FromSoftware Should Leave The Soulslike Genre Behind For A While

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:James Lucas

Published Aug 3, 2024

Followed

Summary

Before the soulslike genre picked up steam, FromSoftware was known for everything from Animal Crossing-like cosy games to Devil May Cry-esque action RPGs to mech shooters.
It hasn't branched out much since Dark Souls put the studio on the map and took the genre to incredible new heights, but after 15 years, maybe it's time to go back to its more experimental ways.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:FromSoftware has spent the better part of the last 15 years in the soulslike trenches after bringing the genre to life with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Demon’s Souls. But befo﷽re 2009, it had a far more varied library that’s only now trickling b♏ack into fashion.

Last year, it took a break from the Soulsborne formula with the 💧critically acclaimed mech shooter sequel Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, but it swiftly returned with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. It's a perfect celebr𓆉ation of the legacy From has cultivated, so what better time to dig🦩 even deeper into its varied catalogue and tap into its experimental side that led us to this incredibly popular genre to begin with.

A Brief History Of FromSoftware

FromSoftware was founded back in ꧂1986, the midd🍷le-aged ages. Its very first game King’s Field launched eight years later, a first-person dungeon crawler for the original PlayStation. It’s far closer to something like Daggerfall or Ark Fatalis than From’s later work.

Kuon PS2 screenshot showing a girl with grey skin staring past the camera

♎ FromSoftware Should Try Survival Horror Agai🙈n

FromSoft has spent a decade dev𝕴eloping Soulsborne games, but it used to have a much more diverse library𒉰.

Posts 168澳洲幸运5开奖网: ♔

Just three years later, the first Armored Core was released, jumping from medieval hovels to the far-flung reaches of space with mech suits for good measure. FromSoftware branched out even further with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网♔:more traditional RPGs like Eternal Ring, the stealth action fan-favourite Tenchu, the survival horror cult classic Kuon, and the more traditional 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Devil May Cry-esque action game Ninja Blade.

FromSoftware had an unbelievably diverse collection of games under its belt by the early ‘00s, but everything changed in 2004. Hidetaka Miyazaki joined the studio as a planner for Armored Core: Last Raven and was then promoted to director for the sequel Ar⛎mored Core 4. After prov꧂ing himself more than capable, he took an interest in a unique little PS3 exclusive called Demon’s Souls.

Demons Souls knight standing face to face with the Vanguard in the tutorial dungeon

FromSoftware had no faith in the game and it was by that point, but Miyazaki offered to help and eventually took full control as it was deemed that he couldn’t possibly make it 🔥any worse. It wasn’t well-received on launch in 2009, but a few months later, people finally started to get it.

The difficulty curve was enormous, this was our first taste of the soulslike genre, and it was a far cry from 👍the power fantasy of action RPGs that we were used to. Like a sour sweet, your initial impressions of a soulslike will probably be disgust and horror, but after a while, you’ll start to love the taste. Gamers were collectively taking that bite for the first time - it was always going to be a🌼 rocky start.

The spiritual successor 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dark Souls launched two years later and firmly put FromSoftware on the map, enjoying so much succes🅘s that Miyazaki was even made president of the company. The rest is soulslike history.

After Over A Decade, It’s Time To Branch Out

NEWS Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Messmer sat upon a throne

It’s unders🍰tandable why FromSoftware has put all of its chips in the soulslike corner. These games are what have cemented the studio as an icon among icons, and it very quickly bolstered Miyazaki’s career. FromSoft hasn’t dabbled in many other genres since striking gold, with the only major exception being the years between Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls 2 when this fledgling genre was still in its teething phase.

After Dark Souls 2, FromSoftware went full throttle into Soulsborne games with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring. But its return to Armored Core after ten years was the biggest breath of fresh air, proving that the studio is not only capable of more than soulslikes, but that there’s an audience eagerly waiting. Fires of Rubicon didn’t light the world on fire like Elden Ring, but it has sold over three million💛 copies. There’s clearly a community excited to see what else FromSoft can do.

Miyazaki even said that.

Kuon captured the same unease as classics like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Silent Hill and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Resident Evil, and we’ve seen that FromSoft can dabble in more traditional hack-and-slash action games that are sorely missing in today’s world. To see the studio branch out beyond what it’s so well known for and to experiment in new ways again, especially as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the soulslike genre becomes so 🌼oversaturated with co🌸pycats, would be invigorating.

There’s definitely room for both approaches, as Armored Core 6 proved, and digging just below the surface into From’s rich past shows that the studio is so much more than one genre. And who knows, maybe a return to the more experimental old days will even pave the way for something as iconic as Da💞rk Souls again. If From doesn’t tap into that old variety, we’ll never find out.