Crested Gate

A concept piece for the Darkroot Garden-area in Dark Souls, ‘Crested Gate’ tells us much about the game design practices of FromSoftware. Although there is no gate of this shape or name in Dark Souls, the artwork sets the mood: overgrown Gothic ruins and rock formations, combined into something of a crossroads with several paths for players to explore. After a short conceptual phase, the rest of the artwork would for the most part be done ‘in-engine’, meaning designers would directly tinker with game assets without using elaborate conceptual sketches beforehand.

‘Crested Gate’ is an official concept artwork for Dark Souls, the first video game in the Dark Souls series, made by Japanese studio FromSoftware. This limited edition Certified Art Giclee™ print is part of the official Dark Souls fine art collection by Cook & Becker, FromSoftware, and Bandai Namco. The print is hand-numbered and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.