10 Awesome Video Games That Owe Their Success To Dark Souls

By Richard John Dorricott / January 3, 2017

Every now and then, something game-changing comes along and completely reinvents the medium of video games. In these instances, the games in question come to represent watershed moments, providing a framework which subsequent creators are able to develop upon and transform into something else entirely. They’re essentially the archetypes for everything that follows, spawning countless imitators in the wake of their tremendous success.

Dark Souls is perhaps one of the best examples, which managed to establish its own sub-genre through its innovative gameplay, unique atmosphere and engrossing universe, making it one of the most ground-breaking games of its generation. Understandably then, the game has inspired innumerable copycats – some of which have evolved the formula considerably – and some which have remained remarkably faithful to the original framework.

Either ways, these game are all exceptional in their own way, but they have one thing in common: they wouldn’t exist without Dark Souls – which not only inspired them in the first place – but paved the way for their success.

10. Titan Souls

Dark Souls requires a massive amount of patience, requiring players to learn from their mistakes by treating death as though a learning tool. Each challenge is considerable. The Catacombs for instance is accessible right from the beginning, and contains skeletons which reanimate constantly unless the player initially targets the Necromancers, which the game fails to mention.

The game refuses to hold the player’s hand, or even communicate vital information. Instead, players must learn from each encounter, memorise enemy attack patterns and gradually overcome their opposition.

Titan Souls – a two dimensional, pixelated adventure game – uses the same concept as a central mechanic, every enemy capable of obliterating the player in a single, devastating manoeuvre, which encourages multiple playthroughs.

Besides that, the combat is based around positioning and spacing, and most bosses are defeated through timing and dodging, rather than brute strength.