The gameplay formula that is reprised and refined inFromSoftwaregames is highly unique and influential. Of course, its popularity has spawned rampant, inspired clonesadapting the genre ofSouls-likes, with each iterating upon an already successful and nuanced set of features and systems. Many would argue that the actual combat in FromSoftware games pales in comparison to its world-building, level design, and enemy and boss designs. But posture, stamina, and poise all coexist as an underlying system that remains a staple underpinning all FromSoftware games.
Stamina is the most common of the three beneath a wide umbrella cast across FromSoftware games. Posture and poise are more modern iterations of stamina, and have been expanded to meet the contemporary expectations of a new IP. Players loveDemon’s Souls,Dark Souls, andBloodbornevariably, and each game is different in many ways. But whether a FromSoftware game centers on stamina, posture, or poise, it isone of the most important features in the player’s UIto micromanage. If posture was expanded in any way, it would need to still adhere to its respective game’s identity.
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Sekiro’s Posture is Nearly Perfect for its Combat
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicedoes a lot to break away fromFromSoftware’sSouls-like moldand create emergent gameplay. Originally a successor to theTenchuIP,Sekirowas always intended to be different in terms of its narrative and which mythologies would be featured.
But its changes to basic combat systems were the most significant, such as its newly revamped posture system.Posture isSekiro’s definitive gameplay feature, supplanting stamina completely and only regarding the precision and mastery of thoughtful katana strikes and deflections. Because there is no stamina bar, players can sprint, jump, grapple, or attack endlessly, which creates phenomenal momentum throughout the game.
Instead, the player and their opponent enemies are given posture bars, similar to the recentSifu’s own Structure bar, that are affected when deflecting or parrying incoming attacks. The posture bar rises and lowers based on these actions, which tempers aggression while also rewarding it since players can deplete the enemy’s posture bar faster by standing toe-to-toe with them and masterfully parrying consecutive attacks.
Mini-bosses and bosses all have representative lives as Deathblow icons near their health bar to illustrate how many times the player will need to perform a deathblow on them in order to kill them. Killing a boss can be achieved if players either deplete their health bar, as is the traditional method, or by first maxing out their posture bar and leaving them vulnerable to a critical blow. This makes for satisfying combat that is unique from other FromSoftware games, but it is unlikely that FromSoftware would return to such a stark system in its traditionalSouls-like titles.
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Posture in FromSoftware Games Has Become More Lenient
EarlyDark Soulsinstallmentsare a clear demonstration of how ruinous stamina can be, and how a hit-and-run mentality is embraced due to only being able to land a singular hit on most enemies or bosses before the player needs to evade an attack. Having the stamina bar depleted in the middle of a mob ambush or during a boss fight is devastating and often leads to a stance- or guard-break, where the player-character will lose balance and be left open to attacks. This affects PvP as well as ordinary PvE.
If players aretrying outDark Soulsgames after having playedElden Ring, for instance, this degradation of stamina systems will be made even more alarming. Poise, as it is called inElden Ring,is not a perfect system.
But it presents many options within gameplay that may have hidden values players are unaware of, and players have likely been taking advantage of posture and poise damage while they were unbeknownst to it being referred to as that. Gigantic, ancient Golems typically have glowing weak points on their hands and feet that cause them to stagger if players strike them enough times or with enough damage.
Further, certainAshes of War inElden Ringsuch as Flame of the Redmanes deal poise damage and make it easier for enemies to stagger, opening them up to critical ripostes. Stamina is also not depleted when players are outside combat and freely roamingElden Ring’s Lands Between.
If stamina management is considered,Elden Ringhas found a way to still make encounters treacherous if players make a wrong move, but there are more options than there were before for players to also use the enemy’s posture or poise against them. Options are all players want inaction-RPGs such asElden Ring, and it truly opens up the possibility for players to explore different builds and not feel hobbled by a severe lack of stamina.
How FromSoftware Could Expand Upon its Posture System
IfFromSoftwarewas to expand upon its already nuanced posture systems, it could perhaps attempt a blend of posture, poise, and stamina systems fromSekiroandElden Ring. This way, players would be responsible for managing stamina at the same time as posture, and one could affect the other to determine a balance in combat.
Regardless of how posture is expanded in a new title, it must feel unique to that game’s identity. It could be argued thatfuture FromSoftware games should implement the posture bar system fromSekiro, but stamina is likely always going to be a part of FromSoftware’sSouls-like formula, and so if it follows itsSouls-like genre it will almost assuredly feature stamina, no matter how refined it is.
Dark Souls,Bloodborne, andElden Ringwould admittedly not feel like the same games without a fundamental stamina bar or posture bar to keep players’ actions and decisions in combat in check. Stamina is a constant reminder that players are far inferior to the enemies they face, at least early on, and dictates precisely what players will do from moment-to-moment in combat.
Drinking an Estus flask to replenish health rather than evading or attacking is also an example of an action that players must integrate into their split-second decision-making, and all of these systems come together to create a combat system that is at times infuriating and at times gratifying. It may depend entirely onwhat kind of game FromSoftware makes next; indeed, nobody might have anticipatedSekiroand the gameplay changes it made, so it is just as plausible thatFromSoftwarecomes up with another emergent system for a new IP in the future.
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