This looks like a trailer for FromSoftware’s long-lost RPG, but it’s actually an enormous Dark Souls 3 mod that’s finally getting a demo after almost 4 years of work

If you’ve been craving more Dark Souls content in your life, then prepare yourself. A colossal Dark Souls 3 mod called Dark Souls: Archthrones is on the way, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was an entirely new FromSoftware RPG.

Seriously, there’s perhaps no better example of how talented dedicated video game fans can be than this. Dark Souls: Archthrones has been in development for around four years at this point, and it’s no wonder why. It promises to overhaul Dark Souls 3 “on a scale never seen before,” with an alternate story set before the events of the first game, and even more deadly bosses to fight. According to its Patreon page, the plot “unfolds across five unique worlds, each accessed via the Nexus of Embers.”

Although there’s still no concrete release date for the full version of Dark Souls: Archthrones, a free demo will be playable from this week – March 15, to be exact. At this point, it’s not clear how long this demo will be or what we’ll be able to do in it, but hopefully, it’ll give us a good opportunity to wander the mod’s areas and fight some foes, maybe even one of those new bosses. Based on the trailer, it’s definitely worth getting excited about, anyway. 

For those who’ve been following the project for some time, this demo has been a long time coming. It was originally planned to launch in September 2023, but it was pushed back to give the developers more time to polish things. 

Initially, it was delayed to October, but in a further update post, the team announced: “With feedback from our playtesters continuing to pile up, it’s clear that we have more work in front of us than we expected.” In a Patreon post in December, they elaborated on this further, and noted that “there are still performance concerns that need to be addressed.”

Now though, the wait is almost over. Being a mod, it’ll only be playable on PC, so unfortunately, anyone playing Dark Souls 3 on consoles will have to miss out. Even so, it’s incredibly exciting to see such a huge addition to the RPG on the way after all this time, made for and by fans.

Be sure to check out our top 10 best FromSoftware games for more titles from the Dark Souls studio.