A 2D Dark Souls III MetroidVania Was Nearly A Thing

We’ve all got a pretty clear picture by now of what a modern FromSoftware game looks like. The model was first developed when the super-developer, once best known for its Armoured Core franchise, suddenly pivoted direction and produced one of the most engaging, new modes of RPG that we’ve ever seen with Demon’s Souls. Since then, we’ve seen a trilogy of Dark Souls games, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the 2022 global smash hit Elden Ring, but what if one of those titles was another huge change in momentum? What if one of them was a classically inspired 2D sidescroller with Soulsborne elements? We’ve seen a few indie takes on this idea through their own IP, but as it turns out, we might have been quite close to an official one, a 2D Dark Souls III. So what is it, why did we never hear about it, and why is it only turning up now?

Thomas Feichtmeir, a developer who has been responsible in part of a number of favourite indie titles such as Blasphemous, Songs of Conquest, and The Mummy Demastered took to Twitter recently to share the news that he had been a part of a pitch to Dark Souls III and Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco, one that dates back six years. The pitch was that of a 2D pixel art Dark Souls title, and from the single screenshot that Feichtmeir shared, it looked to be pretty fantastic!

Along with sharing the screenshot of the game that never was, Feichtmeir outlined some light details pertaining to the game and the reasons why we never heard of the pitch until now,

A Dark Souls 3 – 2D pixelart metroidvania was pitched to Bandai Namco ~6 years ago. This is now finally out of NDA, so enjoy the visuals created back then.

Now while this title never amounted to some form of official final product, it’s certainly interesting to learn of how these indie pitches to AAA developers occur. Even though the game was never made, it’s also interesting to see how Bandai Namco was at least willing to entertain Feichtmeir and their team for a period. Perhaps having seen the success of games such as Blasphemous since that point, games that are so heavily inspired by the Souls games with their own more traditionally geared spin on it, the publisher might be willing to open up the library of FromSoftware developed IP to other studios in time in the future.

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