Metroidvanias are a popular genre and we nearly had a very interesting one. To be more specific a 2D pixel art Metroidvania reimagining From Software’s Dark Souls 3 was pitched to and ultimately rejected by Bandai Namco. Thisis according to artist Thomas Feichtmeir who also released a screenshot of artwork used in the pitch to the publisher six years ago.
Feichtmeir has worked on Blasphemous, a Metroidvania inspired by the Dark Souls series, so it is clear there was interest in this type of game. The artwork shows a knight character battling the iconic boss Dancer of the Boreal Valley and Feichtmeir stated that the art was “created in a style which would have been doable in the average budget estimations of Metroidvanias back then”. He further stated that the prevalence of Metroidvania games is why this Dark Souls spin-off was pitched.
Would you have played such a game?