Highlights

  • FromSoftware's games combine difficulty with rewarding gameplay, creating unique challenges that foster a sense of accomplishment.
  • Narrative satisfaction in FromSoftware games requires players to piece together clues, enhancing engagement and depth of storytelling.
  • FromSoftware traditions include iconic elements like the Moonlight Greatsword, poison swamps, and the mischievous character Patches.

Over the course of the past decade, FromSoftware has rocketed to monumental heights, becoming one of the most revered contemporary game developers. FromSoftware's cultural relevance reached an all-time high with Elden Ring in 2022, which quickly became the company's most commercially successful and widely enjoyed project. For long-time fans of the developer, though, Elden Ring represents the culmination of over a decade of game design.

FromSoftware's influence cannot be overstated; the company birthed the so-called "Soulslike" genre, while playing a significant role in bringing unwavering difficulty back to the forefront of gaming in the 2010s. With how popular the Souls series has grown to become, it can be easy to forget that FromSoftware first made it big with the Armored Core and King's Field series which, while fundamentally, narratively, and contextually removed from the spate of games spawned by Demon's Souls, are nevertheless indicative of the studio's commitment to experimental design. All that is to say that, while FromSoftware has changed quite a bit over the years, there are certain throughlines that can be traced between all its releases.

The criteria for the following traditions is that they go beyond just the Souls games. Therefore, features like RPG leveling and weight limits have been omitted.

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FromSoftware Games Have Spiritual Similarities

FromSoftware Games Marry Difficulty and Rewarding Gameplay

At this point, saying that FromSoftware games are hard is a bit like saying the sky is blue, but it's important to recognize how crucial difficulty is to the studio's games. FromSoftware varies its approach to challenge with each entry, with some games being more forgiving than others, and something like Armored Core is naturally going to approach difficulty differently than a Souls game. However, there are certain similarities between all FromSoftware releases in this regard.

FromSoftware understands the difference between a rewarding challenge and a boring one. Cranking up the difficulty in many other games will often result in enemies that deal more damage while having massively inflated HP. This can lead to combat encounters that are rote and overstay their welcome, as players are faced with damage-sponge enemies that can take several minutes to defeat, and randomness can often play a disproportionately large role in success. But FromSoftware tempers its difficulty by keeping enemy defense relatively low, fostering a sense of accomplishment rather than futility.

Players Have to Work for Narrative Satisfaction In FromSoftware Games

FromSoftware's focus on difficulty speaks to a larger design philosophy: the studio is unwavering in its creative vision. It never feels like FromSoftware is catering to a consumer base or concerned with potentially scaring players off. This philosophy manifests in FromSoftware's narrative design just as much as in its approach to difficulty.

It's remarkably easy to complete a FromSoftware game without knowing what the story is about. But that doesn't mean that these games lack a story. On the contrary, FromSoftware games have some of the strongest world-building in contemporary fiction, not just within the games industry. The reason why FromSoftware's stories are hard to parse is due to presentation: item descriptions and environmental clues are the most heavily utilized narrative devices in FromSoftware games, not cutscenes or dialogue exchanges.

This narrative approach means that games like Elden Ring can have cryptic lore, but it also nurtures a unique relationship between story and audience. Those interested in the narrative of Dark Souls, King's Field, or Armored Core won't just get it handed to them. Rather, they have to study the games, piecing together clues to form a complete picture. This style of narrative delivery isn't for everyone, but it is thought-provoking and fundamentally engaging, hiding surprising depth and raw emotion at times. Understanding these stories is a collaborative effort between the player and the text, which is a dynamic that is exceedingly rare in gaming.

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FromSoftware's More Literal Traditions

The Moonlight Greatsword Is a FromSoftware Staple

FromSoftware has found success by polishing its peculiar design style, but there are some more specific and tangible connections between the company's games as well. Few FromSoftware tropes are as iconic as the Moonlight Greatsword, a massive, glowing blade that typically sends forth some sort of powerful beam, giving it utility as a ranged weapon.

Bloodborne and every game under the Souls banner include the Moonlight Greatsword, as do some Armored Core games and all the King's Field entries. Even some of the studio's more obscure projects, like 2009's Ninja Blade, feature the weapon. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the only modern FromSoftware game to omit the Moonlight Greatsword.

FromSoftware Loves Poison Swamps

Poison swamps and FromSoftware are like two peas in a pod. Their most infamous incarnations appear in the Souls series and Elden Ring (with more to come in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC), but the trope predates Demon's Souls by many years, showing up in King's Field and the Armored Core series. Gaming audiences seem to have a love-hate relationship with these areas, but they are probably here to stay.

The "poison swamp" moniker is usually used to describe any area that inflicts pervasive, adverse status effects—it doesn't need to apply to a literal swamp with poison damage.

Patches Is Everywhere

Aside from the Moonlight Greatsword, the cunning and mischievous Patches is FromSoftware's most ubiquitous Easter egg. The character plays the role of a craven troublemaker, deceiving the player at every opportunity. He's appeared in the following FromSoftware games, in chronological order:

  • Armored Core: For Answer
  • Demon's Souls
  • Dark Souls
  • Bloodborne (as a spider)
  • Dark Souls 3
  • Elden Ring

Some fans believe that an unnamed trickster character from FromSoftware's 2003 game Shadow Tower Abyss is a sort of proto-Patches, but Armored Core: For Answer is his first official appearance. His consistent appearances have spawned fan theories about him being an interdimensional being, or about all FromSoftware games taking place in the same universe. But in reality, he is probably just a tongue-in-cheek rogue, designed to be both frustrating and comical.