2. Demon’s Souls (Remake)

Before singlehandedly spurring countless discussions about video game difficulty, FromSoftware had produced decidedly easier titles such as Ninja Blade and Metal Wolf Chaos. Demon’s Souls was really the developer’s first foray into a new genre, and, as noted above, that inexperience was on full display. So, while the original Demon’s Souls suffered from unbalanced mechanics that mitigated its difficulty, the game’s remake fixed some of those issues and made the experience significantly harder in the process.

Actually, it can be jarring for anyone who started their Soulsborne journey with Dark Souls to play through the Demon’s Souls remake and realize how many of that game’s core mechanics raise the overall difficulty level. For instance, in Dark Souls, players can find plenty of checkpoints in each area. They are sparse and spread out, but at least they exist. In Demon’s Souls, though, checkpoints only unlock after each boss. If a player dies, it’s back to the beginning.

Demon’s Souls approach to death can also be incredibly frustrating. Normally, when a player falls in battle in a Soulsborne game, they lose all their hard-earned souls. In Demon’s Souls, though, death robs players of so much more. Whenever a player is slain, their character resurrects with half their max health, and the only reliable ways to retrieve the missing half are to use a rare item or beat a boss. Trying to kill a tough monster that already destroyed you once before but with a handicap is as unfair and difficult as it sounds.

On top of all of that, the Demon’s Souls‘ patched or tweaked just enough old Demon’s Souls exploits (most notably the old inventory system) to ensure that you couldn’t always rely on your old tricks. This game is just so unforgiving in nearly every way.

1. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Most Soulsborne games are essentially RPGs that let players grind enemies to level up their stats, hoard all the weapons and armor they desire, and even call NPC and human allies for help. As challenging as those games are, they offer ways to help you navigate their difficulty curves. By comparison, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice feels like the FromSoftware game that really does just want you to “git gud.”

In Sekiro, players can only rely on themselves, their sword, and whatever random tools they find lying around. If players encounter a boss or other enemy they can’t beat, all they can do is just keep trying again until they memorize its attack patterns. You can’t summon NPCs or other players to help, and you can’t endlessly grind to unlock a powerful new piece of equipment or the stats needed to give you any kind of notable advantage.

Danofgeek