8 Changes FromSoftware Should Consider If Dark Souls 4 Ever Happens

The Dark Souls franchise is perhaps one of the greatest gaming franchises of all time. Its brutal nature has attracted millions of players to take it on, and the fanbase is only growing bigger thanks to games like Elden Ring.

Of course, every Soulsborne title has had its issues. Dark Souls 2 added features like adaptability that ruined a key part of the game, and Elden Ring feels so big that many things get lost.

If FromSoftware were to continue the Dark Souls saga or introduce another Soulsborne game to the list, what would make it stand out? These changes could make a future Souls game even better than what's already come before.

8 Armor Upgrades

Bring Them Back

The original Dark Souls title had a key feature that went missing later on in the series, and that is armor upgrades. You used to have to stop by the blacksmith and enhance your armor if you wanted to make it better.

While this is a feature that many complained about, I think it made the Dark Souls experience better, as any piece of armor that you cared about could be enhanced to better withstand enemy attacks.

I also believe this mechanic could be taken further, allowing players to enchant armor, giving it better resistances against various types of magic.

7 More NPCs

An Interactive World

NPCs have always been the lifeblood of the Souls series. You are stuck in a hopeless world, and the NPCs stand out as shining little beacons to help guide you on your journey.

NPC questlines not only help guide you through the world, they give you a glimpse into the overall story and reward you for completing them. While the first Souls title felt like it had enough NPCs, future games in the franchise, and especially Elden Ring, felt like they could use more NPCs.

It would be nice to see a location with numerous people to talk to and learn from. Additionally, it would be nice to see multiple magic teachers and pyromancy teachers.

6 A New, But Known Land

Perhaps Carim

Whenever you play any of the Soulsborne games, the NPCs will often mention where they are from. For instance, Siegward is from Catarina, Eygon is from Carim, and so forth.

It would make things interesting if the next Soulsborne title took place in a land connected to the series that has been mentioned by an NPC or found within the lore. Dark Souls 2 did this with it taking place in Drangleic, and it would be nice to see it happen again, but this time in a location that players actually care about.

Personally, I would like to see the home of the knights of Catarina, as it would be cool to see the homeland of Seigward and Siegmeyer, two of the best Dark Souls NPCs.

5 Boss Re-Fights

More Challenges to Come

One of the greatest pleasures in the Soulsborne series is taking on a massive boss and punishing it for thinking it could stand toe-to-toe with you. When you finally take down a boss, the feeling is incredible, and it would be great to replay these fights without needing to replay the game.

As someone who prefers to play Souls titles solo, I'd love the ability to go back to a boss I have already fought and fight it again with a different build or weapon. This would give me a better means of testing out new gear and builds.

This doesn't have to be part of the story, but maybe an additional feature in the main hub area, where you can travel to a training ground and challenge different enemies.

4 Remove Instant Teleportation

Give the Lord Vessel Later

Dark Souls is a special game that gives you that feeling of being lost and hopeless, and a big part of how it is accomplished is by thrusting you into a world where you can't just teleport from one bonfire to the next immediately.

The lack of teleportation forces you to walk from Point A to Point B, experiencing all the hardship along the way. It forces you to plan your moves more carefully because you will be punished otherwise.

This is part of what made Dark Souls great, and later titles just don't capture that same feeling, so it would be nice to see the next Soulsborne title continue the trend the first game started.

3 Greater Weapon Modification

Deeper Build Potential

Weapon modification has been in the Soulsborne series since the beginning, giving players the ability to enhance their weapons, apply magic to them, and more. These mechanics were taken to a new level in Elden Ring with the addition of weapon arts.

What if the next Soulsborne game took this another step forward by allowing players the ability to adjust individual stats of weapons? Each increase could allow players to adjust the scaling of the weapon, or apply a buff to a specific aspect of the weapon.

Additionally, the modification system could allow players to change the moveset of a weapon, with each weapon type perhaps having multiple movesets to choose from.

2 Interconnected, But Not Open World

Back to Tradition

Think back to the era of the first Dark Souls game. There wasn't one giant open map like it is in Elden Ring. It was a series of confined areas, each with a different feeling. Undead Burg connected seamlessly into its lower portion, and then connected to the sewers and Blighttown.

They tried to capture this same feeling in Dark Souls 2, and I think they were very effective at it, but some map inconsistencies made it feel off, and Dark Souls 3 felt very linear rather than a larger series of interconnected areas.

It would be nice to see the next Soulsborne title go back to its roots and be a series of interconnected areas, each with a different feeling, but on a grander scale.

1 Seamless Co-op

It Needs to Happen

Every Souls game has had co-op, and it has always been great. However, each of the Soulsborne titles has the same issue with co-op, and it is that you are sent home immediately after you help your friend defeat a boss.

This style of co-op has carried the franchise through the ages, but it is time for a change. Many were excited about the prospect of seamless co-op when Elden Ring was released, but that never became a reality without the use of mods.

The next official Souls title by FromSoftware should have seamless co-op so that friends can play together without needing to go back and forth between each other's worlds.