Dark Souls III — an action role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The fourth entry in the Souls series, Dark Souls III was released in Japan in March 2016, and worldwide in April 2016.

Set in the Kingdom of Lothric, a bell has rung to signal that the First Flame, responsible for prolonging the Age of Fire, is dying out. As has happened many times before, the coming of the Age of Dark produces the undead, cursed beings that rise up after death. The Age of Fire can be prolonged with the linking of the fires, a ritual in which great lords and heroes sacrifice their souls to kindle the First Flame. However, Prince Lothric has abandoned his duty and instead chooses to watch the flame die from afar.

The bell is the last hope for the Age of Fire, raising previous Lords of Cinder, heroes who have linked the flame across aeons to attempt to link the fire again. However, all but one Lord abandon their thrones rather than linking the fire again.

The Ashen One, an Undead who failed to become a Lord of Cinder called an Unkindled, rises and must return three other previous Lords of Cinder, as well as Prince Lothric, back to their thrones in the Firelink Shrine in order to link the flame. The Lords include the Abyss Watchers, a group of warriors sworn to protect the land from the abyss and linked by a single soul; Yhorm the Giant, who was once a conqueror of the very people for whom he then sacrificed his life, and Saint Aldrich of the Deep, who was forced to become a Lord of Cinder despite an enjoyment of consuming both men and gods.