Ever wondered what it would be like to get a pixel art Dark Souls? If Bandai Namco gave the nod, that’s precisely what we could have had.
Artist and consultant Thomas Feichtmeir took to Twitter to post an image of a 2D Dark Souls 3, originally part of a pitch made to the Dark Souls publisher. He made, or helped make the pitch, over six years ago. But Feichtmeir had signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement, meaning he couldn’t discuss it until now.
The pitch was for “A Dark Souls 3 – 2D pixelart metroidvania”, according to the artist. We doubt Bandai Namco would have approved the exact same game being made in 2D, but a pixel art Dark Souls spin-off could have been fantastic. We’d have played it to death, that’s for sure.
Unfortunately, it was not to be and the Dark Souls series has remained 3D. However, there have since been several side-on Dark Souls/Metroidvania hack-em-up style games. And Feichtmeir’s talent’s have been wasted – he went on to work on, amongst other things, the superb Blasphemous.
A Dark Souls 3 – 2D pixelart metroidvania was pitched to Bandai Namco ~6 years ago.
This is now finally out of NDA, so enjoy the visuals created back then. pic.twitter.com/Dt5BDasWbU— Thomas Feichtmeir (@cyangmou) November 8, 2022
Sure, Blasphemous isn’t officially a Dark Souls pixel art game, but it’s a joy to play and is as haunting and atmospheric as any Souls title. You can check our review out here. As for the 2D Dark Souls 3 we never got? We can always dream.
