Guide to Play the Dark Souls Series in Order – What to play first?

Dark Souls is a globally popular medieval-style fantasy action RPG videogame series created by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Interestingly, this series consists of a main trilogy with many ‘spin-off series’ encompassing four more soulslike games, including Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring.

Having so many games in the same series raise a fundamental question – in what order should you play it? 

The Dark Souls series can be played in the following orders:

1. The Release Order; or
2. The Ascending Difficulty Order. 

1. The Release Order of the Dark Souls Series

The release order of all Souls games is as follows: Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, and then Elden Ring.

This is the simplest way to play all the Souls games in a particular order. Fascinatingly, it allows players to experience how the Souls game came into the picture and evolved with time and technology.

In this order, each game is better than the previous one due to enhanced gameplay mechanics and features as the developers learned more and adapted new things over time, making it the best way to experience Souls games.

2. The Ascending Difficulty Order to Play the Dark Souls Series

The ascending difficulty order that should take Souls players from the easiest encounters to the hardest is as follows: Elden Ring, Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Sekiro.

Therefore, Elden Ring, the latest entry in the Soulslike category, is also the easiest of them all due to its open-world nature.

In other Souls games, players are primarily crammed in narrow boss areas or dark corridors, making it extremely difficult to maneuver in a fight. Players cannot back away from a battle in most of the Souls games as the locations close behind them. Additionally, they can’t invite their friends to support them in fights as the games are single-player.

However, playing the souls game in this order might ruin the fun for the latter titles, as Elden Ring, being the latest, is almost flawless in game mechanics, so the older ones may seem a bit janky.

3. Which Dark Souls game is the first?

The first Dark Souls game is the original Dark Souls which was released in 2011. It was the game that started off the Dark Souls series.

However, it was not the very first “soulslike” game developed by FromSoftware. The 2009’s action RPG, Demon’s Souls, developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 3 under the supervision of Japan Studio, was the first ever souls like experience the gaming community ever had.

4. Can I play Dark Souls 3 before Dark Souls 2 or 1?

Gamers do not need to play the Dark Souls series in release order, but doing so will give them context to some events that are not much relevant to the games.

Because of how DS2 depicts what happens after the events of DS1, you will like it better if you become immersed in the tale of DS1 first. You would miss a lot of the subtle references if you skipped DS1.

DS3 also has a lot of callbacks to DS1, which you won’t understand at all if you haven’t played the first game, along with a few references to DS2. However, despite that, it is not necessary to play the games in the series order as it is not that relevant to the gameplay.

5. Do I have to play all the Dark Souls?

Players do not need to play all 3 of the Dark Souls game because they have no certain overarching story.

As said earlier, Dark Souls games can be played in any order because the games majorly focus on impossible gameplay and brutally challenging bosses.

The main objective of these games is to challenge the players’ gaming skills, so even if you only play a single Dark Souls, you won’t miss out on any of the crucial storylines. 

6. Can I start with the Dark Souls trilogy?

Players can start their Dark Souls journey with the trilogy and then go ahead with the other soulsborne games in any order, as they are all standalone titles and do not share the same universe.

In fact, as explained, you do not even need to play the trilogy in the series order, as in Souls universes, the storylines are mediocre and not much relevant. It is the unique and brutal gameplay/combat mechanics that you will enjoy the most in these games.

7. Which Dark Souls is the best?

Dark Souls 3 is the best Souls game because of its great gameplay, smooth mechanics and controls, fantastic visuals, exciting bosses, and mesmerizing soundtracks.

Dark Souls 1 also has an amazing storyline and gameplay, but being the first in the series, it does not feel adequately optimized and has inferior graphics. While Dark Souls 2, on the other hand, has a messy map design. It is made overly difficult in a poor fashion with tons of uninteresting bosses and has poor mechanics overall.

8. Will there be a 4th Dark Souls game?

FromSoftware, currently, has no plans for a 4th Dark Souls game. There is no official statement regarding the same, meaning the game is not even in its development stage.

However, FromSoftware is infamous for not revealing too much about their upcoming titles and launching them suddenly when no one expects the same. So, to be blunt, you never know when we will hear a rumor regarding Dark Souls 4.

That said, considering they just dropped Elden Ring almost a year ago, and the game still continues to be extremely popular, it seems that Dark Souls 4 won’t be coming anytime soon.

9. About Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls is an action role-playing game that was first released back in 2009 and is now getting a makeover from game developing company, Bluepoint Games.

The plot of the game revolves around the fallen kingdom of Boletaria which is devoured by a dark entity known as the Old One. Fog of despair and grief surrounds Boletaria, a once-great land, which now habitats bloodthirsty demons. Players assume the responsibility of the hero and travel to five different realms that are brimming with barbaric demons and creatures who are only concerned with killing you. After slaying foes, players will have to bond with their souls to become stronger, fight injustice and restore the lost glory of Boletaria.