[CONCEPT] for a souls-like

 Groaaaannnn yeah get it all out of your system. Yes, this is a concept for a souls-like. Yes, i am aware that the only good souls-likes are the souls series and maybe Nioh depending on today's horoscope (sorry the Surge). Fortunately for you, i am not interested in souls-like combat. Actually, this entire concept is called a souls-like because i was inspired from Dark Souls, the first one specifically and its level design specifically. The combat could itself could be literally anything. I'm going to default to souls-like combat for now though because i haven't really thought about it.

So to get to it, i was watching ymfah's video "Beginner's guide to dark souls" and while watching the performance of a certain glitch which has the player negate all fall damage for as long as a spell is active and after the spell is over, the fall damage catches up to them and they die immediately. 

The concept is simple: the map is a giant sinkhole, with the player starting from the top and their goal being a gauntlet leading to a final boss at the bottom, with the map having different levels all at different points of the drop. The player is able to follow a linear path which slowly descends through all levels throughout the entirety of the sinkhole or they can just choose to leap off the brink of the chasm and plunge into the depths below, making it possible to try to tackle the final gauntlet from the beginning of the game.

Thus far this kinda just sounds like a weird LoZ: Breath of the Wild. What really ties this whole thing together is a spell given to the player character at the beginning of the game, which lets them delay fall damage to the end of the spell, lasting 5 minutes. They cast the spell, dive in and five minutes later they die. Dying in this game only makes the player return to the surface, nothing more. The five minutes of the spell are not enough for the player to finish the final gauntlet and fight the final boss, but it is enough to drop somewhere, loot something and promptly die. This is the central gameplay loop: the main path is actually, truly, the gauntlet which the player has to brave through, with it being too tough for any newbie to tackle at the beginning. The player collects gear and currency to strengthen their character through their little expeditions, which in turn gives them the power to carve through the linear path, whose slain bosses reward the player with an extension of their timer on their spell and with certain shortcuts in the level, letting the player explore deeper and deeper. When the time has come and the player feels that they are ready, they go through the entire linear path so they can challenge the final gauntlet and boss with no time limits.

Honestly, this concept doesn't HAVE to be a souls-like game, but i feel like it would really fit the genre. It's an attempt at bringing back DS1's magical level design, with a new twist. And yes. It could technically be called a rogue-like.