Microsoft have revealed that the first instalment in the Dark Souls franchise will be available for free with digital pre-orders of the upcoming Dark Souls 3. The post was spotted on the Australian Microsoft website by Reddit users, but has since been removed. The developer, Bandai Namco have not yet confirmed either backwards compatibility or the pre-order bonus.
Dark Souls 3 launches on all platforms on April 12. In an interview with GameSpot, series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki indicated he wants to conclude the saga with this upcoming third game.
The notoriously challenging RPG series still boasts a dedicated fanbase and healthy online community
Should the publisher go ahead with the pre-order bonus, it would be an offer not unlike the one made by Bethesda when a free digital copy of Fallout 3 was offered with copies of its successor, Fallout 4.
On February 7, Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption became available to download and play on Xbox One, suggesting it had been officially added to the backwards compatibility catalogue. However, Microsoft promptly removed the game, stating that it had been released mistakenly.
However, in December of last year, Microsoft stated that the next batch of backwards compatible titles would be announced “very soon” – it may very well be that Dark Souls and Red Dead Redemption are included on that list.
