Summary
FromSoftwareis known formaking some of the most gruellingly challenging titlesout there, offering banger after banger of new IP that will have fans eagerly awaiting what they do next, as it will surely be nothing short of phenomenal.
Still, even with their slew of IPs, there are some similarities between them all, making us wonder if, just maybe, these universes aren’t so distant after all and might be connected in some way, shape, or form. While we may never know, several theories and elements in the game make many fans, including ourselves, think there’s more going on than meets the eye!
6Patches
Always Untrustworthy And Unbreakable
Even though Patches made his debut in FromSoftware’s Armored Core: For Answer, he has been a staple of every Hidetaka Miyazaki-developed Soulsborne title sinceDemon’s Souls' original release back in 2009. Making him absent from Dark Souls 2 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Patches is a notorious thorn in your side,but a very useful merchant in pretty much every game he’s in, making your relationship with him more of a love/hate type. Aside from his gross Bloodborne appearance, he looks pretty similar across all titles, which may be hinting that these worlds aren’t so different after all!
5Night Bosses
Them Again?!
While there were only nods and recurring characters and weapons in the past,Elden Ring Nightreignblew the doors off everything byincluding actual boss encounters from a variety of other titles,making it clear that worlds are converging and crossing over with one another.
However, it is crucial to note that Nightreign’s world is an alternate reality from the main story ofElden Ringproper on itsShadow of the Erdtreeexpansion. Nonetheless, it is still considered canon, for whatever that’s worth, making the appearance of bosses from Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3 all the more interesting!
4Nightfarer Skins
Praise The… Erdtree?
Speaking of Nightreign’s peculiar crossovers, the Nightfarers can get their hands on unique skins that transform them into iconic characters from theDark Souls(and even Demon’s Souls) series. Again, while it does take place in a parallel timeline to Elden Ring, it’s fascinating to seeSolaire running around the Lands Between while fighting the Dancer of the Boreal Valley.
Does this confirm that the Dark Souls and Elden Ring universes are the same? Not necessarily. But giving us these outfits and boss encounters surely makes conversations surrounding the matter that much more interesting. Nonetheless, at least in Nightreign, the Lands Between, Lordran, Drangleic, and Lothric are connected to some extent!
3Marvelous Chester
Strangers In A Strange Land
Marvelous Chester is likely the first thing you think about when you’re brainstorming connective threads and tissue between the Dark Souls series andBloodborne. This fashionable, gleeful stranger has Bloodborne written all over him and appears in the Artorias of the Abyss expansion for the first Dark Souls.
Chester will ask the Chosen Undead if they were ‘Snatched by a shadowy limb and dragged off to the past,’ answering ‘yes’ will have him reveal that he is also a ‘stranger’ to this land and that the same happened to him. The question is, was the hand that snatched him up Manus, or the Snatcher from the Bloodborn series?
Nonetheless, Chester is a clear nod from Miyazaki about his next project’s overall aesthetic, and we think that’s incredibly cool. While he doesn’t appear in Bloodborne at all, we can’t help but wonder if he’s from Yharnham and randomly got abducted and brought here for us to meet him!
2Old Hunter Yamamura
Colored By Blood
Another character from a distant land is Old Hunter Yamamura, an NPC you will run into during the Old Hunters expansion in Bloodborne. While his appearance may not look as out of place as Chester’s, he traveled from a distant eastern land. With that in mind, you can begin seeing the clearSekiro: Shadows Die Twicehints.
Despite Sekiro being years away, and Dark Souls 3 being the title to release after Bloodborne, we know that Sekiro began development in 2015 after the team at FromSoftware finished the Old Hunters expansion for Bloodborne. Coincidence? We don’t think so.
Again, like Chester, Yamamura doesn’t actually appear at all in Sekiro, but this Chikage-wielding eastern man is a clear-cut nod to things to come by Miyazaki and FromSoftware. Is this man from a fictitious Sengoku-era Japan? Who knows. But we’d love for that to be the case!
1Moonlight Greatsword
My Guiding Moonlight
Lastly, of course, we have the Moonlight Greatswords that have appeared throughout every Soulsborne title, even Dark Souls 2, which Miyazaki was not part of its development. While it first appeared in King’s Field, it has been a staple of the Soulsborne titles (and even Armored Core), making us wonder if there’s some connective tissue between them.
Ranging from Demon’s Souls to Elden Ring, every title released by FromSoftware has had the Moonlight Greatsword in it in some way, shape, or form. Even Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice technically has it, except it is only wielded by the majestic Divine Dragon in the form of an enormous celestial Seven-branch Sword.
It’s unclear if this sword connects these games at all. However, having them and Patches be a consistent variable across the majority of them does raise our eyebrows in interest. Again, this isn’t super concrete, but with everything else above, we’d say there’s likelysomethingthere that you could argue connects the game’s worlds together!
