50 Fun Facts About Dark Souls

The first Dark Souls is set in which decaying kingdom?

Lordran is the decaying kingdom of the first Dark Souls, home to Firelink Shrine, Anor Londo and the Kiln of the First Flame, where the Chosen Undead must decide the fate of the fire.

Who publishes the Dark Souls games outside Japan?

Bandai Namco publishes Dark Souls outside Japan; FromSoftware self-published the 2011 original at home, while Namco Bandai Games handled the Western release that October.

The 2011 game is a spiritual successor to which 2009 FromSoftware title, whose IP Sony owned?

FromSoftware wanted a direct sequel, but Sony owned the Demon's Souls IP, so a new world was built instead.

Who freed the Chosen Undead from the Northern Undead Asylum at the start of Dark Souls?

Oscar drops the Estus Flask and dies moments later, but his armour is the Elite Knight set most players end up wearing.

Ringing the two Bells of Awakening wakes which serpent, who sends you to Anor Londo?

Kingseeker Frampt wakes beneath Firelink Shrine once both Bells of Awakening ring and urges the Chosen Undead through Sen's Fortress to Anor Londo to claim the Lordvessel.

Who is the final boss of the first Dark Souls, fought in the Kiln of the First Flame?

Gwyn waits in the Kiln of the First Flame; the god who first linked the fire is now a hollowed, burning shell, and his attacks are famously easy to parry.

Which being finds the Dark Soul in the opening cutscene of Dark Souls?

The Pygmy is the ancestor of humanity, a thread picked up in Dark Souls III's Ringed City.

In Dark Souls, dying leaves your dropped souls at what marker until you return?

Die again before you reach the bloodstain and they are gone for good, the single most punishing rule in the series.

Before release, Miyazaki referred to bonfires by what name?

He described them as rare places of warmth in a dark world; resting at one also respawns most enemies.

Which blacksmith in Dark Souls ascends weapons down the lightning path?

The Giant Blacksmith, found in a side room of Anor Londo, ascends +10 weapons to lightning and sells Twinkling Titanite; Vamos in the Catacombs handles the fire and chaos paths.

Which cathedral did a designer cite as a reference for Anor Londo's buttresses?

Milan Cathedral's forest of flying buttresses and pinnacles was the reference for Anor Londo, the city of the gods whose great cathedral hosts the Ornstein and Smough fight.

What was the Windows version of Dark Souls, released in August 2012, called?

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition brought the game to Windows on 24 August 2012 with the Artorias of the Abyss content included, after a fan petition pushed Namco Bandai into the port.

What was the fan-made mod that fixed the PC port's locked internal resolution called?

DSFix, written by the modder Durante within a day of release, unlocked the port's 1024x720 internal rendering resolution and later added a 60 fps option.

The Artorias of the Abyss DLC takes the player into the past to save which land?

Oolacile is the land the DLC sends you back to; you arrive via the Broken Pendant and face four bosses there, including the corrupted Artorias himself.

Who is the 'Father of the Abyss' that Artorias failed to defeat?

Legends still credit Artorias with stopping the Abyss, though the player did the work; Manus's fragments return as Dark Souls II's queens.

Which companion did Artorias manage to save from the Abyss?

Artorias shielded his wolf, Sif, in the Abyss; Great Grey Wolf Sif is later fought in Darkroot Garden and greets you with a different intro if you saved it in the DLC.

Solaire of Astora gives the player which item at their first meeting?

Solaire hands over the White Sign Soapstone at the Undead Burg bonfire overlook; it lets you leave a sign to be summoned for 'jolly cooperation', while his own covenant sign glows gold.

Solaire belongs to which covenant?

Solaire is a Warrior of Sunlight; joining the Warriors of Sunlight at the Altar of Sunlight grants the 'Praise the Sun' gesture and the Lightning Spear miracle.

Where does the player usually last meet Solaire, driven insane by a Sunlight Maggot?

Solaire's last stop is Lost Izalith, where a Sunlight Maggot drives him mad unless you open the Chaos Servant shortcut and kill the maggot first, keeping him sane to be summoned for the final fight.

Which Dark Souls covenant is offered by Darkstalker Kaathe in the Abyss?

Darkstalker Kaathe offers the Darkwraith covenant in the Abyss below New Londo; its members receive the Dark Hand and the Red Eye Orb to invade other worlds.

Fans long theorised Solaire was Gwyn's firstborn son in disguise; which game disproved it?

The firstborn turned out to be the Nameless King, an optional boss in Dark Souls III.

How many copies had the original Dark Souls sold worldwide by April 2013?

Namco Bandai put worldwide sales of the original Dark Souls at 2.37 million copies by April 2013, roughly eighteen months after its console launch.

Dark Souls: Remastered arrived on which console last, in October 2018, running at 30 frames per second?

The Nintendo Switch version of Dark Souls: Remastered launched on 19 October 2018 at 30 fps, five months after the PS4, Xbox One and PC releases, which targeted 60 fps with dedicated servers.

Dark Souls II is set in which fallen kingdom?

Drangleic is the fallen kingdom of Dark Souls II; its hub is the seaside settlement of Majula, from which the Emerald Herald sends you to collect four Great Souls.

Who directed Dark Souls II, the only game in the trilogy not directed by Miyazaki?

Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura co-directed Dark Souls II, released in March 2014, while Miyazaki supervised; he became FromSoftware's president that May.

In Dark Souls II, repeated deaths reduce your maximum health down to what floor?

Each death in Dark Souls II hollows you further, cutting max health until it bottoms out at 50 percent; a Human Effigy restores full health and human form, and the Ring of Binding holds the floor at 75 percent.

Dark Souls II's matchmaking used which system, based on the total souls a character had ever collected?

Soul Memory tallied every soul a character had ever gained, even ones later lost, so a careless character could be matched with far stronger players; the Agape Ring was added to stop it growing.

Which Dark Souls II boss holds the Great Soul in Brightstone Cove Tseldora?

The Duke's Dear Freja, the giant two-headed spider kept by Duke Tseldora, holds the Great Soul of Brightstone Cove Tseldora; the Rotten, Lost Sinner and Old Iron King hold the other three.

Dark Souls II's three DLC packs were collectively titled what?

The Lost Crowns trilogy comprises Crown of the Sunken King, Crown of the Old Iron King and Crown of the Ivory King, all later bundled into the 2015 Scholar of the First Sin edition.

Dark Souls II had sold how many copies by April 2015?

The publisher reported that Dark Souls II had sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide by April 2015, a year after its March 2014 launch.

Dark Souls III is set in which kingdom?

The kingdom is Lothric; its High Wall and castle dominate the map, and Prince Lothric's refusal to link the fire is why the bell tolls and the Lords of Cinder wake.

What is the player character of Dark Souls III called?

The Ashen One is the protagonist, an Unkindled raised from the grave to hunt down the Lords of Cinder; the Chosen Undead, Bearer of the Curse and Tarnished belong to the other games.

Which Lord of Cinder is the only one who stays on his throne at Firelink Shrine?

Ludleth also transposes boss souls into weapons; the rest abandoned their thrones and must be dragged back.

Which Lord of Cinder became one after devouring others?

Aldrich, Devourer of Gods, became a Lord of Cinder after gorging on flesh; he is found wearing the half-eaten body of the Darkmoon deity, which is why his fight borrows Dark Souls moves.

Who is the final boss of Dark Souls III's main story?

The Soul of Cinder, an amalgam of everyone who ever linked the fire, is the last boss of the main story; its second phase borrows the moveset and theme of the first game's final boss.

Dark Souls III introduced which resource, restored by Ashen Estus, to power weapon Skills and spells?

Focus Points (FP) fuel weapon Skills and spells; the Ashen Estus Flask refills them, and Andre lets you decide how many flask charges go to health and how many to FP.

In Ashes of Ariandel, who has taken control of the Painted World and stops it from burning?

Sister Friede, who holds sway over Ariandel and forbids the fire, is the DLC's final boss; her three-phase fight ends with Blackflame Friede, and her death lets the Painted World begin to burn.

In The Ringed City, the Ashen One finally defeats Gael, who was seeking what for the painter?

Gael wanted the blood of the Dark Soul as pigment for the painter's new world; by the time you kill him at the world's end, he has devoured the Ringed City's lords to draw out what remains of it.

Dark Souls III had passed what sales milestone by May 2020?

The publisher announced in May 2020 that Dark Souls III had passed 10 million copies sold worldwide, after shipping three million in its first month in 2016.

Before joining FromSoftware, Hidetaka Miyazaki worked as an account manager for which company?

Miyazaki was an account manager at Oracle before joining FromSoftware in 2004 at 29; a friend's recommendation to play Ico convinced him to switch to games.

Miyazaki joined FromSoftware in 2004 as a designer on which series?

Miyazaki started at FromSoftware in 2004 as a planner on Armored Core: Last Raven, then directed Armored Core 4 and Armored Core: For Answer before moving to the Souls line.

Which resource do you offer at a Dark Souls bonfire to kindle it for more Estus?

Kindling a bonfire in Dark Souls costs one Humanity and raises its Estus Flask charges from five to ten; the Rite of Kindling from Pinwheel allows kindling up to twenty.

Which poison-swamp area of Dark Souls lies below the Depths?

Blighttown is the toxic swamp beneath the Depths, infamous for its blowdart snipers and frame-rate drops; Quelaag's Domain with the second Bell of Awakening lies at its bottom.

Which Dark Souls boss rules the Painted World of Ariamis and can be left alive?

Crossbreed Priscilla rules the Painted World of Ariamis, entered from Anor Londo with the Peculiar Doll; she asks you to leave in peace and only fights if you attack her, turning invisible mid-battle.

How quickly was Steamforged Games' Dark Souls: The Board Game funded on Kickstarter?

Steamforged's Dark Souls: The Board Game hit its £50,000 Kickstarter goal within three minutes of launching in April 2016 and closed at more than £3.7 million.

Which retailer partnered with Bandai Namco on the panned mobile endless runner Slashy Souls?

GameStop was the retail partner on Slashy Souls, a free 2016 mobile endless runner tie-in for the third game, which earned 1/10 scores from Destructoid and Jim Sterling.

What was the central hub area in Demon's Souls, the series' spiritual predecessor, called?

The Nexus is the hub, where the Maiden in Black levels the player and Archstones lead to the five worlds; the later games echo it with Firelink Shrine and Majula.

Which manga did Miyazaki say had influenced Dark Souls?

Miyazaki has cited Kentaro Miura's manga Berserk as an influence on Dark Souls, visible in Artorias's huge greatsword and the dark-fantasy tone, though he stressed that gameplay came first.

Roughly how many signatures did the fan petition for a Windows port of Dark Souls gather?

The January 2012 petition gathered almost 100,000 signatures, about 93,000, within weeks, and Namco Bandai announced the Windows port that spring.

Which Dark Souls covenant ranks up its members with Souvenirs of Reprisal?

The Blades of the Darkmoon, who serve the Darkmoon god in Anor Londo, hunt sinners and offer Souvenirs of Reprisal to rank up, earning the Darkmoon Blade miracle at ten.