The Dark Souls series is famous for its exceptional difficulty, matched only by its spectacular graphics that feature giant, fearsome creatures. Releasing on April 12th in the U.S., Dark Souls III marks the conclusion of a trilogy that’s marked by a lot of pain and frustration, which is exactly what fans love about the series.

The road to promoting the finale has been epic to match the game’s scope. Here are some of the biggest highlights to come out from the past year.

Blood Runs Free At E3

Dark Souls III made its official debut at E3 2015 with a thundering cinematic trailer that teased some of the sprawling ruins and gigantic creatures players could look forward to (the giant that rises is the Lord of Cinder). Although the trailer was relatively short, it did manage to stir a tremendous amount of excitement, especially when fans learned from the press release that it would be the “final episode” of the series. As the conclusion of a trilogy, the game would no doubt be bigger and more difficult than ever imagined before. No wonder fans were so eager for its release.

Although trailers are great, nothing makes an impression quite like a fountain of blood. The Bandai Namco E3 booth featured a massive Dark Souls III statue, with blackened blood flowing up from an impaled creature.

Bandai Namco kept the buzz going a few months later at Gamescom, where a new trailer showcased some of the painfully difficult gameplay. Media was also given hands-on demonstrations of the game. Not only did this provide a deeper look into the world of Dark Souls III, but it instilled a sense of confidence among fans that the game was on track to release the following year.

Illuminating The Darkness

Dark Souls III hosted a number of contests to help promote the game for both new and returning players. One of the most prominent is the Story Trailer Contest, where the community was challenged to create a video detailing their interpretations of the rather abstruse plot from the first two games. The grand prize winner, received $10,000 while the runner-up got an impressive life-sized statue of the Red Knight that puts both the 15.75-inch statue in the $490 Prestige Edition (an Amazon exclusive) and 10-inch figure from the $136 Collector’s Edition to shame. Third place winners had to make do with the considerably smaller, but still impressive, Lord of Cinder statue that’s included in the Prestige Edition.

As Dark Souls III came closer to release, Bandai Namco hosted a new sweepstakes that even promoted its promotions. Contestants were asked to complete a list of tasks such as commenting on videos, including the winner from the Story Trailer Contest; leaving a Dark Souls-style message on the official Facebook page for newcomers to enjoy; submit pictures of themselves doing a “Praise the Sun” pose; submitting pictures of themselves drinking an Estus (a gold health potion); and finally—convincing a friend to play Dark Souls and providing photo evidence of the momentous event. The company chose 12 winners at random, and two of them received a Collector’s Edition while the other ten got Season Pass redemption codes.

Dark Souls Goes Mobile

Some would consider a Dark Souls mobile game a dream come true, so that’s exactly what Bandai Namco and GameStop provided fans. Slashy Souls, a 2D free-to-play 16-bit side-scrolling adventure game inspired by Dark Souls III, released on March 1st. In addition to the sheer joy of being repeatedly beaten down by powerful enemies and traps from your mobile device, players could share their in-game scores and win prizes. Not only did the mobile game provide an interactive way to promote Dark Souls III, it drove awareness for GameStop’s exclusive collectible bonfire keychain, given to those that pre-ordered the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbEVFnQh_XM&feature=youtu.be

A New Vision Of Horror

It’s very fitting that the director of horror movies like Hostel and Cabin Fever would turn out to be a Dark Souls fan. Eli Roth produced an animated short inspired by Dark Souls titled, The Witches, which released on YouTube on March 30th. It features an original story set in the world of Dark Souls, where a knight finds himself in a deadly situation when he comes across a trio of witches.

When Dark Souls Goes Retro

It turns out the Eli Roth trailer was just the start of fake Dark Souls movie franchise. On April 1st, Bandai Namco released a trailer for Dark Souls III – The Movie, coming soon on VHS. It was an amusing April Fools’ Day joke, complete with ’70s and ’80- era style and VHS-like skips, saturated color, and video noise. It was the perfect start to the month leading up the game’s release in the U.S. on April 12th.