Dark Souls

Dark Souls 

 is an action role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Namco Bandai Games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. A spiritual successor to FromSoftware's Demon's Souls and the second installment of the Souls series, Dark Souls began development under the working title of Project Dark. The game was released in Japan on September 22, 2011, and in North America, Australia, and Europe the following month. In August 2012, the "Prepare to Die" edition of Dark Souls was released for PC, featuring additional content previously unavailable to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 users. On October 23, 2012, the additional content from the PC version was released as downloadable content for consoles under the title Artorias of the Abyss. Dark Souls takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran. Players assume the role of a cursed undead character who begins a pilgrimage out of the Undead Asylum to discover the fate of the Undead.

Dark Souls received positive reviews upon its release, with critics praising its combat depth, marked but fair difficulty, and deeply rooted lore. In April 2013, FromSoftware announced Dark Souls had sold 2.37 million copies. The PC version was the second most played Games for Windows Live title in 2012 based on unique users. The game spawned a sequel, Dark Souls II, which was released in March 2014.

Dark Souls is a third-person action role-playing game. The core mechanic of the game is exploration. Players are encouraged by the game to proceed with caution, learn from past mistakes, or find alternate areas to explore. Dark Souls takes place in a large and continuous open world environment, connected through a central hub area (Firelink Shrine). Players are able to travel to and from areas and explore various paths, although certain prerequisites have to be met in order to unlock certain areas. Scattered throughout the game world are bosses and creatures of varying types that must be defeated. From almost all enemies killed, the player will receive a relative amount of "souls" which act as both currency and experience points. Some enemies also yield rare items.

Central to Dark Souls are Bonfires. Bonfires - which are actually more similar in size to campfires - are scattered throughout the world, and, when rested at, heal the player and save their progression upon death. While resting, players can level up and repair their equipment, among other things. However, resting also causes all of the previously defeated enemies of an area to come back to life and return to their original map placements, except for bosses and mini-bosses.

Another aspect of Dark Souls is the “humanity” system. There are two states of being in the game. While in “human” form, the character will appear human with healthy skin. Being human opens the online portion of the game, allowing allies to be summoned; and invading/being invaded by other players, as well as boosting certain resistances. However, when a human player dies, they will enter “hollow” form with an undead appearance. To return to human status, a player must spend one humanity point at a Bonfire.

Humanity can be acquired in a large variety of ways, and if no humanity is available, players are still able to progress in hollow form. Death in either form results in the loss of all carried souls and humanity, but players revive as hollows at their most recent bonfire with one chance at returning to where they died to recover all lost souls and humanity. If the player dies before reaching their "bloodstain", the souls and humanity they previously accrued are permanently lost.