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57-430: Dark Souls is a dark fantasy action role-playing game series developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment . Created by Hidetaka Miyazaki , 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

114-540: A "dark fairy tale" fantasy film. Guillermo del Toro 's fantasy film Pan's Labyrinth (2006) has been described as a "sort of a dark spin on Alice in Wonderland ". The 2013 fantasy action role-playing game Dragon's Crown contains many elements of dark fantasy, such as werewolves, vampires, zombies, homonculi, and human-monster hybrids. Modern games from Japanese game development and publishing company FromSoftware are lauded as exceptional representations of

171-407: A Player versus Player setting. PvP has been included in other games such as Asheron's Call in late 1999, Diablo II in 2000, Dark Age of Camelot and RuneScape in 2001, Asheron's Call 2 in 2002, Shadowbane in 2003, and Dragon Nest in 2011. While these games included PvP, they still contained large portions of prerequisite PvE, mostly to build characters. DOOM was one of

228-460: A central hub system known as the "Nexus" where players can level up, repair equipment, or buy certain items, before venturing into one of 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

285-426: A dark, often brooding, tone. As a result, dark fantasy cannot be solidly connected to a defining set of tropes . The term itself may refer collectively to tales that are either horror-based or fantasy-based. Some writers also use "dark fantasy" (or " Gothic fantasy ") as an alternative description to "horror", because they feel the latter term is too lurid or vivid. Charles L. Grant is often cited as having coined

342-565: A game, where players compete against each other. PvP is often controversial when used in role-playing games. In most cases, there are vast differences in abilities between players. PvP can even encourage experienced players to immediately attack and kill inexperienced players. PvP is often referred to as player killing in the cases of games which contain, but do not focus on, such interaction. PvP combat in CRPGs has its roots in various MUDs like Gemstone II and Avalon: The Legend Lives . While

399-428: A group setting. Through various means, "flags" can be turned on or off, allowing PvP combat with other people who have also turned on their flag. In EverQuest , there is no way to turn the flag off once it has been turned on. In Star Wars Galaxies , the flag may be turned off by interacting with faction specific NPCs located throughout the game or by typing an in-game command (/pvp). In World of Warcraft , flagging

456-459: 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 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,

513-423: A penalty (though some games remove it from PvP combat), so habitual PKers can find themselves ostracized by the local community. In some games a character will die many times and the player must often sacrifice some experience points (XP) or in-game currency to restore that character to life. Permanent death (such that the player must create a new character) is relatively uncommon in online games, especially if PKing

570-462: A reasonable part of play so long as the fight is based on "in-character" reasons. Games are often written to balance playable characters , ensuring that the players are able to pick their favorite characters rather than being forced into a metagame to succeed. This approach to PvP in tabletop games is not universal. For example, in the highly satirical Paranoia , lethal PvP conflict is a core game element, considered normal and heavily encouraged by

627-639: A rift formed between those who enjoyed PKing, those who enjoyed hunting the PKs and those who simply did not want to fight at all. The Renaissance expansion later added a Trammel facet where PvP was not allowed, giving some out to the UO crowd that did not wish to engage in PvP at all. Asheron's Call contained a server that was completely unrestricted in player interactions where massive "PK" and "Anti (PK)" dynasties formed. Character death in an online game usually comes with

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684-554: A safe spot in town like the Bank. Player versus player was coined sometime in the late 1980s to refer to the combat between players that resulted in the loser being penalized in some way. The first graphical MMORPG was Neverwinter Nights , which began development in 1989 and ran on AOL 1991–1997, and which included PvP, which was initially limited to magical attacks in the game. Later modifications expanded its use to limited areas so that players who wished to avoid it could do so. Much of

741-548: 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

798-477: A serial killer would simply be horror. Stableford suggests that the type of horror conveyed by fantasy stories such as William Beckford 's Vathek and Edgar Allan Poe 's The Masque of the Red Death "is more aesthetic than visceral or existential", and that such stories should be considered "dark fantasies" rather than the "supernaturalized thrillers" of conventional horror fiction. Karl Edward Wagner

855-471: 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

912-415: Is both voluntary and competitive. Dueling ladders and leagues set up by fans are common for most MMORPGs that have PvP. Dark Age of Camelot was the first graphical MMORPG to debut a formal dueling system in-game (Ballista); other MMORPGs such as City of Heroes , Anarchy Online , World of Warcraft , Guild Wars , Lineage 2 , Wurm Online , and RuneScape feature PvP as competitive dueling in

969-501: Is common in other PvP systems, but also consists of objective-based battles such as taking and holding keeps or capturing enemy relics. This was a new concept to graphical MMORPGs, but was first introduced in the game that preceded DAoC , Darkness Falls: The Crusade , which has since been shut down in favor of building on DAoC . Other MMORPG games now also feature this type of gameplay. Tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) have also often featured PvP action. These are usually considered

1026-490: 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 , 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

1083-402: Is in contrast to the traditional horror model, which focuses more on the victims and survivors. In a more general sense, dark fantasy is occasionally used as a synonym for supernatural horror , to distinguish horror stories that contain elements of the supernatural from those that do not. For example, a story about a werewolf or vampire could be described as dark fantasy, while a story about

1140-480: Is often credited for creating the term "dark fantasy" when used in a more fantasy-based context. Wagner used it to describe his fiction about the Gothic warrior Kane . Since then, "dark fantasy" has sometimes been applied to sword and sorcery and high fantasy fiction that features anti-heroic or morally ambiguous protagonists. Another good example under this definition of dark fantasy is Michael Moorcock 's saga of

1197-542: Is permitted. An example of such a mode is Hardcore mode on the game Diablo II . Anti-PKing, also known as Player Killer Killing, PK Killing, or PKK , is a form of in-game player justice. Often motivated by an overpopulation of in-game player killers, vigilante Anti-PKs hunt Player Killers and Player Griefers with vengeance. Some players, known as "friendlies", choose to befriend other players with pacifism . Voice chat or in-game emotes are often utilized to demonstrate peacefulness and keep others from attacking. Dueling

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1254-450: Is selectable or can be activated by attacking certain flagged players until a cool-off period ends, though this can be exploited by griefers via corpse camping . Some games have a bounty system where players that kill or heal other players open themselves up to being killed in return. This is sometimes called the "revenge flag". Use of this 'bounty' system is not standardized among MMORPGs, and there are debates raging about how to 'police'

1311-425: Is sometimes used for "darker" fiction written by authors best known for other styles of fantasy; Raymond Feist 's Faerie Tale and Charles de Lint 's novels written as Samuel M. Key would fit here. Roald Dahl 's novel The Witches (and its film adaptations) is described as dark fantasy. Dahl's poetic reworking of " Cinderella " (which features in his poetry collection Revolting Rhymes ) sees him upend

1368-605: 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 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

1425-528: The albino swordsman Elric . The fantasy work of H. P. Lovecraft , Clark Ashton Smith and their emulators have been specified as "dark fantasy", since the imaginary worlds they depicted contain many horror elements. Dark fantasy is occasionally used to describe fantasy works by authors whom the public primarily associates with the horror genre. Examples of these are Stephen King 's The Dark Tower series, Peter Straub 's Shadowland and Clive Barker 's Weaveworld . Alternatively, dark fantasy

1482-568: The MUD world heavily. 80 percent of multiplayer games have pvp Other early MMORPGs, including Meridian 59 (1996), Ultima Online (1997), and Tibia (1997) also had PvP combat as a feature. In Ultima Online , the goal was to allow players to police themselves in a " frontier justice " way. This system also exists in Tibia , where death includes significant penalty, and killing someone inflicts considerable harm to their character. In Meridian 59 ,

1539-633: The PvP activity was coordinated events by the game's guilds, which were the first such organized user groups in MMORPGs. Genocide , an LPMud launched in 1992, was a pioneer in PvP conflict as the first "pure PK" MUD, removing all non-PvP gameplay and discarding the RPG-style character development normally found in MUDs in favor of placing characters on an even footing, with only player skill providing an advantage. Extremely popular, its ideas influenced

1596-421: The ability to kill another player existed in many MUDs, it was usually frowned upon because of general strict adherences and heavy influences from tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons . The term PvP originated in text based MUDs played on bulletin board systems like MajorMUD and Usurper. These games had open worlds where any player could attack any other player as long as they were not at

1653-458: 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

1710-473: 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 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

1767-671: The dark fantasy genre, notably the Dark Souls series along with Bloodborne and later Elden Ring . Player versus player Player versus player ( PvP ) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players . This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are most often used in games where both activities exist, particularly MMORPGs , MUDs , and other role-playing video games , to distinguish between gamemodes. PvP can be broadly used to describe any game, or aspect of

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1824-567: 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

1881-451: 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

1938-747: The exception of limited PvP on one specific server), PvP became a negative for some newer/casual MMORPG players and developers looking to draw a larger crowd. In 2000, in response to complaints about malicious player-killers, Ultima Online controversially added an extra copy of the game world to each server in which open PvP was disabled. In addition to this, not all PvP games feature a player's avatar experiencing death. An example of this type of PvP element can be found on MMOs such as Audition Online (2004) where while players are not directly killing each other's avatars as traditionally found in MMOs, they are still competing against each other during certain game modes in

1995-476: 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 the creation of the Soulslike subgenre. The games take place within the land of Lordran, where

2052-458: The game tried to focus PvP by having different political factions for players to join. The later Eve Online (2003) refined Ultima Online' s original approach of "PvP anywhere but in town" (where attacking another player is dangerous in and around towns due to interference from NPC "guards"). However, these games tended to be unfriendly to more casual players. With the popularity of EverQuest in 1999, primarily consisting of PvE elements (with

2109-417: The game world. A pure PK game is one where PvP conflict is the only gameplay offered. Ganking (short for gang killing ) is a type of PKing in which the killer has a significant advantage over his victim, such as being part of a group, being a higher level, or attacking the victim while they are at low health. PvP can also create additional facets in the community. In Ultima Online and Asheron's Call ,

2166-416: 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

2223-477: 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

2280-438: The happy tale. Berserk , a manga and anime franchise by Kentaro Miura that debuted in 1989, is frequently noted as an example of the genre due to its depictions of extreme violence, moral ambiguity, apocalyptic storylines and anti-hero protagonists. Attack on Titan is a dark fantasy for its intense violence and the dystopian world it takes place in. Ridley Scott 's film Legend (1985) has been described as

2337-439: 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 the first three minutes of its launch and

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2394-498: The most influential instances of PvP, coining the term " Deathmatch ". This MMO-esque mode helped inspire the now-iconic PvP modes found in the FPS genre, such as battle royale and team deathmatch while popularizing PvP as a whole. Player killing , or PKing , is unrestricted PvP resulting in a character's death. Some games offer open PvP (also sometimes called world PvP ), where one player can attack another without warning anywhere in

2451-418: 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

2508-447: 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

2565-497: 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

2622-585: 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 the television show Stranger Things . Dark fantasy A strict definition for dark fantasy is difficult to pin down. Gertrude Barrows Bennett has been called "the woman who invented dark fantasy". Both Charles L. Grant and Karl Edward Wagner are credited with having coined

2679-655: 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

2736-498: The system to avoid abuse. Sometimes the PvP flag gets automatically 'ON' on any player who initiates a PK. Other players who attacks a player who has the PvP flag on will NOT get their PvP flag 'ON'. In 2001, Mythic Entertainment introduced a new team-based form of PvP combat with the release of Dark Age of Camelot . In RvR, players of each realm team up to fight against players from the opposing realms in team-based combat. This can include normal skirmishes between rival groups that

2793-653: The term "dark fantasy". Grant defined his brand of dark fantasy as "a type of horror story in which humanity is threatened by forces beyond human understanding". He often used dark fantasy as an alternative to horror , as horror was increasingly associated with more visceral works. Dark fantasy is sometimes also used to describe stories told from a monster 's point of view, or that present a more sympathetic view of supernatural beings usually associated with horror. Anne Rice 's The Vampire Chronicles , Chelsea Quinn Yarbro 's Saint-Germain , and Neil Gaiman 's The Sandman are early examples of this style of dark fantasy. This

2850-728: The term "dark fantasy"—although both authors were describing different styles of fiction. Brian Stableford argues "dark fantasy" can be usefully defined as subgenre of stories that attempt to "incorporate elements of horror fiction" into the standard formulae of fantasy stories. Stableford also suggests that supernatural horror set primarily in the real world is a form of " contemporary fantasy ", whereas supernatural horror set partly or wholly in " secondary worlds " should be described as "dark fantasy". Additionally, other authors, critics, and publishers have adopted dark fantasy to describe various other works. However, these stories rarely share universal similarities beyond supernatural occurrences and

2907-422: 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 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

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2964-490: 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

3021-468: 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 )

3078-771: 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 the PlayStation 4, the soundtracks for each, bookends , artwork prints, and dictionaries detailing every in-game item

3135-678: 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 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

3192-490: 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

3249-474: 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 the Bonfire a "mark of genius" that "reinvented the save point" and allowed the player to reflect on their progress. As of March 2023,

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