FromSoftware is famed worldwide for their Dark Souls franchise and other similarly dark action RPGs, but this Japanese game studio has published more than just Soulslikes. Even as millions of Dark Souls fans are crying out for news about Elden Ring, a fair number of FromSoftware followers are also hoping to hear news about sequels to other iconic FromSoftware titles like the Armored Core series.
Back in the mid 2000s, Hidetaka Miyazaki, a junior game designer for FromSoftware, was given creative control over Demon's Souls, an under-developed fantasy RPG marred by a lack of coherent direction. Miyazaki went on to create a brand new sub-genre of role-playing games built around challenging gameplay, resurrection mechanics, and environmental storytelling. Subsequent games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die twice catapulted FromSoftware to international fame and landed Miyazaki in the position of company president.
It's important to remember that when Miyazaki first designed Dark Souls and other similar titles, he and his development team were greatly inspired by the gameplay of earlier FromSoftware RPGs like the King's Field or Shadow Tower series, which contributed key features and visual themes to the Dark Souls experience. By playing former FromSoftware titles, as detailed by Laser Time, fans of the company will get a better idea of where the design principles of the Souls games came from, plus a picture of what FromSoftware can accomplish outside of the Soulslike genre.
Déraciné - FromSoftware's Story
An experimental VR title directed by Miyazaki and released back in 2018, Déraciné is a first-person narrative puzzle game with no combat RPG elements but plenty of the environmental storytelling and mysterious item lore descriptions that Miyazaki games are famous for. The main character of Déraciné is an invisible faerie with time manipulating powers. She solves puzzles and interacts, poltergeist-style, with the children and custodians of an old-fashioned orphanage in order to solve the mystery behind their existence. Games like this are evidence of the multiple ways FromSoftware can excel at storytelling, and speaks well about the future of Elden Ring.
The Tenchu Franchise - FromSoftware's Blood
The spiritual predecessor to Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice, the Tenchu games were similarly about the exploits of Ninjas in feudal Japan. Developed by the K2 LLC Studio and published by FromSoftware, each Tenchu game put a special focus on sword fights, stealth kills, vaulting over obstacles, and utilizing special ninja tools, while the various storylines revolved around Rikimaru and Ayame, two Ninjas from the Azuma Clan who fought cabals of evil sorcerers. It's easy to see how the company's history with Tenchu led to the creation of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, although fans would likely enjoy a proper Tenchu sequel somewhere down the road.
The Armored Core Franchise - FromSoftware's Strategy
The most famous FromSoftware series outside of the Soulsborne franchises, the Armored Core games are third-person sci-fi action titles about mercenaries called Ravens who control giant robotic war machines generally referred to as "Armored Cores," or ACs. Each Armored Core storyline explores the cycles of exploitation and violence between humans, with the Raven protagonist caught in the middle of destructive warriors between corporations or nation states. Armored Core's gameplay is based around aerial dogfights through urban battlefields, and between missions players can customize their giant mechs with a variety of new weapons, sub-systems, and limbs, creating unique war machines in the process. While frustrating at times, the franchise's games can become quite rewarding for players who can adapt to its often-obtuse controls, and shows that FromSoftware's difficultly streak has always been a part of the company's character.
Metal Wolf Chaos - FromSoftware's Action
One of the most ridiculously American video games ever released was developed by FromSoftware, a Japanese game company. Metal Wolf Chaos, a spin-off from the Armored Core series, is a paean to American patriotism and 1990's action movies so over the top that it loops right back around to enjoyable. The premise of the story is simple, idealistic, and utterly cheesy: when the USA is taken over by a military coup, President Michael Wilson must "take back America's freedom" with Metal Wolf, a heavily-armed suit of presidential power armor. Gameplay in Metal Wolf: Chaos is a more comic version of Armored Core's template, where players "liberate America" by blowing up mobs of soldiers, mechanized doomsday machines, and a treacherous Vice-President, wielding loadouts that range from machine guns and rocket launchers to cartoonish weapons like the infamous Shark Gun.
While everyone awaits news of Elden Ring or a possible upcoming Bloodborne 2 or Dark Souls 4, they shouldn't forget about all these other titles the developer has released as well. While not as popular as Dark Souls, these games are still quality FromSoftware products and they deserve to be remembered, or perhaps even updated with a sequel at some point in the future.
Source: Laser Time