A very long time ago, FromSoftware used to be extremely cool. It was a name you’d see on something you bought from a smelly, privately-owned game store down a side alley. Maybe you’d catch a glimpse of some cool robots or weird monsters in a quarter page paragraph of the preview section of a PS2 magazine and that’d be all you hear about it until the game would be unceremoniously localised over a year later – usually to a 5 or a 6 from publications who mostly weren’t interested in this sort of thing. The indie boom was still a long way off, and the most exotic thing that was given mainstream attention between the FIFAs and the platformers was the occasional Final Fantasy.
For the sweaty enthusiast though, FromSoftware was a guarantee of exactly the sort of absolute filth they crave. Esoteric systems. Player hostility. Muddy, ugly graphics designed to scare the weak away. From the Playstation 1 straight through to the Playstation 3, FromSoftware was known for its various franchises of extremely niche, rock hard video games for cool and sexy weirdos.
Tenchu was the stealth series for the people who found Metal Gear Solid’s clear communication and braindead guards an insult to the concept, for people who craved an experience where taking out a single guard and getting away with it feels like a miracle. King’s Field was there for the refined RPG fan who found the garish colours and absurd stories of more traditional JRPGs offensively adolescent. Enjoy vibing out in detailed cabins and reading letters from ghosts? The shockingly ahead-of-their-time Echo Night games were there for you.