Lucas didn't choose Dark Souls randomly—or to be exact, the third and final entry in the Dark Souls series. He thought it through very carefully.
In his past life, Dark Souls had grown into a huge franchise.
From the first game to the third and final installment of the Age of Fire saga—
It told players a grand, epic story about the Age of Fire.
Of the three games, the first and third stood out the most in players' minds.
Mainly because the second game wasn't directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki himself, and many fans had issues with it.
Dark Souls II was criticized for relying too much on enemy swarms to create difficulty.
That's why it didn't become as well-known or loved as the first and third games.
As for why Lucas chose to develop Dark Souls III...
The reason is very simple.
By the time of Dark Souls III, the core ideas behind the Souls games had already matured.
Take Demon's Souls, the first game in the series. Many players think it's harder than Dark Souls III, while others find it easier.
But the difficulty in Demon's Souls doesn't really come from the boss fights—it's more about the punishing design and cruel map layouts.
Dark Souls, on the other hand, is a more standard level-based game. Some even call it a "memorization game."
Compared to the first game, many players feel that Dark Souls III is a bit easier—and they're not wrong.
Dark Souls III is actually the most beginner-friendly Souls game.
If we were to rank all of Hidetaka Miyazaki's Souls titles (excluding Dark Souls II, which he didn't personally direct, and Demon's Souls, which was his first try and still rough around the edges),
then yes—Dark Souls III is the easiest among Dark Souls I, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring.
(And don't argue—if you want to argue, take it up with Miyazaki himself. He said this in an interview with Famitsu when talking about Elden Ring.)
Unlike the first Dark Souls, where you could end up running into high-level zones from the starting area with no idea what you're doing,
Dark Souls III is much more thoughtfully paced. The game follows a learn–test–pass–repeat cycle, making the difficulty curve smooth and manageable.
That's also why Dark Souls III became the best-selling game in the series.
Of course, Dark Souls I shares some of Demon's Souls' brutal difficulty—after all, both were early titles in the genre.
But there's a key difference: due to limited budget and content during development, Dark Souls I used a clever trick.
It borrowed ideas from Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in its map design, and introduced a loop-based structure like a Möbius strip.
This actually became a major highlight of the series and was kept in future games.
If we're talking about breakthroughs in Miyazaki's games, unlike how Zelda: Ocarina of Time set the standard for 3D games,
Souls games didn't really redefine the genre in that way.
Because none of these mechanics were completely original.
Rolling, parrying, backstabs, grappling hooks, blocking, fragmented storytelling, map design—none of them were invented by the Souls series.
What makes it special is how it puts all of those parts together to create something with a truly unique style.
The idea that Souls games are "hard" is just a surface-level label.
If you think "Souls game = hard," then you're completely missing the point.
That's also why, when thinking about how much players in this parallel world can handle difficulty-wise—
Lucas chose Dark Souls III as the next game to develop.
Another reason is that level-based games are a bit easier to develop compared to open-ended ones.
And since this game is supposed to help promote the Nebula Games platform, its shareability is an important factor.
Souls games—with their unique charm—are a great fit for that goal.
After all, the streaming industry in this world is just as developed as in the original timeline. A game like Dark Souls gets a huge popularity boost through livestreams.
Back then, Dark Souls III and Sekiro became super popular in the Earth, and that success was closely tied to streaming and video platforms.
As for the story, that's really not a big issue, since Souls games focus more on level design than narrative.
Still, fragmented storytelling is a major feature of the series.
Unless you're a genius, there's no way you're going to fully understand the story on your first playthrough.
At most, you'll have a rough idea of what's going on.
A lot of the story isn't directly told—it's hidden in item descriptions, side areas, and bits of dialogue. You have to piece it together yourself.
That's what gives the Souls series its charm: every player has their own interpretation.
Each person has their own unique take on the Dark Souls story.
Because so much of the lore and world-building is scattered across the game in bits and pieces,
you really have to dig deep to understand the overall plot.
That's why over time, fans have kept researching the story and created the whole "Soul Scholar" meme.
Since Dark Souls III tells the story of the end of the Age of Fire, it can easily be told in reverse.
Just sprinkle in a few callbacks and hidden references in the game to hint at a future prequel—that's all it takes.
.........
In the Nebula Games office, Lucas Hart leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, thinking about the future direction of Dark Souls.
As for the initial design concepts for the gameplay, Lucas wasn't in a rush.
Even if he pushed himself to get it done now, the project would still need a bit of prep time before development could really begin.
Before that, he figured he'd use the points he had saved up since Overcooked released before the New Year to try his luck with a big draw—maybe level up some of his abilities and hopefully score a few good items.
Legends of the Three Kingdoms and Fall Guys, on the other hand, hadn't earned him many points yet.
That's because those two games only officially launched after the Gameplay Expo ended,
so they hadn't racked up much in terms of points yet.
After organizing his thoughts on where to take Dark Souls, Lucas opened his browser and the backend of the Nebula Games platform to check up on how Fall Guys and Legends of the Three Kingdoms were doing.
Dark Souls, being Nebula Games' first AAA title, was more of a long-term project.
Even though players were already hyped, all he could really do for now was keep telling them it was in progress.
In the meantime, Legends of the Three Kingdoms and Fall Guys were the real backbone of Nebula Games.
And it wasn't just Lucas.
Plenty of game designers across the industry were keeping a close eye on Legends of the Three Kingdoms and Fall Guys.
After all, both games stood out big time during the Gameplay Expo.
A lot of devs and studios were very interested in how these two games would perform once they were officially released.
A game getting attention isn't enough on its own—real success is all about revenue and sales. That's what decides whether a game makes it or flops.
(Before Dark Souls, I'm planning to write a small-budget game to bridge the timeline. Keywords: three guys, one girl, one dog. What could it be? Take a guess!)
(End of The Chapter)
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