Before there was Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, or Elden Ring, there was King's Field. FromSoftware's little-known title is the precursor to all that the company is largely known for today. It was a great game for its time and it is severely underappreciated by today's players, mostly because the standards of what people enjoy when it comes to gameplay and graphics have changed drastically over the years.
Visually, the game looks and feels similar to the original Elder Scrolls game, and even came out around the same time. In hindsight, many fans remark that King's Field felt like an incredibly difficult version of Elder Scrolls, just as the Dark Souls games share influences from the fantasy genre but are known for their challenging nature. In its time, King's Field took players on an adventure that required patience and resolve.
Fans of the Dark Souls series should consider taking a look at where FromSoftware got its start in the fantasy genre. King's Field is a seriously engaging experience that shares much in common with everything gamers love about Dark Souls. Here's everything to know about King's Field.
Why King's Field Is Still Worth Playing
King's Field was a first-person fantasy RPG created by FromSoftware in 1994. The original title was only released in Japan, but was so successful that its sequel was released in the US. The plot follows Jean Alfred Forrester as he searches for his lost father through a series of dungeons. The game consists mostly of battling strange monsters through five distinct mazes. Players are tasked with discovering hidden prizes, solving puzzles, and not being cut down by hordes of creatures.
The King's Field series consisted of four games that released between 1994 and 2001. The series as a whole garnered some majorly polarized reviews during its run. Players who don't like the speed of games like Demon's Souls would hate the speed of progression found in King's Field. Players move slowly and are able to be killed rather quickly by enemies that often move twice as fast. The experience is one that can often feel challenging as a result of its control mechanics, rather than as a result of its fair challenge.
Demon's Souls was made as a spiritual successor to King's Field but streamlined the elements of the game that were originally more sporadic in nature. King's Field involved a suite of different enemy types all mashed into one place. In Demon's Souls, there are clear changes in location that give reason for the highly-varied beings that the player faces throughout the game. There are also other connections between King's Field and the Souls universe, such as Kalameet in Dark Souls resembling the cyclopean dragon boss of King's Field.
To say the Souls games have come a long way from King's Field is an understatement. While these games are classics, they are likely very hard to enjoy for modern gamers due to their clunky nature. For fans of older titles, this series is definitely one to take a look at, if only to see the clear inspirations that made the Souls series what it is today.