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Nintendo’s Switch 2 has passed a lot of tests in its first year (and change) on the market. It has proven that you don’t need a 3D Mario or new Zelda game to sell a system. It has repeatedly shown that Nintendo can indeed make a technically proficient console. And it has won over key third-party publishers like Capcom and Square Enix, winning an existential war Nintendo has been fighting since its Wii days. Now, it’s time for a real skill check.
All eyes have been on one developer for the past week: FromSoftware. After a delayed arrival into the Switch 2 generation, the acclaimed Dark Souls studio finally made its debut on Nintendo’s new console. That started with a network test for the Switch 2-exclusive The Duskbloods last weekend, and it culminated with the long-awaited release of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition this week. Both of those games are a big deal for Nintendo; locking down FromSoftware as a go-to partner would be a cathartic victory for Switch 2.
Long before Dark Souls , FromSoftware and Nintendo briefly had a relationship brewing. The studio gave Nintendo two solid GameCube exclusives in Lost Kingdom and Lost Kingdom 2 , a pair of dark action RPGs that, in retrospect, laid some groundwork for 2009’s Demon’s Souls . That budding partnership was very short-lived. Aside from developing a few Nintendo DS games, FromSoftware abandoned Nintendo entirely once the Wii came along.
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