Dark Souls special collector’s edition announced. Offered as pre-order bonus

A Dark Souls Collector’s Edition bundle has just been announced for Xbox 360 and PS3 for the highly anticipated upcoming sequel to Demon’s Souls by From Software.

The best news is that if you have already pre-ordered the game, then you will freely be able to upgrade to the special edition, and if you pre-order the game now, you will automatically get the special edition instead of the standard edition.

The special edition will include a limited edition art book containing premium illustrations of characters and environments from the game, a mini-strategy guidebook, behind-the-scenes videos from the development studio detailing various stages of game concept, design and building, and the game’s soundtrack for digital download. All of this will come packaged with the standard edition game in a custom-designed metal case.

The spiritual successor to the PlayStation 3 system exclusive Demon’s Souls, winner of GameSpot’s “Overall Game of the Year” and “Best PS3 Game”, and IGN’s “Best RPG for PS3” awards, Dark Souls also brings that game’s uniquely challenging and rewarding style of gameplay to the Xbox 360 for the first time.

Stricken by the curse of undead, gamers are abolished to the northern realms and must battle hideous demons and unimaginable monsters to collect souls and find the Eternal Flame of Life, which is losing its light, to survive and cure the curse of undead.

Here is the all-new Dark Souls trailer.

With tense dungeon crawling and fearsome enemy encounters, the seamlessly intertwined world of Dark Souls is full of extreme battles, rewarding challenges, nuanced weaponry and magic, and the flexibility to customize each character to suit any desired play style. The innovative online component allows gamers to draw from the collective experience of the Dark Souls community as they either help or sabotage each other on the journey through the Northern Realms to save the land from darkness. With a massive, seamless open world design, Dark Souls encourages deep exploration and an adaptable gameplay experience.

The game will be released this October 2011.

Key features of Dark Souls include:

Extremely Deep, Dark & Difficult – Unforgiving in its punishment, yet rewarding for the determined – learn to strategize freely and conquer seemingly impossible challenges.

Fully Seamless World – Explore a completely integrated world of dark fantasy where dungeons are seamlessly intertwined, with great height.

Mastery Earns Progression – Player success depends on their eventual mastery of how and when to use the magic spells, choice of armor, the number of weapons, the types of weapons, and the moves attached to the weapons.

Network Play – Players may cross paths with one another, interacting with each other throughout the game even as each player plays their own game.

Flexible Character Development & Role Play – As the player progresses, they must carefully choose which of their character’s abilities to enhance as this will determine their progression style.

Here are some additional screenshots.