// Articles // 11th Mar 2022 — 3 years ago // By Hemogoblin

5 FromSoftware Games YOU Never Heard Of

Dear Hector,

Before ELDEN RING, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Demon's Souls (2021), FromSoftware actually developed MANY other games, and since you don’t know about any of them, let me tell you about some. Yes, they all have a Moonlight Sword that shoots blade shaped projectiles. No, they aren’t listed in a particular order.

#1: Armored Core

ArmoredCore 001

I will forgive you for not knowing this one if you go play it right now. FromSoftware’s longest running franchise, starting on PlayStation is a Mech Action RPG. Most mech games of the time would either substitute human character models for mechas or put you inside of a cockpit of a walking tank, sim-style, but Armored Cores was right in the middle, melding both perfectly. You could customise your AC (the mechs are called Armored Cores) by switching its body parts, weapons, and internals, all of which would not only affect many stats but also how the mech handles. At the same time controlling your AC was done from a third-person perspective and was a mix between controlling a character and a vehicle, clunky at first but greatly rewarding when mastered. The Moonlight Sword in this series is the most powerful laser blade that you can install within your arm.

#2: King’s Field

KingsField 001

What a thrill...

This is where it all started so of course you don’t know about it. The first game that FromSoftware got published and the beginning of another long franchise, King’s Field is a first-person Action RPG where you become John Alfred Forester, the manboy who would be king on a quest to get through a five-floor dungeon, kill monsters, find keys to open doors to progress, and save the kingdom from a guy. You can fight using your sword or your magic and if you level up both high enough you can use swordmagic™. The Moonlight Sword in this one is acquired when a super secret fairy on the fifth floor upgrades your Dragon Sword.

#3: Ninja Blade

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QTE Time!

It’s a ninja game in a sea of ninja games so I guess it is okay if you don’t know about it, but I am watching you. Ninja Blade came out a week before Demon's Souls and it is a cinematic beat 'em up action game similar to God of War, or more closely Asura's Wrath. Similarly to the latter, it doubled down on spectacle and kept the combat mechanics simpler than the competitors. Each part of a level feels like a set piece, and even during cutscenes the action doesn’t stop. While it can be annoying when you want to let your hands rest during cutscenes, the game warns you before a QTE sequence with an appropriate Spidey-Sense-Face-Close-Up-Shot™. The game has some cool stuff going on but gets a bit hindered by plenty of jank. If you want to see FromSoftware before they started trying to make enemy animations hard to read and when they were actually still learning how to make them readable then this is it. The Moonlight Sword in Ninja Blade is a hidden final upgrade for your Stonerender Sword.

#4: Metal Wolf Chaos

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HELL YEAH!

How are there still people who don’t know about this one? In this game you are the President of the Great United States of America, Michael Wilson, who fights to save the country from Vice President Richard Hawk by using a mech suit called Metal Wolf, and he vows to never stop fighting as long as the America inside his heart is still alive. Yes, really. It was originally released only in Japan and it has gloriously hammy English-only voice acting, because America. A few years back it was remastered by Devolver Digital and you can play it on modern platforms, so do it. The Moonlight Sword in this one has a gun handle sticking out of its hilt and is used like a bazooka.

#5: Deracine

Deracine 001

Yeah! Poke his eyes out through his nose! I mean, oh no!

This was released just before Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, so how do you not know about this one? It is a first-person adventure game on PlayStation VR in which you are a faerie/timeghost in a boarding school where you explore, interact with the living, and solve puzzles by manipulating life and time. Throughout the game you forge relationships with the students by helping/messing with them and try to save them from an evil, life-sucking faerie. The Moonlight Sword in this one is the friends we made along the way, get it?!

That’s all the games. There was originally going to be 10 but it was starting to drag so I cut five out. To be continued in part two?

Regards,
Greg