UAS Mata Kuliah Menulis - Essay

 Soulsborne as an Inspiration for Games' Sub-Genre

    Soulsborne, an acronym known by gamers from various game titles such as Demon's Souls, Dark Souls Trilogy, and Bloodborne, is famous for the difficulty of the games. Because of how successful the formula of the games was, it became an inspiration for other developers to make games with similar formulas, and the sub-genre called "Soulslike" was born.

    The Soulsborne formula began with Demon's Souls, a 2009 PS3 game that was remade in 2020 as a PS5 launch title. The linear gameplay and lack of epic boss fight moments are being improved later in the next medieval-themed game trilogy, titled Dark Souls, and a goth-victorian-themed game, titled Bloodborne, which is heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's works. Those games successfully made fans fall in love with how beautiful the world-building is and the emotional lore behind the difficulty of the game.

    The company behind the games, FromSoftware, has been working since the age of the first PlayStation. Known by the game called Armored Core, a mecha game with unique customization choices even back in the days. The video game company is currently led by the designer of the game and the director who's responsible for the games made by FromSoftware, Hidetaka Miyazaki.

    Soulslike is actually a sub-genre inspired by the "Souls" series, with the formula of a checkpoint, a healing item, an experience system where you could lose your progress every time you died, and also the difficulty of the game itself. The example of a Soulslike game is Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, where the checkpoint is a meditating spot, the healing item is called "Healing Stim," which is called "Estus Flask," but the difficulty isn't as hard as the original Soulsborne because the game gives the option to play on an easier difficulty.

    Even if some games follow their formula, FromSoftware never stops improving their works. Their recent game, "Elden Ring," won the 2022 Game of the Year, and "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice" also won Game of the Year back in 2019. Despite the grueling difficulty and steep learning curve that discourages new players from diving into the game, fans have always loved their works and encouraged gamers to try the games and get good.