Grab the ENTIRE Dark Souls series for cheap with these Black Friday deals and save your wallet from going hollow

Jump to:

More great Black Friday deals

It's Black Friday week, and that means now is a fantastic time to pick up some classic fan-favorite games while they're on sale for huge markdowns. A series you should absolutely get and play through if you haven't already is FromSoftware's Dark Souls trilogy, which has won millions of gamers over with its immensely satisfying "tough, but fair" action RPG gameplay, rich lore, and intricately crafted dark fantasy setting.

You'd normally have to fork over $164.99 to get all three games and their DLC, but thanks to the below 57% discounts, you can pick up the entire franchise on Steam for just $70.94. Similar deals are available on Xbox, too, so if you use Microsoft's console, you can still save big on this legendary series.

More great Black Friday deals

The games that put FromSoftware on the map

Dark Souls Bonfire — A bonfire in Dark Souls: Remastered. These act as checkpoints where you can heal and save progress through a level. (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Though FromSoftware's first "Soulslike" game was technically 2009's Demon's Souls, it wasn't until Dark Souls released in 2011 that the developer's approach to action RPG game design started turning heads. Its combat systems, which encourage careful stamina management and spacing as you figure out when to dodge or block enemy attacks while landing your own, are almost puzzle-like in nature; each death, as frustrating as they can be, is an opportunity to learn and try again with a greater understanding of the encounter or the boss you're struggling with. There's a ton of supplementary items you can find to aid you — and there's always "jolly cooperation" with multiplayer co-op, too — but at its core, mastery of the game's scenarios is key to success in Dark Souls.

Black Friday 2023 deals at Windows Central — (Image credit: Windows Central)

• Handpicked: The best deals overall
• Xbox accessories under $100
• Best gaming laptop deals
• Best Xbox console deals
• Best gaming TV deals
• Best Xbox storage deals
• Best graphics card deals
• Best motherboard deals
• Best monitor deals
• Best deals on power banks

That's not to say that you're ever railroaded into overcoming your obstacles in any specific way, though. These are RPGs, after all, and all three Dark Souls games have hundreds of different weapons, armor pieces, stat bonus-providing rings, spells, and more that you can use to put together a unique character build. Your effectiveness with these is determined by the attributes you invest your experience, or "souls," in; just make sure you return to your place of death whenever you fall, though, as you'll need to do so to recover your souls. If you die before you do so, they'll be lost forever.

Then you have the environments of the trilogy, which shake things up by introducing hazards, varied types of terrain, and creative enemy placements. They also feature sprawling, interconnected levels that loop back on themselves with unlockable shortcuts and lead to one another, with bonfire checkpoints where you can rest and refill your Estus Flask healing scattered throughout the map. This connectivity is what makes many consider Dark Souls to be something of a soft metroidvania, and it would go on to influence the design of both the open world and the "Legacy Dungeons" in FromSoftware's newest Soulslike RPG, Elden Ring.

I won't be spoiling anything here, but Dark Souls' approach to storytelling is notable as well. Compared to more traditional writing with lots of dialogue and cinematic cutscenes, the dark fantasy series largely conveys its narrative to players through environmental hints, with item descriptions and the occasional voiced NPC providing bits and pieces of valuable context. Ultimately, much like the gameplay, you'll get out what you put in; those who pay close attention and engage with what's given will appreciate FromSoftware's writing style, but you'll probably find yourself lost if you don't. Even if you ignore the story completely, though, Dark Souls is fantastic.

At the end of the day, these are simply some of the best Xbox games and best PC games ever made, and I can't recommend checking them out enough if you haven't already (especially when Black Friday has them this affordable). They put FromSoftware on the map, and are the predecessors to the award-winning magnum opus that is 2022's Game of the Year, Elden Ring. Even Dark Souls 2 — generally considered to be one of the developer's weakest titles — is a great experience, even if it is rather janky in some ways.

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. You'll find him doing reviews, editorials, and general coverage on everything Xbox and PC. Follow him on Twitter.

More great Black Friday deals

The games that put FromSoftware on the map

Get the Windows Central Newsletter