While Switch owners unfortunately never saw a release for FromSoftware's critically acclaimed Dark Souls III, we've seen plenty from the franchise and wider 'Souls' genre with the launch of Dark Souls: Remastered and the pixel art homage Blasphemous.
Well, it now appears that Thomas Feichtmeir, an artist who worked on Blasphemous, actually once pitched an idea to publisher Bandai Namco for a 2D pixel art version of Dark Souls III. As spotted by our friends over at Time Extension, the revelation was revealed on Twitter with an accompanying mock-up screenshot added to demonstrate how the game might have looked.
Obviously, the art style is very much reminiscent of Blasphemous, and we're really quite disappointed that this project never saw the light of day. Considering Switch owners were always unlikely to get the OG Dark Souls III, this alternative 2D metroidvania would have been the perfect alternative. Indeed, even Feichtmeir himself is not quite sure as to why the project wasn't green lit.
Nevertheless, he states in a Twitter reply that the project was "a real job", and that "the art was created in a style which would have been doable in the average budget estimations of metroidvanias back then."
Would you have liked to see a 2D Metroidvania based on Dark Souls III? Reckon it would have come to Switch if it had been green lit? Let us know in the comments!
[source twitter.com, via timeextension.com]
Comments 11
I'm currently playing Blasphemous and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a shame this never happened, but then again, there's a big chance I wouldn't have played it, because I haven't touched a single Souls game and would be unlikely to play even a 2D entry.
I would have definitely played that!
i though darksoul 2 ,3 coming
So many levels of disappointment and wasted potential! Would have been an ideal game for the Switch platform...!
Also, prior to reading the headline I had assumed we would see a DS2/DS3 port announcement!
Woe is me...
I really, really enjoyed Blasphemous. I know there are lots of metroidvanias on Switch but I personally believe this game is one of the better ones. If you haven’t played it, you should check it out. I think the demo is still available.
Eagerly waiting for the sequel which I heard should be coming out in 2023.
But surely that's what Blasphemous is....
Loved that game by the way.
Blasphemous was such an amazing game that I'd have bought this instantly. The lore, gameplay, and difficulty was perfect to me. Just talking about it makes me wanna replay it! Can't wait for sequel, but I'd take any 2d game in that vain if it was cared for project.
Oh I get feels from this… and The Game Kitchen would be an amazing team for a project like this. We’ll see what happens after the Blasphemous sequel, who knows 🙂
So they told him no, he went and found some other people and did it anyway, and now we've got one of the best metroidvanias ever made, with a sequel already on the way. As long as it comes close to the style and quality of the original, I don't really care if a spiritual successor is made by the same company, a handful of the original dev team, or just some fans who want to help carry the torch.
This could have been amazing.
Bad, Bandai Namco! Bad!
Sounds interesting. Blasphemous has a great art style.
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