Soulslike Player Messages

About

Souls Like Player Messages refer to the in-game mechanic from the SoulsBorneShadowRing game series by developer FromSoftware, consisting of phrases or words that are humorous in the context of their environment. Memes referencing these player-made messages have existed since the first game, Dark Souls, in 2011 and increased in virality as more players joined the series. In these messages, players are able to leave an in-game note for others to see in their game world, but the message has to be comprised of preselected words. This has led to immense creativity on behalf of the community, who try to use their limited vocabulary to accurately depict the best funny message for the situation.

Origin

Dark Souls 1 Precursor

In Dark Souls, one of the hardest bosses in the game, Ornstein and Smough, reveal the way to Princess Gwynevere, who towers above the player with her immense size. Because of this, the first Dark Souls player message to get viral attention was a simple one that stated "Amazing Chest Ahead," which, while originally intended for a treasure chest with a good item inside, was instead used to alert the player to Gwynevere's cleavage. A picture of the message was uploaded to the Neogaf^[1] Dark Souls forums on October 18th, 2011, by the user Ced (shown below).

Spread

Dark Souls 2 Player Messages

With every new iteration of the Souls series, the situations where a funny player message could be posted increased. It also became more incentivized since having your messages appraised positively would sometimes result in you gaining another charge of your Estus Flask (healing item), meaning funny messages could outright benefit your gameplay and make you stay alive longer. With Dark Souls 2's release, there were more female characters that would receive similar messages about them as Gwynevere did (shown below, left), while a new format type started to emerge, posting messages next to scenery that involves "but hole." This can be seen in the meme where a message next to a bent-over skeleton says to "Try Tongue But Hole" (shown below, right).

Dark Souls 3 Player Messages

The meme was then changed when Dark Souls 3 came out and the famous message Try Finger But Hole became a staple for anytime an NPC was bent over an object (shown below, left). Message culture also started to incorporate gags on the player in all the games, such as telling them there was a hidden path next to a solid wall in a dead-end or saying to jump off a cliff for a secret (shown below, right).

Elden Ring

With the release of Elden Ring on February 25th, 2022, more player messages began to pop up in a similar fashion to previous titles, with a return of "Try Finger But Hole" being one of the most prominent ones. In the tutorial area, when having to cross a bridge, players placed the evergreen message on the bridge just past the official developer ones, knowing that new rookies to the series will saunter up and get a glimpse of another player gesturing to the sky with one finger while loudly proclaiming what they should do (shown below).

Throughout the game, multiple player messages have been made to try and trick players into thinking that illusionary walls were at the end of corridors, when there aren't any, wasting a players time. Luckily, in Elden Ring, there is no weapon durability, as this same practice being done in previous games would sometimes result in the player having to rest at a bonfire early or risk their weapon breaking mid-fight, often resulting in a death. The practice became so common that on the r/EldenRing Subreddit memes were made showcasing how annoyed players were at smacking various walls due to the lies (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References