- Dark Souls III until you reach Firelink Shrine
- Dark Souls until you run into a wall and get too frustrated to continue
- Continue Dark Souls III until you beat Vordt
- Bloodborne until you see The One Reborn
- Finish Dark Souls but not the final boss or the DLC
- Continue Dark Souls III until you die once to Abyss Watchers
- Dark Souls DLC
- Start playing Dark Souls II but alternate with Elden Ring each time you beat a boss in either game. Stop when you beat the DS2 main game
- Sekiro (main route)
- Continue Dark Souls III until you die once to Yhorm
- Demon's Souls (OG not the trashy remake)
- Finish Bloodborne and the DLC
- Dark Souls II DLC
- Sekiro (shura route)
- Finish Dark Souls III and the DLC
- Finish Elden Ring
I need you to explain your reasoning because I feel like there's a terrible method to this madness that I can't quite divine
- Start with DS3 because it's got a great intro and it's so densely referential it'll serve as a great jumping-off point for understanding those references
- Once you've got a taste for the DS3 combat and hit Firelink, go to the game that invented Firelink. Play it until you get pissed off (probably O&S, maybe Bell Gargoyles) and have a hunger for a smoother experience
- Here's that smoother experience! This bit of DS3 is pretty kind to the player and ends on a high note of beating an aggressive but relatively easy boss
- Vordt transitions well into Bloodborne because of his aggression. Depending on how far you got into DS1, this may be the first time the player is playing a big chunk of a game at once, and starting with a fan favorite game known for its role as a gateway drug makes sense. Stop once you hit The One Reborn because it's the clearest Demon's Souls reference and we want that context when we come back
- Having played most of Bloodborne, you should now be well-equipped to deal with whatever was blocking you in DS1. Save the DLC for later for plot reasons.
- This is a more solid chunk of DS3 now that you have more context for it, including the Cathedral/Healing Church parallels. Stop with Abyss Watchers because they directly tie into the DS1 DLC
- Not only do you have the story tie-in here, but the DLC bosses are among the best in the game. A few really fucking good bosses are a treat here for anyone who likes BB-style combat more than DS1's main game combat.
- DS2 and ER are the two biggest games in this group, and they have a lot in common: they're fairly non-linear, they lean a bit harder on pranks and friction, and both their combat systems support power stancing. Juxtaposing them shows this off to good effect and helps fight off the despair of the more brutal parts of DS2
- Sekiro is the other game that draws heavily from DS2, although in more subtle ways than ER. Do a run now to highlight that assonance.
- This finishes out the bulk of the DS3 main game, leaving the endgame content and the DLC. You have enough context for this now that most of the references will land. Stop at Yhorm because Demon's Souls holds the secret to his puzzle.
- DeS gives a ton of context for the rest of the series but it's just jagged enough that you should probably build up a solid affection for them before playing it. By this point, I think you're well positioned to love it.
- Now you get The One Reborn reference! BB draws heavily from DeS in general, so juxtaposing the one with the bulk of the other makes sense.
- At this point we're mostly just cleaning up the games. The DS2 DLC is notoriously brutal, so you want to have a lot of buy-in to play it, but it also has the best bosses in the game which you can really appreciate now.
- Juxtaposing Sekiro with DS2 again for largely the same reason as above. This route is different enough that it's worth replaying the first chunk of the game.
- Again, finishing up the outstanding stuff. The DS3 DLC is pretty long in its own right, so this is a healthy chunk of game.
- Draw the rest of the owl. This is probably the longest continual playthrough of a single game in this order, but Elden Ring rips and is a great note to end on.
