Dark Souls Vibes Are Strong in New Free Steam RPG

A new free RPG that’s just hit Steam Early Access is giving us major Dark Souls vibes, and I already want to see more.

Considering Dark Souls has become one of the most influential action RPGs in recent years, it’s no wonder that loads of developers, big and small, have been inspired by it to create their own games.

GreenBeamStudio’s Shards of the Banished is one such title, in which the game’s aesthetic, story, and gameplay appear to take heavy inspiration from the FromSoftware games. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course, because in fact it looks really damn good.

Shards of the Banished is described as a “soulslike action RPG set in a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy world”, where you play as a “lone warrior cast into a land consumed by glimmering darkness and the ashes of what was once a prosperous realm”.

The game emphasises a mix of combat and exploration as you survive brutal encounters with enemies and the environment itself, as you attempt to discover the truth behind your banishment.

Similar to Dark Souls, Shards of the Banished utilises a “stamina-based melee combat system”, complete with dodge rolls, parries, and powerful finishers. It also has a skill tree and talisman bonuses to help build your character, emphasising different playstyles for repeat playthroughs.

Shards of the Banished also features tough boss fights and an interconnected world, two features that Souls fans will find intimately familiar. So, it sounds like if you’re just fresh off another Dark Souls trilogy marathon, you might want to give this a try.

GreenBeamStudio is a new game developer composed of students from Futuregames, a game dev and tech school located in Sweden and Poland.

The team has been developing Shards of the Banished using the skills they learned at Futuregames, and from the looks of it, the developer might have a bright future ahead of it. With the game launching into Early Access, it’s likely that the design could change over time as a result of feedback gained during this period.

“We are a team of students seeking early feedback on our product,” writes GreenBeamStudio on Steam. “Your input is very important to us. For some of us, this is the first game we’ve ever released. Some features are not yet complete, and we will continue to develop and improve them during Early Access.”

Shards of the Banished is available to play now on Steam via Early Access, and it’s free to play. Even after the game launches into 1.0, GreenBeamStudio is intending to keep the game free.