Dark Souls (2011)
Dark Souls is a 2011 role-playing (rpg) video game made by FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment.
A dying world, a ringing bell, and no one on hand to explain either. Dark Souls drops the Chosen Undead into Lordran, a crumbling realm of ash-grey castles, poisoned swamps, and bonfires that serve as the only safe rest. FromSoftware states almost nothing outright; the lore lives in item descriptions, ruined architecture, and the few hollow figures still able to speak. Combat is deliberate and unforgiving, built on stamina, timing, and learning each enemy the hard way. Death leaves your souls behind, waiting to be recovered. Progress comes slowly, one landmark at a time.
Quick answers
What is Dark Souls about?
A dying world, a ringing bell, and no one on hand to explain either. Dark Souls drops the Chosen Undead into Lordran, a crumbling realm of ash-grey castles, poisoned swamps, and bonfires that serve as the only safe rest. FromSoftware states almost nothing outright; the lore lives in item descriptions, ruined architecture, and the few hollow figures still able to speak. Combat is deliberate and unforgiving, built on stamina, timing, and learning each enemy the hard way. Death leaves your souls behind, waiting to be recovered. Progress comes slowly, one landmark at a time.
When was Dark Souls released?
Dark Souls was released on 22 September 2011.
Who made Dark Souls?
Dark Souls was made by FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment.
Similar games
Explore Dark Souls guides
Dark Souls in our writing
- Companion guide: Cosmic Horror
- Companion guide: Dark Fantasy
- Companion guide: Dragons
- Companion guide: Dying Earth: The Complete Guide to the Last Twilight
A few thoughts on Dark Souls
Come for the challenge and stay for the world: a place that never explains itself and trusts you to piece it together from wreckage and item text. If you like games that respect your patience and punish your carelessness in equal measure, this is the one that set the template so many others followed.
Games that hide their story in ruins and item descriptions
Dark Souls says almost nothing outright, leaving Lordran's history to item text, broken architecture, and the few hollow figures still able to speak. These tell their stories the same quiet way: worlds where the lore lives in the environment and the details you notice, trusting you to piece together what happened instead of spelling it out in cutscenes.
Combat where one mistake actually costs you
Dark Souls builds its fights on stamina, timing, and learning each enemy the hard way, and death drops your souls back where you fell. These share that deliberate, high-stakes feel: action games where you read an opponent, commit carefully, and pay for a careless swing, so every encounter rewards patience over button-mashing.
Huge open worlds you can wander into danger
Part of Dark Souls is the pull to push through one more fog gate into somewhere that might kill you. These open worlds offer the same freedom to roam and the same sense that the map is bigger and more dangerous than you are ready for, letting you stray off the path and find out what is waiting at your own risk.