Modders find hidden files for Blooodborne and Demon’s Souls levels in Dark Souls: Remastered leading some speculation for a possible sequel or remastered edition of either.
A modder has taken a prototype map of Bloodborne’s Upper Cathedral Ward from hidden data files in Dark Souls Remastered and opened it in Grand Theft Auto 5. This allows one to drive a car in it and explore the map as Trevor.
Modder Dropoff, revealed that he found the map by scouring through Dark Souls Remastered’s files looking for any level files “m99” as these files are often associated with Souls test files. The files containing Bloodborne’s Upper Cathedral Ward was entitled, “m99_99_98_00”.
It is noteworthy that the architecture of the prototype map is not identical to the actual released level in Bloodborne. The iconic bridge and gate are the same, but the area outside the building is missing. The textures are also slightly off and less detailed.
Another modder, Lance McDonald, also uncovered part of the Boleteria level from Demon’s Souls in the files. He did not open them in Grand Theft Auto, unfortunately.
This brings up the interesting question of how exactly Trevor and a car fit into the picture. Dropoff explains that he took the level file in question and imported it into “3D Software” in which he was capable of repacking it and opening it in Grand Theft Auto 5. There was no direct explanation for why exactly he chose GTA 5.
The fact that the prototype maps the Upper Cathedral Ward has existed since before 2011 is fascinating, and also raises some questions, specifically with the discovery of the prototype of the Boletaria from Demon’s Souls. Could a possible remaster of either of these games be in the works?
Demon’s Souls is the predecessor of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, and while it was immensely popular with hardcore gamers for it’s intense difficulty and lore, it received no DLC or direct follow-up sequel since it’s release in 2009. In fact, the last Demon’s Souls servers have recently shut down for good. However, there has been news of it receiving a new rating from the ESRB.
Bloodborne is the latest game made by Demon’s Souls developer From Software and was released to critical and commercial success in 2015. Bloodborne received DLC in the form of The Old Hunters, which was released in November of 2015.
While it may be a bit too early for a remaster of Bloodborne, fans have been clamoring for a sequel for years. Plus, From Software does have a tendency to revisit locations in sequels to their games as Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3 feature similar locales.
Dark Souls Remastered is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
