Summary

It’s hard to overstate how much of an impact FromSoftware have had in the world of game design since the release ofDemon’s Soulsin 2009. Their games and unique mechanics have spawned entire new genres and have redefined assumptions about what players love about playing games.

Whether it’s an innovative multiplayer combat system or the infamous soul drop mechanic, FromSoftware is a factory of innovation, even if they’re not the very first studio to create the mechanics they popularized. This list is ranked primarily by the magnitude and influence of the mechanic.

8Invasions, Co-Op, and Messages

Never Alone

One of the first things players see as they set out on their journey in a FromSoftware game is messages, little scrawls on the ground placed by other players. Though they’re usually jokes, they often have helpful information, and it makes a player feel less alone in the world.

This kind of multiplayer innovation extends to PvP and PvE, where hostile players can ‘invade’ another player’s world as a red phantom, or co-op players that can be spawned in to assist, even with tough boss fights. For a studio known for creating beautiful dead worlds, they’re full of social mechanics from top to bottom, inspiring a massive roster ofSoulslikes known for their co-op gameplay.

7World Interconnectivity

Linked Together

For decades, traditional game design indicated that discrete levels were the way forward, an ancestry that can be traced all the way back to the arcade cabinets of yesteryear. Open-world games changed that assumption for good, but there was still further steps to be taken.

FromSoftware is famous for its interconnected puzzle-box worlds full of shortcuts that connect areas in surprising ways. Players will never forget the first time they take a random elevator and return to a bonfire they departed hours ago. It’s a constant dopamine rush that encourages player exploration and isa defining feature of a soulslike.

6Lore Through Exploration

Pay Careful Attention

While FromSoftware isn’t opposed to using cutscenes entirely, they rarely rely on them, and if a player uses cutscenes alone to understand the story, they’re going to have a rough time. Instead, FromSoftware loves to tell stories through environmental design over all else.

Levels tell the story here. By examining what a location looks like, what enemies populate it, how it’s connected to other places, what NPCs are there, what mechanics are unique to there, and items that tell stories all on their own, FromSoftware have proved that environmental design is an incredibly effective mechanical tool to tell a storyfull of brilliant lore.

5Stamina Combat

Take A Breather

Since the dawn of RPGs, one of the genre’s main design decisions has been how to limit resources when it comes to melee combat. After all, a sword swing doesn’t have ammunition or spell slots like magic or guns. Enter: stamina.

In a FromSoftware game, a player has a stamina bar that decreases with each block, swing, roll, or other exertion. If the bar is empty, they cannot swing, and if they’re guarding with empty stamina, enemies can break their guard and deal a critical hit. Combat is always a push and pull of stamina management, where every attack is a commitment of resources that could pay off, or cost dearly, in the following moments.

4Rolling i-Frames

Mashing Circle

Dodging in FromSoftware games is a little goofy, there’s no denying it. Instead of a smooth roll with an animation that displays just how close the strike came, FromSoftware decided to simply attach a preset number of invincibility frames to each roll animation where an attack can’t land.

This simple decision turns FromSoftware combat from a simple push and pull to a complex dance, where it almost becomes more like a rhythm game than an action-RPG. Players need to learn attack patterns, how and when to dodge, and then be ready to do it at the right time. It’s incredibly satisfying to get right, but it requires a lot of time and practice.

3Bonfire Respawns

Checkpoints are nothing new in video games. After all, unlike a movie, they can stretch tens or even hundreds of hours long. Players need a break, and in FromSoftware games, that often comes in the form of a bonfire (or a lamp/site of grace).

More than visually representing rest, bonfires are the respawn point where a player returns when they die, and they can often level up there, warp to other parts of the map, or change their gear. However, doing so comes at a cost, as it also resets the area, essentially bringing enemies back from the dead. The site of a new bonfire around the corner is a massive relief after a long time with no recent checkpoint, releasing a rush of dopamine like few other mechanics do.

2Fearsome, Punishingly Difficult Bosses

The Big Bads

If FromSoftware games are known for one thing, it’s their difficulty. While difficulty appears in the general combat and enemies of the game, with most enemies able to take down the player in a couple of hits, the real difficulty comes in themassive roster of boss enemiesthat act as progress checks for a player’s growing skill.

These bosses run the gambit from slow and mighty, feeble but speedy, spellcasters and knights, ultimate assassins and Lovecraftian monsters. What unites them is a massive health pool, attacks that hit like a truck, and an immense amount of satisfaction in felling them once and for all. These are the defining features of any FromSoftware game.

1Soul Drops

Permanent Loss

While difficulty certainly comes in the form of enemies and bosses, the real nut of FromSoftware games' difficulty comes in the dropping of souls when the player dies. Every enemy drops souls, the upgrade currency of each game, and the player can collect them. However, if the player dies, they lose all the souls, dropping them where they died, and if the player dies again before retrieving those souls, they’re gone forever.

This beautifully simple mechanic means death means something in a game where you can constantly respawn. There’s nothing more nerve-wracking than making that perilous journey back to a hefty pile of souls, and there are few pains more exquisite than losing them on the way there. Though that pain can be salved somewhat by aknowledge of good farming locations.