There's Nothing Like A Soulsborne's Launch Week

thegamer.com:

Dark Souls 3 was the first game I played on launch, and I summoned three people to help me take down Vordt. That’s three too many. He’s a pushover, so four people banding together to destroy him is a battle that’s likely never going to happen again. The first week of a Souls game is distilled magic as it’s when the entire community, whether it’s die-hard fans or new players dipping their toes in, fill up the servers and bring the world to life. There are summon signs, invasions, messages, phantoms, and a bustling community piecing together the jigsaw story—it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. Well, once-in-every-few-years, at least. If you wait for sales, you’re gonna miss that bus.

Even the ‘Return To’ fan events held on Reddit and Discord don’t capture that same feeling of shared, newfound love, like you’re all excited to dig in for the first time together. That’s because those events are seeing only the hardcore fans returning, whereas launch is typically filled with all manner of people of different levels of investment in the game.

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I remember hitting the Undead Settlement in Dark Souls 3 in that first week, sitting at the bonfire by the bridge that leads to the big rat and the sewers. I was invaded by the NPC Moundmaker, but there was an ocean of summon signs calling out to me. He didn’t stand a chance. A couple of red phantoms soon joined the fun and it became a mini deathmatch. We clutched the win, losing a Sunbro in the scuffle. After the first week, this ocean of summon signs dries to a trickle.

Throughout launch week, Souls games feel like an MMO. You’re constantly bumping into other players who either want to ruin your fun or give you a helping