" Game over " is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition . It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in games designed for arcades , after the player has exhausted the game's supply of new challenges. The phrase has since been turned into quasi-slang, usually describing an event that will cause significant harm, injury, bad luck, or even death to a person. However, since the turn of the century, it has largely fallen out of fashion in favor of unlimited lives and endless checkpoints with autosaves, although it very much remains the norm in arcades, as they require payment inserts.
42-408: The phrase was used as early as 1950 in devices such as electro-mechanical pinball machines , which would light up the phrase with a lamp (lightbulb). Before the advent of home consoles and personal computing , arcades were the predominant platform for playing games, which required users to deposit a token or coin into an arcade game machine to play. Most early arcade video games typically had
84-435: A free-to-play mobile endless runner , to promote Dark Souls III . The game was presented in a pixel art style, and shares the series' level of difficulty. The game was met with highly negative critical reception, with reviewers such as Chris Carter of Destructoid and Jim Sterling both giving the game a 1/10. The Dark Souls series has been met with critical acclaim, with the first game often being cited as among
126-758: A game over screen that is usually seen upon achieving victory. Another variation includes "THE WITCH HUNTS ARE OVER" used in the Bayonetta series, "YOU WERE SLAIN" in Terraria , and "DRIVER DOWN" in Hill Climb Racing . Some games give specific loss condition messages, pattern, screen, and sequence exclusive to a level, mission, game mode, or situation. For example, Plants vs. Zombies give game over dialog boxes saying "All your pet zombies have perished!", "You survived for (number of flags completed) flags!!", "You lost all your zombies!", and "You made it to
168-431: A player inserts a credit; at this point the message would change to the number of credits inserted and "Press 1 or 2 player start", or some variation thereof. As these games were ported to home consoles, the "Game over" screen and "Continue?" prompt remained, but often required only the press of a button to keep the game going; while the video game industry shifted away from being arcade-focused to being home gaming-focused,
210-468: A previous, saved state. Certain games ask players with no more lives to continue or to choose "game over" in a menu. Kamen no Ninja Akakage released in 1988 by Toei for the Famicom has "game over" on top of "continue" with a cursor to be properly positioned to get the desired choice. With the development of the aforementioned save function (complemented by the less popular password system, which
252-479: A separate entity "guided by differing core game design concepts." It also drew inspiration from video games such as Ico , The Legend of Zelda , and FromSoftware's Otogi: Myth of Demons , as well as manga such as Berserk , Saint Seiya and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure . Unlike its successors, Demon's Souls uses a central hub system known as the "Nexus" where players can level up, repair equipment, or buy certain items, before venturing into one of
294-551: A sequel to Demon's Souls , but Sony's ownership of the intellectual property prevented them from doing so on other platforms. It was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . In 2012, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition was released for Windows , PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, featuring the base game and the Artorias of the Abyss downloadable content . The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran. Players assume
336-529: A streak of (number of streaks that the player completed)" in Zombiquarium mini-game, Last Stand (mini-game and puzzle), I, Zombie finite levels, and I, Zombie and Vasebreaker Endless, respectively, with them only play the game over music which can be skipped by restarting or exiting the level to lose progress on that attempt while the music plays and not show the normal "THE ZOMBIES ATE YOUR BRAINS!" cutscene for Last Stand and Vasebreaker Endless, and afterwards
378-471: A varying gender, appearance, name, and starting class via character creation . Players can choose between classes, including knights, barbarians, thieves, and mages. Each class has its own starting equipment and abilities that can be tailored to the player's experience and choices as they progress. The player gains souls from gameplay battles which act as both experience points to level up and as currency to buy items . Souls gained are usually proportional to
420-517: Is now seen as archaic), the Game Over message has become less common as players are allowed to respawn at a previous state of the game, which has been stored in memory either through a player deliberately saving the game or reaching a checkpoint (which causes the game to save automatically). Many modern games do not technically "end" until they are completed, and although "Game over" screens remain present in many of them in some form or another, it
462-590: Is uncommon for them to signify a forced return to the beginning of the game, and only marginally more common for them to signify a substantial loss of progress. Roguelikes are the most common exception to this rule; permadeath is often a staple of the genre. "Game over" has seen many variations. For instance in Little King's Story , the message "LIFE OVER" appears upon the death of the player's character. Nights into Dreams... and Nights: Journey of Dreams use "NIGHT OVER". Antarctic Adventure and Sonic
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#1732780271358504-458: The greatest video games of all time . The "bloodstain" gameplay mechanic has been given praise by critics. David Craddock of Shacknews called them one of the core tenets of the series. He stated that the harshest punishment one can receive in a Souls game is "not dying once, but twice." GamesRadar+ called bloodstains, in combination with Demon Souls's message system, "a graceful, elegant way of letting players guide each other without
546-558: The Bonfire a "mark of genius" that "reinvented the save point" and allowed the player to reflect on their progress. As of March 2023 , the Dark Souls series had shipped 35.18 million copies outside of Japan. Dark Souls III broke sales records upon release, selling over three million copies worldwide by May 2016 and was Bandai Namco's fastest-selling game until being surpassed by Elden Ring in 2022. The Soulslike genre
588-831: The Hedgehog use "TIME OVER". Screens that display at equivalent points are considered "Game over" screens, even if the message that is displayed is entirely different, such as "YOU ARE DEAD" used in Resident Evil , God of War , and Left 4 Dead , "YOU DIED" seen in Dark Souls , Cuphead , and Minecraft (though Minecraft uses "Game over" if one dies in hardcore mode), "GOOD NIGHT" seen in Klonoa and Luigi's Mansion . The 2020 Nintendo 3DS game The Queen TV-Game 2 uses an expletive to parody player frustration . The 1980 arcade game Missile Command uses "The End",
630-588: The PlayStation 4, the soundtracks for each, bookends , artwork prints, and dictionaries detailing every in-game item was released on May 24, 2018. Released in 2009 for the PlayStation 3 , Demon's Souls is considered the spiritual predecessor to the Dark Souls series. It has also been described as a spiritual successor to the King's Field series of games, while at the same time being described as
672-528: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 215213385 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:51:11 GMT Dark Souls Dark Souls is a dark fantasy action role-playing game series developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment . Created by Hidetaka Miyazaki ,
714-460: The bonfire where they last rested. If the player can return to their point of death, their bloodstain, without dying again, they can regain all lost souls. If the player dies again before reaching their bloodstain, the souls are permanently gone. Notably, using a bonfire manually and respawning at one after death have identical effects, save for the player losing their currency at their place of death, which can be retrieved with no penalty. In this way
756-602: The creation of the Soulslike subgenre. The games take place within the land of Lordran, where the player's character fights against knights, dragons, phantoms, demons, and other monstrous or supernatural entities. The accretion, loss, and recovery of souls are central to the narrative and gameplay of Dark Souls games. These games are linked through their setting and an overarching cyclic narrative centering around fire, and are linked through common themes and elements, including interactions with phantoms and battles with demons. At
798-414: The dialog box). The phrase is occasionally used to indicate the end of an argument or process in real life. In January 2011, protesters and rioters in several North African and Middle Eastern countries used the slogan "Game over" on banners to express their anti-government sentiments . "Game over" is also sometimes used as a phrase to concede defeat, as for example in the movie Aliens where one of
840-567: The difficulty of fighting certain enemies; the more difficult an enemy, the more souls the player will gain from defeating it. One of the core mechanics of the series is the use of how it handles progress, death, and player improvement. Bonfires serve as a checkpoint within the series, restoring all health and other critical resources when used, but also respawning most enemies and obstacles, making repeated trips back to safety untenable for forward progress. Upon losing all of their health points and dying , players lose their souls and appear back at
882-451: The end of each game, characters may reignite the "first flame" or allow it to fade, recurring a choice others have made before. The Dark Souls games are played in a third-person perspective, and focus on exploring interconnected environments while fighting enemies with weapons and magic. Players battle bosses to progress through the story, while interacting with non-playable characters . The protagonist of each Dark Souls game can have
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#1732780271358924-637: The first three minutes of its launch and was released in April 2017. In February 2017, music from the series by Motoi Sakuraba was performed by a live orchestra at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris . In September of that year, a limited edition vinyl box set containing the soundtracks of all three games was released in Europe. In Japan, a box set containing the enhanced versions of all three games for
966-589: The five connected worlds. The "World Tendency" feature is also exclusive to Demon's Souls , where the difficulty of exploring a world is dependent on how many bosses have been killed, and how the player dies. The gameplay involves a character-creation system and emphasizes gathering loot through combat with enemies in a non-linear series of varied locations. It had an online multiplayer system integrated into single-player, in which players could leave messages and warnings for other players' worlds, as well as join other players to assist and/or kill them. After FromSoft extended
1008-400: The game becomes silent until the player restarts or exits. Survival Mode of the said game, however, have the normal losing sequence and cutscene plays, with only the game over result dialog box differs where it says "You survived for (number of flags completed) flag(s) before dying a gruesome zombie death!!!" instead of "GAME OVER" on most game versions (except mobile where both text are shown in
1050-431: The game end when a timer ran out, with shoot 'em up game Space Invaders (1978) later popularizing a game over triggered by the player getting killed by enemies (either by being shot or enemies reaching the player), with the player given a finite number of lives before the game ends. During the golden age of arcade video games , players would usually be given a finite number of lives (or attempts) to progress through
1092-416: The game, players can briefly see the actions of other players as ghosts in the same area that may show hidden passages or switches. When a player dies, a bloodstain can be left in other players game world and when activated can show a ghost playing out their final moments, indicating how that person died and potentially helping other players online to avoid the same fate in advance. Players can leave messages on
1134-446: The game, the exhaustion of which would usually result in the display of the message "Game over" indicating that the game had ended. The phrase might also be followed by the message "Play Again?" and a prompt asking the player to insert additional tokens to prevent the game from terminating and instead allowing the player to continue their progress. The message can also be seen flashing on certain arcade games while in attract mode , until
1176-481: The ground that can help other players with tips and warnings. Multiplayer can be engaged in both player versus player combat and cooperative gameplay using invasion or summoning mechanics. Players can also rely on covenants, which serve as "factions" that can allow players to delve further into the multiplayer experience. Dark Souls is the first game in the series; it is considered a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls (2009). FromSoftware wanted to develop
1218-409: The inclusion of such a screen was no longer as critical since it offered no financial benefit. However, the concept of Game Over remained imbued in the medium thereafter as a way to add an element of risk: a player who is unsuccessful at carrying out the game's objective (possibly repeatedly) will be faced with such a screen and be forced to start over from either the beginning of the game or level, or to
1260-400: The last of the series, with FromSoftware choosing to move onto new games of unrelated IPs in the future. A comic book by Titan Comics based on the series debuted alongside the release of Dark Souls III in 2016. A Kickstarter campaign for a licensed board game by Steamforged Games, Dark Souls – The Board Game , was also announced around the same time. The campaign was funded within
1302-463: The need for words", and said that "rarely has the price of failure been balanced on such a precarious knife edge" as being forced to retrieve one's bloodstain. The bonfire concept was similarly praised. Matthew Elliott of GamesRadar+ called bonfires a powerful symbol of relief, and "a meaty cocktail of progress, exhaustion and joy", and that, while other games evoke emotions with their save points, no other game does so as effectively. Vice called
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1344-419: The player is encouraged to not fear death, as no progress is lost so long as they can learn from their mistakes. As the player retraces their steps after death, they will naturally defeat more enemies, gaining more souls and allowing their character to gain experience alongside the player themselves. Online interaction in the Dark Souls games is integrated into the single-player experience. Throughout areas of
1386-644: The protagonists, Private William Hudson ( Bill Paxton ), shouts, "Game over, man. Game over!" after the dropship meant to rescue him and his expedition is destroyed. Paxton's use of the phrase was included in shortened form in the SNES game adaptation of Alien 3 , although the Hudson character did not appear in the film. The "Game Over" quote is heard in full after the final ball is drained in Zen Studios ' virtual pinball adaptation of Aliens . The "game over" line
1428-497: The role of a cursed human character who sets out to discover the fate of undead humans like themselves. The plot of Dark Souls is primarily told through environmental details, in-game item flavor text , and dialogue with non-playable characters (NPCs). Players must piece together clues in order to understand the story, rather than being told the story through more traditional means, such as through cutscenes . Dark Souls and its predecessor Demon's Souls garnered recognition due to
1470-578: The series began with the release of Dark Souls (2011) and has seen two sequels, Dark Souls II (2014) and Dark Souls III (2016). It has received critical acclaim, with its high level of difficulty being among its most discussed aspects, while the first Dark Souls is often cited as one of the greatest games of all time . The series had shipped over 35 million copies outside of Japan as of 2023 . Other FromSoftware games, including Demon's Souls , Bloodborne , Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice , and Elden Ring , share several related concepts and led to
1512-663: The series' high level of difficulty. A version featuring some graphical and gameplay enhancements, Dark Souls: Remastered , was released in May 2018. Dark Souls II was first announced in late 2012 during the Spike Video Game Awards . This is the only game in the series where director Hidetaka Miyazaki did not reprise his role, although he was still involved in supervision. It was released in 2014 for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. In 2015, an updated version featuring The Lost Crowns downloadable content
1554-455: The server's lifecycle past the original 2011 shutdown date, the multiplayer component was finally taken offline in early 2018. The King's Field series, also developed by FromSoftware, is considered a spiritual predecessor to the series. It debuted in 1994 with King's Field for the PlayStation and had three sequels. In February 2016, Bandai Namco Entertainment partnered with American retailer GameStop to release Slashy Souls ,
1596-548: Was inspired by common features of the series, resulting in many games using similar mechanics. Other FromSoftware games directed by Miyazaki, such as Demon's Souls , Bloodborne , Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice , and Elden Ring , share many of the same concepts of Souls and are often associated with the series and grouped under the "Soulsborne" label. The series has also been cited as an influence on several PlayStation Network features, including asynchronous messaging, social networking, and video sharing, as well as for
1638-643: Was not in the Aliens script, but was ad libbed by Paxton. The phrase is also used various times in the Saw movie series, because of the antagonist's penchant for referring to the traps he creates as "games". Some gamebooks utilize this phrase as well. Each book in the Nintendo Adventure Book series has only one good ending, with all of the bad ones saying "Game Over". Electro-mechanical game Too Many Requests If you report this error to
1680-494: Was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 , and Xbox One , under the title Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - with the latter two platforms receiving retail releases. The game takes place in the kingdom of Drangleic, where the player must find a cure for the undead curse. Although set in the same universe as the previous game, there is no direct story connection to Dark Souls . Dark Souls III
1722-471: Was released in 2016 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The gameplay is paced faster than previous Souls installments, which was attributed in part to the gameplay of Bloodborne . The game takes place in the kingdom of Lothric, where the player must end the cycle of linking the Flame. In 2017, the complete version containing the base game and both expansions ( Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City )
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1764-493: Was released, under the title Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition . Dark Souls III was both critically and commercially successful, with critics calling it a worthy and fitting conclusion to the series. It sold over 10 million copies by 2020, making it the fastest-selling game in Bandai Namco's history at the time (until the record was beaten by Elden Ring ). In 2015, Miyazaki said that Dark Souls III would likely be
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