Dark Souls

Dark Souls is an action/ RPG computer game developed by the Japanese company From Software and released in 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In Japan, the publisher of the game was From Software itself; on the international market, the game was published by Namco Bandai Games. Dark Souls, originally known under the working title Project Dark, is the ideological successor of the game Demon's Souls and the second part in the Souls series.

The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran, reminiscent of medieval Europe. Lordran is struck by a curse that turns its inhabitants into undead; the main character, also a living dead man, is tasked with rekindling the sacred fire and restoring the order of things. The gameplay of Dark Souls is tied to exploring the world, finding key items and destroying bosses; the game is distinguished by a high level of difficulty — it is implied that the game character will die over and over again, and the player will learn from his mistakes.

Dark Souls received mostly positive reviews from critics — reviewers especially praised the deep combat system, artfully constructed levels of the world and the detailed history of the universe. While some reviewers praised the game's high difficulty, others called it overly demanding on the player; the Microsoft Windows version also received more restrained reviews due to numerous technical problems.

In 2012, the game was ported to Microsoft Windows. Additional content from the PC version of the game was later released on consoles as a downloadable add-on called Artorias of the Abyss. In 2018, the game was re-released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch under the title Dark Souls: Remastered. The game is available on Xbox Series X/S for backward compatibility.