Sony and Bluepoint Games have created an utterly gorgeous remake of Demon’s Souls on PS5, rebuilding the game from the ground up. The original Demon’s Souls launched on the PS3 in 2009, years before Dark Souls became a massive phenomenon.

In many ways Demon’s Souls set the stage for everything Dark Souls would do later, and the two games share a wealth of similarities, from Bonfires and Archstones to the punishing way the games deal with death. Of course, the similarities come right down to even the name.

There are obvious reasons fans might wonder if the two games are truly connected, or if they even take place in the same world. With the PS5 remake now more relevant than ever, here’s how Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls’ connections work.

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Dark Souls Is Only a Spiritual Sequel to Demon’s Souls

While there are plenty of references between the two games, Dark Souls is simply a “spiritual sequel” to Demon’s Souls, meaning their worlds aren’t directly connected. Series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has commented on the connection in multiple interviews, putting to rest any fan theories. For example, in an interview with the Japanese podcast Game No Shokutaku Miyazaki was asked about the two game’s connection, saying “Yes and there’s no connection. We just reused some characters, my favourite ones… I use them in a Star System, mostly for fun.”

Characters like Patches appear in both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, as well as other FromSoftware games like Armored Core. There are also characters in Dark Souls that seem inspired by ones from Demon’s Souls. One example is the similarities between the duo of Eygon and Irina in Dark Souls, versus Astrea and Garl Vinland in Demon’s Souls. Another element that pops up in every FromSoftware game is the Moonlight Greatsword, which is a weapon in every Souls game as well as Armored Core.

Even though the world of Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls don’t share direct connections, fans of either game will find a lot to love in the other. The Souls series uses iterative design, and because of that even Bloodborne and Sekiro share a wealth of references to Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls. FromSoftware certainly has its own unique brand of game design, and it’s likely Miyazaki and his team will continue to layer in references and inspirations as time goes on.

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Demon’s Souls is currently available on PS5.

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About The Author


Hayes Madsen
(396 Articles Published)

Hayes is a Staff Writer for Screen Rant. He’s been writing and podcasting about games for over a decade, and he’s a graduate of the Metropolitan State University of Denver in the Journalism program. He’s been diving into RPGs ever since discovering the Final Fantasy series at a young age. You can find him on Twitter @Solfleet.

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