The footage, which comes in at only 19 seconds long, shows a man who appears to be the same shotgun-toting character seen in the screenshots that leaked earlier this month, as well as a small variety of scenes showing off some environments, enemies, and combat situations. It sure looks like a From Software game in the same vein as Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2.
The "Souls" franchise began in early 2009, when From Software released Demon's Souls in Japan, exclusively on PlayStation 3. Demon's Souls was funded by Sony -- and the IP is owned by Sony -- but the company declined to publish it in the west. Niche Japanese developer and publisher Atlus brought it to North America later in 2009, while Namco Bandai (now Bandai Namco) brought it to Europe and other western territories in 2010.
We absolutely loved it.
Namco Bandai continued its relationship with From Software following Demon's Souls' surprise success, funding and publishing Demon's Souls' unofficial sequel -- Dark Souls -- which came to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011 (and to PC in 2012).
We loved that game, too. And finally, just a couple of months ago, Dark Souls 2 came to those same three platforms by way of the same developer/publisher combination, and -- you guessed it --
we loved that one as well.
It was clear that Sony didn't anticipate Demon's Souls' success, especially in the west, allowing Namco Bandai to seize control of the series under a different name. Still, with the Demon's Souls name owned by Sony -- and with Sony's long-running relationship with From Software intact (the company has been making PlayStation games since PSone launched in Japan in 1994) -- it was long assumed that Sony would try to get From Software to make another PlayStation-exclusive Souls game. This might just be it.
Now, it's important to note that this footage is unsubstantiated. This footage, as well as the screenshots that leaked earlier, could be real, but we just don't know for sure. So file this as a compelling rumor for the time being. We reached out to Sony for official confirmation. However, the company declined to comment.