Summary
Over the last decade,FromSoftwarehas gained a reputation as one of the best and most accomplished studios in the gaming industry thanks to its critically-acclaimed Soulslikes. The company, who effectively pioneered the aforementioned genre in the 2009 PS3 titleDemon’s Souls, first rose to fame with the release of the brutally difficult action RPGDark Soulsin 2011. This particular title was so successful that it spawned two direct sequels and severalSouls-inspired games from the developer, including the 2015 PlayStation 4 exclusiveBloodborne, the 2019 action-adventure gameSekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the 2022 open-world RPGElden Ring. Each of theseFromSoftwaretitles were not only met with positive reviews, but were widely regarded as all-time greats upon their initial releases.
Besides their universally-high critical reception, if there’s one thing that FromSoftware’s Soulslikes have in common, it’s that they all take place indark fantasy settings.Demon’s Souls,Elden Ring, and theDark Soulstrilogy, in particular, are set in unforgiving, medieval-inspired worlds filled to the brim with dangerous monsters, demons, and other supernatural beings.Bloodborne, on the other hand, takes place in a Gothic, Victorian-era city that’s plagued with Lovecraftian horrors. Meanwhile,Sekiro: Shadows Die Twiceis set in a fictionalized rendition of 15th-century Japan that contains heavy fantasy elements. While the settings of these titles are still distinct enough to the point that they don’t blend in with each other, they do share a lot of similarities in terms of tone and world-building. As such, it would be refreshing to see FromSoftware tackle a Soulslike in a genre besides dark fantasy for a change, such as science fiction.
FromSoftware Should Make a Soulslike With a Sci-Fi Aesthetic
FromSoftware Has a History of Making Sci-Fi Games
Although FromSoftware hasn’t made a futuristic, sci-fi Soulslike yet, the company has dabbled in the sci-fi genre quite often throughout the years. The most notable example of this can be seen in the developer’sArmored Corefranchise, which is a series of third-person mecha shooters that feature post-apocalyptic settings, mission-based level design, and highly-customizable player characters. This franchise got its start on the PlayStation 1 in the late 90s, and was especially active during the PS2 and PS3 generations. Following the release of 2013’sArmored Core: Verdict Day, however, the series went dormant for roughly ten years. Eventually, FromSoftware made its long-awaited return to the franchise in 2023 withthe release ofArmored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon.
AC6is the only sci-fi game that FromSoftware has made in roughly a decade, but although it is challenging and does feature some tropes from theSoulsseries, it is, by no means, a Soulslike. Rather, the title, and theArmored Coreseries as a whole, is more in line with some of the other sci-fimech games FromSoftware has released in the past, such asMurakamo: Renegade Mech Pursuit,Metal Wolf Chaos,Another Century’s Episode,Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, andChromehounds.While the majority of these titles were met with mixed-to-negative reception at the time they came out, they still made up a defining part of the developer’s history during the 2000s.
A Sci-Fi FromSoftware Soulslike Similar to The Surge Games Would Be a Dream Come True
The many mecha games that FromSoftware’s made over the years can give fans an idea of what the developer’s capable of accomplishing in science fiction settings. The company could, however, take its experience with the genre to the next level by making asci-fi Soulslikealong the lines of Deck13 Interactive’sThe Surgegames. In other words, instead of placing an emphasis on mechs, this hypothetical FromSoftware game could feature playable human characters with augmentations, guns, and exoskeletons. This would not only provide a major shake-up for the formula fans have come to expect fromFromSoftware, but it would also fill a gaping hole in the gaming landscape, as there sadly aren’t many big budget sci-fi Soulslikes out there.
Elden Ring
WHERE TO PLAY
ELDEN RING, developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to date. Hidetaka Miyazaki - President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
