Deal | Legendary franchise that spawned an entire genre of games gets rare discount on Steam

At this point, Dark Souls has deeply injected itself into the fabric of modern gaming. Countless developers have tried hard to create the next "Dark Souls", resulting in an entire genre of Souls-like games. Notorious for their punishing difficulty, the firs three Dark Souls games still have a dedicated fan following to date and an equally vibrant modding community that does a stellar job of churning out new content.

Dark Souls Remastered is the 2018 version of the original Dark Souls. It is a proper PC port that removes all the jank from the 'Prepare to die edition' launched a few years prior. Here, you get to play as the Ashen One, an inconsequential character who wakes up in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Apart from some cursory tutorials at the start, you're just about on your own. You're thrust into an open world where everything, can, and will kill you. Ideally, you shouldn't use a guide on your first play through, but nobody will fault you for doing so because everything in the game is intentionally vague, including quests and NPC interactions. Lore building is done via item descriptions and load screens.

Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin is easily one of the most divisive games of the lot. It tries to one-up Dark Souls with a lot of fundamental changes, like a stat that determines how many invulnerability frames you get while rolling. While the game is relentlessly mocked by the community, it still has a dedicated user base who insist it isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Nevertheless, you should still play it because it is unlike anything in the trilogy.

Dark Souls 3 is where FromSoftware ties the series up. Game director Hidetaka Miyazaki stated there won't be a fourth game, as evidenced by the company's subsequent deviation into other franchises like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring. Dark Souls 3 is the culmination of everything that happens in both Dark Souls games.

Without getting into spoiler territory, the overarching theme of Dark Souls games is how cycles are perpetrated endlessly. Dark Souls 3 finally puts a stop to it. Additionally, it attempts to undo some of the 'damage' caused by Dark Souls 2 by nostalgia baiting the original game. And then there are a bunch of new in-game mechanics, like weapon arts, that later went on to become the cornerstone of Elden Ring's combat.

Despite the latest game, Dark Souls 3, being about nine years old, the trio seldom goes on sale. And when it does, the discounts aren't nearly as steep as other franchises. This is a testament to how the games hold their value even in the current year. If you're curious about Dark Souls and want to know what the hype is about, now is an excellent time to jump in.

Dark Souls Remastered is now 50% off on Steam. Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin has also received a 50% price cut. Both come with the base game and their DLCs bundled together. But with Dark Souls 3, you'll have to pony up a little extra for the Deluxe Edition. But, both are 50% off and the extra money is well worth the sheer amount of content you get.