Shadow Tower: Abyss

Shadow Tower Abyss is played entirely from the first-person perspective, and requires the player to navigate through a series of catacombs, caverns and open-air walkways in an effort to ascend the tower. There are numerous regions within the citadel, including subterrean forests, hellish caverns, waterfalls and temple-like chambers. While exploring, the player encounters a variety of friendly and aggressive characters, and collects keys, armour and up to 500 different weapons. Furthermore, the game features the ability to wield two weapons, a detail that allows players to easily switch between a handgun and a dagger, for example. Unlike Shadow Tower, the sequel does not feature a multiplayer mode.

The game world is populated with a total of 68 monsters and non-player characters, who "seem to have regular schedules and activities--that take place independent of [one's] actions--such as burning a bonfire and talking amongst themselves". The majority are aggressive and attack the protagonist on sight, while others provide information and serve to further the plot. During battle, players can sever segments of a creature's body with knives and decapitate them with carefully placed shots from their firearm. Indeed, the wings of aerial combatants can be targeted with a sniper rifle, causing them to plummet to earth when struck.

The game is set within the citadel first featured in Shadow Tower, and sees the return of a number of familiar non-player characters. The protagonist, an explorer, is in search of an arcane spear thought to have given great powers to the long-dead ruler of the kingdom, and ushered in an age of unrivalled prosperity. What remains of the kingdom today is largely covered over by the forest, save for the tower itself. Once inside the citadel, the protagonist encounters a mysterious Old Man, who traps him within and forces him to climb to the very top of the structure to escape.

Three years after the release of its predecessor, From Software announced Shadow Tower Abyss in 2001 and unveiled the game's website on 13 December 2002. A demonstration version, presented at the Tokyo Game Show between 26 and 28 September 2003, suggested that development was almost finished. Shadow Tower Abyss was the only role-playing game in From Software's stall, and the company's other ventures at the time included Otogi: Myth of Demons, Kuon, Armored Core: Nexus and Echo Night: Beyond.

While the Japanese release of Shadow Tower Abyss continued as planned, the English version was cancelled during the localisation stage. Mark Johnson, Agetec's producer, announced the cancellation on the SCEA website and stated that "for the most part the localization was completed, aside from package and manual". According to Johnson, the publisher had expressed concerns over its projected sales outside of its home market. Although Shadow Tower Abyss was ranked 14th overall and had been released mid-week, only 12,908 units were sold in Japan in the period from 20 to 26 October 2003.

In 2009, From Software revisited the dark fantasy role-playing genre with the critically acclaimed Demon's Souls on the PlayStation 3 (PS3). As with Shadow Tower Abyss, Demon's Souls centres on the collection of the souls of the dead as a means of developing the statistics and equipment of one's character. Also like Abyss, Sony once again declined to publish Demon's Souls overseas, and instead publishing rights for the American release were obtained by Atlus. While IGN reported that the game had sold out in Japan, with 39,689 units shipped during its first week, the game also fared well in the United States with 150,000 units sold by October 2009 and 250,000 by mid-March 2010.

Given its overseas performance, Yeonkyung Kim, a Sony employee responsible for localisation, remarked that the company's decision not to publish world-wide was "a mistake", and Demon's Souls should have "come out as a first-party title". As the spiritual successor to Shadow Tower Abyss and the King's Field series, the game received multiple accolades, obtaining a Metacritic score of 89.