FromSoftware's Souls series has to rank as one of the most popular in recent memory, and the core mechanic of exploring a vast and unforgiving 3D world has captured the attention of millions of players.
However, in an alternate reality, we could be playing a 2D, Metroidvania-style Dark Souls adventure, as Thomas Feichtmeir reveals.
Feichtmeir, who has contributed pixel artwork to titles such as Songs of Conquest, Blasphemous and The Mummy Demastered, has revealed that a pitch was made to Bandai Namco to create a hand-drawn take on Dark Souls 3.
As Feichtmeir states, the NDA which has prevented any talk of this project has now elapsed, which means he's able to share mocked-up screens like the one above.
Feichtmeir adds that the pitch, rather than being speculative, was a "real job" and that the art was "created in a style which would have been doable in the average budget estimations of Metroidvanias back then."
He doesn't know why the game never got the green light.