100 Fun Facts About Dark Souls

The first Dark Souls is set in which decaying kingdom?

Lordran is the land of the ancient lords, where legend says an undead will one day make pilgrimage; after you break out of a northern asylum, a giant crow carries you there.

In 2021, which awards named Dark Souls the 'Ultimate Game of All Time' after a public vote?

The Golden Joystick Awards added the one-off prize to mark 50 years of video games; voters put Dark Souls first, and picked the PC as the best gaming hardware of all time.

Dark Souls needed a new name and a new world because which company owned Demon's Souls?

Sony owned Demon's Souls yet passed on publishing it in the West: its studios chief gave up after two hours, calling it 'an unbelievably bad game', and later named that one of Sony's biggest mistakes.

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

Oscar of Astora drops a corpse carrying the cell key through the roof, then is found dying nearby; he hands over his Estus Flask and asks you to ring the Bell of Awakening in his place.

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

Kingseeker Frampt can be heard snoring beneath Firelink Shrine after the first bell and surfaces after the second; he will also eat your unwanted items and pay for them in souls.

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 hollow, charred husk, and nearly every attack he has can be parried.

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

The Furtive Pygmy split the Dark Soul among his descendants, and they became mankind; for all that, the opening narration calls him 'so easily forgotten'.

Where are your dropped souls left when you die in Dark Souls?

A bloodstain at the death spot holds them, and dying again before you touch it wipes them out for good; online, other players' bloodstains replay their last seconds as a warning.

Before release, Miyazaki referred to Dark Souls' bonfires by what name?

Beacon Fires was the name he used in a 2011 interview, where he picked them as his favourite new feature: a place to recover, and one of the few heartwarming spots in a cold, dark world.

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

The Giant Blacksmith of Anor Londo is the only smith who works the lightning path or forges boss-soul weapons; in the third game his body still sits at the same spot, holding the Giant's Coal.

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

Milan's cathedral gave the artist the idea: walking beneath its buttresses on a visit, he thought how fun it would be to walk on top of them, which is how players get into Anor Londo's great hall.

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

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition exists because fans petitioned for it: the team had never planned a PC version, and the port arrived bundled with the new Artorias of the Abyss chapter.

Which fan-made mod fixed the locked internal resolution of Dark Souls' PC port?

DSFix appeared almost at once, a fan's patch that unlocked the port's fixed 1024x720 rendering; the team had never planned a PC version and shipped little more than the console game.

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

Oolacile brought the Abyss on itself: its sorcerers dug up the grave of a primeval man to tap his dark power, and his rage began to swallow the land, so the DLC sends you back centuries to stop it.

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

Manus had already corrupted Artorias, yet legend still credits the knight with stopping the Abyss when the player did the work; fragments of Manus return in the sequel, one of them as its queen.

Which companion did Artorias manage to save from the Abyss?

Artorias left his greatshield as a barrier around his wolf, Sif, before the Abyss took him; Sif grew up to guard his grave in Darkroot Garden, fighting with the knight's own greatsword.

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

The White Sign Soapstone is his answer to a land where, as he puts it, the flow of time is convoluted and heroes phase in and out: leave your sign and another player can summon you for 'jolly co-operation'.

In Dark Souls, Solaire's covenant lowers which stat requirement for players who help others beat bosses?

Faith of 25 is the entry bar, but each boss you help another player beat as a summoned phantom cuts it by five, so five wins waive it; the covenant's altar also teaches Solaire's signature gesture, Praise the Sun.

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 does the serpent Kaathe offer in the Abyss?

The Darkwraith covenant opens only if you beat the Four Kings before placing the Lordvessel; the knights of New Londo who first joined preyed on the living, so the city's floodgates were shut to seal them in.

Dark Souls III ended the fan theory that Solaire was a god's exiled firstborn by introducing which optional boss?

The Nameless King, fought on the back of a storm dragon, is widely taken to be that lost heir: a dragon-slaying god of war struck from the annals for siding with the dragons his father fought.

Which recurring FromSoftware trickster kicks the player off a cliff in the first Dark Souls?

Patches has a special hatred of clerics, and if you survive his trick he tries to buy you off with a small gift; he returns in several later FromSoftware games, once as a spider with a human head.

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

The Nintendo Switch version was planned for May 2018 with the others but slipped five months to 19 October; it runs at 30 frames per second where the rest aim for 60.

Dark Souls II is set in which fallen kingdom?

Drangleic fell because its king was talked into raiding the land of the giants across the sea; the giants came back for revenge and left his kingdom in ruins.

Hidetaka Miyazaki only supervised Dark Souls II; which game was he directing at the time?

Bloodborne grew out of talks that began in 2012, just as the first game's PC edition was wrapping up, so Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura directed the sequel instead.

In Dark Souls II, which item reverses hollowing and restores your shrunken health bar?

A Human Effigy undoes the hollowing that shaves your health with every death, normally down to half the bar; it can also be spent to ward off invasions by other players for half an hour.

Unlike the rest of the series, Dark Souls II matched players online by which system?

Soul Memory counts every soul a character has ever gained and never drops when souls are spent or lost; players wear the Agape Ring, which soaks up souls in their place, to stay in one matchmaking bracket.

Which Dark Souls II boss guards the Great Soul of Brightstone Cove Tseldora?

The Duke's Dear Freja is a giant two-headed spider, thought to be the pet of a duke so obsessed with spiders that he looked on content as they overran his mining town.

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.

Which Dark Souls II boss is carried into his first fight by a giant bird?

The Pursuer tracks cursed undead from one area to the next, so he keeps coming back; in his main fight, the arena's ballista can strip most of his health in a single volley.

Dark Souls III is set in which kingdom?

Lothric shares its name with its young prince, chosen to link the fire; when he refused, a bell tolled to wake the lords of earlier ages in his place.

What is the player character of Dark Souls III called?

The Ashen One is an Unkindled: someone who once tried to link the fire and failed, raised from the grave as a last resort because the lords meant to do it have walked away.

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

Ludleth of Courland alone answered the call: a small man who boasts that he will 'die a colossus', he turns boss souls into weapons once you hand him the Transposing Kiln.

Which Dark Souls III boss became a Lord of Cinder by devouring people?

Aldrich was a cleric who ate so many people that he swelled into a mass of sludge; when you find him he is wearing the half-eaten body of the god Gwyndolin and fighting with its weapons.

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

The Soul of Cinder is every past Lord who linked the fire fused into one; its second phase fights with the moves of the first game's last boss, because he was the first to do it.

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

Focus Points are a blue bar that Skills and spells drain, where the first game gave each spell a set number of casts; Andre the blacksmith lets you choose how many flasks refill health and how many FP.

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

Sister Friede has to be beaten three times: when she first falls, Father Ariandel revives her and fights at her side, and when both fall she rises again as Blackflame Friede.

In Dark Souls III's The Ringed City, what was Slave Knight Gael seeking for the young painter?

The blood of the Dark Soul was to be her pigment; finding it long dried up in the city's lords, Gael devoured them instead, so by the time you fight him the only blood left to take is his own.

Which boss is the first fight of Dark Souls III?

Iudex Gundyr kneels with a coiled sword through his chest and cannot be hurt until you pull it out, which wakes him; once he falls, the same sword is thrust into the bonfire at Firelink Shrine to bring it back to life.

Before joining FromSoftware at 29, Hidetaka Miyazaki worked for which American tech giant?

Oracle was the job he took after university; then friends urged him to try the game Ico, and he took a considerable pay cut to start again making games at FromSoftware.

Miyazaki joined FromSoftware in 2004 and first worked on which series?

Armored Core, the studio's robot-combat series, gave him his start; he later took over a fantasy project the studio had written off, reasoning that nobody would care if his ideas failed. It became Demon's Souls.

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

Humanity burned to kindle a bonfire doubles its Estus from five flasks to ten, and the gift spreads: players resting at the same bonfire in other worlds may receive an extra flask too.

Which Dark Souls area below the Depths was notorious for its frame-rate drops?

Blighttown is a settlement of crumbling scaffolding above a poison swamp; players who pick the Master Key at the start can skip the climb down and slip in at the bottom through the Valley of Drakes.

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?

Within three minutes the campaign had its £50,000 target. On the table, stamina and wounds fill a single bar from opposite ends, and when the two meet, you die.

In Dark Souls, which spear-wielding knight fights beside the executioner Smough in Anor Londo's cathedral?

Ornstein and Smough fight as a pair, and the survivor absorbs the fallen one: outlive Smough and Ornstein swells to giant size, while Smough left alone charges his hammer with lightning.

In Demon's Souls, the forerunner of Dark Souls, where does the Maiden in Black wait to strengthen you?

The Nexus is a hidden temple that binds the souls of would-be demon slayers: killed in the opening, you wake there and cannot leave, only step through its Archstones to the game's five worlds.

Which manga did Miyazaki say had influenced Dark Souls?

Berserk is a manga Miyazaki says he loves; asked when he would make a game of it, he laughed that he respects it too much, so it stays at nods such as a two-handed sword attack its hero Guts often uses.

Which message appears across the screen each time the player is killed in Dark Souls?

You Died became the series' calling card and an online punchline pasted over fail videos; the sequel even awards an achievement called 'This is Dark Souls' the first time it happens.

Which Dark Souls covenant punishes sinful players and takes their ears as Souvenirs of Reprisal?

Blades of the Darkmoon are sent after players named in the Book of the Guilty; you land in it by betraying a covenant, or when someone you invaded and killed files an indictment against you.

Dark Souls has been cited as an inspiration for which hit Netflix television series?

Stranger Things sits on a long list of works shaped by the 2011 game, alongside Destiny, Shovel Knight and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

What did nearly 100,000 Dark Souls fans do that persuaded the publisher to release a Windows version?

Fans signed a petition online, and it played a major role in the decision, though the studio had never planned a PC version and had little experience making one.

Which Dark Souls knight wears rounded armour that people outside his homeland mock for looking like an onion?

Siegmeyer of Catarina is first found sitting outside a sealed gate, waiting for it to open, and his daughter Sieglinde also turns up during the game.

In Dark Souls, which brand marks a person as an accursed Undead who revives after every death?

The Darksign is no blessing: those who carry it keep coming back, but they eventually lose their minds and go hollow.

Which Dark Souls item, handed over in Anor Londo, lets the player warp between bonfires?

The Lordvessel only reaches a select few bonfires, each of which must be rested at first, and it is later placed on the Firelink Altar to open the way to the ending.

In Dark Souls, which detail gives away that a treasure chest is really a Mimic?

Its chain points forward on a Mimic, while a real chest's chain curls toward the back. A Mimic's lid also lifts now and then as it breathes.

Which later game by the Dark Souls director drew on worldbuilding from author George R. R. Martin?

Elden Ring arrived in 2022 and became the fastest-selling game in its publisher's history, with George R. R. Martin writing the world's backstory and Miyazaki the game's own plot.

Which Japanese company published Dark Souls outside Japan, while FromSoftware released it at home?

Namco Bandai producers pitched the game as a spiritual successor rather than a sequel, even though it shared much of its predecessor's team and gameplay concept.

Besides PlayStation 3, which console received the original Dark Souls at its Western launch?

Xbox 360 owners only got the game in the West: the original Japanese release, a month earlier, was for PlayStation 3 alone.

Which Dark Souls starting gift has no effect, a prank its director later admitted to playing on players?

The Pendant has just one obscure use: it can be handed to a trader in exchange for a Souvenir of Reprisal.

Which trap-filled Dark Souls castle, guarded by serpent men and swinging axes, is the gateway to Anor Londo?

Sen's Fortress stays locked until both Bells of Awakening have been rung, and flying demons then carry whoever survives it on to the city beyond.

Which Dark Souls forest, reached from beneath the Undead Parish, is home to the Moonlight Butterfly?

Darkroot Garden also hides a sealed door that opens only with the Crest of Artorias, a key that costs 20,000 souls.

Which Dark Souls area hides invisible walkways that players trace by watching falling snow land on them?

Crystal Cave is entered from the grounds of a great archive, where the golems standing guard can simply be outrun.

Which Dark Souls boss leaps down from a tower onto a narrow castle wall in the Undead Burg?

The Taurus Demon can be beaten from above: players climb the ladder back up the tower and drop onto it with plunging attacks until it dies.

Which Dark Souls boss on a church roof is joined by a second fire-breathing twin at half health?

The Bell Gargoyles guard the first Bell of Awakening, and cutting the tail off the first one during the fight yields an axe to keep.

Which half-woman, half-spider Dark Souls boss guards the way to the second Bell of Awakening?

Chaos Witch Quelaag fights only to protect her ailing sister, the Fair Lady, whose domain lies just beyond the bell.

Which pale Dark Souls dragon betrayed his own kind and was rewarded with an archive for his research?

Seath the Scaleless was born without the stone scales that made other dragons immortal, yet he cannot be killed until the player shatters the Primordial Crystal at the back of his lair.

Which Dark Souls boss waits in the pitch-black Abyss, survivable only with a ring tied to Artorias?

The Four Kings can outnumber their own name: new wraiths keep appearing on a timer, so a slow fight ends up facing a fifth.

Which Dark Souls boss dies when one small bug is killed, after two glowing roots are destroyed?

The Bed of Chaos is the source of all demons, formed when the Witch of Izalith's ritual to create a second First Flame went wrong.

Which Dark Souls boss, known as the first of the dead, waits at the bottom of the Tomb of the Giants?

Gravelord Nito helped wage the war against the dragons, and his soul is one of the four the player must collect to reach the final area.

Which Dark Souls knight, freed from a cell in the Undead Parish, later kills Firelink Shrine's Fire Keeper?

Lautrec of Carim rewards his rescuer with a Sunlight Medal, yet he commits the murder whether or not anyone lets him out of his cell.

Which famed Dark Souls sorcerer is first found trapped in a hanging cage behind a breakable wall?

Big Hat Logan turned Undead more than a hundred years earlier, and once freed he moves to Firelink Shrine to sell powerful sorceries.

Which heavily armoured Dark Souls foe swings a dragon's tooth as a hammer at the foot of a watchtower?

Havel the Rock had turned hollow and was locked in the watchtower basement by a figure the game's lore names only as a dear friend.

Which crow in the first Dark Souls trades for items dropped into its nest at the Northern Undead Asylum?

Snuggly swaps only one item at a time, and the reward shows up after a loading screen, so anything extra left in the nest is simply lost.

Which Dark Souls starting class begins the game with the reusable Master Key already in hand?

The Thief makes the gift version of that key a wasted pick, and newcomers who do take it can end up stranded in very difficult areas far too early.

Which Dark Souls starting class begins at Soul Level 6 with every stat set to 11?

The Deprived pays for those even stats with almost no gear: it starts with just a club and a plank shield, though the club is one of the best early weapons against the tutorial boss.

Which Dark Souls stat, raised by heavy armour and the Wolf Ring, keeps enemy hits from staggering you?

Poise works like an invisible bar that each hit chips away, and it refills in full once a few seconds pass without taking a blow.

Which ore, described as fragments of Legendary Slabs, reinforces weapons and armour throughout Dark Souls?

Titanite comes in shards, chunks and slabs, and nine shards are enough to take a standard weapon from its base form to +5.

Which signature gesture of the Dark Souls knight Solaire did the director first hide in Demon's Souls?

Praise the Sun survived a publisher's verdict that the pose was not cool enough, and Solaire was later created to make the gesture popular.

Which French landmark did the Dark Souls director name as part of the basis for New Londo Ruins?

Mont-Saint-Michel, in Normandy, fed a design brief in which the director sought refinement and elegance even in grotesque or decayed places.

Which magazine retroactively raised its Dark Souls review score to 10 out of 10 in its 20th anniversary issue?

Edge later went further, naming Dark Souls the best game of its console generation and placing it top of a special issue on the 100 greatest videogames.

Which publisher launched a Dark Souls comic book alongside the release of Dark Souls III?

Titan Comics joined a wave of tie-ins that year, which also included a licensed board game and a free mobile game.

What kind of mobile game was Slashy Souls, the free tie-in released to promote Dark Souls III?

An endless runner drawn in pixel art, it was panned by critics, and Destructoid's reviewer scored it 1 out of 10.

Which first-person FromSoftware series, begun on the original PlayStation in 1994, influenced Dark Souls?

King's Field was seen as groundbreaking for its fully 3D first-person view, though the first game was never officially released in English.

What did the parents of Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki forbid him to do until he reached university?

He was not allowed to play video games, so he turned to gamebooks and tabletop games such as Sorcery!, Dungeons & Dragons and RuneQuest.

Which 2001 game, played on a friend's recommendation, made the future Dark Souls director change careers?

Ico made him want to design games, and within ten years of the change he was president of the studio he joined, a rise considered unprecedented in Japan.

Which Dark Souls II character, waiting on a clifftop above the sea, levels the player up in place of bonfires?

The Emerald Herald is really named Shanalotte, a name given by the Ancient Dragon, and she was created in a failed attempt to break the undead curse.

Which Dark Souls II queen, secretly the cause of her kingdom's ruin, is the final boss of the base game?

Nashandra tricked the king into a raid across the sea, and the invasion that came back in revenge left the kingdom in ruins.

Which 2015 re-release of Dark Souls II bundled its three expansions and revised enemy positions?

Scholar of the First Sin also added Aldia, the king's brother, a new character who hints that the cycle of light and dark can be escaped.

Which coastal town serves as the player's hub in Dark Souls II, gathering characters met along the way?

Majula is nearly a safe haven, though a pit in the middle of town drops away to far more dangerous places below.

Which Dark Souls II attribute governs a character's agility and resistance to poison, bleed and petrification?

Adaptability starts lowest for the Bandit, at 3, and highest for the Explorer, at 12, and each point also adds a little health.

Which Dark Souls II ruler shut himself inside the Undead Crypt to keep his kingdom's power from his queen?

King Vendrick is still there as a mindless hollow, and beating him as an optional boss is the condition for meeting his brother in the final area.

Which snowy Dark Souls III city lies behind a barrier that only the bearer of a small doll can cross?

Irithyll is patrolled by tall guardians and invisible enemies, and the route through its silent streets leads on to a return visit to Anor Londo.

Which blinded Dark Souls giant, once leader of the Dragonslayers, helps the player bring down a black dragon?

Hawkeye Gough spends his days locked away making wood carvings, and if asked he grounds the dragon with his bow in a cutscene.

Which role-playing staple do spells in the first Dark Souls lack, each having a set number of uses instead?

A mana pool is replaced by a fixed number of casts for each attuned spell, all of which come back when the player rests at a bonfire.

What happens to most defeated enemies whenever a Dark Souls player rests at a bonfire?

They respawn, apart from bosses, mini-bosses and any characters the player has killed, so each rest trades safety for a repopulated road ahead.

Where does Dark Souls tuck away much of its story, instead of telling it through cutscenes?

Item descriptions, scenery and sparse dialogue carry the plot, leaving players to piece the clues together for themselves.

Which starting area of Dark Souls II offers an optional tutorial through its doors of mist?

Things Betwixt also holds a coffin that swaps the character's gender, a purely cosmetic change that a second visit reverses.

Which Dark Souls II boss uses his shield to summon other players into the fight on his side?

The Looking Glass Knight was once known as the Mirror Knight, and the polished shield he summons through can also deflect spells.

Which Dark Souls character is the first person met at Firelink Shrine, where he explains the two bells?

The Crestfallen Warrior fears his own hollowing is inevitable, and he later turns up hostile at the bridge into New Londo Ruins.