From King’s Field to Bloodborne: The Lineage of Dark Souls

In an attempt to trace the lineage of From Software’s fantasy action-RPGs that culminated into the Souls titles and Bloodborne, VG247 started a series of retrospective articles, the first of which covers the King’s Field games. Here’s a snippet:

King’s Field takes place in the land of Verdite, a realm once saved by a mysterious champion who disappeared into the fog of a nearby forest, never to be seen again. This so-called Dragon of the Forest will return one day to save the realm from a horde of beasts that have emerged from the Dark World, and it just so happens that’s you. Much like the Souls games, King’s Field ends on an ambiguous and bittersweet note.

The player must slog through the dark, depressing land in first-person while methodically fighting brutal monsters as they go. Along the way they’ll earn gold and gear, equip spells and die lots. By the end of the adventure, the Dark World door is sealed once more, but a final text crawl warns that it’s only a matter of time before the passage opens again. It’s a short-lived victory, just like kindling the flame in Dark Souls.

While the soul absorption mechanic isn’t present in King’s Field, Miyazaki did retain some of the game’s essence when he crafted Demon’s Souls. It takes place in a dark Medieval kingdom awash with beasts and death, offers very little in the way of sign-posting or exposition, and features a slow combat mechanic reliant on strafing and knowing when to back down. I already mentioned that you can die lots. I’m not sugar-coating that either.