Demon’s Souls Sequel Announced: “Dark Souls”

There were a few things that propelled the game demon’s souls to the status of a cult classic among gamers, some may argue it was the insane difficulty level while others will say it was the no nonsense in your face action – some may even say it was the innovative way multiplayer was designed and implemented into the game. whatever the reason was it comes as no surprise that another game is already in the works with a release date of 2011.

The following are a number of leaked details floating around the gaming community:

There is no DLC planned for the game, nor a demo.

The lifespan of the game is said to have over 60hrs of play.

The difficulty has been increased greatly over Demon's Souls.

Dark Souls shares the same themes as Demon's Souls: learning from mistakes and the joy of discovery.

There's no connection with Demon's Souls in terms of story or world.

As with Demon's Souls, the basic gameplay is based off classic RPGs -- things like character creation, obtaining weapons and items, leveling up, etc.

The biggest change, according to Hidetaka, is in the area of exploration. The action battle component is an important element, but on top of this, exploration of a large, seamlessly connected field is an important element. You walk to areas that you can see far off in the distance.

All the maps are connected, rather than having you move to each area from a shrine. This time, you head off on a journey from a large base of operations, and find smaller bases along the way as you progress further and deeper into your adventure.

There are far more areas with complex land formations of varying height.

The goal in character development is to get rid of elements that may hinder freedom of play style. This is why there's no job concept during initial character creation.

Weapons have a great variety of motions and special capabilities, and there are a great number of magic and item types. This will allow players to play in their own style.

Regarding network play, Hidetaka said that he can't share too many details, but the game will have cooperative and competitive multiplayer elements. You'll be able to call upon people to help you out when you're stuck.

The game will also have indirect online elements like the original -- seeing the images of other players, messages from the dead, and so-forth.

The game will not have its own servers this time, though, so elements like Soul Tendency from the original will not be here.

Dark Souls is set for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in fall 2011. Outside of Japan Both the PS3 and 360 release will be done by Namco Bandai

Dark Souls will be released in Japan in 2011. The game's overseas release on PS3 and 360 is being done by Namco Bandai leaving Japan with only a published ps3 version of the game.