Forget Bloodborne, FromSoftware Should Revive This Forgotten Cult Classic

Bloodborne fans might be clamoring for a remake of the beloved game, but there’s another classic FromSoftware title that’s in desperate need of a revival. Today, the company is known as the development studio behind the distinct brand of challenging RPGs known as Soulslikes—named after the studio’s beloved Dark Souls and Demon Souls games.

Original fans of the dev company from back in the day might remember lesser-known games like King’s Field and Armored Core (the latter of which has received a modern revival with the 2003 Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon). Before it found its niche, FromSoftware launched many other games that aren’t as well-known. And one of them is a unique GameCube title that deserves a remake, before it’s completely lost to time.

FromSoftware Needs To Bring Back This GameCube Classic

In 2002, before the Souls games catapulted FromSoftware to the gaming mainstream—and long before Bloodborne was even an idea—FromSoftware released a game called Lost Kingdoms (or Rune in Japan). In retrospect, the story sounds like a quintessential FromSoft game: a hero arises to save a world from an encroaching, all-consuming fog.

The similarities end there. Lost Kingdoms uses a unique combat system where the protagonist, princess Katia, doesn’t actually fight. Instead, she calls on monsters to grant her special powers and fight in her place. It’s a battle style that hasn’t been replicated since—the closest being Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and the die-based first Lost in Random.

Like other deck-building games like Slay the Spyre, strategic card selection can make or break a battle. But Lost Kingdoms amps up the difficulty FromSoftware-style by throwing in the element of real-time battles. Juggling active combat with card selection and deployment is a fantastic blend of fun and challenge—something that FromSoftware has clearly expanded on in the years since.

A sequel to Lost Kingdoms was released in 2003, also for the GameCube. This followup takes place years after the first game, and stars a different female protagonist. This time, the power to wield magical cards falls into the hands of a thief. As the travels the world in pursuit of a legendary item, the sequel’s protagonist becomes involved in a conspiracy that threatens the entire world.

The Lost Kingdoms IP has seemingly been abandoned by FromSoftware since the second game was released. Sadly, the rights to Lost Kingdoms are likely entangled in a web, since the games were developed by FromSoftware, published in North America by Activision, and were exclusive to a Nintendo console.

As of today, the only way to play either Lost Kingdoms or Lost Kingdoms 2 is on the GameCube. That means the Lost Kingdoms games are locked behind an obscure console—a fate that Bloodborne fans are afraid awaits the PlayStation 4 exclusive.

It has recently been revealed that Bloodborne will at least live on as an animated film. But the future of FromSoftware’s older Lost Kingdoms games is far more bleak. Without a revival, the two games are doomed to become lost media.

Released

March 24, 2015

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence

Developer(s)

From Software

Publisher(s)

Sony

Engine

Havok