As a huge fan of these challenging action RPGs, I think the ‘Souls-like’ genre is doing amazingly well right now! We’ve got incredible games from developers like FromSoftware and Team Ninja, all building on that intense, life-or-death feeling. But honestly, I think it all started with King’s Field – it really laid the groundwork for everything we enjoy today.
King’s Field, a series of challenging action RPGs from the 1990s, was a pioneer of what we now know as the ‘Souls-like’ genre. For years, it remained largely overlooked, but recently people have started recognizing its influence. While many modern Souls-like games build on King’s Field’s ideas, there are still some unique features from the original series that haven’t been explored in newer titles.
Soulslike games owe a lot to King’s Field, especially its detailed world-building through item descriptions and intricate level layouts. But beyond those well-known influences, King’s Field actually has even more unique ideas that today’s Soulslike games could explore.
4. A Pitch Black World
Turn off the Lights
As a big fan of Soulslike games, I’ve noticed a lot of them go for those dark and gloomy settings. King’s Field definitely fits that mold, but it takes it to another level! It’s not just dim – often, it’s completely pitch black. I know part of that is due to the PS1’s limitations, but honestly, it creates such a unique and atmospheric feeling. It’s unlike anything else I’ve played!
The stark darkness really heightens the suspense and makes the game feel otherworldly. While today’s games tend to fill the screen, the limited technology of the time actually made this darkness a memorable part of the experience.
Today’s computers could easily handle effects like this, though they’d use far more detailed graphics. It’s interesting how rarely artists and game developers use true black lately, because it can really add depth and atmosphere to scenes.
3. The Rhombus Keys
Embrace the Weirdness of the Rhombus Keys
Okay, so in King’s Field II, these things called Rhombus Keys are actually kinda awesome and a little sneaky. It’s funny because a rhombus is a geometric shape – basically, it’s got four equal sides. And that little detail actually matters in how you use them throughout the game!
In King’s Field II, you receive the Rhombus Keys relatively early in the game, and they’re a unique item that changes over time. They work like a key you can use repeatedly, which leads to some interesting design choices. This unusual mechanic is so complex that it can even, in rare cases, cause a soft lock, preventing you from progressing.
That unique design would fit perfectly into a modern Souls-like game. It’s a really strange idea, and bringing it back in a new game would revive a famously difficult mechanic from the older King’s Field series, potentially frustrating a whole new group of players.
2. First-Person View
Change Your Perspective
Most modern Souls-like games are played from a third-person, over-the-shoulder view, which generally works well. However, I often think about how the gameplay might feel with a different perspective in a newer game.
While smaller, independent games like Lunacid show that this style of gameplay can still be successful, it’s unusual to see it in major titles from developers like FromSoftware or Team Ninja. This is a shame, because I believe there’s still a lot of potential to explore with this approach.
I’ve always been okay with how most Soulslike games are played, but honestly, the idea of experiencing one from a first-person perspective just sounds incredible. Seeing gameplay of the original King’s Field really showed me how amazing a modern Soulslike could be if it let you play like that – it’s a vision I’d love to see realized!
1. A Town Next To A Dungeon
The Dark Descent
Many King’s Field games have a unique structure built around a central hub area connected to sprawling dungeons. These dungeons are typically vast, winding cave systems that go deep underground.
The game’s design is really interesting and well-done – it’s surprising we don’t see this approach more often. While hub worlds are common in 3D platformers, using one in a Soulslike game completely changes things, depending on how close it is to the main levels.
In older games, central hubs often reflected the themes and atmosphere of the dungeons they connected to. The people living in these hubs usually showed a darker side of the game’s fantastical world, creating a strong link between the grim underground areas and the strange environments above. The Firelink Shrine from Dark Souls comes closest to this original idea, though that game features a world that’s more like a sprawling, connected city.
King’s Field excelled at creating distinct differences between its areas. The central hub world served as a bridge between the relatively safe surface and the treacherous levels below. Modern Soulslike games seeking innovative world design could benefit from examining the older King’s Field titles, which feature intriguing concepts still relevant today.
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2026-02-09 17:40