Revealing the Glorious Return To Dark Souls 4

So, I'm sure we're all excited about the announcement for Dark Souls 4. Frankly, between Fortune Lover and Elden Ring, which was finally released despite the Middle School Murder Ghost Crisis, and the fact that Dark Souls 3 pretty much perfectly closed the chapter on the series. Sure, we got Fortune Lover, but between the wildly different theme, the change in gameplay, and the fact the game took place in, if not the height, then a politically stable, even flourishing setting, I thought it was just a hopeful glimpse of the future of the setting, as we see that the efforts of the Bearer of the Curse and the Chosen Undead have finally paid off.

We should have known better because, after all, it's STILL Dark Souls.

Dark Souls 4 is, surprisingly, a direct sequel to Fortune Lover and so there will be spoilers. But if you're here, that's probably what you want? In this teaser video, we can see the Academy, the Ministry, and the town of Estus, all the central environments of Fortune Lover, and they've obviously all seen better days. There also new settings, like this castle, which is on fire. and a whole city around it, which also seems to be on fire, and not a dragon in sight. Piano music can be heard, and it's clearly Alan playing, since that's the music he plays in his idle animation in the music room.

The narrator is talking about a mad usurper who will do anything to get what he wants. And do you see the symbol on those banners? Yes, it's the Darksign, implying a return of the undead curse. Everything always comes back to that, doesn't it? The undead curse and fire, forever locked in eternal struggle. Then we have this... I'm not sure what to call it. It looks like an arms factory, but is surrounded by farms, a village, and it even has playing children. It almost looks idyllic, but... you see that garden? Doesn't that look like a familiar house? Yes, it's Maria's house, and that's definitely not where it's supposed to be.

We even see some familiar old faces. See that woman, dancing alone in the overgrown garden? The dress and the... pride and dignity make it clear this is our old rival, Mary Hunt, possibly finally succumbing to the perfidious nature of marchionesses and their ilk, which is a terrible shame. She seemed a decent sort, in all of her endings. There, we see an army of dirt dolls- sorry, golems, a familiar figure at their head. And finally... this.

Yes, that's right. He's got proper legs now, and what appear to be new scales or at least scale-shaped armor plates, but it's clearly the paledrake. And that's Nicol Ascart unconscious in his hand. And yes, Seath is now carrying a steampunk gatling gun. which, going by the scale, is the size of a building. I'll admit, I'm a bit torn about this. On the one hand, From Software has a long history of anticlimactic dragon gimmick bosses, though they've gotten better at it. On the other... I'm really not sure I want this to be a proper boss fight, since as we see, he not only still seems to have his old attacks, but now moves like an unholy cross between Darkeater Midir and Gun Saint Isshin. I find that terrifying, don't you?

Still, the narrator talks of all this being 'a twisted world driven to madness from knowledge they could not accept. They could not open their eyes'. Madness. Not the undead curse, which they always mention in other installments, but madness. Whatever this is, it's something new.

Speaking of new, there are also new characters. We have this female knight in purple with an enormous shield. Yes, that's a shield, not a dining table, we see it being used for such in a brief snippet of action, and from the back, it's clearly a shield. We have this... ghostly maid, who looks like she just blew in from Ashina, and despite the knife and looking like she just crawled out of a well, she's apparently not an enemy but an important NPC. Perhaps the new firekeeper? We have a girl with a dragon tail, but unlike Priscilla and Yorshka, she's normal sized, and doesn't she look like the Painter?

And finally, we come to this. The trailer isn't coy about it in the slightest. Yes, it's Katarina Claes, being held prisoner. She's put on a bit of weight, hasn't she? Most people would rejoice at this and leave her to rot... but the narrator is saying she needs to be saved, because she is an innocent. Yes, you heard that right, Katarina Claes, the queen bitch of Sorcier, the Swamp level incarnate... is apparently somehow innocent. With how Miyazaki likes to pull sudden twists... I'm inclined not to believe it.

But that's not the big reveal. All this time, we've been listening to a narrator, and I bet at the start of all this, you found yourself thinking the voice sounds familiar. And you'd be right.

This is the big reveal. That voice was the voice of Maria Campbell and she talks about 'rescuing the caged innocent'... but she's not as we all know her. Yes, that's a sword. Yes, that's black leather. Yes, that's a gun. It seems FromSoft is pulling up previously discarded ideas from the initial build of what would become Fortune Lover, what was announced as 'Project Beast'. Her new look is clearly based on the design concepts for 'The Lady In the Clocktower', an idea that later evolved into the Maria we meet in Fortune Lover. It looks like they decided to bring that old design back.

I can hear the controversy over this move already.

Though, I have to wonder... where was Sophia in all this? Why wasn't she in the trailer?

No, obviously the paledrake can't be Sophia. That would probably be wrong... and very silly.


So, a reader somewhere said this:

"Personally, I do hope it will be taken seriously. Maybe even to logical, tragic conclusion. Heartbreak is not funny. And this is a soulsborne world, where depression historically do resulted in various curses afflicting the victims.
Actually... Katharina's harem going hollow, and herself turning to comfort food until she transforms into gluttonous Covetus Demon, would be a perfect soulsborne ending for Katarina x food. She's not MC after all and side characters always end up miserable at the end of their questlines. "

So I wrote this.