Elden Ring and Dark Souls have a lot in common. But not all the people who are playing Elden Ring or planning to buy the game have played Dark Souls.
Are they missing out on anything? Should you first play one of the games in the Dark Souls series, and then jump to Elden Ring?
Can I play Elden Ring without playing Dark Souls?
You can play Elden Ring without playing Dark Souls. Elden Ring is a stand-alone game, there is no story link between the two games. Lore-wise, the games are not connected. Despite obvious similarities, Elden Ring is not a sequel to Dark Souls.
The action takes place in a totally different world and follows a different storyline.
Rest assured, you don’t have to play any games that FromSoftware previously released to understand Elden Ring.
But if you’re familiar with Dark Souls, you’ll notice that Elden Ring has a pretty similar gameplay model. You can craft various items to level up your character and explore a vast open world. You also need to defeat fierce bosses to progress into the story.
The first game you play is always the most surprising. That’s the one you’ll remember most fondly. Simply play Elden Ring and then decide if you still want to play one of the games in the Dark Souls series.
In this manner, you can witness how these games have evolved.
Is Elden Ring the first FromSoftware game you’ve ever played? Let me know in the comments below.
⇒ Lear more about Elden Ring:
- Does Elden Ring have ray tracing? Not yet
- Elden Ring fall damage: How to avoid falling to your death
- Can you swim in Elden Ring? Let’s find out!
⇒ Hungry for more Elden Ring stories? Check out our Elden Ring hub.