In this article, Gurugamer is going to showcase a list of the toughest bosses in the Soulsborne series, which includes games known for their challenging difficulty and gameplay. FromSoftware, the studio behind these games, has gained a reputation for creating punishing titles that test players to their limits. Fans have dubbed this brand of difficulty "Soulsborne," encompassing not just the Souls series and Bloodborne but also newer titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring.

1. Malenia, Blade of Miquella

Malenia, Blade of Miquella, is widely considered to be the toughest boss in the entire Soulsborne series. Before the fight begins, she boasts that she has never been defeated. While this might seem like an arrogant statement to experienced Soulsborne players, it serves as a warning of just how formidable she is. Malenia is incredibly fast, precise, and aggressive, and she has the ability to steal life with every hit she lands on the player. This means that even a single mistake can fully heal her.

Malenia's second phase is even more challenging than the first, as she introduces new attacks that strike fear into the hearts of players. These include a scarlet rot effect, copies of herself, and a massive AOE that takes a long time to dissipate. No matter how players try to evade or prepare for the fight, Malenia always manages to send them to their doom. With every mistake players make, Malenia reveals just how terrifyingly strong she is.

2. Orphan of Kos

The Orphan of Kos is widely considered one of the most challenging bosses in both Bloodborne and the entire Soulsborne series. Known for being extremely aggressive, the Orphan charges at players as soon as they approach and unleashes a relentless assault with attacks that deal massive amounts of damage.

During the boss's second phase, it becomes even more unpredictable, as it jumps around the arena and uses lightning attacks in combination with quick, powerful strikes that get up close and personal. In a game that typically rewards players for being aggressive, the Orphan of Kos stands out as the ultimate example of this style. The only way to defeat this boss is to be equally aggressive while also paying close attention to its moves and attacks.

3. Isshin the Sword Saint

Isshin, the Sword Saint, is the final boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and is considered one of the most challenging bosses in the Soulsborne series due to his aggressive and precise attacks, lightning-fast speed, long combos, and large AOE's. The fight against Isshin is a true test of a player's skill and pushes them to their limits, with three incredibly long phases.

While the first phase is relatively easy, the next two become significantly harder as Isshin becomes faster, more unpredictable, and gains a second weapon that can deliver devastating AOE attacks. In the final phase, he also adds a lightning buff to all of his attacks, making them even more deadly. The entire fight is by far the longest in the game, and players must be close to flawless in their approach to have a chance of defeating this formidable sword saint.

4. Darkeater Midir

Darkeater Midir is considered one of the most challenging dragon bosses in the Soulsborne series, thanks to its impressive health bar and powerful AOE attacks, which range from fire blasts to dragon slashes. Midir's strength is unmatched and can send players back to the bonfire in just a few hits, regardless of their build.

Midir's encounter is designed to punish players who think they can simply tank every attack or defeat the boss by keeping their distance. Although Midir's strength and attack pattern are balanced and not excessively difficult or unfair, the fight remains incredibly challenging and is one of the bosses that is easier said than done. Despite this, some players may find hope in the fact that the fight is balanced and achievable with the right approach.

5. Sister Friede & Father Ariandel

Sister Friede and Father Ariandel, the final bosses in the Ashes of Ariandel DLC in Dark Souls 3, offer one of the toughest challenges in the Soulsborne series. This boss fight is unique in that it combines various difficult aspects of the Souls series. Sister Friede moves quickly around the map and can deliver a series of fast combos that cause a frostbite effect on players. Father Ariandel joins in the encounter at the start of the second phase, and his aggressive fire attacks have a large AOE that can pose a threat to players.

After defeating Ariandel, Friede enters her third phase, during which she adds a blackflame buff to her weapon and becomes even faster and more aggressive. Throughout the entire encounter, she periodically heals herself, which could cause players to panic if they are running low on flasks.

6. Demon of Hatred

The Demon of Hatred is known to be a boss that many players struggle with due to its highly aggressive nature and the numerous AOE attacks that it employs, which are incredibly challenging to avoid. Unlike other bosses in Sekiro that require precise timing and counters, the Demon of Hatred demands a different approach, forcing players to be aggressive and carefully observe its patterns to succeed.

Essentially, the encounter is reminiscent of a Bloodborne-style boss fight, but with the added challenge of having to adapt to a different gameplay style to emerge victorious.

7. Nameless King & King of the Storm

Considered by many as one of the most spectacular fights in the Soulsborne series, the boss battle takes place in a vast cloudy arena where the boss enters on a giant undead wyvern. Dealing with the King of the Storm alone is already difficult as it flies around and spews fire at players, while the Nameless King adds to the challenge with his lightning attacks, which he coordinates with the wyvern.

After players defeat the wyvern, the Nameless King becomes an entirely different challenge. He moves gracefully around the arena, unleashing long-range lightning strikes with a wide area of effect. The entire fight is incredibly tense, and players must be precise with their timing for both dodging and attacking as even one misstep can determine the outcome of the battle.

8. The Owl Father

The Owl Father is a boss in Sekiro that requires a special quest to be completed in order to face him. He is known for his relentless attacks and combos that can quickly take out players if they aren't careful. What sets him apart from other bosses in Sekiro is his ability to summon an owl that joins the fight in the second phase. This owl can fly around the arena and unleash powerful AOE explosions, as well as briefly become invisible, adding to the difficulty of the fight.

Overall, the Owl Father encounter is one that requires a great deal of patience and careful maneuvering in order to succeed.

9. Fume Knight

The dual-wielding knight is considered one of the toughest bosses in the Soulsborne series, mainly because of its fast movements and high-damage attacks. What sets it apart from other bosses is its ability to heal during the fight, which players can prevent by collecting Smelter Wedges. The importance of this task cannot be overstated, as the boss healing itself can easily result in defeat after multiple attempts.

Notably, a difficulty statistic released sometime after Dark Souls 2's release showed that the Fume Knight had a 93% failure rate across all platforms, further cementing its status as one of the hardest bosses in the entire series.

10. Ludwig, the Accursed

Ludwig, the Accursed, is a boss that is known for its aggressiveness and requires players to be on their toes constantly to avoid his wide sweeping attacks, high jumps, and dangerous charges that have the potential to knock players out in a single hit. His unyielding nature and relentless attacks don't give players any time to catch their breath and regroup.

When he enters his second phase, he wields a massive great sword that has a large area of effect attack capable of instantly taking down players who are attempting to keep their distance. His reputation as one of the toughest bosses is well-deserved as he forces players to match his level of aggression if they hope to have any chance of defeating him.

>>> Read more: List Of All Souls Games On PC And Console, Ranked

FromSoftware has created a brand new genre by itself, with the success of Dark Souls. Since then, many companies have tried to emulate the formula, to various degrees of success. However, nothing can beat the Souls sequels and spinoff created by FromSoft themselves.

In this article, Gurugamer is going to showcase a list of all Souls Games on PC and Console, Ranked.

1. Elden Ring

Elden Ring is basically Dark Souls 4, or Dark Souls but now you can sneak, jump, and ride a steed around the open world areas. You start by creating a character and choosing a class to determine your starting gear and stats (e.g. Astrologer to be a spellcasting sorcerer, or Samurai to be a katana-weilding DEX melee build). You progress through the game by traveling around the map and finding items/gear to upgrade your equipment setup and defeating enemies to gain 'runes" that you can spend to level up or buy items from shops.

'Sites of grace' are the bonfire equivalents in Elden Ring, and most of the time they visually display a path of light that indicate the direction you need to go to progress the main story through the locations of major bosses. There are plenty of these grace sites littered everywhere in the open world and within dungeons so it is easy to fast travel to where you want to go immediately.

Elden Ring is an open-world game and there are various mini-dungeons/secrets hidden away in every corner of the map. It is to your advantage to seek out these locations to find rare materials and unique weaponry that may or may not change your play style altogether. The open world feels like there is always something waiting for you to discover, such as powerful enemies that drop unique weapon arts (ashes of war) or an NPC standing around waiting to offer you a quest. With the introduction of a day/night cycle, there are even some bosses that only spawn at nighttime in specific locations waiting to ambush you but offer unique drops as well.

Elden Ring, while imperfect, is the best implementation of an open-world action RPG that I've ever played. It feels like the culmination of every iteration of FromSoft's 'Souls' games into one truly amazing experience filled with intrigue, struggle, and eventual triumph.

2. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

In Sekiro, you play a shinobi, a ninja, whose young master was kidnapped. The young master has a special heritage, that's why he matters so much to your enemy. To rescue him, you have to sneak and fight your way through historical Japan. Across your journey, you visit very different parts of the country. On the whole, the game is a mix of stealth and combat. That doesn't sound all that interesting at first, and yet Sekiro has, hands down, the best game design I have ever seen in a video game.

In many locations, it is up to the player whether to simply sneak past an enemy, sneak past an enemy, and then attack the enemy from behind, or seek direct combat. If you choose to play dirty and attack your enemies from behind, it not only gives you an advantage in combat, but it also fits nicely with the shinobi theme. If you choose direct combat, which is sometimes inevitable, the game thrives on the fact that you have to break through your opponents' cover in order to hit them with a death blow. This in turn leads to some really nice "finish" animations.

Defeating opponents is often a painful learning process because you have to learn how they move and when it is best to parry. Yet you are more engaged than frustrated in the process. If you die, there is the option to be revived. However, you lose half of your money and half of your experience points.

The level design is awesome because you can move horizontally and vertically, i.e. you can swing from rock to rock or climb trees with the help of your grabbling hook.

3. Dark Souls III

Personally, Dark Souls 3 has the best story and second best level design in the series after the original one. The game really doubles down on weapon and armor variety that leaves you satisfied. Anyone can find a playstyle that suits them better. The compact level design pushes players into various events in each area that needs you to carefully dissect otherwise seemingly impossible challenges.

The gameplay revolves around more dodging and favors an offensive playstyle as enemies are much more aggressive and fast compared to previous titles. The base game is well-crafted and executed but I can't say the same for the DLCs. DLCs feel like they don't want you to engage in combat and just run through everything. The game encourages you to react strategically and use your brain but DLC pushes you so much that after dying in some areas, you don't want to kill those 40 enemies that take 15 mins to go through again. They clearly went overboard here. It was fun for me to kill them all in the first run and then I sprinted past them. So be wary about this.

But the good part about the DLC is that the bosses are particularly well done and does the game favor greatly. Extremely hard bosses that require strict management and knowledge of the game's mechanics that make you fully use everything to get past. Almost every major encounter in the DLCs is memorable, so in the end, the downsides are forgivable.

Possibly the best PVP mechanics of the series here. Multiple factions attacking and defending each other, it's total chaos that always ends up as an exhilarating experience through and through. Absolutely brilliant soundtrack as icing on the cake. Definitely recommended and a must-play of the souls genre.

4. Bloodborne

The aesthetic is what mainly defines Bloodborne as its own separate thing within the Souls series. You don't get to see such beautiful, detailed and immersive victorian-fantasy worlds like Yharnam every day. Add From Software's expertly crafted passive storytelling and a bit of Lovecraftian inspiration, and you have yourself a game universe that is just a delight to get soaked in. It is impressive how Bloodborne, being a single game, has a lore that is just as compelling as the entire Dark Souls series as a whole.

In the gameplay department, Bloodborne is a faster-paced version of Dark Souls, with less emphasis on defending and more on being aggressive. Parrying was made easier than ever thanks to the inclusion of guns, and this is one of the things I love the most about Bloodborne. It's going to be hard to go back to the other Souls games and not be able to parry anything. However, this doesn't make the game any easier. Bloodborne is just as difficult as any other Souls game. Another great thing about combat is being able to regain health if you hit an enemy immediately after taking damage, which creates this very clever risk-reward dynamic at all times.

The amount of art and creativity that went into every aspect of Bloodborne's design is both admirable and delightful. Bloodborne won't win any awards on the technical aspect, but the levels still look fantastic, they have a lot of detail everywhere. I was initially worried that all of the game's areas would look too similar given the victorian setting, but fortunately, this isn't a problem. The soundtrack is also good, probably my favorite in the Souls series, along with Dark Souls 3.

5. Dark Souls

Dark Souls is easily one of the best ARPGs ever created in the last 20 years. A beautiful, varied and interconnected world, a good sense of risk and reward, well-designed levels, and boss fights. It feels very long and you will probably want to take a break for a while, but at the same time you'll want more and you'll just want to go ahead and try to kill the bad guy that made you rage over and over again. Some argue that the second half of the game suffers from a lack of time and a kind of rushed feeling to areas like Lost Izalith and The Tomb of the Giants.

For a true Dark Souls experience, you are gonna want to pick a build early. The starting classes help, giving you more points in a certain category, like Strength, Dexterity, or Vitality depending on your starting class. You will want to use levels from souls to help form your build.

The real part of Dark Souls is the Bosses. They are what the game is known for, and the game would be wildly different without them. Without spoiling too much, some of the bosses in this game have become my all-time favorites. 3 of the 4 DLC bosses and the boss at the end of Anor Londo are the true contenders.

6. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

Compared to Dark Souls 1, this game is much more consistent in its quality, with lower highs but higher lows. There's nothing in DS2 that's awful on the level of Lost Izalith, but there's also nothing nearly as good as the Painted World outside of the DLC. However, with the DLC included for free in the SotFS edition, the game is elevated to much greater heights. Sinh, Fume Knight, and Ivory King are among the best bosses in all of Dark Souls, better than almost every fight from DS1 and a good chunk of the DS3 boss pool as well. They also contextualize the story of the game in a way that makes the game far more personal -- it's much easier to be invested in the world of DS2 compared to DS1 and 3 where the stories feel like a backdrop rather than motivation.

Combat is Dark Souls combat, I don't feel I need to explain much more than that. It lends itself more to larger groups of enemies, and magic is greatly improved, but it's still Dark Souls, and it's just as good as any other Dark Souls game -- faster than DS1 as your attack options are better, but slower than DS3 because multiple enemy encounters require patience and picking a good time to attack -- the Dual Pursuers in NG+ play more like Ornstein and Smough than as a generic combat encounter. PvP is also great, but my experience is too limited to comment on it in depth here.

The game is, unfortunately, ugly -- much less creative enemy designs than DS1 and 3, with most of the new enemies being fairly standard humanoid enemies or bland looking 'fantasy monster' -- Ogres, those weird mushroom things, and the long-armed green enemies in No Man's Wharf are all forgettable enemy designs, a far cry from the unique appearance of the basilisks, the unnatural bodies of the mimics, and the horrifying bug/human hybrids in the depths of Blighttown. Boss design suffers from a similar lack of quality -- there are no fights as visually striking as Sif, Gaping Dragon, or Gravelord Nito. The most creative boss design is the Executioner's Chariot, an optional boss that culminates in a fight against a pretty generic horse enemy with dodgy hitboxes.

7. Demon's Souls

Demon's Souls is the prototype for Dark Souls, with the familiar Souls combat (light/heavy attack, block, dodge...etc). Similar to Dark Souls, every action has a heavy, realistic feel to it, so your sword swings and shield blocks will have lifelike responses. These groundbreaking controls are complemented by beautiful visuals, stunning level design and extremely creative boss battles. For instance, one of the early levels will have you running through a castle timing your runs with the intervals of a dragon swooping down and breathing fire over your path. Scenes like this are so grandiose and epic in scale and really immerse you in the fantasy genre.

The most crippling flaw of Demon's Soul is a lack of a compelling story. This game is truly gameplay oriented, meaning you will be going from level to level without really feeling like you've accomplished much for any characters or made a significant progression throughout a long winding engaging story, unlike games like Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls. But Demon's Soul is a game you definitely need to experience to fall in love with. It is a game of absolutely monumental scale and you really deserve to see it for yourself.

The boss battles are also not that hard - they are very "primitive" and much easier than Dark Souls and if you have played DS1, you should have no problem speedrunning this one.

>>> Read more: Top 5 Best Resident Evil Games To Play In 2022

The development process of video games witnessed many stages. First was the classical arcades in the 80-90s, which demanded a constant stream of playing from one round to another. Following those was the first generation of consoles. You could find all the games running on these platforms surprisingly hard, due to the limitations in technology, as well as the cunning minds of the developers.

As we advanced to the 21^st century, video games became much easier, user-friendlier than in the past, thanks to the comprehensive tutorials tailored in the game and the variety of difficulties. Yet there are still many titles with astonishingly high difficulty, which require a great will from players to complete. Check out these 15 modern games that will be a real challenge to you.

15. The Witness

Among the puzzle-solving games in a few years back, the Witness is probably the most brilliant one you can experience. The game puts you in a likely empty island, and with only one line, you have to move from one point to another in order to solve the game’s various logical puzzles. You will find the enormous number of puzzles and the requirements for each one most difficult. You should also learn the “rules” and apply them to the following puzzles to move on and reveal the world’s secrets. As you advance in the game, you can realize that you have to rely on the previous puzzles to solve the latter ones. This game will push your brain and your eyes to the very top of their capabilities. Each puzzle you meet in the game will grant you a whole new experience.

14. Monster Hunter: World

First released last year, Monster Hunter: World rapidly became Capcom’s most favorite product of all time. It was the game’s user-friendliness that made it more popular than its predecessors. Yet any newbies to the game would easily realize how hard the game could be. You must arm yourself with a considerable knowledge to combat in-game monsters: each one possesses its own attack behaviors. It is advisable that you master those patterns whilst being patient for the righteous moment to perform your attack. Understanding all 14 weapons of the game is also a hard task, since each of which has its own pros and cons that affect the way you combat. Monster Hunter: World requires you to encounter 48 monsters in total and defeat them all — it will take you many hours not just to win those monsters, but to practice thoroughly before each fight as well.

13. XCOM 2

XCOM 2, as well as its brother XCOM: Enemy Unknown, puts you into the commander seat of a military strike team. Your task is to get rid of all of the dangerous alien creatures together. The two titles above are popularly difficult for their AI systems, which are astonishingly intelligent (just like aliens). If you want to win the game, you should minimize all of your mistakes (I mean it). And remember, if your friendly dies, he’s screwed, the game doesn’t allow to respawn. You will find XCOM 2 a real challenge in case you’re a gamer of perfection. During primary battles, you will encounter a lot of future stuff, from weapons, to techs and abilities. Yet losing a teammate in XCOM can be really awful, which often results in restarting the entire battle. In fact, this ain’t wrong, yet the game will automatically increase the difficulty if it finds you complete your battles flawlessly, with zero mistake and RNG.

12. VVVVVV

VVVVVV puts you in the eyes of Captain Viridian, who has just lost all of his crewmen. You will have to get over a series of levels, including a lot of spikes and perilous obstacles, so as to grasp the entire crew. The interesting part of this game is that you don’t perform ordinary moves in navigating the level (jumping, etc.), but adjust the gravity accurately instead between the ceiling and the floor. This results in some mind-hacking scenarios that require your ability to reflex as quickly as possible. Apart from the rescue mission, there are optional trophies for you to collect, yet each of them can pose a considerable challenge to you.

11. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Your opponents in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus may always know where you are, just like eagle eyes. To make you busier, the game will give you a little instruction on enemies’ lines of fire. If you pick harder difficulties, it will be really demanding for you when your average damage and health are decreased. At the lowest difficulty, the game is still able to take a lot of your effort to complete. You can try the “Mein Leben” difficulty, in which you get only 1 life to complete the entire campaign – only 0.1% players can complete this. Can you?

10. Spelunky

You might have heard this title before, Spelunky is an exploring game which has surprising difficulties. Your objective is to collect all of the valuable loot while evading numerous obstacles, traps and enemies in a series of caverns generated procedurally. It is your greed that is tested the most when you play Spelunky. You may find a treasure chest out of reach while reaching a level’s ending. In case you can’t make it, you have to start over from the beginning. (frustrated, eh?) The game’s timer will surely put high pressure on you, as well as ensure you to constantly move forward. When the timer reaches 0, a ghost will spawn and chase you all around the map, which can end you instantly if touched. You may entertain a brutal, ruthless environment and enemies in Spelunky, but you will gain experience slowly (hopefully) after each run.

9. Celeste

Celeste is the story of a young female Madeline, who goes up a mountain whilst coping with her mental problems on the way. Celeste focuses on solving puzzles in order to progress the game. Precision is the most demanding thing in those puzzles, and your accuracy is increasingly tested as you get close to the game’s ending. The game will test your skill restlessly, yet you sure will improve it once you finish each puzzle. The entire game can make you feel like a stable incline, which is barely enough to push you out of your safe zone to move forward. As you complete the main task, you can finish some optional objectives by collecting the strawberries around the levels. But don’t think they’re easy, they often require your ability to think creatively to achieve.

8. Dead Cells

You may find Dead Cells similar to other procedural-based roguelike titles, yet you’ll gradually realize how it’s different once you play it. The continuous game flow consists of discovering a lot of connected corridors, acquiring in-game items and combating enemies in your path. As you progress the game, you can find numerous secrets and handful of powerups to claim. You should also prioritize on picking up the scrolls, which let you to enhance your Survival, Tactics and Brutality. These traits can affect your average health, as well as the damage you can inflict with each weapon. Your AI opponents are ruthless, who often strike you in groups and use projectile shots. At first, you will only get a humble amount of health, yet it will appear more as you advance the game. Boss fighting is also really challenging, when it requires not only the rightful way to build your character, but also the gamer’s skill to win.

7. Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon is a famous dungeon exploring title where you are the leader of an adventure team attempting to remove the dangerous inhabitants from the house you inherited. The dungeons in the game are procedurally-created, which are full of deadly traps, enemies and also, valuable items. When you travel through the dungeons, the game will give you a torch. And this is the tricky point. As you advance, the fire became weaker, so is your team. This game will test your bravery to take risks, as the bigger risks you take, the bigger prize you get.

6. The Binding of Isaac

The Binding of Issac, brainstormed and designed by Edmund McMillen (creator of Super Meat Boy), is also a dungeon exploring title that gives you zero comfortable. You are Issac, a young child whose mother removed all of his stuff to ensure his safety from the world outside. Each level starts from the basement, when you explore a set of rooms that are created procedurally. These rooms are inspired from The Legend of Zelda’s design and filled with loot, secrets and enemies. Nearly 200 types of enemies with nearly 200 different attack style require you to recognize as fast as possible when you get in a room. The trap systems and projectiles ensure you to be busy all the time dodging all of them. Issac can change his appearance or open new abilities by finding 550 valuable items on the track. You may think these abilities are advantageous, yet some of which in this game actually make your play much harder.

5. Enter The Gungeon

Produced by Dodge Roll Games studio, the game’s primary mechanics is actually… dodge roll. Your objective is to fight the enemies and survive through a number of floors generated procedurally. The deeper you enter the dungeon, the harder the game will be, as the enemies get tougher and resources get rarer. Your in-game opponents have the unique attack pattern for each of them, and bosses are completely a nightmare. Movement is also of the most importance, not to mention the skill to take advantage of the covers. Enter the Gungeon features 200 different types of gun, each of which has its own ability that you should master once you get in the game. The key to success in this game is to master the arsenal as soon as possible, given the fact that you only have a limited amount of health and numerous unforgiving enemies.

4. Super Meat Boy

Being a brother of the flash game Meat Boy (2008), Super Meat Boy offers you the adventure to save a piece of meat’s girlfriend. In 2010, when Super Meat Boy first showed up, gamers rapidly recognized the brutality of this title. It starts with a basic interface, integrated with in-game tutorials as players make progress. Yet once you are familiar with the control mechanics, you will encounter all kinds of buzzsaws, spikes and hazards. In Super Meat Boy world, your high accuracy and patience is put to the ultimate test. Fortunately, the game allows you to respawn immediately when you die.

3. Cuphead

Superficially, Cuphead seems to be like a piece of cake. The 1930 vibe of the game recalls us the dawn of cartoons, which yields us a feeling of comfort. But you might think twice once you spend some time in this game. Cuphead combines between hit-and-run factor with extremely difficult boss fights, which vary from nightmares of bullets to rapid movement sequences.

2. Nioh

Nioh stands out in this list thanks to the offensive tendency in combating, which is different from other titles with just tough boss fights and harsh combats. You can adjust your stance in game’s battles to inflict the desired amount of damage. There are three types of stance: High, Mid and Low, each of which prioritizes one aspect, such as damage (High), speed (Low) or balance (Mid). The key to success in Nioh lies in your ability to read your foes and choose the right moment to adjust stances. Nioh’s bosses are truly the stars of the game, when they give you a really limited chance to attack, even with pro players. You should also grasp a thorough understanding in combating abilities, different types of gears in order to complete this game.

1. Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Sekiro: Shadow’s Die Twice

No surprise, right? In the past 10 years, this series is probably the only one to pose a consistent level of difficulty for its players. You actually have to die in those games to sharpen your playing skills. It can be really frustrating to die in Soulsborne, when you prolly have to restart the entire journey, only to return to the foe that killed you and do everything over one more time. Combating mechanics is so hard to master, given it’s the game’s core. If you are inexperienced, don’t bother if you die too much. You need to learn the pattern of enemies’ strikes. Believe me, you will learn something after you die, and after a hundred times of dying, you will probably get a proper fight.

The highly-anticipated game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is coming later this month, and now developer From Software has released a brand new trailer, which showcases several abilities that our protagonist, Sekiro, is going to have, as well as the dangerous foes he'll face. Check it out below:

The trailer starts with Sekiro battling a giant bull-like creature with a massive log tied to its horns. And as if that wasn’t enough, both ends of the log are on fire. The bull charges back and forth destroying everything in its path, but right before it crushes Sekiro, he vanishes and reappears from the shadow.

For the rest of the video, we see the protagonist facing off against various human enemies, taking them down with a combination of stealth kills and acrobatic maneuvers. We also have a glimpse at some locations in the game, such as icy mountains and ancient fortresses. At the very end is an incredible sequence in which Sekiro battles against a monstrous creature that resembles a Yeti. Even though he got smacked around a little bit, Sekiro finally manages to overpower the beast, stab it through the eye and then take off its head. Sekiro Shadows Die Twice might not follow the formula established by Dark Souls and Bloodborne, but it is undoubtedly going to be just as challenging and bloody as From Soft's previous titles.

 
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Story Preview Trailer

In fact, death in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is even more punishing. Every time you are slain, you lose half of your current gold as well as progression point – a resource similar that can be spent to obtain new skills. Moreover, the more you die, the more a sickness called Dragon Rot spread in the world and afflict the NPCs around you. When a character gets infected with Dragon Rot, it'll change how they interact with you, and they might even stop talking to you altogether.

Another difference is that Sekiro actually has voiceover, which gives him a, well, soul. He is a specific character with his own stories and personality instead of just simply be an avatar for players to control like in the Soulborne games. Bosses are also quite different too. Many of them require specific strategies to beat rather than just attacking and dodging. And, perhaps the biggest change of all is that you can actually pause this game.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice launches on March 22 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Weird as it sounds, Tetris 99 actually posed a decent amount of threat to the battle royale crown of PUBG and Fortnite, but in the future, we could see a new competitor stepping into this massively popular video game genre.

Revered developer Hidetaka Miyazaki, President of Dark Souls and Bloodborne creator From Software, has said that the studio is keenly interested in the battle royale genre as well as the 'live service' games, such as Anthem or Destiny, that are dominating the industry at the moment.

So, would From Software, infamous for making insanely difficult single-player games with intricately designed levels, be jumping into the fray?

Miyazaki says that the possibility is always there. He says that these kinds of games are undoubtedly very entertaining, and he and the rest of the team would “love to take a crack at them some day." However, he also said that if they do make such a game, it will probably be different from what we see on the market right now.

That is to be expected from From Soft. Any battle royale from this studio would follow a completely different direction compared to shooters such as PUBG, Fortnite, or Apex Legends. Likewise, a live-service multiplayer RPG, maybe based on the world of Dark Souls or Bloodborne, would certainly be something the developer could look into.

That said, Miyazaki also emphasized that single-player games, such as their upcoming Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, are still an indispensable part of the video game industry and are crucial to its health in the long run. And we are still seeing a lot of these games nowadays. Devil May Cry 5 launches today, for example, and while the game does have some online elements, it remains a very single-player-focused experience. Last year we also had tons of major titles such as Spider-Man or God of War, both of which have sold for over 9 million copies.

The industry does need this kind of diversity. According to Miyazaki, it is what keeps everybody going.

Most of us came to video games because it offers us entertaining challenges that could take the stress off of our shoulders and get us engaged. Yet there are challenges in the world that are way too dicey for the majority of us to beat, and must be left to a selected few of wizards to achieve the impossible.

Super Mario Bros. Beaten in Under 5 Minutes

You can be good at video games, but are you confident enough to proclaim that you can beat it in less than five minutes.Just the idea sounds ridiculous. Surely, it’s impossible?

LordSaradoc managed to beat the overwhelming odds. He is currently holding the record of beating the game in 4 minutes, 57.69 seconds. Better yet, without the aid of any types of tools or saves.

Blindfolded 100% Run for the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Video gaming is a visual experience, it’s absurd to think of playing any RPG game without looking at the screen. Runnerguy2489 decided that he’s not satisfied with how it is and breezed through three dungeons in Ocarina of Time blindfolded. You can see him writing history with a sack on his head on his YouTube channel.

Watch a part of the full run here:

The Most Boring Game in the World For a Week

No one likes boredom. It’s annoying, and you always feel like you’re wasting your precious time while you could be out doing something else more exciting.  Something more exciting than driving a bus down a straight, empty desert road for 8 hours of real time. That’s unfortunately the premise of Penn & Teller ‘Desert Bus’. The game is so numbingly dull and boring that it’s difficult to imagine spending five minutes playing it.

But a team of gamers banded together to change that. They played the game for a week straight in order to raise fund for a children’s hospital. Thanks to their sacrifice and commitment, millions had been raised. There’s a good ending to this story after all.

Jumping Across the Hellmouth in Destiny

If you’ve ever stood over the Hellmouth in Destiny and stared down at its gigantic maw, you probably have wondered if you could jump across. SmileB4DEATH did the ultimate leap of faith by clearing the crater with a Bladedancer Hunter, Sparrow, and some very nicely executed Arc Blades.

Defeating Opponent Without Looking in SoulCalibur V

How does a top player of a PvP game spend his time?

Kayane - one of the top gamer of SoulCalibur V - decided to take on his enemy one day without even looking at the screen. Yeah, it’s a little bit of a show-off. But that doesn’t really matter … since she managed to finish off the poor soul who had to face him with some eerily accurate combos. It’s still one of the most impressive displays of skill in Paris Manga 2013 to date.

Facing the Armies of Skyrim Unarmed

People have done a lot of strange things in Skyrim. So maybe going through the entire game unarmed may not be the strangest thing you’ve ever heard. But it’s impressive nonetheless to face armies and dragons with nothing but fists. Robbaz - a Swedish YouTuber was the first to start the massively popular trend.

16 Button Presses in One Second

The main character in the well-known classic Adventure Island is Master Higgins. You might be interested in learning that he’s based on a real person, Toshiyuki Takahashi - an executive of Hudson. The man’s famous for being able to press the controller 16 times in a single second. Give your controller a try, and you’ll know why this is so mind-blowing. Takahashi then went on to invent the turbo button just for us to match his nearly inhuman ‘trigger finger’.

Beating Super Punch-Out!!! Blindfolded

Zallard1 was the first to pull off the feat of beating Super Punch-Out!!! while being blindfolded. The feat was done for Awesome Games Done Quick - a video game speed run charity marathon. AGDQ raised money for cancer patients, but it’s also the inventor of some of the most outrageous stunts and challenges out there. One that Zallard1 just so happen to be able to beat rather effortlessly.

Here is the full run if you want to check it out:

76-Hour Just Dance Session

While endurance video gaming challenges are impressive, players often don’t have to do much but keep themselves awake on their seat. But Carrie Swidecki took it to another level by setting the record for Just Dance 4 for 76 hours, 4 minutes, and 52 seconds. Since it requires you to continuously dance to the beat, and that it’s done in one go … that’s almost inhuman. It’s amazing that she even survived to boast about it.

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out 14-0 Win

Punch-Out is a well-loved series for those wanting to try their luck beating it blindfolded. Jack Wedge took it back to the original Punch-Out!!! And successfully pulled a perfect run blindfolded. The moves he made against Soda Popinski and Mike Tyson without even seeing the screen were all impressive display of skill not many people could match - or ever hope to match, for that matter.

Watch the full clip here:

EVO 2004: Volley of Perfect Parries Highlighted

If you’re part of the gaming world in the older days, you may have already heard of this story. During a tense match between two champions: Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong. Umehara somehow parried every single multi-hit Super Combo from Wong’s Chun Li. Parrying a single hit was something that requires constant practice, perfect timing, and even luck to pull off. But 17 in a row … the odd is laughably microscopic it’s like witnessing a pig flew when Umehara did it perfectly.

Beatmani IIDX World Record Set with Hair-Trigger Hands

In every movie that has a hacker (Besides from Mr. Robot, of course), the protagonist usually has this supernatural ability to bash his hands randomly on the keyboard and somehow able to crack through the strongest of virtual defences. That’s nothing in comparison to expert player DOLCE, the master of Beatmania. With 1,836 perfect button presses under his belt, even Mr. Robot would have to give him the credit.

Kaizo Mario World Deathless Run

Kaizo Mario World is basically Super Mario World on steroid. It is technically a hack of the original game that turns it from a leisure, peaceful video game into a sweat-inducing nightmare. Complete with invisible blocks and death traps, it can break even professional players down into tears. But speed-runner dram551 broke the game by completing it without dying even once. Furthermore, in just 4 minutes and 29 seconds. He did this as part of a fund-raising effort for charity.

The Mexican Runner’s Attempt to Finish Every NES Game

NES is a system that has many amazing titles made just for it. But another thing about the old platform's ecosystem is that it also has one of the most difficult game catalogs there is. Naturally, when The Mexican Runner announced that he will embark on a journey to finish every game on that catalog, it’s gotten everyone’s attention.

He made good of his promise, blazing through titles like Silver Surfer almost effortlessly.

Japanese Model Haruna Anno Managed to Beat Super Mario Bros. Without Looking

The perfect girl doesn’t exis-

Well, scratch that. Haruna Anno doesn’t only has beauty, but she’s also a perfect record on Super Mario Bros. to boot. All without looking.

Aside from having a day job of being a model, Anno made waves on the Internet when she posted a video of herself finishing Super Mario Bros. without even looking at the screen once.

Mega Man X & Mega Man X2 Simultaneous Run

Some people are good at multi-tasking. Meanwhile, Aura Puffs - a YouTuber - managed to take it to an entirely different level.

He managed to beat both Mega Man X and Mega Man X2 in tandem using one controller. Moreover, he finished them both at the exact same time.

Here is the full clip:

Finishing Bloodborne with a Rock Band Guitar

Bloodborne is on par with Dark Soul for being the source of players’ misery due to its difficulty. It’s not surprising to find a lot of people even struggling to progress in the game with a controller. However, streamer gbbearzly decided that a controller is simply too basic for him and hooked up his Rock Band guitar instead.

He beat the game.

Take a look at how he managed to overcome one of the bosses in the game:

Ikaruga Double Play

Ikaruga is said to be one of the best shoot-em-up to ever be created. But the complex polarity system is pretty dicey to tackle. An unknown arcade gamer has gone out of his way to destroy the system.

A YouTube video that consists of an arcade gamer controlling two ships simultaneously while delivering perfect combo chains has been making rounds on the Internet. Check it out below:

85-Year Old Record Holder for Wii Bowling

Wii is a well-loved platform for grandparents, but that doesn’t make this record any less impressive. John Bates, an 85-year old who lives in Onalaska, Wisconsin made the record book doing 14,000 perfect games of Wii Bowling. That involves a lot of skill, and certainly, patience and determination a lot of youngsters would have trouble committing.

Beating Dark Souls with Feet

A Taiwanese Dark Souls player - Srwfe - can navigate and tear his way through Dark Souls with his feet alone. He Twitch streams all of his exploits, and though it’s a strange thing to be jealous of, he has very graceful moves.

Beating Ninja Gaiden With a Dance Pad

While Srwfe beat a modern game that’s considered to be a fury-triggering one, Nick Hagman went back in time to also set the same record on a classic game through a Dance Dance Revolution pad. Ninja Gaiden is considered to be among the most difficult NES games. And after 8 months, in a flurry of dance moves, Hagman managed to school the game. You can find his adventure uploaded on YouTube.

19-Second Blitz Record in Tetris World

Tetris is a rather simple game that anyone can play and anyone can claim that they’re good at. But even masters will have to think about their answer carefully after learning about this one. Keroco speed-ran through a 40-line game in only 18.96 seconds. If you watch the recording of the session on YouTube, the pieces were falling so fast it’s hard to even see what’s going on. And by the time you did, it’s already over.

Super Metroid 4-Way Speed Run Race

Super Metroid 4 is infamous for the complex pathways. It is also the reason why it’s a favourite title for speed runners to test their skill in. Awesome Games Done Quick hosted a competition for a group of premier Metroid players in the world as part of a charity run. It’s 45 minutes you won’t regret spending.

Beating Dark Souls With a Steering Wheel

Dark Souls definitely has a weird trend going on where everyone tries to complete it using the most outrageous input devices available to them. Twitch streamer The Prixie contributed to this by hooking up a racing game steering wheel and destroyed every boss with it.

Check out one of those boss fights in action below:

Playing Half-Life Upside Down

Half-Life is a cult classic game, and it’s also one of the classic titles for speed-runners to take on. Quadrazid is considered to be one of the best, if not the best Half-Life speed-runner in the world. But he’s not really satisfied with the title and instead took it up a notch by flipping the screen upside down and ran through the game like that.

Though he was occasionally disoriented during the run, he’s still certainly better than most of us playing the game right side up. Check out his playlist on YouTube for the full run.

Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Relay Race

All three games in the Ninja Gaiden series are said to be tougher than metal. So just imagine the kind of excitement that a competition between groups of the best players trying to finish all three back-to-back produces. Awesome Games Done Quick hosted an event with the express aim of doing just that. Needless to say, those are some very high-octane actions.

They also raised quite a lot of money for The Precent Cancer Foundation while they’re at it.

Super Mario Galaxy 2’s Grandmaster Galaxy Evil Remix

Grandmaster Galaxy’s ‘The Perfect Run’ is revered to be the toughest Mario level to ever exist. That’s not going to discourage one player to make a joke out of it, though. MrBean35000vr remixed a Master Quest version of the level, filling it with traps and obstacles that he may be the only person to be able to pass them all.

Carrying An Eggplant Through Spelunky

Spelunky is a strenuous platforming game whose difficulty is so high that surviving for five minutes in the game is considered to be a miracle. Bananasaurus Rex not only survived for higher than five minutes. He managed to do it while carrying an eggplant, which, in the game, is virtually worthless. He made it all the way to the secret boss, a feat that usually requires two expert players playing in careful coordination with one another to pull off.

Beating Dark Souls With a Pair of Bongo Drums

And to think that Dark Souls players couldn’t get any more creative about the way they’ll beat the game…

Gbbearzly (The same one previously who beat Bloodborne with a guitar) strung up a pair of Donkey Kong bongos and went ape on Dark Souls’ bosses. They didn’t even see it coming. Watch him overcome one of the series' most impressive boss fights below:

Super Mario 64’s New Record

Allan Alvarez - nickname ‘Cheese05’ - just recently set a world record for Super Mario 64. He successfully collected all 120 stars in the game in 1 hour, 41 minutes, and 16.87 seconds. He was faster than the previous record by three minutes. In the video, Cheese05 was graceful in every move he pulled and showed great cleverness in manipulating the camera angle. Hard to imagine someone would be able to beat that in the future.

Pascals Wager is an upcoming action RPG on Android that draws inspiration from From Software's infamously difficult games Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Recently the game has received a new trailer, which you can see below.

 
Pascals Wager Gameplay Reveal

From the trailer, it can be seen that the combat in Pascals Wager is very similar to SoulBorne games. Unlike the majority of ARPG mobile games where you just faceroll everything, Pascals Wager requires a slower and more careful approach. You can only strike when an opportunity presents itself, and have to time your dodges perfectly to avoid getting hit by the enemies. Every action such as attacking or dodging will consume stamina, and if you run out of it, you will have to wait for it to recharge before you can do anything. Thus, managing this resource is extremely important. One single mistake could spell your doom.

In term of animation, it appears that Pascals Wager does a good job too. Each and every strike feels impactful, and the dodge animation seems to be taken straight out of Bloodborne, which is absolutely not a bad thing at all. The dark and gritty feeling of the environment is also very familiar to SoulBorne fans.

One new thing that Pascals Wager seems to add to the formula of Dark Souls and Bloodborne is the use of firearms as a main damaging source. Guns were a thing in Bloodborne, but for the most part they are used as a tool for parrying rather than for damaging the enemies, so this hopefully will bring a fresh change.

Games that draw inspiration from SoulBorne are not really a rare sight in the mobile gaming market these days, but Pascals Wager might be one of the first mobile titles to follow From Software’s formula and style to a tee. Should the game fare well, it might prove that hardcore Souls-style action can work with mobile controls, and open the way for more games to follow this path in the future. Right now, no release date is announced yet, but based on what has been shown it the trailer, it seems the game is pretty far along in its development process.