Demon Souls / Dark Souls / Bloodborne / Sekiro - Where do I start?

[Grue]

Sorry to hijack with a personal request, but I need advice on where to start.

I came late to the PS4 party and have been making my way through various exclusives I couldn't get elsewhere. Bloodborne recently cropped up for $10 and y'know, for that price, exploring a whole genre I've missed seems like it might be worth a go.

I never played a Souls-like. But should I start at Bloodborne, Era, or go back? If so, how far?

As I understand it, Demon Souls and Bloodborne are the only exclusives. For what it's worth, I have both a PS4 Pro and an Xbox One X, so I can (PC aside) play the best versions I need to.

Do I need to go all the way back to appreciate this gap in my gaming knowledge? If not, where should I start? And which versions give me the best experience?

Thanks in advance!

 

[zombiejames]

You've pretty much nailed the order in your title.

 

[vestan]

Gonna be honest, I'd recommend Bloodborne first. It's way more accessible, forgiving and dare I say way more fun for newcomers, moreso than any of the other Souls games. Dark Souls is solid like but a bunch of my mates just got hooked on Bloodborne way harder. It's a combination of the aesthetics, trick weapons allowing for way more combat variety and the general aesthetic and tone. Not to mention the amazing boss fights and general enemies to battle. Considering you can get it for a tenner, I'd say it's a no-brainer.

If you liked Bloodborne, you can check out Dark Souls and if you're starting to get hooked, give Demon's a try.

Sekiro is kind of its own thing, and you can check it out at any time really.

 

[Ringten]

You could just into BB. But if you got the time to kill I woul say the following:

Dark souls 1
Bloodborne
Sekiro

 

[llLeonhart]

The order in your title.

From easiest to Hardest.

 

[zoltek]

Start at the beginning. Otherwise you probably won't go back in reverse.

 

[Wamb0wneD]

Whatever you do, don't start with Dark Souls 2 lol.

But imo:

Dark Souls
Bloodborne
Sekiro

Then you can still check out Dark Souls 3 or Demon's Souls.

 

[Deleted member 61469]

I would skip Demons souls. It's just an inferior Dark Souls. Dark Souls - BB - Sekiro

 

[Transistor]

You've pretty much nailed the order in your title.

Click to shrink...

Yep

 

[Deleted member 4262]

I'm also gonna recommend you follow the thread title order.

 

[dancingphlower]

It's okay to start with Bloodborne. It's the best one.

 

[XrossExam]

After very recently warping back in time and playing Demon's Souls and Platinuming it on PS3, I'd say if you can play DeS first, that's a great place to start. You'll be able to see the series origins and how it all started. Then you can move onto Dark Souls, skip DS2, then either play DS3 or Bloodborne. This way you'll see how every game evolved and perfected the formula and appreciate each game's innovations. I have to say though that Demon's Souls may be my favorite of all of them, with Bloodborne and Dark Souls being a close 2nd and 3rd.

 

[Sadnarav]

Don't start with Demon's Souls

I would say to start with Dark Souls

After that Dark Souls II and Bloodborne and them you go to Demon's Souls

With you want the bother, there's Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro there, but they are bad

 

[Agni Kai]

I started with Dark Souls and couldn't get into it. A year after that I got into Bloodborne and it clicked with me. I find it to be more friendly for new players compared to the Souls series. I went back to DS after that and saw everything in slow motion.

 

[brjuntinaar]

I'd start with Demon's souls. Don't read a guide until you finish the first playthrough, and enjoy the ride. I actually think the immersiveness and quality of the atmosphere and setting of Demon's Souls hasn't been equalled in a From game since, with the possible exception of Bloodborne.

After Demon's Souls, then I'd say play Dark Souls, follow it up with BB, and then the final two.

 

[BossLackey]

I say start with Dark Souls. It has the charm of Demon's Souls, but less jank and better bosses.

I fear that if you start with Demon's Souls, you have a greater chance of bouncing off the series entirely, and if you start with Bloodborne, you simply won't want to go backwards to worse graphics and slower gameplay (I've seen that happen to a TON of my friends and it makes me sad).

 

[bbq of doom]

I went BB (partial), Dark Souls 2 (full / scholar), Darks Souls 3 (partial), Dark Souls 1 (full + DLC), BB (full + DLC + working on plat), with Demon's Souls next and then Dark Souls 3 after that.

While I thought BB was a great introduction, Dark Souls 1 is what really, really set my interest on fire.

I'm about halfway through Sekiro and while I vastly prefer the others (they're RPGs, Sekiro is not), I think that's best saved for last.

 

[Danteyke223]

Skip Dark Souls 2 that game's difficulty is mind numbingly bad.

 

[OneBadMutha]

Bloodborne is the most accessible. Dark Souls 3 is next.

 

[Deleted member 45130]

Personally I would play in the following order:

Dark Souls
Dark Souls 3
Bloodborne
Sekiro

This will give you the best of all the different gameplay elements each game offers.

If you haven't had enough, then go back and play both Dark souls 2 and Demons Souls. DS2 just isn't quite as good as the others and Demons is so similar to Dark Souls that you'll likely be burnt out on the formula by that point.

 

[sym30l1c]

I would start from the DeS and DS and leave BB and Sekiro for later. If you start from the last two, you might not appreciate the earlier titles as much in terms of gameplay. Take your time and start from the beginning

 

[bbq of doom]

Skip Dark Souls 2 that game's difficulty is mind numbingly bad.

Click to shrink...

It's not bad if you get the ring of binding and also despawn enemies while farming.

 

[motherless]

Dark Souls first and then Bloodbourne.

 

[Richter1887]

Demon's Souls is the best so go that one.

 

[Eros]

They're all worth playing, so start from the beginning if time isn't limited. If it is, just make sure you hit Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne.

 

[Oghuz]

Release order.

 

[XrossExam]

Don't really understand the arguments for Demon's Souls being janky. Feels great to play after all these years and even has a looser, arcadey feel versus the more weighted feel of Dark Souls. Plus if you don't mind cheesing the game a little to make your progress faster, you can self-dupe consumable items using a simple to understand glitch in the game and that can make things a lot easier, especially being new to the Souls series.

It can help you at least ease into the difficulty. But that's either frowned upon by others or up to personal choice. I had no issue doing it myself because I wanted to Platinum the game in a relatively short amount of time. It made the experience more of a chill one, something I needed after playing Sekiro and banging my head against a wall.

 

[Ryo]

DS1 was my third game and it was absolutely brutal, really glad I had the experience of BB and Sekiro behind me.

 

[leafcutter]

Dark Souls
Dark Souls 3
Bloodborne

OR

Dark Souls
Bloodborne
Dark Souls 3

I wouldn't start with Bloodborne, because it's amazing but also different enough that you might not like going back to Dark Souls afterward, and that would be a damn shame.

 

[Rangerx]

Definitely start with Demon's Souls. It lays the foundation for, and is not surpassed in many respects, everything else that follows. Then try out Bloodborne.

 

[Hu3]

In order. Dark souls 3, bloodbourne then sekiro.

 

[MorshuTheTrader]

I'd say start with Demon's Souls, but you need a PS3 (not sure if you have one from the OP).

If you don't have a PS3, start with Dark Souls Remastered on PS4 or Xbox One.

 

[Muntaner]

Follow your title.

 

[decoyplatypus]

I'll join those recommending the order you set out in the thread title. Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are great games, probably my favorites of the bunch, but you may not enjoy them as much if your baseline includes the animation and QOL improvements from Bloodborne/Dark Souls 3.

 

[XrossExam]

I'd say start with Demon's Souls, but you need a PS3 (not sure if you have one from the OP).

If you don't have a PS3, start with Dark Souls Remastered on PS4.

Click to shrink...

I played Demon's Souls on PS3 myself because I wanted the trophies, but you can now play DeS on a gaming PC with emulation. Apparently, you can even force 60 fps, so that is an option now as well if you don't want to buy a PS3.

 

[FlintSpace]

I think BB > DS3 > Sekiro.

Skip others or play later.

 

[Xero grimlock]

dont know why people are saying bloodborn is the most accessible, I feel ds3 is. bloodborne has worst starting area for newbies to figure out where to go and the estus system is far more forgiving then blood vials. Ds3 has probably the most direct beginning area of where to go.

 

[leafcutter]

With the Demons Souls servers down now, how much of an effect does no world tendency have on the game? I haven't played it in years, but I'd assume at this point it might be better to wait a little while and see if a remaster might be in the works.

 

[finalflame]

In order. I found it hard to go back to DeS after DkS.

 

[Ballpoint Ren]

You can start with any of them really. Bloodborne is a great start despite some it's flaws. If you're going to do Dark Souls though make sure you do those sequentially.

 

[XrossExam]

With the Demons Souls servers down now, how much of an effect does no world tendency have on the game? I haven't played it in years, but I'd assume at this point it might be better to wait a little while and see if a remaster might be in the works.

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure but when I followed this guide to Platinum the game, I basically kept suiciding in the Nexus after defeating bosses so my actions would never affect World Tendency. If you play in your phantom form all the time you basically ensure that you won't mess with World Tendency at all. Obviously your health is halved because of this but with the Cling Ring and abusing magic, it wasn't bad at all to plow through the game this way.

 

[Slythe]

I played them in order of release, with the only exception being I got to Dark Souls 3 after Sekiro.

I have no regrets. If you have access to a PS3 get on that immediately. If you don't, Dark Souls or Bloodborne is fine, but I'd still lean Dark Souls because the speed of Bloodborne is so much fun to experience as someone whose played the prior titles first.

I love Sekiro, but I would not play that one first.

 

[SmittyWerbenManJensen]

Chronological order, friend.

It's hard to go back to the older games once you've played the newer ones.

 

[bbq of doom]

With the Demons Souls servers down now, how much of an effect does no world tendency have on the game? I haven't played it in years, but I'd assume at this point it might be better to wait a little while and see if a remaster might be in the works.

Click to shrink...

FWIW, the subreddit has private server info. I plan on using that myself next week.

 

[angelgrievous]

You've pretty much nailed the order in your title.

Click to shrink...

^

 

[SweetBellic]

Start with Dark Souls as it's both the best game and the easiest imo. If you like that, try Bloodborne. If you like that, check out Sekiro. Grats, you've just played the best of the best.

Assuming you're hooked at this point, check out Dark Souls III and, if you're still thirsty for more, Dark Souls II.

Hold out on Demon's Souls as the servers are down and a remaster is rumored to be in the works. It's also a fun treat to play it last and see the decidedly less polished but still very unique and endearing game that started it all.

Or go chronologically and risk burning yourself out. I'd start with the most celebrated games first as life happens and time is precious.

 

[MrDoctor]

they're just action games, op. there's no "mysterious new genre" to be seen here.

moving on, bloodborne and sekiro are my suggested starting points as they're self-contained and independent from dark souls. you should probably just start with bloodborne since it's cheaper.

 

[Cerulean_skylark]

going to throw this out there.

Sekiro is not like a souls game. It is in it's world construction format only. The combat and environment navigation is 100% different. You'll have a bad time if you think otherwise.

So having said that. You could play either dark souls remaster (best of the 3), bloodborne (best soulslike of the bunch) or sekiro first (since that game is entirely different). then 3 since it's the sequel to dark 1, then 2 last because it's worst and barely related to dark 1.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Release order, if you want to play the best one play Bloodborne.

 

[Saidan]

Bloodborne, easily the best one of all the soul series, and with one of the most active communities.