I hate when people think linear = Bad. DS3 level design is fucking amazing.

There is nothing like playing DS1 for the first time, and you feel like you been exploring for hours, find an elevator, and suddenly realise you are back at firelink. Mind was blown. Also got to say that I agree with ER on top. The visuals are just stunning. Fast travel from the getgo was a must when the scales get this large. Also had the same reaction when I got into an elevator in Liurnia and ended up in the underworld. Thought the game was incredibly large as it was, then realise there are just so much more.

That first elevator ride down to Siofra River really made me feel the "Wow" factor of Elden Ring

You can see the cathedral of the deep, Faron keep, irythill, and even arch dragon peak on a mountain from the bonfire after Vordts fight. Feels like a tie in to DS1s design being able to see so many areas from fire link and undead parish

The best instance of interconnectivity in fromsoft games was in DS2 when you take an elevator up from a windmill to a lava sunken castle. Top notch. Wonder why it wasn’t higher in the list.

To me a perfect mix would be a smaller open world with more, but WAY deeper legacy dungeons stacked on each other. So like gigantic Majula with many different sub sections of different scalings with their own paths

I enjoy linearity quite a bit honestly, I don’t think it should be thing that makes one game better than the other

Agree that Ashina is the most underrated Fromsoft world. You forgot to add that depending on the order you do the later game areas it will change which type of shadow enemies get added to certain spots (like if you do the depths early then Mibu villagers will spawn, if you do it late there will be Tengu warriors in the mist area, etc).

It feels wrong that linearity is a category in world design. Just because I can go to the last boss the moment I step out of the tutorial doesn’t make the world well designed. That’s great for gameplay and player agency, but I fail to see the connection. We read stories and lore that follow a path that is not of our choosing that have some of the best worlds we’ve seen and can imagine through various forms of media. Many examples im sure can be drawn up in a moment. You make the exact point when comparing DS2 to DS3. If immersion breaks, how is the world design better?

I'm probably insane for even knowing this, but something that deeply fascinates me about Elden Ring's map is that the geography seems to have been determined by the way they chose to position characters and key locations. This was seemingly done to reinforce the lore itself. This is partly why I think the map has a sort of circular shape, as opposed to something more sprawling, traditional of open worlds. For example: Rennala, the Church of Vows, the Erdtree (and thus Radagon/Marika), the Forge of the Giants, and the moon itself are perfectly aligned. This makes sense, owing to the lore of Radagon's marriage to Rennala, which joined the houses of the Erdtree and the Full Moon, while fettering the stars to the Golden Order. This is just one of many such examples. As it turns out, many of the stone astrolabes scattering the overworld appear to point toward and away from key characters or locations, such as the large one next to the Church of the Plague where Millicent is found, which directly faces the chest containing the Valkyrie's Prosthesis found all the way in the Shaded Castle, far beyond the player's sight. So far, I've found at least a couple dozen examples of such alignments, but I've never seen anyone else make mention of it, so I dunno, maybe I really am just crazy, lol. It's mighty suspicious, though.

I 1000% believe that Shadow Of The Erdtree is going to be the peak of open world gaming experiences we have ever seen. From has had the time, the resources and the feedback to cook properly and I have a feeling they are going to deliver on and exceed all expectations.

I absolutely loved Dark Souls 1 yet I felt like Anor Londo was really small for what we got to explore. I understand that it was limitations of the time but if it ever got a remake I would be head over heels for a much more massive Anor Londo to explore maybe even new lore and bosses to flesh the world out even more.

No lie at the start of my very 1st playthrough of Ds3 I was lost for an hour or two trying to figure out where to go after Firelink Shrine until I eventually looked it up, granted I had only really played Ds1 before so I don't know if I was even aware I could warp between bonfires yet much less to a whole new area

Personally I think I would have put ds1 on top, but it's really hard to draw any comparison between ER and ds1. ER is the pinnacle of open world, horizontal world design in all of game development, but I think Dark Souls approaches that pinnacle for vertical world design, which is an underused design philosophy. Plus I am so glad you harped on how absolutely incredible the no fast travel aspect of dark souls is. I think departing from that aspect, and thus, falling into the pitfalls that having fast travel allows is one of the biggest mistakes that the franchise has committed. No zone in souls games since has managed to capture the crippling dread and disgust of being completely trapped in blighttown. Which only serves to make the ascent to Anor Londo all the more incredible and empowering. Heck, I think even firelink shrine is the only zone in the franchise that truly accomplishes the goal of making it feel like a safe place, a home. And so much of that comes from the genuine feeling of relief that you feel when you finally emerge back into the zone after traveling on these great journeys.

The thing that makes me prefer Elden rings level/world design over ds1 is the fact that not only does it have a drop dead georgeous open world..but it also has legacy dungeons that are akin to some of dark souls level design with some of them having their multiple shortcuts but also open endedness to get to your destination in multiple ways from the get go WITHOUT having to first unlock said alternative paths. That and the fact that DS1s second half has some areas with awful level design.

A big thing for me is verticality. Ds2 does this really well with the gutter, as you really feel like you’re at the bottom of the world in a place you feel like you’re not supposed to be. Blight town is another good example of this

i loved playing lies of P and seeing how much they took from the interconnectivity from ds1. The elevator back up to the hotel from the zombie levels is absolutely insane. and being able to see the past levels on the bridge of atonement was crazy. such nice level design.

Elden Ring has it all. Demon’s Souls is the prettiest (aside from ER), Dark Souls has the best map layout, Bloodborne has the best atmosphere, & Sekiro is a close second.

I like how in Elden Ring, each area is its own kingdom. From Raya Lucaria to Volcano Manor to Leyndell, it feels like you are a conqueror that is steamrolling various kingdoms.

Can’t beat og dark souls 1

I think Dark Souls 1 map is a piece of art, just like DS 3. I'd say I prefer connected maps, but elden ring was a breath of fresh air in the monotonous market of open world that became parodies of themselves with their sprawling-but-empty proceduraly-generated maps. The moniker of "walking-simulator" is rightly deserved for most modern open world games. Elden Ring tackles it perfectly by having a handcrafted map with non-random loot and treasures. A feature Morrowind had twenty years ago... and TES games since Oblivion Shed sadly.

Elden ring has open world perfectly imo due to legacy dungeons keeping that interconnected, complex level design. However the first half of DS1’ entire world being so interconnected is truly special. Both my favs.

non linear isnt always better than linear, its simply a different style of game, all of from's levels are linear but in a way in which the player doesnt realise it because if they werent linear and the intended path was one among many these levels would be bad, people think non linear is better because linear games have gotten a bad rep due to recent releases and elden ring blew up non linearity

In my first play through of elden ring I missed out on the snowfield, Haligtree, and Mt. Gelmir. Truly a testament to how big the world of elden ring is

Ds1 most interconnected Ds2 most interesting ideas and a cool branching world Ds3 a journey from graves to ash a journey through and through Sekiro much like ds2 branching paths but ending with a constant changes to prior areas feeling like a changing world Elden ring- massive open world with so much to find and see Bloodborne & demon souls- too poor to play but ik bloodborne has a cool medical basis for a lot of areas while demon souls is more structured in design.

Great video, when you think about the amount of missable content From hides in their games, it really makes you realise how balsy they are.

I personally dislike Elden Ring's world. The novelty of an open world souls game wears off after you realize how much time you're spending travelling rather than exploring. It's also just incredibly redundant upon a secondary playthrough. The open world also takes away from the slow and cautious playstyle that I feel embodies the souls games. I truly wish they'd try to create more DS1 style souls games.

I haven’t watched the video yet, not have I watched any of your content ever, and I’ll tell you I’m excited for this vid, but oh my god is the name “Chad of Astora” such a metal name that I just subbed immediately.

Good list! I definitely would have had ds1 at the top but I respect your placements. I find that online opinions on souls games have become very boss centric in recent years. It’s nice to see people discussing level design a bit more, I think it’s just as important.

Finally, I have waited for you to upload. Let’s go

dark souls 1 for sure. interconnected but nonlinear design takes a lot of work and creativity, it's peak

The more linear design of the three Dark Souls games compliments the Fromsoft philosophy of game design far better than Elden Ring's open world. The open world doesn't allow a developer to create interesting encounter scenarios like in previous games, because the player isn't restricted to a more limited space and can instead just run past enemy hordes. In a more linear game, a developer can construct encounters that are interesting because they can predict when/where the player is going to be. Additionally, because of how large Elden Ring's open world is, it seems to place items you find throughout the world in such a way that it feels more like they're just a checklist they're going through when placing such items. There isn't as much thought into placing items in areas where it makes sense why they'd be found there from a lore perspective. Hell, most items are just dropped off of the copy-and-paste bosses, and a lot of these items are not related to the bosses they drop from (like the Magma Wyrm dropping the Moonveil). Whereas in the Dark Souls games, items are found randomly in the world and you can visualize how they ended up where they are (like how you find armor/weapons on the corpses of people who tried to traverse those areas previously). And items are typically related to the enemy/boss you receive them from, instead of being chosen at random. Additionally, the open world makes it far too easy to miss many of the NPC questlines, as the developer has no way of knowing if a player will realistically find an NPC in a vast, open space. It is so easy to miss NPCs like Irina or Latenna even on their first encounter, and even easier to progress to the point of locking you out of questlines if you don't micromanage the world. In the Dark Souls games however, NPCs are placed in such a way that you are guaranteed to at least see/meet them when traveling along the paths that are given to you, making it so you realistically can't miss your first encounter with an NPC.

Hey, something else to note from the Nightmare Frontier, is that you can see the nightmare of mensis in the distance after exiting the cave where the first lamp is. It's hard to spot but it's so cool.

Bloodborne is awesome but Dark Souls 1 has to take the cake. Once you finally get to Anor Londo its so beautiful.. I'm on my 1st play through, stuck on O and S rn and love it XD

"Yeah let's go to the Tomb of the Giants or Blight Town again" said no-one ever.

I think BB and Sekiro are interchangeable but I’d go along with this list. I was curious wondering whether DS1 or ER was gonna be first. I agree with your choice though it’s a tough one for me.

I think open world should be the default for their future games.

One thing I’ll say about Elden Ring I’m that I can’t about others is the amount of secret stuff I found upon subsequent playthroughs. I am a thorough explorer due to having a completionist mindset, but even so there were little areas of the lands between that I just missed, like Jarburg. It’s cool when you think you’ve seen it all and get kinda sad, but then suddenly there’s a new place to discover all over again

After watching Illusionary Wall's video on Dark Souls 1's world layout and all of the technical illusions they did and how accurate the world actually is, I simply cannot get over it. It's become probably my favorite Dark Souls game because of it. It's just so cozy because how much detail there is. The world outside of Lordran straight up collapsing, literal dimensional rifts opening like Ash Lake. I cannot stress how cool it is.

tbh, I was never a big open world fan, but man... if Elden Ring made me play 5 playthroughs through its map, that means it did something special!!!

If I had to compare the Dark Souls trilogy to another series, it'd be the DS Castlevanias, with DS1 and Dawn of Sorrow being the more properly interconnected Metroidvania maps, DS2 and Portrait of Ruin having you go into these branches with dead ends before heading back to find other branches, and DS3 and Order of Ecclesia being a more linear challenge going from one stage to the next with few branches but a very consistent difficulty curve. If you ask what the point of this is, it's the fact that Order of Ecclesia and Dark Souls 3 are my favorites for their respective franchises, and the rather linear nature works for me in this instance. I never felt ahead or behind of the game, the challenge was always just right. And I'd say the individual level design in each area is overall FromSoft at their best, the single bonfire design in Cathedral of the Deep/Grand Archives sticks with me consistently. While I miss the bigger area connections, the work within each area is really good for the most part.

i also went to the tomb of the giants early in my first playthrough, before even going to blighttown. It sure as hell made it hard when i got almost one shot by those giant skeletons. Getting out of there was so difficult because of no fast travel, but that difficulty of actually being stuck in some kind of underground dungeon where the enemies are so much stronger than you add to the immersion so much. Getting out of their was a challenge worthy of comparing to many difficult bosses and is really what makes the game so special. It wasnt just the standard gameplay loop of going through and area getting to the boss and killing it then going to next area, it was about just exploring this unkown world where you couldnt teleport and really just had to find everything for yourself. I played ds1 after ds3 and elden ring, but in my opinion the first half of dark souls 1 for these reasons is probably the greatest gaming experience of all time.

DS1 remains my favorite game of all time. Especially for layout. There are very close seconds from many Devs not just FROM however, hollow knight, many of the legend of Zelda games, rockstar games etc.

Ds2 had a great “evolving” world design. Areas kept changing when you come back to them. I always take the wrong route the first time I play a DS game, so I enjoyed this a lot. (DS 1 I got all the way through ceaseless before I realized how to fight capra) (DS2 I got to the dlcs before finding dragon rider) (Ds3 is pretty linear but I did fight the old demon king really early too) I tend to get lost which sends me to the late-game really early. I then have to back-track and one shot everything beforehand.

I like DS1's world design overall, but always found it a letdown how the world design's non-linearity is undermied by its progression systems. Pretty much every playthrough starts with beeline to Andre because he's the earliest you can unlock upgrading at bonfires and sells titanite shards, which appear naturally in the world very rarely. Another thing is that the Large Ember and all the early spell trainers are found in the Lower Undead Burg and early Depths. (The earliest trigger for Reah leaving Firelink Shrine is killing Capra Demon.) So you can't really skip Capa Demon. I've found myself doing alot of Faith builds in DS1 because they're one of the few builds really encouraged to go off the beaten path, by killing Moonlight Butterfly ASAP for the Divine Ember, and going to Tomb of the Giants early to rescue Reah.

My opinion connected all the way like playing dark souls 3 for the first time as I realize irithyll was the city right next to anor londo amazed me the connection of finding a starter zone right next to the end of the game the connections are just amazing

DS1 for me is the indisputable #1.... I much prefer the focused experience it is with a beautifully interconnected world than ER's open world. As good as it is, ER's open world cannot escape the fact that a lot of the world is redundant. I seriously love ER, but DS1 is the GOAT.

If they actually fixed the second half in the remaster there would be no debate ds1 on top of elden ring

I feel like this video is described as “which souls game has the best level design” but in reality I feel it’s more “which souls game world has the best connectivity”. Either way pretty good video

The less linear is not always better.

I really enjoyed this video, looking forward to seeing what else you've done. Hadn't seen this channel at all before today. I am one of those that didn't really get into Elden Ring . I did finish it, but it was a struggle, and nothing to do with the combat difficulty. Before I got to number one on this list, I actually forgot Elden Ring existed for a few minutes and was genuinely racking my brains trying to remember what I'd forgotten. Subscribed :)

For me I love linear or open world a lot more than the interconnectivity

Elden Ring is massive, and for a lazy player like me that means I started last April and I haven't even entered the capital yet. There is just too much stuff to do (and I often don't play for several weeks). So now I'm at an awkward place of being lvl 120 without so much as killing my second shardbearer (I'd like to thank Poison Mist, stationary overworld bosses, Rock Sling, the High Ground, and The Bird for their contributions). I somehow first tried a lot of minor dungeon bosses with only a +2 Engwall, because the damn flowers are either in Boring Catacomb #43 or gatekept by Radahn. He doesn't care how overleveled I am XD And I progressed every NPC questline I could for now. So it's either beat Mr. Horse Boy with my magic or beat his mom with melee (I haven't tried her yet but I cleared the path already).

I definitely would put Bloodborne over Sekiro at least. I loved seeing stuff like how the Forbidden Woods connect to Central Yharnam through that ladder, and Darkbeast Paarl connecting to old Yharnam was pretty neat. Of course, since you have “fast travel” (it’s really slow travel on Bloodborne because you have to go back to the hub then travel where you want to go), they’re not nearly as useful as they are in DS1, but I definitely think the world deserves some credit over Sekiro’s (which I agree is underrated). Sekiro has some neat connection points, but the world itself feels much smaller than Bloodborne’s as it has fewer areas. Ashina Castle is reused multiple times as your main area to do quests in, as an example. The Nightmares in Bloodborne offer a cool spiritual realm, which Sekiro doesn’t really have outside maybe Fountainhead Palace to an extent. Another area Bloodborne deserves an advantage over Sekiro and even Elden Ring in: shortcuts and fewer checkpoints. Bloodborne follows that strict, early Fromsoft design of placing 1-2 checkpoints per level, but adding shortcuts to ensure the player never dies too far from the checkpoint (except Cainhurst lol). This forces Fromsoft to create more cohesive and interconnected designs in each level, as they no longer have the ability to just slap a checkpoint every 20 feet. Levels like fishing hamlet, central Yharnam, Old Yharnam, Mergo’s Loft/Nightmare of Mensis, and Research Hall are all great examples of how shortcuts force better level design out of the developers. I also think your point about Bloodborne’s areas feeling kinda “same-y” applies more to Sekiro than Bloodborne itself. Sekiro’s world is definitely the least creative overall as it sticks hard to the realistic, medieval Japan theme. Every area resembles Ashina Castle to an extent, except fountainhead which is supposed to be a heaven of sorts. Is this necessarily a bad thing? No, it sticks to the game’s theme and the visuals are still beautiful. But Bloodborne definitely has more variety thanks to the nightmares, the 3 DLC areas which are all distinct from each other, different times of day, and a more outlandish setting. Sekiro is awesome and I definitely think its world and level design are underrated. I would place it 4th on the list, but I think Bloodborne belongs in that top 3 with DS1 and Elden Ring. In fact, I feel like Bloodborne is the only other game that could’ve pulled off what DS1 did in having no fast travel for the first half.

DS1

Kinda feel like u didn't do your research on 2. There's nothing wrong with warf connecting to Lost Bastille, they're fairly close, it'd be like an hour voyage or less, and as for majula in the distance...well...yes, that's literally where it is. Stand on the death shrine jn macula and you'll see both heides tower ans the lost bastille. You can also see the fortresses from the forest from majula, as well as the very top of drangleic castle

great video mad underated

Ds1 easily

I hate how formulaic game design has gotten. Its like we think that just because everywhere can branch into two or more areas makes it better game design.

I lover how open world and non linear elden ring is. I love running around the open world not fighting anything searching for a random npc to progress the main storyline.

ppl should look up the map that showcases all the ways elden rings areas connect to each other, kinda like that ds1 map graphic that does the same, i think it was in nakeyjakyes video about fromsoft games. i think elden rings level design far surpasses ds1 on a talent and difficulty-to-make level, its the true next step of fromsoft level design evolution, never have i ever seen such a handcrafted open world before, its one thing to prefer the older games level design, but other than preference, its kinda delusional to say otherwise since the level design in ER is designed factoring in the character AND horse double jumping in dungeons and open world. hell not a single area in any of the older games comes close to the insane intricacy of the legacy dungeons in ER.

I just wish there was a way to at least get to altus plateou from the begining like how you can beat the game in a couple of hours on botw, it would be so good to replay some of those areas without having to cross aaaaalllll the same grass fields again

great video 🔥🔥

Elden Ring is the first game to drop my jaw in a while

DS1 no contest

Awesome video idea. I never knew how much I wanted to see someone cover this topic. Absolutely stellar narration too :)

Thanks for putting Elden Ring on well deserved first spot! One can argue about level design and all that, but once the word "world" is spoken, Elden Ring just trumps any competition. This world is just too big, beautiful and immensely fun to explore.

90% of Elden Ring is optional

A teleporter instead of an elevator to iron keep would be a simple but effective change for a remake someday. I like all games though :)

Wait does letting the snake swallow you actually bring you to sunken valley cave in Sekiro!!?

🔥🙏CHAD OF ASTORA VIDEO JUST DROPPED 🙏🔥

The 'Elden Ring being too big on replay issue' I blame entirely on Liurnia. Look at the map! Liurnia is bigger than all of Limgrave and Caelid COMBINED.

I think bloodborne deserves to be MUCH lower. The worst part of it is definitely the beginning in cathedral ward where if you follow the intended path (Old Yharnam and BSB) the door in cathedral ward just opens for no reason and without any hint or clue to suggest that it has. Another thing is the vicar amelia password (fear the old blood) it's not THAT bad and it didn't personally give me much trouble since I just kind of figured it out, but it isn't the best transition. Also with the lake in Byrgenworth it is extremely counterintuitive to jump off the bridge. The only reason i knew to do so was because of messages and watching gameplay. Also all of the DLC/optional areas have warps to get there, (except for upper cathedral ward) instead of a cool path or something to lead you there. It's always just "get a specific item and go to this specific place to warp to a specific place." There's little interconnectivity. Also, many shortcuts in this game are pretty useless, the worst offender being the door in Y'har Goul (Darkbeast Paarl's boss area) that leads back to Old Yharnam. Overall, it's not terrible world design but I'd argue it's much worse than DS3, DeS, and maybe even DS2. (And every other souls game as well.) Really good levels, but pretty bad (as far as souls games go) world design, even if it is far better than most other games, but that's just the quality we expect from Souls.

Nice video, cheers from Germany

I love the linear design of soulsborne games, it gives that souls feeling, tough, open world design gives more freedom of exploration, it places the different areas into an actual world, it feels more natural, it makes the world feel somewhat more alive, I feel as it has way more potential than what we saw in elden ring, mixing the two design could be done even better.

I would switch Ds1 and Elden Ring, other than that good list! People have to remember Ds1 came out IN 2011 ALONGSIDE SKYRIM! AND IT STILL SUCCEEDED! THIS GAME WAS SO AHEAD OF IT'S TIME IT IS INSANE

For me Dark Souls 1 Elden ring Blood borne Sekiro Dark souls 2 Demon Souls Dark souls 3

This list is EXTREMELY subjective. You present a set of criteria and then you dont follow them yourself. Based on, game design, the levels allowing you to go mutliple directions, progressing you somewhat naturally and based on the story the game wants you to experience, the list should be as follows: 7. Demon souls - because having access to the end of the game immediatelly is the worst rhing you can do. think about the new player who accidentally sumbles into the end game boss and is confused why the game is hard. 6. ds2 - because fuck that game and everything about it. immersion breaking elevators, linear progression bUt ItS bEtTeR ThAn Ds3 because it lets you go multiple directions??? no. the levels suck, the game sucks and it deserves last but at least you cant beat the game on your first level ACCIDENTALLY. 5. ds3 - even tho i enjoy this game, sure, lets pretend that the linear design is a problem and boring. whatever. 4.sekiro - this game is linear as fuck...i have yet to see a shortcut that leads me back to any starting area...it doesnt branch in any way possible. the grappling hook has the same function as just porting 10m ahead, it doesnt give you any feeling of freedom. the hook is linear...you literally NEED TO have a branch to grapple to or its useless. 3. bloodborne - this game branches propperly. the world has multiple directions but not all unlocked immediatelly because the game doesnt want you ti get into deep waters too soon. its propperly paced. the fact that you get into yosefkas clinic from the forbidden woods is on par with ds1 map design. plus, just google the two maps and you see the same exact thing. bloodborne is the perfect sequel to the ds1 map design and maybe even better. 2.ds1 - because obviously. 1. elden ring - honestly, it cant be compared with the previous games because its open world. but it wins because even though its open world that world is designed perfectly for new players to get exactly the exp they need to progress. FS even played with the position of the erdtree to guide the player naturally to the gatefront ruins where they get their map, horse and whetstone. then they turn the player away from the castle with a huge troll scaring them in stormgate and so the player just naturally runs the rest of limgrave to get their levels and weapons and various build options. even the hills block you from progressing to upper limgrave and instead guide you down south. connecting to caelid is a good option for experienced players to level early but it scares the newbies enough that they avoid it at first.

I actually really like the lack of realism in ds2’s world design. It makes sense from a story perspective-the cycle of fire and dark has been drawn out for so long that the world itself has begun to collapse. It’s kind of similar to the visual design of the dreg heap or the kiln in ds3, but on a much larger scale. Some people try to explain it away by saying that it’s either magic or laziness, but I don’t like either of those explanations. The elevator rides in earthen peak and aldia’s keep are so jarring that I feel there’s no way those transitions could have been unintentional. They were clearly going for something different from ds1, it just wasn’t something that people vibed with as well as the interconnectivity of that game’s world.

Elden ring and ds1’s map design and interconnectivity is so close they’re basically 1 and 1a.

Elden Ring is my first Soulsborne game so I have an obvious bias. But I do love Dark Souls Style and Lore. Also if they ever make an Elden Ring Film they should get all the Actors from Game Of Thrones. Since George was in charge of the lore of the Game.

So this list isn't about world design its about interconnectivity. And ends up being just being "does it have a hub and do those hub pathways meetup at any point?" While DS3 is fairly linear like a tree that has some branches, DS2 and Demon Souls are really just hubs. DS2 branches off at DLCs and its end game, though. So they are more like the complete opposite like a bush and honestly is not connected at all because of it. Probably more like building blocks. You can put them in any order but its still very much a straight line. I would say anything but Demon Souls and DS2 has good actual world design. Everything fits, aside from far off areas you teleport to, you can see it off in the distance and have it make sense. DS3 while linear is actually interconnected, but fragmented, in that you can't walk there but you can see other areas that are cutoff by say a broken bridge or something, and its close enough that you could land a hit in the terrain with range. Also, to be honest from the criteria given, DS1, is most deserving of first. It has a hub, the levels connect down the line, it makes sense. Simply because it is open world doesn't put ER 1st from the criteria given. While you may be able to skip some bosses or areas it is fairly linear in that you have to traverse the areas in that order with it branching off into a semi-optional area at like 3 points and none of them connect other than previous area or next area, linear.

I love linear worlds with a limited scope. The ability to go everywhere and anywhere in a humongous world is overwhelming! I loved, for example, Halo Infinite, but did not love the idea of the open world where everything is... empty....same as Elden Ring, although the latter has some more enemies.

bloodbore

I hate how memorable these games are, I wish I could forget everything and start all of them over again

Ds1 is the only game that made me feel like I was that helpless knight exploring a broken world in the other games they make me feel like the superhero chosen one with all the cool powers but since in ds1 most enemies are simple and most weapons are also simple not cool ice powered hammers this simplicity makes me more immerse I remember first seeing the dragon in ds1 and actually feeling the impact that it’s a huge dragon and this small knight but in another games the dragon is not even a mini boss adding too much cool shit saturates the impact and doesn’t immerse you

So based on your introduction summary, this isn't a list of the best world designs from fromsoftware, rather which games are the least linear

People gripe about the world not being connected past DS1, but I never understood that argument. I mean I understood that it's cool that it's connected, but at the end of the day, you're not going to go from one end of the world to the other side. You get teleported a couple of times, and eventually, you can travel between bonfires, which at that point is just the same as the rest of the games.

I love dark souls 2 lvl design. It’s just a treat especially the dlc.

I have such a love/hate relationship with Elden Ring. The Legacy Dungeons are all amazing and are some to Fromsoft's best levels to date. But the open plains biomes in between them are so tedious and unsatisfying to get through. Also, although all of their games reuse bosses and enemies, Elden Ring took it to the extreme. There's nothing like battling through another samey-looking catacomb just to fight yet another fucking Tree Spirit. Idk, I just think that as good as it is, we could have had something much better if they weren't trying to pad it out into an open world.

Played Bloodborne, first souls game btw, and now I'm about to finish my second playthrough of Sekrio, foking love Sekrio, I'm looking forward to playing dark souls 3, I just wanna start with 3 then go and play 1 😂

DS1 ! You can change the title to "...has the best open world design" if you want do select Elden Ring.

The elevator from Earthen Peak to Iron keep was ridiculous why couldn't they just do the birds nest again or a bonfire to take you there.

Sekiro level design was disappointing, especially because From had the chance to use the grapple creatively instead of making maps so linear. The irony of the game with a grapple being the least vertical of Fromsoftware lineup, since if you grapple, you are always overall moving forward

DS1 was one of the last souls games i've played, and i always heard everyone talking about how amazing it was, but i simply did not enjoy it as much as the other games, i actually think ds2 is more fun to play than 1, i like the lore and the atmosphere and the designs, but i don't want to replay it as much as the other games

i think the biggest flaw in ds3's world design is how much its linearity limits your ability to get your build going. it makes the early game pretty harrowing depending on your build, especially with how limited estus is if you use fp flasks at all. Its a pretty jarring adjustment after playing ds2 and elden ring where you can run around going to grab everything you need as fast as possible

Demon Souls or Dark souls 2 really should have been at the bottom, ya lost me when I saw DS3 at the bottom fr, linear is never bad when used right and DS3 really had a great use of it, and the world looked amazing cause of that, connection still there even in the DLC, it reminded me to Dark souls 1

My brain: “surely dark souls 3 is top tier”

The less linear games I just play way more. I’ve beaten ds3 twice and ds2 once and two runs I never finished. Meanwhile ds1 I’ve played god knows how many times, bloodborne it’s been around 4-5, and Elden ring I currently have 9 characters. Demons souls is pretty nonlinear too and I’ve got 4-5 characters between ps3 and ps5 on there.

If we’re talking best design like best to explore I’d say Elden ring mostly cuz it’s open world but it also has such cool landscapes. But if it’s looks then bloodborne slams