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Ever since From Software launched its cult classic action-RPGs Demon's Souls and its more popular multiplatform successor Dark Souls, developers far and wide have sought to replicate the runaway hit. The series' brilliant blend of foreboding dark fantasy, elliptical narrative techniques, and a best in class combat system have created what Eurogamer contributor Rich Stanton called "the greatest trilogy of modern times."Perhaps Dark Souls' most influential effect was on how it's shaped the third-person action game. It used to be a genre defined by its spectacle. Everyone wanted their game to be bigger, bolder and bloodier with and endless array of shimmering particle effects and dazzling decapitations. Devil May Cry gave way to Ninja Gaiden gave way to God of War gave way to Bayonetta - arguably the flashiest and swiftest series in the wild west of this eastern genre.
From Software took a different approach. Rather than chase the glitz and glamour, it decided to take third-person combat in another direction. Rather than focus on speed, it rewarded players for meticulous nerve, for keeping their cool in relatively slow, lumbering battles where one wrong button press could spell instant doom. From Software may not have invented a stamina meter - a gauge that determines your ability to strike, dodge, block and run - but it perfected it to the point that it became a mainstay in how we now think of third-person action titles.
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