The success of Dark Souls cannot be understated, inspiring countless ganes to adopt similar mechanics across dimensions. Interestingly enough, a 2D metroidvania Dark Souls 3 pitch has recently surfaced, with the artist revealing that Bandai Namco turned it down.
While we now have our fair share of 2D metroidvanias with Dark Souls mechanics, this demake looked gorgeous, with many fans wondering why it wasn’t greenlit. Now that fans are reacting to this failed pitch, it will be interesting to see how Bandai Namco responds, assuming they do.
Considering how popular the Souls franchise continues to be, this 2D metroidvania version of Dark Souls 3 should have been a success. Then again, with the indies giving us our fair share of metroidvanias, it might have gotten lost in the shuffle.
On Twitter, artist Thomas Feichtmeir has shown off some gorgeous pixel art that would have been the basis for this 2D Dark Souls 3 metroidvania. According to Feichtmeir, the artist can officially share this piece of six-year-old art since the NDA for this pitch has been lifted.
Naturally, fans are amazed and they've left some fun comments:
"We gotta get you a disguise so you can sneak back in and pitch this again," says Twitter user TAHK0.
"This was legit something that could have been real??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO," says LegatoSkyheart.
"Beautiful stuff man! And congrats on winning twitter for today xD," says Joe Williamson.
Sadly, the idea of a 2D Dark Souls game is far from original these days, with games like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous filling that void. Funnily enough, Feichtmeir confirmed that he helped work on Blasphemous, so that can be considered the unofficial 2D Dark Souls 3.
Dark Souls 3 came out to critical acclaim back in 2016, getting numerous awards and praise from critics and fans alike. There is a certain section of fans who feel it’s a bit lacking when compared to Bloodborne or the original Dark Souls but it’s still a good game.
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Curious fans can pick up Dark Souls 3 now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Fans who like that can also get its two predecessors or Elden Ring, the latter of which is considered a Game of the Year contender.