This is how Fromsoftware ruined gaming for me

Among the games that we play, there are a few that we always talk about differently. In most cases, if you are older, those games are also older. For me, most of my favourite games are actually very old. For a long time, I didn’t have any new game that I considered as good as the old ones. Part of that was, of course, nostalgia, but part of it was the fact that games changed, and not all changes are good.

But Dark Souls was different.

I never played the original Demon’s Souls on PS3 because I didn’t own a PS3, and at that time my main platform was the Xbox 360. So my entry into the Souls games was actually Dark Souls.

I’m not the kind of guy who digs deep when looking for a game. I’ll check some player comments, maybe a review or a gameplay video, without revealing the story, and that’s it. I always try to avoid knowing too much about a game, because learning on the go is what I really enjoy in video games.

With Dark Souls, that approach paid off enormously. I played it with no tutorial, no help, and no knowledge of anything. I remember playing it for the first time like it was yesterday. That year, I think I played Dark Souls for almost the entire year. Sure, I played some other games too, but Dark Souls was a daily experience, PvP, PvE, co-op, you name it. I loved every aspect of the game.

From the moment I saw the first cinematic, I was hooked. The game gives you lore in fragments. It raises questions and makes you want to know more. The fact that the game doesn’t just hand the lore to you is what made exploration so incredible. No other game has such deep lore while refusing to force feed it to the player. That’s what made Dark Souls so special.

The entire experience feels like exploration. You feel rewarded for reading item descriptions, listening to dialogue, and actually thinking about what’s happening. You have to connect the dots yourself to get glimpses of the story and slowly form a bigger picture. And that is truly amazing.

As the series expanded with Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III, FromSoftware kept delivering. While Dark Souls II divided the community, some love it and some hate it, I’m firmly on the side that loved it.

Dark Souls II felt different from both other games, and it was. But that didn’t make it a bad game. At the time, I thought the series might become more like Final Fantasy. Each game standing on its own, connected only by signature elements shared across the series.

Dark Souls III proved me wrong. It felt like a true successor to Dark Souls I, which ironically made me appreciate Dark Souls II even more. It’s unique, with an atmosphere I still can’t compare to anything else.

And so began the reign of FromSoftware with the Dark Souls series. The studio existed long before Dark Souls and had success with other games, but no one can deny that the series, and the person who pushed the studio to heights it had never reached before, was Dark Souls and its creator, Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Dark Souls III earned a place on my list of the best games I’ve ever experienced. Very few games can compete with its poetic, tragic atmosphere, dark, brutal, and yet beautiful. It was fast, unforgiving, and at times hard as hell. But that’s exactly what made it so good.

As the popularity of these games grew, more and more people started asking for an easy mode. I was honestly worried that the developers might listen, because in my opinion, and the opinion of many fans, that would ruin the experience.

Thankfully, Miyazaki refused. He explained that the difficulty exists to give players a sense of accomplishment and progression. And that’s something Dark Souls excels at. After countless interviews and years of playing, FromSoftware’s games became my main games. Even after platinuming every game they’ve made, I still return to them again and again. These games rooted themselves deeply in my gaming life, and I can’t imagine ever stopping.

After Dark Souls, when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I got my hands on Bloodborne. And Bloodborne became even more important to me. I love very few things more than H. P. Lovecraft’s stories, his cosmic horror, and his visions, and I don’t think anyone has ever made a Lovecraft inspired game that feels as good as Bloodborne.

These games are dark and gloomy, with moments where even beauty feels rotten and terrifying. Bloodborne took that to another level. It wasn’t as hard for me as Dark Souls, but its atmosphere matched, and sometimes surpassed, the Souls games. It easily became one of the best games I’ve ever played. At that point, four FromSoftware games were already on my all time favorites list.

Then came Sekiro, and everything changed again.

With Sekiro, they ditched RPG elements and focused on fast, action based combat built around precision and parrying. You had to be fully focused, no spamming attacks and hoping for the best. Many journalists criticized the game for its difficulty and lack of co-op, claiming it wasn’t fun. In reality, most of them were simply frustrated because finishing the game was part of their job, and they struggled with it.

What wasn’t okay was bashing the game and demanding an easy mode instead of accepting the challenge. Sekiro still succeeded. It delivered a beautifully crafted, Japan inspired world with a story that was easier to follow than Dark Souls, while still maintaining FromSoftware’s signature style of storytelling.

Despite the criticism, Sekiro won multiple Game of the Year awards. It proved that people still want hard but fair games, and that difficulty, when done right, can be rewarding and deeply satisfying.

Nothing could have prepared us for what came next.

Elden Ring brought back the Souls formula, RPG elements, and introduced a fully open world. It raised the bar once again, perhaps too high for many developers. While the idea of an open world Souls game never fully appealed to me, it’s still one of the best games I’ve ever played. And that alone proves how incredible this studio is.

Most people absolutely love Elden Ring. The game is still active, with constant co-op and PvP. Even Dark Souls I, all these years later, still has an active community. Not as large as Elden Ring, of course, but people just can’t let these games go. I’m one of them.

While Dark Souls II wasn’t directed by Miyazaki, since he was working on Bloodborne at the time, it remains a game people are deeply passionate about. Anyone who follows Souls communities can see how much love that game still gets.

Miyazaki’s vision has won countless awards, but more importantly, it ruined other games for me.

Other RPGs can be good. Other games can be fun. But so often I’ll stop halfway through and return to Dark Souls. FromSoftware taught me how games should feel, how bosses should feel. The experience of starting as nothing, feeling weak and insignificant, and slowly becoming powerful through struggle and perseverance. That sense of accomplishment is something very few games can replicate.

I’ve tried many so called Souls like games, and most of them failed. Difficulty alone isn’t what made these games special. Without meaningful progression and reward, difficulty is just frustration. When you fight a dragon the size of a building, like Midir, you don’t expect an easy fight. When you face a legendary knight like Artorias, you shouldn’t expect mercy.

Many have tried. Most have failed. None have done it better than FromSoftware.

And that’s how FromSoftware ruined video games for me.