Dark Souls

Dark Souls (ダークソウル) is an action-adventure / role-playing game video game developed and published for PlayStation 3 by From Software in Japan, and published for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by Namco Bandai Games internationally. Previously referred to as Project Dark, Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. It was released in Japan on September 22, 2011, on October 4 in North America, and on October 7 in Europe of the same year.

The game consists of dungeon crawling in almost relentlessly hostile environments and exploits the tension instilled by risk vs. reward game mechanics and penalties upon player death. Dark Souls takes place in an open world environment, with the player able to travel to and from areas and explore various available paths. Dark Souls allows players to light Bonfires, which function as respawn locations. These bonfires also replenish health, magic, and special items like Estus flasks - limited vials that restore health, but also respawn all enemies previously defeated, except for bosses and certain special enemies. The player must fight their way through various locations and defeat bosses to progress.

Dark Souls features an elaborate online mode, very much like that of Demon's Souls, which is active whenever the console is connected to the internet (an Xbox Live Arcade Gold subscription is required on the Xbox 360 version). The online mode adds numerous dynamic interactions between the individual worlds players, including limited co-op and player versus player within certain conditions. Communication between players is deliberately limited.