, leaving trolling messages, or legitimately trying to help me overcome a challenge. But I guess you'll have two other player's voices in your ear the entire time - as long as you actually play in co-op - so it's not too much of a loss. 

This might be a good time to get to grips with the best FromSoftware games.

Sony has been in talks to acquire Kadokawa, the massive anime and manga publisher that just so happens to own FromSoftware as well, for weeks now, but the negotiations haven't ended in a total buyout as many expected it to. Sony is instead set to become the media conglomerate's largest shareholder.

Rather than an acquisition, the two companies today "signed a strategic capital and business alliance agreement" that will make Sony its "largest shareholder, holding approximately 10% of its shares, including the shares Sony previously acquired in February 2021," on January 7, 2025, according to a press release.

With the buffed-up investment, the duo intends "to further strengthen our collaboration to maximize both companies' IP value globally and facilitate wider and deeper collaboration, such as potential joint investments in the content field, joint discovery of new creators, and joint promotion of further media mixes of both companies' IP." What that means specifically won't be clear for a while, but the announcement mentions the possibility of turning Kadokawa's extensive library into live-action films or series, and distributing its countless anime globally, probably via Crunchyroll. 

Despite being a major player in the video game world, FromSoftware isn't directly mentioned in the announcement, probably because the Dark Souls studio is still a relatively small piece of Kadokawa's pie, which has its fingers in everything from adult books to physical merch. Sony only mentions that it can "further expand publishing of Kadokawa's games." Still, this makes a potential Elden Ring adaptation more likely after George R.R. Martin shot down film rumors earlier this year.

Either way, this wasn't the full acquisition many were expecting. Kadokawa itself had confirmed that the two companies were talking about a total buyout, so what changed? Well, as we reported at the time, there was also some behind-the-scenes chatter that Sony wasn't interested in the non-entertainment, non-nerdy, non-things-like-Souls parts of Kadokawa, and was hesitant to dip its toes into businesses it had little experience with. But that's all guesswork - I wasn't actually in the room.

Elden Ring is officially FromSoftware’s biggest hit, outselling the entire Dark Souls series by two million copies. 

Elden Ring: Nightreign appears to bring the worlds of Dark Souls and Elden Ring together for the first time, as eagle-eyed fans have spotted iconic Lordan residents in The Lands Between.

Elden Ring: Nightreign was announced at The Game Awards last night - it's a standalone, three-player adventure played in 40-minute bursts, but its trailer also revealed something particularly interesting for Dark Souls lore-heads. Iconic characters from the Souls trilogy were spotted in the video - the Firekeeper from Dark Souls 1 and the Nameless King from Dark Souls 3 were both spotted in the video.

Clearly, the question is whether this means that the worlds of Dark Souls and Elden Ring are interconnected. Clearly, they're not the same worlds, but it's undeniable that these characters are out of place in Nightreign. The answer to that question, however, is a bit complicated. In an interview with IGN, game director Junya Ishizaki says that "we'd like fans to think of Nightreign as an Elden Ring spin-off," where "the story is completely separate and parallel to the world of Elden Ring's."

If you need a lore reason for that, you'll find it in the shattering. Ishizaki and co "didn't want to encroach" on the story of Elden Ring too much, so Nightreign will "coexist" in a "completely separate branch of the Elden Ring story," which the Shattering is a key part of, essentially splitting the worlds into parallel versions of one another. Automaton also suggests that those Dark souls enemies are "representing creatures that have strayed from another universe" - guest stars, rather than the lead antagonists, it seems.

Given the Sekiro vibes that are also present in Nightreign, this might be a good time to get to grips with the best FromSoftware games.

Sony has been eyeing up a potential acquisition of Kadokawa, an enormous Japanese media conglomerate that owns the likes of Dark Souls developer FromSoftware, Danganronpa studio Spike Chunsoft, and more, and many of the conglomerate's employees are reportedly "thrilled at the prospect" of it.

Following reports of Sony and Kadokawa entering talks of a potential acquisition last month, Kadokawa quickly confirmed that while it had "received an initial letter of intent to acquire the Company's shares," nothing had actually been confirmed at that point. 

However, it'd be a massive deal if it does go through. Kadokawa doesn't just own multiple game development studios and publishers, but also animation studios, book and manga publishers, and more. In a new report from Bunshun (which has been translated by Automaton), one veteran employee claims that others in the company are very excited since they're unhappy with its current leadership under CEO Takeshi Natsuno.

"The people around me are thrilled at the prospect of an acquisition by Sony. That's because there's a certain number of employees who are dissatisfied with the Natsuno administration, which didn't even bother to hold a press conference after peoples' personal information was leaked in the cyberattack," the veteran employee says, referring to a major cyberattack that occurred earlier this year. "They expect that if Sony were to acquire the company, they would get rid of the president first."

Even if employees themselves are keen, however, one analyst suggests that it might not be the best move for the company. In the same report, economic analyst Takahiro Suzuki predicts that Kadokawa's management would "become stricter" and the company would "lose its independence" if it was acquired. Suzuki goes as far to say that the acquisition "would be a bad choice" if Kadokawa still wants to "keep developing their business as freely as they have until now." 

Suzuki's remarks seem to run parallel to discussions over future potential FromSoftware exclusivity deals a la Bloodborne, though even if Sony does acquire Kadokawa and FromSoftware with it, it's not guaranteed that the company would rush to throw away the massive multiplatform audience that the likes of Elden Ring have cultivated. 

With Sony in talks to acquire Elden Ring developer's parent company, one investor reportedly jokes that the cost is worth it just to get director Hidetaka Miyazaki.

After online rumors swirled around last week, Kadokawa has since confirmed that Sony is in fact interested in acquiring the Japanese media conglomerate known for its anime and manga publishing, as well as its majority 70% share in FromSoftware, the studio behind Elden Ring and Bloodborne. The deal is far from being set in stone, though, as Japanese analysts are now predicting that Sony could pull out of discussions due to Kadokawa's costly price tag.

That's according to Japan's Toyo Keizai - based on translations from Automaton - which reports that Sony might stop short of outright buying Kadokawa. While Sony is reportedly more interested in the company's anime and video game divisions, Kadokawa is said to be shopping its wares altogether, including its non-nerdy business ventures. Kadokawa also publishes adult books, television magazines, and more, for example, and the entire company is estimated to be worth over 640 billion yen, or around $4.2 billion, according to Macquarie Capital Securities Japan.

Sony has, of course, laid down that amount of money in the past. Buying Destiny maker Bungie also cost it $3.6 billion, for example. However, as Automaton points out, Sony has recently been dropping mountains of cash elsewhere - namely with reports of £1 billion (roughly $1.27 billion) buyouts of classic music rights from Queen and Pink Floyd that probably put a dent in the company's wallet. That means if a bidding war were to begin between Sony and Kadokawa's other main shareholders - Korea's Kakao or China's Tencent - then the PlayStation maker would likely back out completely. 

Some investors reckon the money would be worth it solely to get Dark Souls maestro Hidetaka Miyazaki onboard, but for now, that's all purely speculation as neither company has publicly reached a decision.

In the meantime, see our new games of 2024 and beyond guide. 

Bandai Namco is serving up some stunning new merch for FromSoftware stans, this time in the form of a goblet and tankard representing Dark Souls' most iconic boss duo - none other than Ornstein and Smough.

If you're like me and have spent your fair share of grueling moments dying to Anor Londo's resilient knight and executioner combo, you may be interested in some sort of trophy marking your emergence from beyond the fog wall. That's where Bandai Namco's official Ornstein goblet and Smough tankard come in, as seen on the company's storefront. Both cups serve as a beautiful addition to any player's glassware, functional and ornate.

They're not cheap, however - the Ornstein goblet will set you back £39.99 / €44.99 while the Smough tankard comes in at a hefty £59.99 / €69.99. For those FromSoftware fans who prefer Elden Ring over Dark Souls, there's a third cup, too: a tankard themed around Starscourge Radahn, the mighty demigod who took on Malenia herself. All three options are stunning, in my opinion, featuring a high level of attention to detail.

The cups are also all made of resin with stainless steel inserts, making them a perfect addition to either your shelf or cupboard. They're good as merch to just view, or can actually be used as glassware thanks to the steel interior. The only difficulty presented by the cups is having to decide which one (or two) to buy before they drop in February 2025 - now if you'll excuse me, I have a very important financial decision to make regarding a goblet and two tankards.

Elden Ring and Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki teases that FromSoftware is already working on "various new projects" as he apologizes for the "lengthy wait" for Shadow of the Erdtree

As reports of Sony apparently being in talks to buy out FromSoftware owner Kadokawa surface online, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has issued an alert that "unclear information regarding acquisition has arisen."

It was just yesterday that Reuters reported that Sony is apparently in talks to acquire Kadokawa Corporation – a huge media conglomerate that owns the likes of Dark Souls and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, as well as Danganronpa and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon developer Spike Chunsoft. Now, as spotted by Automaton, the TSE explains that it issues alerts "about securities or its issuers if it deems necessary to inform investors," noting that in the cases of "unclear information (i.e., a leak or rumor)," an alert can be put out if the rumor is "deemed likely to have material impact on investment decisions." 

It seems like that could already be happening with Kadokawa, as shares have surged since the publication of the initial report, having closed 16% higher today, according to Reuters. Perhaps this is why the alert is being issued now, and it seems even more relevant after a new statement from Kadokawa, which confirms that, while it has "received an initial letter of intent to acquire the Company's shares," ultimately, nothing has been nailed down just yet. 

"There are some articles on the acquisition of Kadokawa Corporation (hereinafter 'the Company') by Sony Group Inc," it begins. "However, this information is not announced by the Company. The Company has received an initial letter of intent to acquire the Company's shares, but no decision has been made at this time. If there are any facts that should be announced in the future, we will make an announcement in a timely and appropriate manner."

For now, we'll just have to wait and see, but there's no doubt that Sony taking ownership of Kadokawa would be huge. If it does, we can only hope that there's a greater chance of the Bloodborne PS5 remaster everyone wants finally happening. 

Former Blizzard boss says "the only thing bigger" than Sony buying FromSoftware would be if it bought Valve or Nintendo.

Sony is reportedly in talks to acquire Elden Ring and Dark Souls parent company Kadokawa Corporation.

According to a report from Reuters, ongoing talks suggest that Sony is attempting to acquire Kadokawa, the Japanese conglomerate that owns Elden Ring, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne developer FromSoftware. While both companies declined to comment to Reuters, Kadokawa's share price rose 23% after the report broke.

While Sony may have its eyes most firmly fixed on FromSoft, the acquisition would have further reaching goals. For one thing, Kadokawa is understood to have 26 games in development across its portfolio (20 console and six mobile). But the company is also a significant producer of anime and manga - its most recent high-profile release in those spheres was Delicious in Dungeon, which released on Netflix in the first half of this year, and is set to return for a second season.

Of course, this isn't the first time that Sony and Kadokawa will have worked closely together. Bloodborne was, and remains, a PS4 exclusive - despite a ream of PS4-era remasters and re-releases, the game is yet to arrive on any new platforms, despite ongoing popularity and several community porting efforts. If Sony were to acquire Kadokawa, and FromSoft with it, I can't imagine that the crowd baying for some kind of return to Yharnam would get any quieter. After all, even Dark Souls director and FromSoft icon Hidetaka Miyazaki knows "for a fact these guys want a Bloodborne PC port."

Is this the start of an exciting new era for our list of the best FromSoftware games?

A genius developer and modder has "demastered" Demon's Souls after being inspired by the original PlayStation console and its FromSoftware titles.

Morgan, known on Nexus Mods as "thegreatgramcracker," is behind the nostalgia-inducing little mod, and boy is it something impressive. "This mod for Demon's Souls changes all visuals in the game to be inspired by early FromSoftware games such as Shadow Tower on the PS1," he explains in a post showcasing the demastered edition of Demon's Souls, complete with custom-made PlayStation box art.

His post continues, highlighting some of the mod's qualities: "Included is a PSX shader, low quality textures, Pixel Art Loading Screens, and much more!" Attached to Morgan's text is also a trailer-style video featuring clips of the mod in action, from its gameplay to its stylized loading screens. It's honestly stunning, serving as a charming reminder of some of the best retro games of all time - and I'm not the only one who thinks so, either.

"This is rad as hell," reads one comment on Morgan's post. "I'm gonna need this ASAP," says another fan in response to the mod's trailer. After having "spent the past 8 months working on this," I'm sure the creator is happy to see our shared excitement - now if you'll excuse me, I have a mod to download. If you're also interested in exploring the demastered mod yourself, you can download it now via Nexus Mods for free.

Nexus Mods clarifies its stance on paid mods, name-dropping Bethesda's attempts with Fallout 4, Skyrim, and Starfield: "Modding should be a pursuit of passion"

There are a lot of ways to die in Dark Souls, some of which are much more likely than others, but it's safe to say that getting shoved off a rooftop by a rat isn't generally at the top of the list. 

Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened to Twitch streamer Elajjaz while in the middle of a no-death randomizer run of Dark Souls: Remastered. As the challenge name suggests, both items and enemies are all mixed up so that the streamer never knows what's lurking around each corner, and each death means he has to start over. Deaths are to be expected – after all, you could walk into an area packed with huge, aggressive foes in place of some small little weaklings who'd normally be there, but with that in mind, it's pretty surprising that Elajjaz's 66th attempt was ended by one small rat, which you'd normally dispatch in one or two hits.

Almost seven hours into the run, as Elajjaz explores the Oolacile Township and goes to pick up an item from a rooftop, the evil little rodent sets its sights on him. Before the streamer can detect the danger he's in, it begins quietly following him up a nearby staircase and suddenly appears behind him. From there, it's already over – its first attack traps him in a stun lock, and he's powerless to dodge the rodent's onslaught as he's gradually pushed to his death. It hurts to watch.

It'd be an awful way to go out at any point during one of these runs, but the fact that Elajjaz was over halfway through the bosses (he'd beaten 15 out of 26) rubs some extra salt into the wound. You really can't blame him for rocking back and forth in his chair and holding his head in his hands. Elajjaz has since died a few more times and is currently on his 75th attempt – he'll no doubt be a little more careful around the rodents from now on, though.

Dark Souls 2's most infamous area puts a stop to a FromSoftware no-hit level 1 God Run, as streamer's valiant marathon is "ended by memes."

Dark Souls 2 fans are fondly recalling their favorite moments in the black sheep of the series, and it's led to a mini-resurgence of sorts for the game on social media.

Dark Souls 2 is either secretly the best Dark Souls game, or the worst modern FromSoftware game, depending on who you ask. It's often regarded as the black sheep of the Dark Souls series, and is chiefly distinguished as the one Dark Souls game that FromSoftware studio president Hidetaka Miyazaki didn't direct. In short, there are a lot of conflicting opinions.

This week has weirdly turned into a celebration of Dark Souls 2. It all began with the tweet just below, which fondly recalls how Dark Souls 2's 'Royal Rat Authority' boss is in fact a dog, and not, in fact, a rat. Yes, there are rats very much present in the fight, but the head honcho of the entire battle is undoubtedly an actual dog.

From that jumping-off point, Dark Souls 2 fans have been pouring one out for the game by reflecting on their favorite moments. It turns out there's some frankly wild stuff in the FromSoftware game, in particular the pigs in the Majula hub area. If you kill all the pigs repeatedly, they'll all turn into one massive super pig that'll hunt you down and make the safe area very much not safe.

There are also, I'm thrilled to report, trees that moan if you strike them in Dark Souls 2. The Invisible Woods has trees with faces, and if you hit them they'll moan (or scream, depending on who you ask). The Twitter user below, though, points out that the Crown of the Sunken King DLC has a tree that'll repair your equipment, but only if you strike it at a particular angle with a whip. Just Dark Souls 2 things.

One of my personal favorite revelations from this whole trend has to be Sellsword Luet. Dark Souls 2 posits that what if one wasn't a sellsword because they sold their services to someone, but were instead a sellsword because they literally sold their sword? That's Sellsword Luet in a nutshell - an NPC summon who fights with two massive shields because they sold their sword.

Dark Souls 2's most infamous area puts a stop to a FromSoftware no-hit level 1 God Run, as streamer's valiant marathon is "ended by memes."

One Dark Souls player got absolutely pummelled in Sen's Fortress, banded around like a ball between the huge swinging axes, and yet somehow they inexplicably emerged alive.

I hate Sen's Fortress. You hate Sen's Fortress. We all hate Sen's Fortress. The tricky tower of swinging axes shows mercy to no one - except, perhaps, with the odd caveat of the lucky Dark Souls player just below, who found themselves stood atop one of the swinging axes when they suddenly got pushed off a walkway by another trap.

Sen’s Funhouse from r/fromsoftware

The player begins by getting thrown back by a swinging axe - something we've all suffered through countless times. They then get pushed off the walkway by another axe, so you'd be forgiven for thinking they're in for a guaranteed death. But just at the last moment, they somehow fall onto another swinging axe, which saves them from death and gives them a comfy spot in which to chill for a moment.

They actually manage to time their next roll to perfection so they gracefully step off the swinging axe and onto the walkway just beneath. It would've been really painful if they'd missed the platform after all that and just fell to the deaths in the depths of Sen's Fortress. This sure is 'Sen's Funhouse' alright - I just wish it was this fun all the time.

I'm not alone in having expected the player to die after the second axe hit. "Not sure which is more amazing, the fact you got on one alive or the fact you got off alive," reads one comment. "I thought you were gonna get hit again right at the end there lol," another adds, while a third reads, "Many many years ago this happened to me, I did not land on the [beam] below..."

Dark Souls 2's most infamous area puts a stop to a FromSoftware no-hit level 1 God Run, as streamer's valiant marathon is "ended by memes."

A Soulslike streamer has had his brutal level 1 God Run of seven FromSoftware games ended thanks to Dark Souls 2 and its most notorious area, and a projectile that decided to ignore the fact that walls exist.

Challenge runs of Soulslike games are always popular – whether it's people smashing through the entirety of Elden Ring's new Shadow of the Erdtree DLC without using Scadutree Blessings, or even playing Dark Souls 2 without walking. However, perhaps nothing is harder than God Run 3 – the most recent iteration of an agonizing challenge which tasks players with completing all three Dark Souls games, as well as Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring, back to back and without getting hit once. Fail, and no matter how many games you've completed, you're sent right back to the start. 

God Run 3 is extreme, but not impossible. Streamer Dinossindgeil actually completed it back in 2022, but more recently he's taken things up a notch by doing it all again with a level 1 character, making him as weak as can be when fighting field enemies and bosses, and therefore making everything riskier. However, it wasn't a boss that ended his recent attempt, but a random mage in the Shrine of Amana that managed to defy all laws of reality and send a magic projectile at him through a wall, killing him instantly. Yikes.

In a heartbreaking clip, you can see Dinossindgeil deftly avoiding the mage's attacks as it relentlessly fires out long-range magic which could hit him from across the other side of the room if he wasn't careful. Attempting to escape the situation, Dinossindgeil retreats into a rocky tunnel behind him, which should have blocked any more projectiles from hitting him. The key word there is 'should,' because somehow, one inexplicably phases through one of the rocks on the wall, and hits him before he realizes what's happening. Considering he'd already completed both Elden Ring and Dark Souls 1 before this, a massive amount of progress was lost. 

Sharing his pain on Twitter, the streamer says the run was "ended by memes." Shrine of Amana has always been despised by players, and is by many considered the worst location in Dark Souls 2 – this 10-year-old Reddit post simply titled "Fuck the Shrine of Amana and everything it stands for," can tell you that much. In fact, when entering the area before his untimely death, Dinossindgeil had said: "Dark Souls 2 would be a better game if you removed this entire area." Perhaps it heard him and got angry. 

Meanwhile, plenty of Soulslike enjoyers are fighting their way through Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and there's no doubt that it's tough even without any additional challenges. However, one player has been "robbed" of the final boss fight after a glitch inexplicably saw it take 32,000 damage out of nowhere, handing them the win. Some would probably call that lucky considering how difficult it is otherwise.

If you love Soulslikes, be sure to check out our list of 10 games like Dark Souls that will test your survivability.

What one Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree player claims is "hands down the most hidden weapon I've ever found" in a FromSoftware game has Dark Souls 2 fans crawling out of the woodwork to remind us all about its infamous pickaxe.

This article contains minor Elden Ring spoilers.

In a post on Reddit, one user shared their discovery of Euporia, a well-hidden Twinblade that they stumbled on deep within Shadow of the Erdtree. Their journey sounds like a perilous one, starting out with messages that worried could be "luring me to my doom," before moving to several jumping puzzles including one that led them straight out of a window. Two elevators and a giant scorpion fight later, they ended up at a metal door that looked like the start of a boss arena, only to find Euporia waiting for them inside.

This is hands down the most hidden weapon I've ever found in a From Game from r/Eldenring

The weapon isn't the only reason you'd head down this convoluted route - apparently you can find a Scadutree Fragment or two down there - but this intrepid explorer said it's exactly this kind of long-hidden discovery that encourages them to enter every FromSoft game without any help. They also claim that this is one of the best-hidden weapons they've ever come across - a suggestion that has a few Dark Souls 2 fans hitting back.

The Pickaxe is a punchy Hammer-type weapon found in the runt of the Soulsborne litter. Unfortunately, while it might be pretty fun, it's also incredibly difficult to find - in order to acquire it, you'll need to lure a boar all the way from the Royal Army Campsite bonfire in Brightstone Cove Tseldora to nearly the other end of the level. The whole way, you'll need to ensure that the boar doesn't die or drop aggro, meaning you'll likely need to fight enemies on the way, or already have cleared the entire way. Eventually, you'll get to a room where you're ambushed by spiders (who you'll also probably need to kill). In that room are mushrooms, which, if eaten by the boar, will reveal the pickaxe.

If that sounds complicated, it only gets worse when you see it in action. The whole process lasts upwards of five minutes, and in that time you can't get too far away from the boar or enable it to get close enough to hit you too many times. You'll need to lead it down corridors, off ledges, through doorways and hidden passages, and eventually across a spike-filled pit in order to get it to its meal, all while having taken out every monster that might be waiting for you on that journey. Sadly for the pig, once its job is done it'll still be aggroed, so you'll likely have little choice but to dispatch it, even after all you've been through.

Unfortunately, while the Pickaxe seems pretty popular (among those determined enough to find it), the jury is still out on Euporia. It certainly looks impressive in action, but the charge-up time has some early adopters wondering if it's entirely worth it. 

Nevertheless, Euporia makes it into our list of the best Shadow of the Erdtree weapons.

While most Soulslike players have been keeping themselves busy with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, one dedicated player has somehow managed to get themselves through Dark Souls 2 without using their left control stick at all, outright banning walking, going up ladders, and turning themselves around freely.

If you don't believe it, YouTuber Ymfah has shown off the entire run and all of its trials in a new video, in which they demonstrate all the clever ways to get around using the left stick. Not being able to walk doesn't mean you're not able to move – in its most basic form, the challenge essentially substitutes walking for attacking or backstepping. When you attack, your character moves forward, so you can still traverse the map by swinging wildly over and over again until you get to your destination, or by going in reverse and hopping backwards.

Except, it's not that simple. As Ymfah discovered in the very opening of the run, you still need to figure out how to turn yourself around, lest you get stuck throwing hands at a wall for the rest of time. Thankfully, this can be achieved in a few different ways – locking on to an enemy will make you turn towards them, and you can very, very slowly turn around by moving backwards and forwards (by attacking and then backstepping) on an incline. The latter was absolutely crucial for the YouTuber at the start of the challenge, since there just aren't enough enemies to lock onto in the opening area to successfully get to the door to start creating your character. 

After that point, turning gets easier, as Ymfah picks the Bandit class which gets access to a bow, allowing them to spin around using it whenever they want (assuming they're not already holding another weapon and a shield, that is). The Binoculars acquired a bit later do the exact same thing, too. As you'd expect though, the trials are far from over – beating beefier foes is a massive effort when your character isn't able to be as nimble as usual. Mercifully, there are sometimes Phantoms (NPC summons) to help, but every area demands a well-thought-out strategy, and even later in the run after grinding out levels to become a powerful magic wielder, Ymfah hit a number of brick walls with bosses.

Bosses aside though, one of the biggest hurdles throughout was the inability to use ladders. On multiple occasions, Ymfah had to plan out totally new routes after being met with self-imposed dead ends. This was such a major problem that shortly after fighting the boss duo of Dragonriders in Drangleic Castle, Ymfah had to summon a real player to go up a ladder for them and fight a bunch of enemies, in order to activate a lift so that they could get upstairs and continue. Hey, someone might have had to walk, but it wasn't them. 

Admittedly, Ymfah did have to pull off some slightly dubious save file shenanigans towards the end of the run, after yet another ladder seemed to present a dead end. By loading up a different save file and activating the Bonfire checkpoint after the ladder they were being held back by, then overwriting their challenge run file and quitting out of the game after entering a boss arena, they were able to use an Aged Feather to return to 'the last Bonfire rested at.' At this point, the game determined this to be the Bonfire accessed on the other save file, allowing them to continue the run without walking at all on the actual run's save. It's very complicated, but sort of falls under the same category as having another player go up the ladder to fetch a lift down, just with more hurdles.

All in all, it's an incredibly tedious challenge that I can't imagine anyone would want to try at home. So much so, you might assume that Ymfah was the first to even think about taking it on, but it's worth noting that one smaller YouTuber, Qui, actually beat them to it around three years ago, so shout out to her. 

While you're here, be sure to check out the top 10 games like Dark Souls that will test your survivability.

Amid thousands of recent video game developer layoffs, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki reassured fans that he won't let the same unfold at the iconic studio behind Elden Ring.

The past couple of years, despite boasting some monumental game releases like Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield, have been anything but kind to many developers. From mass layoffs at EA to hundreds more at Take-Two Interactive, various companies have seen countless members of staff made redundant in 2023 and into 2024. News of such cuts is always disillusioning, to say the least, but there are still studios finding success, retaining staff, and even growing despite industry hardships. 

One of those is none other than FromSoftware, the company behind Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Armored Core, and most recently Elden Ring. Speaking to PC Gamer in a recent interview, Miyazaki shared hits thoughts regarding these widespread layoffs. "Speaking to myself and this company, I want to say that this is not something I would wish on the staff at FromSoftware in a million years," says the beloved dev. "I'm pretty sure our parent company Kadokawa understands that and shares that view."

In fact, not only has FromSoftware remained unaffected by the consistent waves of layoffs, the company has actually grown. Since starting work on Elden Ring, the studio's expanded so much that it's able to comfortably develop two titles at once, as demonstrated by Armored Core 6. 

Miyazaki cites late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata while sharing his thoughts on layoffs: "I think it was the old ex-president of Nintendo, Iwata-san, who said that 'people who are afraid of losing their jobs are afraid of making good things.' I'm paraphrasing that, but I totally share this view." The FromSoftware dev continues, assuring fans that the corporation overseeing his own team is aware of his thoughts: "I think it's true. And I think the people at Kadokawa, our parent company, understand that I hold this view very strongly."

"While we can't say 100% – we can't say with complete certainty what the future's going to hold for From and Kadokawa – at least as long as this company is my responsibility, that's something I would not let happen," Miyazaki concludes. "So hopefully our players and our fans can take a little bit of assurance from that." I think it's safe to say that the Souls community certainly does take comfort in knowing the mastermind devs behind their favorite games aren't at risk - or at least, I definitely do.

Hidetaka Miyazaki sparks hopes for better co-op in future FromSoftware games, says they'll "consider" ideas like Elden Ring co-op mod with 3.7 million downloads

The macabre and murky world of Dark Souls is the setting of a brand new manga titled Dark Souls: Redemption, which aims to channel the spooky, scary vibes of the classic fantasy games with an all-new, original story.

Dark Souls: Redemption was announced by surprise on social media by publisher Yen Press, which also shared a pre-order page for the manga, which is due out in August. And it's a welcome surprise indeed for FromSoftware fans who may have been hoping for something different from Elden Ring's manga adaptation, which cranked the game's inherent silliness to 11 for an adventure that put comedy and parodies first.

In the case of Dark Souls: Redemption, writer Julien Blondel and artist Shonen will tell the tale of a woman whose dive into the brutal, uncompromising world of Dark Souls somewhat mirrors the path followed by players - but with a strange twist that's a perfect fit for the creeping dread that characterizes the atmosphere of the games.

"Doomed by a past long forgotten, resolved to save what she once held dear. The flame is lit. A nameless woman wakes. Roused from the tomb by a past she cannot recall, she sets out into a barren, unfamiliar landscape," reads Yen Press' description of Dark Souls: Redemption.

"The protector follows. Bound by oath and honor, he safeguards her against the dangers that draw near with the same ferocity he does the secrets of his past," it continues. "The Gray Cinders gather in their tower, called by the fire to complete their solemn duty. A colossus, incarnate of death, stirs with the bones beneath the scarred grounds. And a nightmare-scourge of a bygone era-returns to exact its toll. The fate of this land hangs in the balance, as their journey unfolds in this original Dark Souls story!"

Even better for fans hungry for more Dark Souls content, Yen Press is billing this as Dark Souls: Redemption Vol. 1, presumably indicating at least at the likelihood of a second volume on the horizon.

Dark Souls: Redemption Vol. 1 goes on sale August 27.

There's plenty of creepy manga (and western comics) on our list of the best horror comics of all time.

A Dark Souls Remastered mod called Re-Remastered is remastering the classic game's remaster, enhancing almost every visual aspect of the Kingdom of Lordran.

Dark Souls Re-Remastered overhauls significant parts of 2018's remastered package, even restoring some technical qualities from the 2012 Prepare To Die Edition. The mod fixes bugs from the base game, enhances water reflections, adds more grass and foliage "(where needed)," and upscales textures for various weapons, armor, and bosses. 

The most transformational change made in Re-Remastered comes from "porting the visual look of [Prepare To Die Edition]" with restored lighting and textures ported over from that release. New dynamic lighting added across the entire game, as opposed to the baked lighting seen previously, also makes a stark difference here, especially in outside areas where rays of light literally cut through Lordran's oppressive shadows. Oh, and there are "better trees" here too. Rejoice!

There are some other, smaller enhancements in Re-Remastered - you can now see the loathed Blighttown from Firelink Shrine, for example - but you can check out all the differences and download the project on NexusMods. 

Modder fromsoftservce says the mod took 8 months and over 1000 hours of work to complete, but despite the hefty workload, "1.0 is just the start" because the project was such a "labor of love.'

Dark Souls multiplayer enjoyers might want to stay weary, though. Fromsoftserve explains that they've been playing online without problems or a ban since the mod doesn't mess with the game's netcode, but they still warn fans to "play online at your own risk" just in case. 

This massive new Dark Souls modding tool was an “absolute game-changer” for the Fromsoftware classic.

Major Twitch streamer Kai Cenat has announced his intention to marathon his way through Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and the Dark Souls trilogy, following his recent Elden Ring odyssey.

Earlier this month, Cenat's Elden Ring playthrough made headlines as he spent 167 hours making his way through The Lands Between. 24 of those hours - and 400 of his 1,700 total deaths - were taken up by Malenia, and there were several points where it seemed like the streamer might give up entirely. Since his eventual victory, however, it seems that Cenat has been firmly bitten by the FromSoftware bug, as he now plans to make his way through most of other Soulslike games.

On a recent stream, the streamer confirmed that he planned to marathon Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, suggesting that it might take him even longer to complete than the base game. After that, he plans to take on Sekiro, a game which many have suggested he's likely to find even harder than Elden Ring.

After a palette cleanser with Rockstar's 2006 cult classic Bully, Cenat plans to move on to Bloodborne, before rounding out his runback of FromSoft classics with the Dark Souls trilogy - I look forward to his attempts against Ornnstein and Smough. Sadly there's no sign of Demon's Souls in either its original or remade form, but perhaps when all this is done, Cenat will eventually be compelled to dig that out too.

Ok, Bully isn't on there, but otherwise this is a pretty classic rundown of the best FromSoftware games.

It turns out Sif from Dark Souls has a real-life counterpart: a dog called Pinto Bean.

As first uncovered by The Dodo in the video below, there's a dog out there in the world that actually loves fighting with a real sword. This dog is Pinto Bean, a lovely canine companion who, after watching hours upon hours of her owners staging mock sword battles, decided to pick up a weapon and have a go herself.

This thing goes absolutely batshit wild the moment it gets a sword. It's less 'style' with Pinto Bean's swordplay and more 'all out attack,' as the dog whips its head back and forth to try and just batter her foes with her sword, rather than deftly outmanoeuvring them.

It's weird to note Pinto Bean only properly goes after people with her sword if they have a sword too. Sure, she'll rush just about anyone when she's got a dagger or some other blade in her mouth, but it's only when someone else faces off against her with a sword that she knows it's time for a proper battle.

"She must’ve been a medieval Knight in her previous life" says one YouTube comment that really hits the nail on the head. "She’s literally the real world version of Zacian from Pokémon Sword and Shield! So precious," writes another commenter that brings to light another excellent comparison for Pinto Bean.

I'd honestly love to know if Pinto Bean's owners have ever heard of Sif from Dark Souls. Chances are Anna and Luke probably haven't, but someone should probably mention that the internet loves their dog because she reminds them all of a dog they were forced to sadly kill in a video game over a decade ago.

This can't help but make us think of that one poodle that could've been mistaken for Pokemon's Arcanine, as you do. 

If you've already battled your way through Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and all of FromSoftware's other Soulslike offerings and are itching for more, you'll definitely want to keep an eye on Dark Souls: Archthrones. 

It's an overhaul mod for Dark Souls 3, but given the level of quality on display, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's an official update. Archthrones is, in fact, from a team of mega-talented Souls devotees who've been working on the project for over two years. It offers an alternative story set across five worlds which are connected by the Nexus of Embers, a reworked version of Dark Souls 3's hub area Firelink Shrine.

This ambitious mod not only draws inspiration from the latest Dark Souls, but also mixes in aspects of other FromSoftware titles. In a new 15-minute video, which you can check out below, we see an epic battle against the Demon Vanguard, which bears a striking similarity to Demon's Souls Vanguard, while the Angelic Wall Guardian gives us serious Tower Knight vibes. Location-wise, the gloomy gothic church surroundings of Ruins of Blue hark back to 2015's Bloodborne, and the War-Torn Village looks like it's pulled right out of Sekiro.

No release date has been set for Dark Souls: Archthrones, but its creators have said that it will be "100% free" when it arrives. Players will need a copy of Dark Souls 3 and all of its DLCs to play it, though. If you fancy giving some financial support to this talented team, you can do so over on Patreon. 

In other news, one FromSoftware employee recently compared working at the studio to playing Dark Souls. "There's a lot of struggle to get things right, but if you get over the hump it is very satisfying," they said. "It's just like you defeated a boss in Dark Souls."

Love a challenge? Check out these games like Dark Souls.

PC servers for the original Dark Souls 2 are now restored and back online after an extended absence. 

Just earlier today on November 30, FromSoftware and publisher Bandai Namco announced Dark Souls 2 servers were back online with immediate effect. If you own the original version of the sequel, you can now once again take advantage of PvP combat, co-op play, and otherworldly messages between players.

When we say the "original" version of Dark Souls 2 on PC, we're talking about the version that launched back in 2014. The Scholar of the First Sin re-release, which bundled in several DLC expansions for the sequel, had its PC servers brought back online last month in October, with FromSoftware announcing that work on the PC servers for the original game was still being worked on.

This all started back in January 2022, when PC servers for every Dark Souls game were suddenly turned off out of nowhere. "PvP servers have been temporarily deactivated to allow the team to investigate recent reports of an issue with online services," wrote FromSoftware and Bandai Namco at the time of the shuttering.

PC servers for all Dark Souls games remained offline throughout the Spring and Summer until PC servers for Dark Souls 3 were suddenly reactivated in September. Dark Souls 2 followed a month later, while Dark Souls Remastered PC servers were only just brought back online earlier this month. FromSoftware's games are now finally back online, with the unfortunate exception of the original Dark Souls, which the developer deemed simply too old to fix.

One FromSoftware employee recently compared crunch at the studio to playing Dark Souls, as well as commenting on pay issues. 

One FromSoftware employee has compared working at the studio to playing Dark Souls.

Earlier today on November 29, GamesIndustry.biz published a detailed report delving into working conditions at FromSoftware. Citing multiple anonymous current and former employees, the excellent report paints a conflicted picture of the studio, as some ex-employees reflected positively on their time at the developer, despite sometimes having to work long hours and for relatively sub-standard pay.

"It's kind of tense in a way," one FromSoftware employee said of working at the studio. "There's a lot of struggle to get things right, but if you get over the hump it is very satisfying. It's just like you defeated a boss in Dark Souls," the developer continued.

Multiple other sources go on to say that there's "some level of crunching" at FromSoftware. "There hasn't been much overtime work for me," said one employee, while another said that "during critical periods of game releases, I often had to work early mornings and overtime for two to three months."

FromSoftware has found unprecedented success this year with the launch of Elden Ring. As of August 2022, the game had sold a blistering 16.6 million units worldwide, far eclipsing that of the Dark Souls series, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Demon's Souls, and any other FromSoftware-made game in history. 

Considering this, one staff called FromSoftware's salary pay "not adequate." While FromSoftware roles start at an average of ¥220,000 per month, Japanese game industry roles pay on average between ¥231,000 to ¥735,000 per month. There's never been any indication FromSoftware intends to increase its relatively low salaries for staff.

Head over to our Elden Ring boss locations guide if you're still powering through FromSoftware's latest release. 

Approximately six years ago, Elden Ring publisher and Souls IP owner Bandai Namco received a pitch for a 2D Metroidvania-style game that would leverage the rich world of the Dark Souls series, with Dark Souls 3, in particular, used as a reference.

Despite how popular this particular niche has become – just this year I spoke to the makers of several popular games, many of them Metroidvanias and all widely known as Souls-likes, to dig into the genre's roots – that pitch never bore fruit. But thanks to artist Thomas Feichtmeir, we now know that it looked cool as all hell. 

Feichtmeir posted a stunning bit of art (above) that was used for the pitch, noting that the NDA on such materials had finally run out. The pixel art is impeccable, and the detail in this one shot – from the Dancer of the Boreal Valley's armor to that classic Dark Souls user interface – shows a lot of promise. It's hard to imagine a better version of 'Dark Souls 3 but 2D.' 

"Back at the time it just became evident that Metroidvanias hit a nerve and would get big," Feichtmeir said in response to one inquisitive Souls fan after the art went viral. "Many of the Metroidvania games which got pitched or seemed interesting anyways had a Dark Souls inspiration, so the idea made a lot of sense."

"I think From Software was / would not have been involved, as Bandai Namco holds the IP," he explained in another Twitter reply. "Pitches like this are often made for any IP, some of them become games. It's quite a normal business practice." He also added that "the art here was created in a style which would have been doable in the average budget estimations of Metroidvanias back then," and he wasn't entirely sure why the game never got off the ground. 

I reached out to Feichtmeir to learn more about the project and his role in it, not to mention his history as an artist. He's been specializing in pixel art for over 12 years – with about six years dedicated to Metroidvanias alone – and has contributed to over 20 games. He says working on Blasphemous was especially enjoyable, and he's currently art director on Streets of Rogue 2. Some of his recent, non-Metroidvania projects include Songs of Conquest and Dome Keeper, which have both earned glowing reviews on Steam. 

"I was approached to do this by a company who hired me as an independent contractor," he said of this 2D Dark Souls game, speaking with GamesRadar+ over email. (Unfortunately, he said he couldn't share any more assets from the pitch, so this image is all we've got.) "I am allowed to finally show this artwork after many years of waiting which was part of my agreement with them. The art was created around 2016 as everyone wanted to have a cool 2D Souls-like Metroidvania, as the genre was new and the hunger for a game like this was really strong. Of course someone had to try a pitch to Bandai Namco. Sadly I can't say more.

"If you ask me why I got this job, I can only speculate, but I was at that time already well-established in the Dark Souls YouTube and streamer community and made a lot of Twitch emotes for them," he continued. "On top of that I had a lot of experience and many pixel art game credits under my belt. I also know a fair bit about European Medieval and Renaissance history and things which are very helpful for creating those visuals. So I most likely was just a very good fit for this job, in style, experience and interest. A lot of people pointed out that this looks a lot like Blasphemous; they are right, and it also makes a lot of sense as a few years later I actually would work on Blasphemous as an artist." 

Interestingly, Feichtmeir's post also surfaced traces of another canceled Dark Souls spinoff which was reportedly in the works at Bandai Namco Vancouver before the studio was closed. As artist Jessie Lam lamented on Twitter, the project was apparently internally competing with Slashy Souls, a Dark Souls 3 promo game. "We would've ended up with essentially two Dark Souls-inspired mobile titles," Lam said. 

"Game pitches sometimes get pitted against each other without either dev studio knowing, for a variety of reasons we're not privy to, and honestly it's such a long time ago all I have left are a lot of sad memories I'd rather not dig up," Lam said when I reached out. 

Feichtmeir said he wasn't familiar with any other Dark Souls spinoff pitches, but he acknowledged that it's not uncommon for these sorts of pitches and side projects to die internally.  

"I hope you enjoy looking at the Dark Souls 3 art I shared as much as I did creating it back then," Feichtmeir concluded. "Knowing that at some point you'll be able to share what you create can be a really strong creative force, even if it takes years. This is the first time this is shown!" 

We've reached out to Bandai Namco for additional details on this project and will update our reporting if we hear back. 

Dark Souls is slowly coming back to life after extended multiplayer downtime.