FromSoftware's Recent Approach to Stamina Could Be Tough to Go Back on Now

FromSoftware’s Recent Approach to Stamina Could Be Tough to Go Back on Now

• FromSoftware has evolved its game design over the years, with newer titles like Bloodborne emphasizing speed and reducing stamina constraints for players.
• The shift away from heavy stamina management in recent games like Sekiro and Elden Ring highlights a departure from the original Soulslike model.
• If FromSoftware ever wants to make a game that reemphasizes stamina, it could risk losing years of mechanical progress in the Soulsborne catalog.

Much has changed in FromSoftware’s game design over the past decade, even as many other things have stayed the same. Comparing Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls to Elden Ring reveals a variety of different approaches to game structure, encounter design, and even the general speed each title moves at. Aggression has ramped up across FromSoftware’s Soulsborne catalog, both through the player’s new abilities and how complex enemy movesets and behaviors have become. Gradual changes like that give the developer’s library a diverse identity, while still providing fans with what they expect in terms of challenge, customization, and dark fantasy.

That gradual shift towards higher speed has become especially notable, driving an obvious wedge between Bloodborne and the games before it. Back in 2015, it was a startlingly large jump for FromSoftware’s design to make, and it would end up being topped just a few years later by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. While Bloodborne and Sekiro remain especially mobile compared to the Dark Souls trilogy and Elden Ring, their impact on the Soulslike formula caused ripples that other FromSoftware games are still feeling. At this point, it’s likely that neither FromSoftware nor its fandom are able to completely return to how Souls games used to be, and a lot of that has to do with how recent titles handle stamina.

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How FromSoftware Has Expanded the Formula It Established in Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls created a simple yet effective formula that has since evolved, leading to some of the most iconic titles in the history of gaming.

Stamina Has Always Played A Role In FromSoftwares Souls Games

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​​​​​​Stamina management is almost synonymous with the Soulslike genre, and FromSoftware as a whole. From the first King’s Field and Armored Core games, there have been stamina systems limiting player offense, defense, movement, or some mixture of the three. Even enemies can have stamina stats, although FromSoftware doesn’t design around that in the same way Team Ninja’s Nioh does with Ki. Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls in particular gated most of their action economy behind stamina, which combined with precise combat demands and the player’s stiff movements to work the mechanic into the Souls formula for years to come.

Later FromSoftware Titles Dont Fixate On Stamina Anymore

Bloodborne was stamina’s first step in a new direction, reducing the amount needed for player actions while also making stamina regeneration quicker. This way, stamina became circumstantially relevant, usually as a punishment for excessive button mashing, rather than an extra consideration every time players committed to an action. Players were stronger as a consequence, so the challenges they could reasonably face also scaled up in difficulty. Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring carried on this approach, while Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice went as far as removing stamina altogether to emphasize the protagonist’s mobility and the importance of the posture system.

FromSoftware Might Have To Keep Stamina In The Background

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Stamina’s absence in Sekiro and low emphasis in Elden Ring has set the trends for Soulslikes yet again. Recent Soulslite games Another Crab’s Treasure and Rise of the Ronin respectively prove this by lacking or lessening their own stamina management. At this point, seeing a traditional Souls game from FromSoftware without stamina feels increasingly likely. Reinstating stamina as a major mechanic is also valid, but after years of dialing it back, reversing that progress would be risky considering what could be lost on the way.

Staminas Importance Can Change Core Soulslike Design Elements

Emphasizing stamina means the margin for error is higher, and players are more predisposed towards caution than letting loose with a variety of abilities. Opponents would need to be toned down, and the design space permitting combined mechanics like Elden Ring’s guard counters or Sekiro’s game-spanning parry system could shrink. The next FromSoftware title with real stamina management would need to execute it well to avoid losing years of mechanical progress. How that would play out remains to be seen, but if FromSoftware revives the approach, then at least it has a history full of stamina systems to draw inspiration from.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set in a world co-created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of the influential Dark Souls video game series, and George R.R. Martin, the author of the best-selling fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. This collaboration between two renowned creators has resulted in FromSoftware’s largest game to date, filled with danger and discovery at every turn. Hidetaka Miyazaki, president and game director of FromSoftware, has a history of directing highly acclaimed games in franchises such as Armored Core and Dark Souls.

Platform(s)Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox OneReleasedFebruary 25, 2022Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment, From SoftwareGenre(s)Action, RPGMultiplayerOnline Co-Op, Online MultiplayerEngineProprietaryESRBM for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, ViolenceHow Long To Beat58 HoursMetascore96Platforms That Support CrossplayPS4 &PS5 and Xbox One & Xbox Series X|SPS Plus AvailabilityN/A See at AmazonSee at Playstation StoreSee at Xbox Games StoreSee at Bandai Namco StoreSee at Humble BundleComplete GuideSee at GameStop