Dark Souls Was the First Strand-Type Game
Following the success of Elden Ring, many players have begun to explore FromSoftware's catalog for other Soulslike titles, and none of these are as iconic as Dark Souls. Taking what worked from Demon’s Souls and turning it into a truly revolutionary new genre, Dark Souls was a landmark title when it released. Even now, dozens upon dozens of titles have been, for better or worse, labeled as «Soulslike,» «Souls clones,» or even the "Dark Souls of" their medium. Dark Souls' use of multiplayer mechanics was not only innovative, but it actually made it the first, true «Strand-type» game.
For the uninitiated, «Strand-type game» is a phrase coined by Hideo Kojima to describe the genre of his latest title with the eponymous Kojima Productions: Death Stranding. Kojima, no stranger to exaggerations and obscurity in his work, drew the attention of many with this proclamation. It prompted many to ask, «what is a Strand type?» Described by Kojima as a game's incorporation of social elements, there's no exact definition of a Strand-type game. Needless to say, though, Dark Souls is a «Strand game,» if ever there was one.
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Before going any further, it may be helpful to flesh out more of Kojima's ideas about the Strand-type genre. Kojima tweeted out descriptions of Death Stranding's design concepts when the game was first announced in 2016. The most illustrative of these tweets are the ones in which Kojima relays Kobo Abe's influence; a Japanese writer whose novella Rope was majorly responsible for the use of «strand» and «ropes» in the game. Basically, Kojima wanted to create a game that blurred boundaries and effectively created a new genre in which players both had to
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