Summary
Nightreignis here and brings with it a whole new set of mechanics to learn, both as a solo player and in thecontext of multiplayer groups. From player revival to character-based abilities, the game pushes forward in a lot of new directions, while also bringing back a few classic features that fans of the series were begging to see once again.
But sometimes, certain features are left behind for one reason or another, whether because they fit into the world in a very specific way or they were quickly outdated by a newer idea. Every game in the FromSoftware catalog has its own quirks and unique mechanics, some of which never carried forward into the later games despite being perfectly interesting and incredibly fun to use.
Bonfire Ascetics are a peculiar item inDark Souls 2that revamps how areas can be approached in a simplistic way that no other game in the series has attempted to replicate. All the games follow the same basic formula of completing the game and being able to play through again in NG+, with higher health pools and bigger rewards, but it still requires beating the entire game to go up a tier.
But with bonfire Ascetics, players are givena powerful toolthat lets them level up an entire area, normally confined to the enemies between bonfires, without having to actually beat the game. It means that those extra souls can be accessed early on, and with the choice to level up any bonfire even multiple times, it is a nice feature that was never used again in a future title.
In an open-world game likeElden Ring, the idea of having to traverse the whole map on foot sounds like an absolute chore. Thankfully, FromSoftware understood this all too well and granted players the lovable Torrent about 10 minutes into their journey in The Lands Between. Fast land movements and verticality introduced a whole new set of possibilities in the world - without Torrent, there would be noElden Ring.
It does make a lot of sense why the other games in their catalog never saw a similar feature. Most of the time, players can fast-travel pretty freely between locations without much care, and at no point does it ever feel as though the player’s character is moving too slow. However, with an expansive world to discover, having a mount is a lifesaver, and the feature will hopefully return if FromSoftware decides to try their hand at another open-world epic.
For the most part, FromSoftware’s games have always been heavily focused on single-player action, with a sprinkling of multiplayer to allow players to challenge others or ask for help when needed at certain points. That all changed withNightreign, where players are encouraged to play as a group to have the most success in a world balanced around three-player encounters.
One of the most interesting additions isthe revive mechanic, where if a party member goes down, they can be attacked both at range and with melee weapons to bring them back to life. This works across the runs all the way into the final boss, meaning that when mistakes happen, they can be cleaned up quickly thanks to this helpful mechanic that makes the co-op feel even more fun.
Bloodborneis a unique title in a lot of ways, whether it be the aesthetic or the combat, or the systems that define the entire experience. One incredibly interesting mechanic is Insight, effectively a currency that players can acquire through several means, like consumables and boss encounters.
The currency can be spent to purchase various items in the Hunter’s Dream, but on top of it acting as a tradable number, certain thresholds allow players to see things in the world they couldn’t before, and even hear additional sounds that can only be accessed with a higher level of Insight. A baby crying, looming Amygdalas clinging to structures, it adds a level of horror to the world that rewards those who save the insight in an unexpected way.
Before any flashy parries or gallops across the landscapes,Demon’s Soulswas innovating in ways that remain interesting but have been left behind despite the intrigue. One such mechanic is the world tendency, a system that serves as a kind of karma gauge that players can raise and lower to change enemy drops, difficulty, and impact the world in other larger ways.
The system exists as an overarching meter that players can either focus on and manage with care by avoiding deaths and sparing NPCs, or can be ignored, with players facing the consequences of their lack of care. It works well inDemon’s Soulsdue to how the game is segmented into areas, but it could certainly make a return in some regard in a future title with a few modern improvements.
6Adaptability
An Extra Stat For Better And Worse
Dark Souls 2is by farthe most divisive Soulslikeboth in FromSoftware’s library and the genre as a whole. Some love it, some hate it, and others are somewhere in between, who can never truly make up their mind. Regardless, the game pushed for innovation and certainly tried out some new mechanics to break up the formula from the previous games.
Adaptability is an example of an experimental mechanic that could work in other games, but was left as a single use inDS2. The basic idea was to give players stats they could level up that governed less tangible things like HP, and instead buffed their ability to dodge, drink flasks, and a few other stats that were otherwise overlooked. A nice addition that was an interesting look at what could be possible, and a mechanic that will hopefully be seen again someday down the line.
7Chalice Dungeons
Seed Generation That Deserves Another Look
Nightreignlooked to be a randomly generated dream that gaveplayers a huge map to explorewith random locations in every run. Alas, the map is fixed and the locations only shuffle a bit, but long before the newest title, FromSoftware was experimenting in a way that gave players the tools to generate dungeons of near-endless varieties, giving them content to digest outside of the main game.
The Chalice Dungeons inBloodbornewere an amazing addition to the game that pushed the boundaries of what was possible in a linear Soulslike. Craftable dungeons with seeds and different rewards, each with unique enemies that could only be found inside of them, the dungeons served as a way of experiencing the goodness of the combat, in a bite-sized fashion. It could have been better, and there was work to be done, but as a first go, the dungeons were a great new feature that many fans adored.
For the most part, the FromSoftware game library has always used a very similar style of leveling up the player’s character. Gain a currency, spend it on specific stats, and increase those levels as high as possible, a loop that existed throughout the Soulslikes both in and outside the company. ButSekiro,in more ways than one, mixed up that gameplay idea by removing the individual stat upgrades in place of a skill tree and general stat boosts.
Rather than focusing on a single stat, players could focus on the actual combat abilities that had individual purposes in certain fights and against specific weapons. With no extra armaments to choose from, instead players master the art of the sword, pushing all of their thought and energy into learning the parry mechanics and choosing certain skills, while still being able to improve their general stats like health, once they have taken down enough bosses.
