The Souls series (ソウルシリーズ Sōru shirīzu) is a series of action role-playing video games created and developed by FromSoftware. The series began with the release of Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 in 2009. It was followed by Dark Souls in 2011, and its sequels, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III, in 2014 and 2016, respectively. The series' creator was Hidetaka Miyazaki, who directed all of them with the exception of Dark Souls II.
The Souls games are played in a third-person perspective, and focus on exploring interconnected environments while fighting enemies with weapons, magic, or both. Players battle bosses to progress through the story, while interacting with strange non-playable characters. The series has been praised, and sometimes criticized, for its high level of difficulty,[1][2][3] and is considered a spiritual successor to King's Field. Another FromSoftware game, Bloodborne, shares many concepts and gameplay mechanics with the Souls series.
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