A 2D pixel art Metroidvania based on Dark Souls III was seemingly rejected by Bandai Namco.
According to artist Thomas Feichtmeir (via Twitter), the side-scrolling Dark Souls 3 game was pitched to the company around 6 years ago… but, as we said, it was rejected.
“A Dark Souls 3 - 2D pixel art Metroidvania was pitched to Bandai Namco [around] 6 years ago,” he said. “This is now finally out of NDA, so enjoy the visuals created back then.”
A Dark Souls 3 - 2D pixelart metroidvania was pitched to Bandai Namco ~6 years ago.
— Thomas Feichtmeir (@cyangmou) November 8, 2022
This is now finally out of NDA, so enjoy the visuals created back then. pic.twitter.com/Dt5BDasWbU
A 2D pixel artist, Feichtmeir has worked on a number of Metroidvanias that were inspired by the darker tone of the Dark Souls series, including Blasphemous.
Although the above screenshot is all we’ve seen so far, it does look pretty impressive with its depiction of the Dark Souls 3 boss, the Dancer of the Boreal Valley.
“The art here was created in a style which would have been doable in the average budget estimations of Metroidvania back then,” added Feichtmeir.
Dark Souls 3 was made by FromSoftware, who may not have been involved in the Metroidvania. Since Bandai Namco holds the rights to the property, the game was pitched directly to the company.
Why was it pitched in the first place? Well, it’s all because of the rise of 2D games.
“Back at the time it just became evident that Metroidvanias hit a nerve and would get big,” explained Feichtmeir. “Many of the Metroidvania games which got pitched or seemed interesting anyways had a Dark Souls inspiration, so the idea made a lot of sense.”
It’s true that many Metroidvanias at the time had been clearly inspired by the Dark Souls series, with the likes of Death's Gambit, Dead Cells, and many others following in its footsteps.
Obviously, a direct adaptation is something else entirely… but given the immensely positive response to the artist’s tweet, it looks as though Dark Souls III could have made the perfect Metroidvania.
Want to read more about Dark Souls? Find out why Dark Souls on PC was switched offline and why its features have since been restored.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.