FromSoftware’s Dark Souls franchise is no doubt very popular. Elden Ring might be a blockbuster, but one must not forget that this is the franchise that led to Elden Ring. This is why Dark Souls will always have a special place in the hearts of all FromSoftware fans out there, probably forever. But one thing that fans can’t help but wonder is where the developer intends to take this series next.
Series creator and director Hidetaka Miyazaki has been asked this question multiple times, and all those times he has chosen to be very cryptic about answering it. It’s understandable too, given how they are always working on a new game, and talking about some other franchise while in the process of releasing another game can complicate things a bit. But recently, he became clear about his intentions for making Dark Souls 4.
Hidetaka Miyazaki does not want to develop Dark Souls 4
The Soulslike genre was given birth by FromSoftware when they worked extensively on games like Demon Souls and Dark Souls. These titles gave gamers something very interesting to get through. A challenging world that players have never seen or explored.
While Demon Souls remains the only game without any sequels or such, Dark Souls has sprouted a number of follow-ups. A total of two sequels and a number of DLCs for each game were launched, and all of those games were getting more and more successful by the day.
Besides that, FromSoftware was getting even better at designing these games and making them engaging and challenging at the same time. Dark Souls 3 fans got a combat mechanic that was an incredible mix of everything that Dark Souls did right and Bloodborne.
Besides being the perfect game, Dark Souls even gave fans one very important thing: an end to this long-running saga, in lore at least. When fans saw the end of that vicious cycle in the game, they knew this was probably the ultimate send-off.
Ever since that moment, there has been no other game in the series. FromSoftware moved on to Sekiro and then Elden Ring and they have yet to look back. With a new DLC for Elden Ring on the horizon, it does not even make sense for them to go back to that franchise just yet.
But fans must remember that Hidetaka Miyazaki once explained why he does not want to go back to this franchise for now. He suggested that he and his team at FromSoftware want to focus more on new experiences than just developing the same franchise, and he even considers the Dark Souls franchise to be over.
“It’d be a lie if I said I have no concerns about that. I don’t think it’d be the right choice to continue indefinitely creating Souls and Bloodborne games. I’m considering Dark Souls 3 to be the big closure to the series. That’s not just limited to me, but From Software and myself together want to aggressively make new things in the future. Dark Souls 3 will mark the last game where the development project began before I became president.”
After that, they worked on and released Sekiro, which was without a doubt a new experience. A game featuring a Shinobi who can stealth, use various gadgets, and is lightning fast with his sword.
After that, they moved on to Elden Ring, another game that was a completely new experience for FromSoftware fans. An open-world game combining The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Dark Souls.
There’s still hope for new titles, though
While Hidetaka Miyazaki once made that statement, demand for new games in both the Bloodborne and Dark Souls franchises is sky-high. They have a larger fanbase and more respect in the industry; it would make sense if they released those sequels now.
Nothing would be better than them focusing on a new Bloodborne title. The world needs a proper new horror soulslike title. That too is from the creators of the original, and no one else.
