BLACK SOULS Games in Order — Release Order & Play Order

Two games, one order. This page settles the play-order question and maps how the series connects.

Release order (which is also play order)

The Steam editions are the current, translated, achievement-supported versions of the series and the ones this site documents. Both are $13.99 on Steam — store details here.

Why order matters

BLACK SOULS II is a true sequel, not a themed successor. Without spoiling specifics, three kinds of thread cross the gap:

• Returning characters. Red Hood — heroine, boss and force of nature in the first game — reappears in Lutwidge Town, and the game logs the reunion with an achievement literally called “Old Friend.” Figures like Jeanne d’Arc and Elisabeth Bathory return transformed into the sequel’s collectible Folk Tales.
• Callback items. Mary Ann’s gift of Leaf’s Ring (“Never lose it, okay?”) is the series’ emotional baton pass — a first-game heroine’s memory placed in your sequel hands. It lands only if you knew Leaf.
• Escalating imagery. The first game plants Through the Looking-Glass beasts — Bandersnatch, Jabberwock — as anomalies in its Grimm world. The sequel opens the door they were peeking through. Playing in order lets you watch the series tilt from Grimm into Carroll in real time.

What each game asks of you

BLACK SOULS (15–25 hours first cycle, 14 endings): the fundamentals — turn-based Souls-structured RPG, heroine routes, New Game+ cycles. Start with the beginner guide.

BLACK SOULS II (20–30 hours first cycle, 8 endings): everything above plus the SEN sanity system, failable questlines and a collectible layer. Start with its beginner guide — after finishing the first game.

If you already played out of order

Playable, survivable, and fixable: the sequel’s callbacks are front-loaded lightly enough that you can pause, play the first game, and return. Players who did it backwards consistently report the same thing — the second game re-reads completely differently once you know whose ring you were carrying.