A Sabukaru Guide to From Software & The Worlds of Hidetaka Miyazaki
Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro - these are some names split the gaming community in half. While some love the hardcore style gameplay of fighting menacing bosses and finding your way through maze-like architecture, many tend to shy away from the ‘Souls’ gaming genre due to its high difficulty. However, there’s quite a bit more to these worlds created by mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki than just an extraordinary challenge.
From Software’s Souls-genre stands out due to its intricate way of storytelling and incredibly well-written plot, its beautifully twisted dark fantasy art direction similar to worlds like Berserk, and especially its unique approach to video game world design.
To celebrate the release of Elden Ring and the ongoing legacy of creative mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki and his legendary tales, Sabukaru took a deep dive to explore the Souls’ genres main entries, inspirations, and background. What makes punishing a boss feel so good? Why are the worlds similar to other games, yet so unique? Why do item descriptions tell a deeper convincing story than some movies?
Follow us on a journey down From Software’s mysterious dungeons and find out more about one of the gaming world’s most hardcore producers.
Influences & Inspirations
[Berserk, HP Lovecraft, Ghibli]
From Software managed to create a way of including references without making it feel like a copy or theft from the original source. While you can find many direct references to media like the Berserk manga series in greatswords looking exactly like Guts’ Dragonslayer spreading over the Souls series, there’s quite a few more subtle references in characters. For example, Dark Souls 3’s Slave Knight Gael references Yupa from Studio Gibhli’s ‘Nausicaa’ not only by his looks, but also has his character ID named after him.
Slave Knight Gael, Dark Souls 3
Yupa, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
One of the most well known references can be found in the first Dark Souls DLC and it’s first boss ‘Artorias the Abysswalker’, as his background story reveals that the fallen knight once tried to fight against the forces of a dark realm known as the Abyss, but eventually succumbed to it becoming a dark shadow of its former self. The player finds Artorias with his arm broken swinging his greatsword full of anger in a very similar manner to Berserk’s protagonist Guts, especially in his Beast of Darkness form. The DLC’s cover also shows the character in a similar pose.
Artorias the Abysswalker, Dark Souls
Guts, Berserk
Fan service [the inclusion of contents directly targeted towards the fan community, such as fan favorite characters or Easter eggs] is also an important factor in these games, as fan favorites like the Moonlight Greatsword or the spell Homing Soul Arrow find their way into nearly every game, and possibly also into Elden Ring.
Moonlight Greatsword
For anyone that has never played any of the games, here’s the most important info to get you going on your journey into the world of From Software.
Demon's Souls
While having worked on quite a few medieval fantasy games like the King’s Field series before, Demon’s Souls was the first departure from classic RPG games to the company’s now well renowned Souls formula.
After dying, the player character known as ‘The Bearer of the Curse’ gets teleported to a mysterious hub called ‘The Nexus’ which holds portals to the different realms of Boletaria. Here you fight off powerful demons in order to bring back peace to the lands of Boletaria and pacify the evil entity ‘Old One’.
Dungeons like the ‘Prison of Hope’ are prime examples of how the Souls series started: The player finds himself in a run down magic prison shrouded in dark green fog, where he must maneuver through tight and intertwined corridors filled with prisoners and squid-like magicians. Even Miyazaki’s famous poison swamps had their debut in Demon’s Souls in the form of the fifth archstone level ‘Valley of Defilement’.
While at the time of its release being more of a hidden gem for hardcore RPG fans, Demon’s Souls is still the archetype of all the games that followed and finally managed to get its deserved spotlight with the PlayStation 5 exclusive remake in 2020, bringing the PlayStation 3 classic to new shine.
Bloodborne
Bloodborne was the first game where From Software decided to switch up the typical Souls formula: while Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls relied on classic sword and shield combat, Bloodborne took a more aggressive detour focusing on fast paced combat, combining trick weapons with guns.
The game’s plot tells the tale of a mysterious plague spreading throughout the Victorian city of Yharnam. As the scholars of Byrgenwerth discover ascended beings in ancient ruins underneath the city, they also find out about the ‘Old Blood’ and its miracles. However, this discovery leads to the surge of the plague which turns the citizens into beasts, while the scholars find themselves driven into the depths of despair turning into horrific abominations as well. The player takes the role of the hunter trying to put an end to this lovecraftian nightmare.
Bloodborne takes the crown as fan favorite even though it being a PlayStation 4 exclusive - the switch up in combat and overall focus on eldritch horror made the game one of the best from the last console generation.
Dark Souls
Probably the most known of the bunch is of course the Dark Souls Trilogy. Even though Demon’s Souls was the game that laid the foundation for the genre, this is where the real beginnings lie.
“In the Age of Ancients the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of gray crags, Archtrees and Everlasting Dragons. But then there was Fire and with fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course, light and dark. Then from the dark, They came, and found the Souls of Lords within the flame.”
The opening lines of the game's intro directly throw the player into the dark pit that is Lordran: a world slowly dying and withering away. The Age of fire fades, as the player, a cursed undead, steps into the world of Dark Souls. The Lord of Cinder Gwyn, who once was a mighty warrior and bested even the unconquerable dragons, sacrificed himself in fear of the dark by linking the first flame in order to prolong the age of darkness.
The game’s story is full of heroic characters driven to the brim of sanity, making the fights a very depressive experience. The final fight against Gwyn himself at the end of the game is a prime example for this. You spend the whole game meeting interesting characters and fighting the strongest of foes, while always hearing about the majestic Gwyn, a Lord, a god even, that sacrificed himself for the greater good - but when you finally face him, you recognize what a tragic being he is. A man once full of glory, now just a remembrance of what he used to be, as he desperately tries to keep the player from interfering with the first flame. In the end the player has two choices: linking the first flame like Gwyn did and prolonging the age of fire yet interfering with the world's natural cycle, or leaving and thus forcing the age of darkness upon humanity - Just another example of how dark this world is.
Due to Miyazaki not being really involved into Dark Souls 2 we’re skipping it in this guide - the journey to Drangleic is still one of a kind and an unforgettable experience to any true Souls fan, but we’re simply only focusing on worlds created by Miyazaki in this guide.
Dark Souls 3
Dark Souls 3 makes a return to Lordran - only thousands of years later in a kingdom called Lothric, where time and space are convoluted as the world once again is about to fade into dark. Play as the ashen one, a forgotten warrior rising from the grave guided by cinders. Even though the fire has been linked multiple times since the happenings of the first Dark Souls, the world is about to crumble even more than before as the countless interference with nature caused the world to disrupt completely. Again, the player must link the first flame in order to prolong the age of fire - however he must first bring back the Lords of Cinders to their throne.
Dark Souls 3 is the ultimate throwback, with nods to locations from the original installment making every fan's heart skip a beat as they approach what's left of the once so glorious Anor Londo, which now towers in pale gray over the icy town of Irithyll. Even the final boss, the Soul of Cinder, represents you - the original player from the first Dark Souls - as he uses the whole Souls arsenal to prevent you from linking the fire. Even though the world of Dark Souls 3 is dull and dreary, you’ll still get a feeling of companionship as you cross paths with characters like Siegward of Catarina and Anri of Astora.
The two DLC’s ‘Ashes of Ariandel’ and ‘The Ringed City’ offer the perfect conclusion to the legendary series that Dark Souls has become, leaving the player with some of the hardest bosses of the whole franchise and even more references to the now classic title. But even if you don’t hold knowledge of the first Dark Souls, Dark Souls 3 is still an incredible journey full of unexpected adventures.
SEKIRO
For ‘Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’, the team at From Software decided to switch things up a bit, tackling a more historically accurate setting by taking the player into Japan’s Sengoku-Era [1467-1615]. While still heavily relying on fantasy and especially Japanese folklore, this was the first game to be set in a real time period, making use of the dirty 1500s in Japan.
Sekiro [one-armed wolf in japanese] tells a tale of greed and devotion as shinobi Sekiro follows his path in protecting the divine heir Kuro from the Ashina Clan that want to achieve immortality through him. This path however, conflicts with Sekiros iron Code of the shinobi as he eventually faces powerful enemies and even his master & father Owl.
Similar to Bloodborne, Sekiro takes on a new interpretation of From Software’s fighting mechanics. Now more relying on almost rhythmic attacks and parries, the player has to break the enemies posture before going in for the death blow, focusing more on single strikes to deal damage. Mastering the game's combat system turns these abnormal fights more into a delicate dance giving the player the ultimate satisfaction of perfecting the blade.
ELDEN RING
One of the most highly anticipated video games of all time was announced back in 2019 at Microsoft’s E3 event: the newest Souls RPG, ‘Elden Ring’. The biggest additions this time being a collaboration with Game of Thrones’ Author George R.R. Martin, best known for his deep and obscure fantasy fictions apart from the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novels, and the inclusion of an open world set for the player to explore.
With the development starting right after the last DLC for Dark Souls 3 and being developed next to Sekiro, there’s been a dreadful silence around the game until it finally got its gameplay reveal at the Summer Games Fest 2021. The game's plot revolves around ‘The Lands Between’, a world fractured by the shattering of the Elden Ring. An uncleared betrayal led to this shattering by starting a war between Queen Marika’s children, the Demigods. The player takes the role of a tarnished, a race driven away from the Lands Between in the past but now retaking their home in order to become the Elden Lord.
Elden Ring seems to be the ultimate Souls game, including the best features from all the earlier games, and can be seen as the spiritual successor to Dark Souls. The inclusion of an open world and your personal spirit horse ‘Torrent’ opens up completely new paths letting the player explore the deepest depths of this world.
Elden Ring already managed to win eight awards, including two times most anticipated game at ‘The Game Awards’ even before it was released. Reviews so far look like it could turn out to be From Software’s fourth Game of the Year award, following Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro.
If you previously shied away from these games simply due to their difficulty, we hope this overview gave you a taste for what you're missing out on. Of course, there’s no better feeling than finally perfecting a boss fight and learning their patterns, but the dramatic stories, unique worlds, and one of a kind atmosphere are the main arguments in these games. The bosses are just the cherry on top of From Software’s masterpieces. We’ll see you in the Lands Between very soon.
About the Author:
Lorenz Meyn is a game development student, illustrator and writer. He’s a sucker for everything brutal and grotesque with a touch of Japanese culture.
