Dark Souls & FromSoftware Games in Order

Why this order?

FromSoftware's "Soulsborne" catalog isn't a single saga. Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring each take place in their own self-contained world with no shared characters or plot. Only Dark Souls, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III form a loose, connected trilogy, and even there the link is thematic and cyclical rather than a tight episode-by-episode story. That's why release order is the only order that matters here: there is no hidden chronological timeline to untangle across the whole set.

Release order is also the most natural way to feel the studio evolve. You can watch the deliberate, methodical combat of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls give way to the aggressive, dodge-forward rhythm of Bloodborne, the parry-heavy precision of Sekiro, and finally the open world of Elden Ring. Mechanics, quality-of-life and difficulty curves all sharpen as the years pass, so playing chronologically by release date is a satisfying tour even if you skip around.

You do not have to start at the beginning, though. The two friendliest entry points are Elden Ring, whose open world lets you wander off, grind and explore when a boss wall feels too steep, and the original Dark Souls, which remains the cleanest distillation of the formula. Demon's Souls (2009) is the oldest and showing its age, but the 2020 PS5 remake is a gorgeous modern way to experience the game that started it all.

If you only care about the connected story, play Dark Souls, then Dark Souls II, then Dark Souls III in that order. Everything else is a standalone you can drop into whenever you like.

Which version you buy matters more in this series than what order you play in, because three of these games are sold in two different forms. Dark Souls: get Dark Souls Remastered, the only version still on sale, which already includes the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. The old Prepare to Die Edition was pulled from Steam in May 2018, and its servers were taken offline after a January 2022 exploit and never came back. Dark Souls II: get Scholar of the First Sin, which bundles all three Lost Crowns DLC and reworks enemy and item placement. On PC that choice is a real trap, because it is sold as a separate DirectX 11 listing next to the cheaper 2014 original, which keeps its own servers and saves that do not transfer between the two. Demon's Souls: the 2009 PS3 game and the 2020 Bluepoint remake are two different products, and the remake is still PS5 only with no PC version.

Two platform questions come up constantly. Bloodborne is still a PS4 title locked to 30fps, with no official PS5 remaster and no PC release announced as of July 2026, so any 60fps PC build you read about in headlines is an unofficial fan project rather than a Sony release. And Elden Ring Nightreign (2025) is not Elden Ring 2: it is a standalone three-player co-op roguelike set in an alternative version of the Lands Between, sold separately and entirely skippable. Elden Ring's actual add-on is the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion (2024), which requires the base game, so it sits under Elden Ring rather than as a step of its own.