FromSoftware is one of those action RPG companies you either love or hate, but most action-RPG fans find themselves in the latter category. Fortunately for all those folks, FromSoftware is slated to release a “spiritual successor” to Demon’s Souls — called Dark Souls — in October of this year.
Although Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to the PS3-exclusive Demon’s Souls, it will also appear on the Xbox 360 when it ships in North America and Europe in October. With a massive, seamless open-world design, Dark Souls will encourage deep exploration and adaptable gameplay.
As for the plot, here’s the skinny: Stricken by the curse of undead, gamers are abolished to the northern realms and must battle hideous demons and unimaginable monsters to collect souls and find the Eternal Flame of Life, which is losing its light, to survive and cure the curse of undead.
With tense dungeon crawling and fearsome enemy encounters, the world of Dark Souls is full of extreme battles, challenges, nuanced weaponry and magic, and the flexibility to customize each character to suit any play style. An online component — which should thrive on Xbox Live — will allow gamers to draw from the collective experience of the Dark Souls community as they either help or sabotage each other on the journey through the Northern Realms to save the land from darkness.
A Dark Souls Collector’s Edition can be pre-ordered for $59.99, the same price as the standard edition, and will include a limited edition art book containing premium illustrations of characters and environments from the game, a mini-strategy guidebook, behind-the-scenes videos from the development studio detailing various stages of game concept, design and building, and the game’s soundtrack for digital download. All of this will come packaged with the standard edition game in a custom-designed metal case.
Sound nice? Bookmark these search results on Amazon — it’s not officially available for pre-order just yet, but it surely will be soon.