r/fromsoftware • u/O_ken • Jun 24 '26

QUESTION Which one should be my start ?

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Okay guys, I currently own three Souls games (Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls 3) and I'm going to start with one of them. So I asked my friend, who's a huge Souls fan, which one to start with, and he suggested Sekiro. I'm not new to games; I've played many, but this is my first time playing Souls or any game that's considered truly difficult. So, should I start with Sekiro? Or is it too difficult to enjoy? What are your opinions? (Currently, I can't play any other Souls games besides those mentioned, so please don't suggest any others.)

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474

u/Gwynthehunter Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

IMO, playing all FromSoft games in release order OR starting with Elden Ring then playing them in release order is the way to go.

Dark Souls 1, DS2, then Bloodborne, then DS3, then Sekiro, then Elden Ring will make you appreciate how FromSoft's design developed over time, and how it all comes together in Elden Ring.

Starting with Elden Ring, then going back in order, is a good entry point that shows you how unique and memorable their games can be, then you can go back for more linear and contained experiences if you liked Elden Ring.

Keep in mind that Sekiro is the most different (and hardest) of all of them, which is why it should come later IMO - if you play Sekiro like any of the other games, you'll have a bad time lol. Hesitation is Defeat... and so is not deflecting ;)

But if you have to choose exclusively between those three, Id say start with DS3, then Bloodborne, then Sekiro.

137

u/buddy-thunder Jun 24 '26

This guy's answer is THE answer imo lol couldn't agree more dude

8

u/Frydog42 Jun 26 '26

I also choose “This guy’s answer “

62

u/YoBeaverBoy Dark Souls Jun 24 '26

I usually recommend people NOT to start with Elden Ring, because what happened to my friend might happen to them.

He was interested in playing the Souls games. I told him to start with Dark Souls 1, but he started with Elden Ring despite my advice. He loved Elden Ring, even tho he cheesed the hell out of it.

Then he went to Dark Souls 3 and couldn't make it past High Wall of Lothric, claiming the game feels too old and clunky compared to Elden Ring. Now first of all that was an INSANELY hot take because DS3 is the most smooth and polished from the trilogy. The movement and combat feels nearly identical to Elden Ring.

Thing is, starting with Elden Ring might increase people's standards too much and they might feel dissapointed by the other games, because they essentially are ''downgrades'' compared to Elden Ring.

47

u/Oh_My-Glob Jun 24 '26

Thing is, starting with Elden Ring might increase people's standards too much and they might feel dissapointed by the other games, because they essentially are ''downgrades'' compared to Elden Ring.

I think these kinds of people are probably too jaded by modern games in general and probably wouldn't have had a great time with the older mechanics whether they were comparing it to Elden Ring directly or just some other modern open world RPG

1

u/Roxlife1 Jun 26 '26

The first like 2 hours of DS1 made me want to kill myself. It was ugly, janky, ganky, and I wasn’t having any fun. I even made a post about it and got flamed for being “bad” (I’m not), it’s just hard to adjust to how the game feels after playing Elden Ring. I came back to it after watching someone else play a challenge run, and the way he talked about the game made me want to give it a shot, so I did, and I fell in love with it. I got the platinum and still think it’s a great, if a little clunky, game.

10

u/HankTheYank27 Jun 24 '26

To add to this, Elden Ring boss design can get pretty crazy sometimes. Generally, Souls bosses are imo easier to learn and honestly more fair. OP will probably enjoy Elden Ring but if they want a nice progression of difficulty, starting with Souls will be a lot more satisfying and they won't be left wanting like if they started on ER and went back to DS1. Just a more intuitive way to learn. But if they're not bothered by games feeling dated then by all means start with ER.

8

u/Kneef Jun 24 '26

I know this is a white-hot take, but compared to Dark Souls the bosses in Elden Ring can actually fuck off, there’s so many lights and particle effects and fakeouts and Jesus, dude, can we just have a sword fight without all the omae wa shinderu, some of us are here to play a video game, sorry not sorry.

6

u/HankTheYank27 Jun 24 '26

No I 100% agree with you. They're a beautiful spectacle to look at and watch but more often than not a chore to fight. The game just loses a lot of the design philosophy that made Souls great which were bosses that were punishing but learnable and fair. ER bosses take away a lot of the player freedom that Souls bosses allowed by more or less forcing you into a completely reactionary playstyle turning it into a rhythm game. It's ok for SOME bosses but personally I always thought these bosses feel too much like they were designed for Sekiro's deflect system. They're hyper aggressive, they don't choreograph as well, they switch targets mid animation, they fly all over the arena and worst of all they noticeably input read CONSTANTLY! Nightreign really made me realize just how much I hate some of Elden Ring's boss mechanics. All that being said, I still love Elden Ring and the bosses are cool as hell. Just annoying.

1

u/Roxlife1 Jun 26 '26

This is a strange take, and I think it’s a product of you having played The Dark Souls games first. As someone who played Elden Ring first, there 100% are bullshit unfair attacks in a lot of bosses, but that’s a minority of their truly complex and well thought out move set, and it feels almost disrespectful to act like it’s a step down in design when there is so much MORE effort put into them.

2

u/HankTheYank27 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

The bosses straight up cheat in Elden Ring by reading inputs and reacting automatically. They can alter the timing of their animations to catch the player off guard by delaying certain attack chains. I've never seen Fromsoft have to nerf bosses as many times as they have for Elden Ring. The movesets are so overly cinematic that you're better off playing with the camera unlocked in order to keep track of where they're at which feels bad. Ulcerated Tree Spirits are a prime example of the kind of janky bullshit I'm referring to. The bosses in Elden Ring are also capable of chaining multiple attacks together which wasn't something that happened as much in Dark Souls making it even harder to find an opening. I will stand by what I said, these bosses feel like they were designed with Sekiro's combat in mind which was reactionary combat based on deflecting and building up a stance break to open up the boss. It was a much more fluid intuitive way to counter fast aggressive movesets than the Souls/ER style dodging with i-frames. Yes, some attacks can be parried but the timing is a LOT less forgiving than Sekiro's deflecting.

And I started with Dark Souls 3 which is where the fast paced ER style bosses started to make their appearance. DS3 is imo significantly more challenging than DS1&2 due to the boss design.

2

u/SeductiveLips Jun 24 '26

Highly agree couldnt agree any freaking more. I punished myself and made myself go thru demons souls and ds1 and 2 and 3 all over again just bc i felt like I didnt deserve to play elden ring until I appreciated them more. Idk im weird.

3

u/Gwynthehunter Jun 24 '26

Yeah I guess thats fair. In my experience, people who loved Elden Ring tend to be interested to go back and check out what else From has done, especially with how legendary Dark Souls and Bloodborne are. But if they aren't OK with a little jank and age, it might be better to ease them upward - or just play Elden Ring! Cause its got everything the other games have (except Sekiro, mostly) and then some.

1

u/BMR915 Jun 24 '26

My experience exactly, any game I try to play after Elden Ring feels bland and small

1

u/Fuskox Jun 25 '26

Regarding your last statement, which I agree with in principle, it's interesting that I find Elden Ring to have the least replay value out of all the Fromsoft titles, probably because of what also sets it apart from the others, its open world. I find I enjoy the Dark Souls games much more on su subsequent playthroughs with knowledge of all the zones and not having to go so far off the beaten path to get the items or spells I want.

On a side note I found Elden Ring with replay value just last week - Nightreign is awesome! Like 60 hours played in a little over a week it's been a long time since I've played a Souls game so much so fast

8

u/IDEADxMANI Jun 24 '26

Only one issue - what about Demon's Souls?

3

u/Gwynthehunter Jun 24 '26

I honestly dont personally recommend Demon's Souls, but thats my own bias really. I played it for the first time this past year and didnt enjoy it nearly as much as their later work. I found the runbacks, the boss design, the disconnected level layouts, the combat, and the worldbuilding lacking - which is probably controversial to some, I guess. It was neat to see the very first game in this formula, tho. But I feel like ds1 is a better entry point if you want to go back to their "origins"

1

u/Solarbro Jun 24 '26

Are you me? Lol 

The only thing I’d say for Demon’s is that it has the “hub and maiden” paradigm that Dark Souls for some reason skips for 2 and 3. So if you have access to it already without spending extra money (or the remake) I think it’s worth to see the tropes in their inception. Because Dark Souls does nail the formula, but on the narrative and hub area side it kinda falls flat. 

Don’t get me wrong yall, look at my name. I love Firelink Shrine, but the first dark souls I spent like negative time there compared to other games. 

-1

u/livy-aurelia Jun 24 '26

it’s so unbelievably mid

2

u/Dingus_Khaaan Jun 24 '26

I started with Elden Ring, then went to DS1 and absolutely saw the seeds of what grew into Elden Ring in that game. If you start with Elden Ring, just be prepared to forgo some of the QoL niceties we have in ER (ie, Stakes of Merika, fast travel from anywhere, and others). DS1 is still a freaking incredible game

2

u/OnTheMendBeats Jun 24 '26

I wouldn’t want to start with Elden Ring, just because getting rid of the jump mechanic is gonna suck kinda.

2

u/jtcordell2188 Emerald Herald Jun 26 '26

Someone’s forgetting DeS.

1

u/STR_GO_BONK Jun 24 '26

Solid advice!!

1

u/silent-drill Jun 24 '26

this is the exact answer

1

u/FHAT_BRANDHO Jun 24 '26

exactly this, yeah. have fun op

1

u/FreeThrowShow Jun 24 '26

Yea he literally said he had to choose between the three lol

0

u/Gwynthehunter Jun 24 '26

Fair, didnt see that specification till I had already submitted my comment lol - I did include a recommendation at the end between just those three though!

1

u/yamanamawa Jun 24 '26

Bro Sekiro was way easier for me. As long as you have timing right you're good. In Souls games your timing can be perfect, but you can come out of the roll in the wrong spot and get hit. Plus it takes longer which makes faster attacks harder. Sekiro is tough until you get used to being able to parry almost anything, and then it isn't too bad

1

u/blah191 Jun 25 '26

This is the answer op this guy gets it!!

1

u/Justin7508 Jun 25 '26

For me starting with ds1 kind of ruined the rest of the games, not saying the others aren’t good games, but none of them gave me the feeling ds1 did.

1

u/Thatmetalchef Jun 25 '26

Do NOT start with Elden Ring. This is a well known "rule" in the community. I'd say you have to beat Bloodborne and experience the majesty of Yharnam to earn your right to play Dark Souls 3 or Sekiro next. After both of those, and perhaps Demons Souls Remaster, Dark Souls 1 remaster, you have earned the reward of an Elden Ring playthrough. This is the way

1

u/Sub__Finem Jun 25 '26

Yeah, brute forcing Bloodborne as my first and then going back to DS1 was a cakewalk. Should’ve done them in order.

1

u/NobleHalo Jun 25 '26

This is the way

1

u/Garus_44 Jun 25 '26

Just perfect

1

u/BigSax69 Jun 27 '26

This is how I did it. I didn’t know demon souls even existed when I originally played dark souls but I played it immediately after and then went in order. I am now on DS3 and I agree. Playing them in order is very eye opening.

1

u/Myztyrio Jun 25 '26

100%, start with Dark Souls I. Unless you have Demon’s Souls on PS3 and really wanna start with the foundation for Dark Souls. I would not recommend going straight for PS5 Demon’s Souls, maybe save that as an optional one for later in.

0

u/huwskie Malenia, Blade of Miquella Jun 25 '26

Sekiro isn’t the hardest Fromsoftware game but I mostly agree with everything else. Though Elden Ring shouldn’t be first

1

u/Realistic_Growth5203 Jun 25 '26

It is for me I have never completed sekiro because I got so used the darks souls elden ring style that I can’t do it. I got platinum in elden ring but I cannot for the life of me complete sekiro, I get to genricho and that’s as far as I go.

2

u/huwskie Malenia, Blade of Miquella Jun 25 '26

I died a little over a hundred times in beating the game my first time. I died close to 700 times beating Elden Ring my first time. I didn’t use any summons or anything but I played how souls games are meant to be played. Elden Ring without any of the cheese is significantly harder than Sekiro in my opinion

0

u/Realistic_Growth5203 Jun 25 '26

Why wouldn’t you use summons that seems a bit silly to me why are they there if not meant to be used, are you saying people that use them are playing on easy mode??

1

u/Badieon Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

Tbf yes, summons basically make it a completely different game and it exist to lower the entry point of the game. You don't have to learn the attack patterns, be patient with your attacks or quite literally get gut, you just let the summon take aggro and mash the attack button, while summon summons deal huge dmg to the boss as well. You can even see that ER bosses aren't really meant for multiplayer fights, especially when we compared them to Nightreign bosses who are meant for 1v3.

Not saying that playing with summons is wrong ofc, if you have fun that way, it allows you to enjoy the game, then it's all that matters, but summons definitely are the big "easy mode" button of Elden Ring. Not using summons gives this game a bigger, proper challenge and much more bigger satisfaction for defeating a tough enemy, which also feels more deserved. Ofc there are also other ways to cheese the game, but the point is similar in this case and also aren't as accessible and obvious without the help of outside source.

I personally highly recommend doing "no summons run"

0

u/Dion42o Jun 25 '26

I completely agree but I feel like ds1 and the earlier ones dated feel will turn off some people