Ranking the Soulsborne Games by Difficulty!

[@BillySYT]

Hey all, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone tuning in to this video. It's a very personal topic for anyone attempting to rank it - My experiences won't match yours, and that's okay. Loving all the good-hearted debates in the comments, and I appreciate all of your support. It's my most viewed video on my channel, and doesn't seem to be slowing down. So if you're interested in more Soulsborne stuff, I've got a whole playlist's worth! Consider subbing, we're trying to reach 20,000 by Summer!

[@HH-hd7nd]

5:20 Here's a big reason why a ton of people in addition to the usual FromSoft fans where drawn to Elden Ring: The background lore is written by George R. R. Martin.

[@Zuhauselander]

what a shitty list.

[@patrickleblanc613]

Excellent list. I must say tho you should have made a point to make a distinction between ds1 and ds1r, because while ds1 is somewhat clunky, ds1r had been retuned to be less clunky, more in line with ds3. Bloodborne was the first souls game i played to completion , followed by ds3 and then ds1r. Playing thru ds3 definitely help my ds1r playthru

[@TheBeefMonger]

There's no way you put ds3 below ds1 and 2. Ds 1 had only 2 genuinely hard fights (manus and ornstien/smough) and a majority of ds2 fights have only 3 moves. I get that your not just talking bosses, but honestly the hardest areas were probably in ds3 also. In every souls game you can over level yourself to beat anything, but I would say the best way to rank the games is by SL1 runs. In which the order from easy to hard would be: ds1, ds2, ds3, Bloodborne, then eldenring. It's much less varied when doing sl1 because if a boss is hard, you will know.

[@Sandlund93]

That comparison to Pokemon Nuzlocke was so spot on. If it's in the game then why make things harder than necessary? Well, for fun is the only argument. Playing Elden Ring with int build and mimic is not recommended, as it kills all the difficulty and engagement. Except for 3 optional bosses, including Malenia. The game that just doesn't go wrong is Sekiro, I beat it 27 times and I'm still considering more playthroughs.

[@adamphillips882]

The hardest souls game is your first souls game

[@airekofvinlandslayerofthes7965]

Which is why I find it odd that players say Elden Ring is easy. Sure it was easy for me as a souls vet from Dark Souls 1, but I know that for new Souls players, Elden Ring is tough. The biggest aid for the player would be an open world.

[@ffbeexaid4509]

Yes ds1 is hard.

[@adomaskuzinas2137]

Bloodborne was the first i completed (DLC included, fuck Lawrence), then Dark Souls 3 (fuck Midir), then tried Sekiro and couldnt get past the spear boss for a whole month and just dropped it. Completed Ds1 and Ds2 since, playing Elden Ring atm, its truly easiest of them all due to all the options you have if stuck somewhere. Sekiro is just way harder no matter what you do, unless you got those superior 0.001ms reflexes.

[@darthjesus7079]

Also your first souls game tends to be your favourite. It's the game that gave you THAT experience for the first time ever.

[@alialkuwari8155]

Not necessarily, it was my first but i havent found it that difficult, only a couple bosses, mainly godskin duo and elden beast with a mix uchigatana and sorcery build. Bloodborne was the easiest by far, ds3 late game was pretty hard and sekiro is imo the hardest souls game

[@izanagisburden6850]

sekiro was my first ever souls game- it was beyond brutal, and still my favorite game of all time by a mile

[@justforyou4560]

We're the same, I remember dying countless times to Isshin 🥲

[@izanagisburden6850]

@justforyou4560 I feel that, I was in there for DAYS lol

[@petr5392]

Same for me, I thought its impossible to beat it. I spent over 10h on genichiro and quit. Then came back, git gut and got sword ishin down in 3 hours

[@Scout_6071]

I got a question... I played elden ring and am considering playing sekiro too. The thing is i am afraid that its to difficult for me. After all i even struggle with some bosses in elden ring. So should I try sekiro or leave it be?

[@justforyou4560]

@@Scout_6071 You absolutely have to try Sekiro, it has one of the best if not the best combat mechanics in any game in history, it's just so satisfying. But finish Elden Ring first 🙂

[@vb_blokeboi7251]

Sekiro is a weird one because up until Genichiro it was easily the hardest FromSoft game I played. But that was the moment it clicked for me and it became a completely different beast. Once you gitgud it becomes an absolute blast.

[@pxkqd]

Genichiro sensei also was the one to force me to parry. Up until him, everything can be dodged even if it's hard to.

[@Ferna471]

I agree, i remember the moment it clicked during that fight, also fuck owl (father), it took me like 25 attempts

[@Kburn1985]

Genichiro is actually the hardest boss in the game. Yes, harder than isshin. Don't believe me, go create a new game instead of ng+. Your health is a sliver, so you die in a couple of hits. Your damage is non existent, so you got to dance with him way longer. He's the hardest fromsoft boss.

[@vb_blokeboi7251]

@@Kburn1985 I don't know about that but coming from Souls yeah he's pretty brutal. I think Owl is probably the most difficult boss in Sekiro. Or Demon of Hatred but with Kuro charm but he's more of a Souls boss in the wrong game

[@JohnnyLREACTS]

Yes yes you have to fully embrace the parry which is tough when these guys are swinging at you to stay put and defend.

[@AverageSensei]

Sekiro was my first souls game, I got it because I thought it would be like Ghost of Tsushima, my 2nd souls game was bloodborne, I saw a cool documentary on it and thought "I beat Sekiro, I can take this" I was wrong. Needless to say those games prepared me for everything From Soft can throw at me

[@ameersahib9560]

Same

[@ColetheFlame01]

For me Darks Souls 2 was my first Soulsborne and truly made me think about every action I did and how to think fast despite going slow. I honestly think I could take on anything From Soft throws at me cause of the sheer amount of bs and ganks that are in DS2.

[@Hellwaterva]

Even when you think that’s the case, it’s not

[@ChumpyGames]

This was such an amazing breakdown! It's a well-worn topic but you raised so many great points that it felt fresh. The DS3 placement and the DS1 discussion was particularly fascinating because I would have reversed them but you make a great case.

[@ByzanQueen]

I think Elden Ring is always going to be difficult to rank difficulty on because, in strict inverse to Sekiro, it has *staggering* levels of player choice in terms of build and playstyle that will dramatically affect difficulty to a point that it can be considered very honestly for *any* spot on this list, and figuring out how to get the "average difficulty" from all that variance is tricky!

[@TheJols]

Without an optimized build the game becomes very difficult near the end.

[@ac1dnet]

super well said, i’ve always said something very similar. i like to say elden ring can be the easiest of them all if you make full use of the tools at your disposal such as the strong spells, strong summons, and strong weapons. however, ignoring/missing out on these tools and playing through the game with a standard swing-the-sword-n-dodge playstyle makes the game easily the most difficult

[@Blueprint4Murder]

Elden ring is a game you run through on a horse seldom being hit. It is a garbage game compared to the rest. If this isn't a one off to pull new players in I will stop buying fromsofware games because it was such poor quality and I have been playing since kf1(us). I also went back and played kf1(jp)

[@yourdad5799]

​@@Blueprint4Murder Fromsoft will be so sad to see you go 😔

[@AdrienPyke]

Yeah, I played no summons melee only and it was by far the hardest for me

[@brett_zesty]

The hardest Souls game is your first Souls game. That being said, Sekiro is the most difficult to brute force without the requisite combat skills

[@Sandlund93]

Brute force sounds like you meant ignoring the parry function. That might not even be enough to get you through the tutorial lol. Unless you put in some decent dodges.

[@Sandlund93]

@iiisixstringiii8285 I actually use dodge and running quite a lot but new players should just focus on mastering the parry. Unless we're talking the ogres, bulls and Lady, where dodge gets you the kill way easier than parrying. As long as you do it properly ofc. I never even considered parrying the snake, I might try that on the next run. It should work in the cave, where you puppeteer the monkey.

[@rishdhoni319]

​@@Sandlund93Lady butterfly? Parrying her is way better than dodging what do you mean

[@Sandlund93]

@@rishdhoni319 Nah, you can constantly hit her in the back by initiating an attack, dodge forward and to the right, attack her in the back, dodge again and so on. She becomes a joke even with no charm+bell in the Gauntlet, like this. You just spam dodge counterattacks and disengage to heal if necessary. I killed her at least 50 times like this and I don't even know her moveset.

[@kuuro_7712]

Speak for yourself, Bloodborne is my 3rd and the one I just can't progress in

[@minerman60101]

Elden Ring having the crimson/cerulean tear scarabs, and open world clusters of enemies likewise refilling your flasks were cool ways of maintaining Bloodborne's style of getting back healing as you explore without all of the drawbacks of healing being a consumable item.

[@Corrupted]

Great concept, but completely whatever in the actual gameplay loop since they only work in the open world - and what do you need multiple heals for when riding around?

[@nayyarrashid4661]

It's not Blood borne style. It was in DS3 as well and it is different than Blood borne in essence. BB style suited BB gameplay pretty well and this style of getting estus back suits DS3 snd ER.

[@ThomasH-tp8rr]

@@Corrupted You need the refill System because you have to fight sometimes and not only riding around.

[@Corrupted]

@@ThomasH-tp8rr Yeah, but you're not gonna need 7 heals for 5 hollows and almost all actual dungeons or bigger places to explore have bonfires anyway

[@AlfredoPuente8]

I prefer when the 15 meter tall boss isn't as agile as a balerina.

[@bladimiribb]

That's a solid list, from my pov (having played all but DS2 and 3) Elden Ring was the one I had a smoother time with. It is huge compared to the rest and you have the opportunity to explore and do something else if you've reached a wall. Also, some mechanics make it easier (ashes of war, spirits, etc) shall you choose to use them. In Bloodborne and Sekiro, once you learn the parrying system it makes combat much more forgiving, which is what I like about em: you master it, you're rewarded; you don't, you're punished.

[@Titanxxx333xxx]

How does one who has played the majority of soulsborne games not played DS3? Dump your girl, quit your job, cut your legs off, and get ds3. Best boss lineup, best OST, and still fun pvp. DS2 worth it, but DS3 is a must-play

[@smo4h]

fr @@Titanxxx333xxx

[@plumplekoon]

bro missed 70 percent of the main series😂

[@k1llerkomannder]

​@@plumplekoon bro he played every game except ds2 & ds3 are u stupid?

[@bladimiribb]

@@Titanxxx333xxx I intend to someday, but I rarely go back to play older games, so the more new games come out, the further this one's pushed back in my list, though it isn't the only one. And yeah working really takes most of my time.

[@PCTTmusic]

I think the summoning in Elden ring not raising the bosses HP make it objectively not the hardest in addition to being able to over level so easily but Melania, pre nerfed radhan, the black blade, and the final bosses in general are so impressive and challenging.

[@gagefunk8058]

I’m not sure where you got that. Summoning players or even npcs in elden ring definitely increase the bosses hp and damage output

[@gagefunk8058]

I’m an idiot. If you meant the spirit ashes then I agree lol

[@PCTTmusic]

@@gagefunk8058 I was so non specific, you’re fine! you’re not an idiot. Just impulsive

[@jie8358]

if its spirit ashes yeah they can either be a pain or a easy way to win like mimic tear and the crystalian ive set up a comet azur and me and the mimic tear did a meme style double comet azur and the cystralian just dont die

[@przemeklisicki8741]

It does make a first playthrough easy compared to other games but if you are readonably familiar with souls and you play region locked without summons the actual boss dificulty places the game higher on the list. Elden ring imo has the highest dificulty range imo depending on how you aoproach it.

[@shisuiuchiha4489]

I think Elden Ring can be summed up as, “You basically have a difficulty slider in this game”. My first play through I used all the Items and summons i could, i made it as easy as possible but then on my 2-4th play throughs I tried harder builds, without summons, and didn’t cheese any bosses (even the horrid duo) and i must say it was pretty hard that way. But it really just depends from player to player.

[@jie8358]

yeah certain builds do make certain bosses easier i use a squishy dps mage ussually not going comet azur unless im just tired and want to blast something into orbit but even then they’re a few bosses i would sweat and not use that for and get killed in a smack or two. Ive also tried a few melee builds and the difficulty on certain bosses is so wild its a bit crazy lol because the bosses i struggle with on as a mage if i go with melee are really easy

[@joshsmith8715]

I’ve never used spirit ashes or summons for my three playthroughs of elden ring and thought it was pretty hard, elden ring was also my first soulsbourne so maybe that’s why it was tougher for me. I’m beginning sekiro now and just got through the ashina castle gate, thinking sekiro will be much harder

[@aganbraganca4156]

magic, summoning and some weapons are broken in the game which deal massive damage so its easy id it wasent for that it would have been difficult

[@rodrigopaivapena755]

all the other games you have to at least learn a little bit, even if you get powerful. in elden ring, learning the combat is optional. that is why it's the easiest and most popular.

[@isais207]

But it's true in any game - if you limit yourself, the game becomes harder

[@randychristensen1028]

I love that you brought up your DS2 build. I always wondered why in nearly every clip you use of DS2 gameplay, you are always using a big club.....until I tried it myself. Flattening enemies with a big bonker is so damn satisfying and will always be my go to main weapon from now on. I also like keeping a raw rapier on the side because the quick stabs+low stamina cost just melts through boss health bars

[@lukethebaron5408]

Honestly I'd highly recommend trying out different builds in the dark souls games. Ds2 has a ton of cool shit you can do (powerstancing greatswords, an actually viable fist weapon with the bone fist, magic being fairly balanced but still really strong) and I strongly encourage you to try out some of the unique weapons the game has to offer

[@nayyarrashid4661]

I haven't played DS2 but flattening out enemies is fun even in DS1. Esp if you get to Sen's Fortress and are not using a strike weapon it becomes really tedious but using a great club pancakes your way through Sen's funhouse.

[@fryguy-pi5qz]

Having only played through each game once this is my exact ranking myself. Sekiro is hard to get in tune with but it turned out to be my favorite! Each boss was just another ceiling to my skill level. The final ishin destroyed me so much but when I finally beat him you'd have argued I was a pro. I love the natural growth vs Elden Ring being as difficult as you make it.

[@samtheskeptic8285]

Nice to see Billy's channel get popular, even though I will never forget watching the OG channel about 6 years ago with watching Minecraft survivor targeta to-e-hola (can't spell it) anyways Nice to see this channel rise in popularity, I feel like this channel will skyrocket even more than the original channel, with it being a pretty good channel. Even I will never forget Billys old channel, with him being awful at iceboats. And hosting some decent shows, and having possibly a track record that rivals Ace Rider in TDM. Anyways Skeptic out.

[@rustyanubis1650]

Even now bloodborne is my favorite in the series. Fun bosses, each weapon feels fun and unique. That’s why I love its quality over quantity for weapons. Also it was my first souls experience and it was amazing.

[@rustyanubis1650]

I have just finished sekiro this weekend. I must say it was fantastic and I’m now unsure which i think is more enjoyable.

[@randomfellow1483]

Is bloodborne really worth it? I played a little bit of sekiro, but rage quitted after I couldn't beat that early miniboss samurai. I'm gonna play ds1, maybe ds2 and then ds3, and then maybe bloodborne or else I'll move into sekiro after I platinum elden ring today since I've completed it two times and third time will be today to get my last trophy which is the elden lord ending. Please let me know:)

[@Jaimechuhunter]

@@randomfellow1483Absolutely worth it. If you have the time, that order you propose is very good.

[@randomfellow1483]

@@Jaimechuhunter I already bought blood borne goty lol

[@JohnnyLREACTS]

Nothing will touch BB for me as an experience as I too had it as my first souls game. It was the best for sure. ER and Sekiro came close. DS3 was pretty good too.

[@wes_man]

Thank you for all the work you put in. You been getting me through the day lately.

[@wes_man]

A little better everyday. Hope you're good bro. Much love.

[@Dracoboss98]

The cool thing about Elden Ring is that it’s by far the hardest in terms of boss movesets, but From gave the player loads of ways to defeat them. If you choose to not make your character OP, all the main bosses after Rennala are unbelievably difficult to fight perfectly, so there’s something to enjoy for both beginners and masters.

[@claudiopolonia7854]

I still can’t live it down that Malenia is the only boss in the entire franchise I couldn’t solo and that’s coming from someone who got the plat in all the franchise

[@jbodgaf4964]

@@claudiopolonia7854other than waterfowl dance she really isn’t difficult, learn that and it’ll be light work

[@dhammond249]

Yeah Elden ring really offers you the choice to choose your own difficulty as you go. Using summons or guides to seek out top tier items early will make it way easier, so it's up to you whether you enjoy that or not

[@makavali-yb7xv]

Elden ring is trash. Money gone. Cant even see where i qm supposed to go smh every 5mins i had to look it up

[@minitech5238]

@@makavali-yb7xv bro it's an open world game, you're supposed to explore 💀

[@lupusreginabeta3318]

4:59 He baited me with sekiro there 😂

[@augustopaixao8911]

You won another subscribed! Great work Billi.

[@trypticon8619]

I’m surprised by the critique on DS2, I thought reaching place like the gutter and the giant memories were pretty well communicated to the player, and I never had a problem with the enemy placements outside of old iron keep, just taking your time and fighting through felt really satisfying, it hurts to hear people talk about DS2 in such a negative light when I found it a genuinely fun game (And no, this is not nostalgia talking, DS2 was one of the last games I played cause everyone said it was awful, and I was surprised)

[@ChrisHavok]

Even with all of its flaws, I really enjoyed DS2 and SOTFS. My main issue with it comes down to the difficulty feeling artificial instead of the “hard but fair” mantra the series is known for. The poor enemy placement leads to the player constantly being ganked by mobs at every turn, the health reduction penalty, and needing to level up a skill to unlock iFrames make it hard for me to come back to.

[@Ruka42]

@@ChrisHavok i agree , specialy when it come to the iFrames thing that shit is never explained in the game you have to go on wiki to find out about it and that is a bad design tho i loved some idea DS2 had to offer like the torch giving you acces to a whole bunch of situational interaction/ bonus and how it had it's own realy unique mood like Majula for instance is one of my favorite place in all souls cause they realy got the undead mood right with the ost you realy feel like you could forget why you where here in the first place

[@thehiddenwarrior354]

Holy smoke!!!!! I was surprised too! I was like WTF, what was everyone complaining about? DS2 is amazing.

[@isk8454]

I'm playing DS2 SOTFS right now and agree with all that is being said in the video. I've done Elden Ring, Sekiro, DS 1 and 3 before this game and I've to look up plenty to understand where to go next. That being said, the variance of the areas is great!

[@jimmydarm]

I believe he was referring specifically to the placement of enemies in Scholar of the First Sin version of DS2, which can feel kind of haphazard in certain areas.

[@BillySYT]

Hey all, I'm pretty busy over the upcoming weeks, so I won't have as much time to interact down here right now, but I'd just like to stress that this video specifically is about my PERSONAL experience with each Soulsborne game - Difficulty is subjective, there is no wrong answer, I'm just sharing how I find these games easiest to hardest from my playthroughs. Please feel free to share your own personal rankings and experiences down below, and please be respectful of each other. I know when the games themselves get ranked for whatever reason, people get VERY heated.

[@sirbrando2792]

watching these ranking videos is always interesting to me, from my experience i think i would place every single game differently, but i love listening to other peoples experience, it allows for you to look at the games differently, and brings a whole new appreciation to what these games are, how how they impact everyone

[@BillySYT]

People like you are why I make these videos! You get it, you get the joy of seeing different opinions and realizing "Huh, I never thought about it that way. I might not relate but that's cool."

[@expl018]

I started playing elden ring about 2 months ago and i loved it so much, i decided i would play every single souls game. So after i finished elden ring and the dlc, i started Bloodborne as my second souls game. I knew beforehand that bloodborne's combat and fighting style is much more different and encourages the player to be more aggressive. With that knowledge in mind, i beat Bloodborne with almost no trouble and today it has become my favourite game of all time.

[@Nightwalk2]

Binged a ton of your videos today, fantastic work! Love em

[@Okay-pr9fp]

One thing I love about souls games is how replayable they are, demon souls came out in 2009 and the graphics are still good enough to take seriously

[@bropez3506]

blue point did an amazing job with the remake.

[@ShrimpEmporium]

For me the hardest game has to be DS 1. It was my first Souls game, so I had a lot less experience, not to mention that when I played it the curse effect could stack! ANd I had no idea how to cure it, so that's two bells I had to ring at a quarter of my hp.

[@JTdaGoat2871]

Yep agree 100 percent. DS1 is the only souls game I haven’t finished. I feel like if you don’t just use a magic build and make it super easy or farm a ton to get over leveled it’s so hard.

[@andrerocha3998]

@@JTdaGoat2871 ds1 is probably the easiest...

[@themiddlechild8952]

​@@andrerocha3998Iudex Gundyr was harder than the entirety of dark souls 1

[@andrerocha3998]

@@themiddlechild8952 yap the only hard bosses in dark souls 1 in are on the dlc

[@ThomasH-tp8rr]

@@andrerocha3998 Yes it is! It has some great leveling Spots and you can upgrade you armor.

[@ernestjanzen6809]

Your thoughts felt focused and fine to me. Well done! My list would be almost identical, just a few switches between the DS titles. Otherwise, you invoked exactly how I felt about the games when I played through them. Thanks for the video :)

[@brunosantana2541]

Love the video! Where would you put Lies of P?

[@Fujix1]

the algorithm sent me here and I'm happy it did! very enjoyable content, subbed!

[@Dracoboss98]

Dark souls 3 is the same as Elden Ring, in that the boss movesets are quite a bit more difficult to dodge than their predecessors, but the game makes sure that the player is plenty OP for basically everything. In fact, in DS3 you don’t even have to go out of your way. Just upgrade your weapon to the point it’s supposed to be at for your progress in the game, and you’re doing chunks to everything.

[@claudiopolonia7854]

nothing in DS3 moves even remotely as fast as anything from ER’s late game tho

[@jopezu]

elden ring's delayed attacks are off-the-charts compared to ds3.

[@raresradoi39]

​@@jopezu We're looking at you, Godfrey and Radagon 😂

[@ThomasH-tp8rr]

@@raresradoi39 I found Maliketh hard

[@raresradoi39]

@@ThomasH-tp8rr I can see that, I think a used a build with high poise damage and it was quite easy to lock him down. He's pretty low HP after all

[@heychrisfox]

I remember going to Sekiro for the first time. Sengoku era Japanese drama is grizzled warrior defending sweet baby boy? Sounds awesome. Then I encountered the raw difficulty, and I was floored. How do they expect you to win? How is this even possible? And every fight harder than the next? How does anyone defeat Genichiro? He's impossible! And then it happened. It clicked. I learned. It's like a secret lever was left in my brain since birth, and once I realized how the game wanted me to play it, the entire game felt like this beautiful dance. What were the most brutal, unfair combats I had seen in any souls game turned into this weird, rhythmic trance state that makes you move like a shinobi. It was wild. I went on to 100% the game. I almost never 100% complete a game. It was inarguably one of the most fulfilling gaming experiences I've ever had. It's truly an impressive work of game design.

[@TheTopStarz]

You’re right about it being subjective because the earlier/first games you play will always seem harder than the games you play after getting used to these type of games

[@GospodinDvorac]

Great breakdown really! I think you did a fine job with this video. I agree 100% with the list :D

[@piterrospl9512]

Pretty accurate list, and I agree with it from the perspective of a player having never played - because usually, the hardest game will be the first one you get into, so those points apply when you are fresh without experience. A great breakdown of points and what makes each game hard. Just a thing I will add though, regarding DS2 - I think it also has its difficulty in knowing levels, like DS1. Honestly, while some enemy placement is bullshit in Scholar, I wouldn't say all. Like Alonne Knights in Iron Keep, there is actually a path that you can go through, and if you do, the only moment you will have to fight more than one enemy at a time, is the two anime guys, one in front of the Smelter Demon gate, and the other on the opposite side. It takes time, yes, but it can be beaten without getting ganked if you know to approach it slowly. I think the opinions are a bit exaggerated regarding the placement of enemies, the only really bullshit place I can think of is the moment you open that door in Lost Bastille, before Ruin Sentinels, or the Heide Tower, with the knights aggroing when you kill Dragonrider. Ganks are also made easier to handle with bows, since those are better in DS2 than in other Souls games (and poison is fantastic if you're willing to go that route). Builds are generally more balanced though, even the most broken builds in DS2 don't feel as busted as the most busted builds in other games. I don't think this changes DS2's placement on the list, but I just thought I needed to throw that out there. Other aspects (like healing that's not just a get out of jail free card, more harsh stamina management, hollowing) keep it in that placement in my opinion too.

[@AccursedHawk]

I honestly think the difficulty ranges on which games you play in what order. For me I started with Elden Ring and It was way too hard so I transitioned to games like Bloodborne and Sekiro and DS3 and found them to be easier. For the longest time Dark Souls 1 was harder to me than most of the games until I got the groove of it. Elden Ring in my opinion is still the hardest game for me where as Bloodborne for me is the easiest since I can pound through that game in one sitting. Same with DS3

[@ghostparty2062]

Same here. Iv finished bloodborne and ds3 multiple times and only struggle with a couple bosses. I'm still yet to finish an elden ring playthrough yet though 😂

[@joeytoofly5139]

my first playthrough of ds 1 i was like level 455 and i had beaten the game on several new games. gwyn kicked my ass so much i had to overlevel on the black knights because i refused to learn to parry. Eventually the game clicked for me

[@inkymonstrosity]

Some say that your first Soulsborne will often feel like your hardest. I started with Elden Ring and then moved to DS1. Despite the latter being significantly more sluggish, I found it in general to be easier than Elden Ring, especially after Anor Londo. After that point, I beat nearly every boss on my first try, exceptions being Bed of Chaos, Artorias, Manus, and Gwyn.

[@moonknight2865]

Nah. Elden Ring is easy as shit, this is just a bad opinion. BB and DS3 are vastly harder for different reason.

[@moonknight2865]

Nah. Elden Ring is easy as shit, this is just a bad opinion. BB and DS3 are vastly harder for different reason.

[@cincameron]

I think using guides reduces difficulty on each game by varying degrees, so i wouldn't even use that as a factor since that heavily skews the results. I hate the idea that people spoil themselves before reaching their first ending. Sekiro is by FAR the easiest imo. It gives the player far too much lee-way in combat and also easy methods to retreat if you feel the need. Everyone screams "super fast-paced combat", but that doesn't matter when you can block all attacks that don't have a loud SFX and VFX that indicate they are unblockable. As soon as I fought Lady Butterfly and she beat the game's system into my head, i swept through the game and was a little disappointed by the lack of any ramping difficulty. Though I will say I had fun with bosses like Great Shinobi Owl and True Corrupt Monk... Obviously, everyone's perspective is going to be different based on what type of games they are used to, but for me, DS2 was the hardest on a first run on the basis that the journey was pretty long before ever reaching Drangleic Castle and a lot of the bosses were fairly tough on a first playthrough. In my opinion, from easiest to hardest: Sekiro, DS1/DeS (toss up based on multiple factors), DS3, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and DS2.

[@StrikerSML]

I'm finally able to enjoy more of your videos now that I'm playing Elden Ring

[@jordanblase5871]

The LoP soundtrack is so good. Love that you threw that in here.

[@EldenQueenMemes]

Sometimes I can’t believe how Sekiro was my first Souls game :,) I agree 100% with your list, I have the same issues with DS3 and Elden Ring, specially with Elden Ring. Is absurd how easy and early you can become OP with multiple buffs at the same time, upgrade weapons, spirit ashes, good armor sets… Even farm rare items is easier compare to the other games, while Sekiro is you and your sword and that’s it, is the ultime challenge and peak of their combat systems. Love your videos, you’re the best Souls channel 🩵

[@manta3374]

Is it fun I just downloaded it

[@domsnow6418]

You can just not use those OP tactics and stay on a meta level. No one‘s keeping you from this.

[@DreyfusLagoon]

Elden ring, no summons, leveling naturally without rune farming, and no using DM greatsword or blasphemous blade is actually pretty hard especially at the end game. Unless you’re fighting them with a broken build and summons, the bosses at the end game of elden I personally think are the hardest they have made

[@jie8358]

oh yeah end game er has alot of bosses that flip the difficulty on its head as a squishy dps caster i found them extremely hard radagohn and the beast being more resistant and to quick cheese but switch to black flame and other incantations it becomes easier unless radagohn is having a bad day. Maliketh is easier melee because rolling through his legs allow you to hit em a few times in certain combos

[@Nobody-su9km]

At this point might aswel call it a nuzlocke. If you are being dmb and making the game harder it doesn't make the game hard, just make you dmb...

[@DreyfusLagoon]

@@Nobody-su9km I mean yeah I personally don’t like to purposefully hinder myself in my playthrough aside from not using summons. But I’ll still make a wild OP build that still shreds bosses

[@Nobody-su9km]

@@DreyfusLagoon when i say dmb i don't mean you the player. I mean't the character*. I do like nuzlocking tbh. But i don't think it makes the game harder. Just makes you weaker

[@DreyfusLagoon]

@@Nobody-su9km yeah, but I feel like a SL1 run on elden ring is probably way harder than the other games just because of how long some of the combos they have are. Morgot especially seems hard at SL1, but if you’re playing the game as intended he’s actually really easy. Personally I think ds2 (scholar of the first sin) is the hardest. Even though all the bosses are easy, the jank of the game combined with ridiculous enemy placements makes the game pretty difficult.

[@mt2r-music]

Dark Aouls 3 tortured me the first time I played it (my second soulsborne right after Dark Souls). I loved every second of it but it was incredibly hard. I never defeated Friede, Midir and Nameless King and moved on to the other games. Not too long ago after having mastered every other soulsborne i came back to Dark Souls 3 for my second second playthrough. I first or second tried every single boss including the ones I haven’t beat before and Dancer and Dragonslayer Armor before even defeating Vordt. I always thought the game is the hardest in the series but it was just one of my first ones. Elden Ring without summons and overleveling improved my reflexes so much that Dark Souls 3 feels like a slow tutorial. And on top of that every boss does nearly no damage and has incredibly less amounts of HP compared to the ones from Elden Ring. Don’t get me wrong, I dislike mostly Elden Rings bosses when it comes to those aspects and I like Dark Souls 3s approach of ”fair“ movesets and balancing better, but these games got so much harder over the years without me noticing it at all.

[@Gabrielgallows]

Great video as always!

[@caseeyis]

Big salute to Billy for getting the plat trophy in dark souls 2. One of the hardest plats to get

[@andreeam.1888]

This past year I have played Elden Ring and Sekiro, with ER being the first.While Sekiro is considered the harder one of the two, there was a learning curve to both and by mid game I had figured out their flow and just had a great time until the end. I want to continue by playing Demon Souls, DS 1, 2 and 3 and Bloodborne and I am kinda stuck on which to tackle first. While Bloodborne is the one I am eager to start the most, a voice in the back of my head is saying that I should start from the beginning with Demon Souls and my mind is in a constant struggle over this 😂

[@link8295]

Bloodborne is great also check out lies of p it's not from soft but it's the only souls like game that is actually good it is honestly tied for me with bloodborne like both games are off the chain soo insanely good

[@andreeam.1888]

@@link8295 I have already played Lies of P and had a blast. Such a good game.

[@xxx333mmm]

i just finished demon's souls on ps5 it is amazing game

[@thehiddenwarrior354]

I did my best to go chronological order. So I went demons souls, then dark souls 1, then took a break and played Elden ring (only chrono break) then back to DS1 and finished it, then back to Elden ring (coz there’s sooooooo much) then took break and finished DS2, then back to Elden ring (lol) then break from Elden ring. Now on bloodborne then most likely will go back to Elden ring (finished main game before but still so much) then most likely DS3 and possibly a repeat of the cycle finishing with sekiro. Then going back for the DLCs and new game pluses 😂 I can’t believe how good this series is.

[@eventhoughimaloserandavirg3279]

Chronological order is by far the best way to play it. As long as you play ds1 before ds3, you'll be fine. If you want to enjoy Bloodborne more, play it first bc tbh, it's relatively easy if you've played other souls games. 20 blood vials makes it a joke and the dlc is pretty much the only part with bosses that will stomp you for 20+ times

[@Memegod11779]

Elden ring was my first FromSoftware game, but I did watch my uncle play through the dark souls trilogy, so I am mixed whether or not Elden ring should be ranked higher.

[@jajasking9652]

Is really rough to judge, did you used a basic build without much buffs ( like golden vow ) then is hard, plus bosses like malenia, maliketh ( which i think It can be harder than malenia on a first playthrough, but, like nightmare King grim, once you know how to fight him, is not that bad, still a challenging fight ) But with a strong build like asmongold's one ( powerstance halberds with all jump attack bufs ) is far easier

[@Memegod11779]

@@jajasking9652 I just started my first playthrough in late November, so I am still figuring out the type of build which would be best for my aggressive play style. I am more of a strike then back of for heals or wait for the attack/combo to end, then continue trying to get hits. Thank you for the tip though, much appreciated.😁

[@thesmallwoo2010]

You can't rank elden ring in one place objectively. A great elden ring build can honestly make the game trivial and a walk in the park with summons. But as a depraved you might struggle more than any other game

[@thecancerousdan3800]

DS3 was my first, and strangely enough I don't remember it being THAT hard, maybe it's because before it I was a fanatic of very difficult games (like Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Rising on their hardest difficulties)

[@ripconsoleexclusives]

This is exactly what i realised. The main reason why people love to brag about the difficulty of soulsborne games is that they cannot change the difficulty and probably because they havent played other games on the hardest difficulty available. After God of War Ragnarok GMGOW+ these games seemed way more easier.

[@thecancerousdan3800]

@@ripconsoleexclusives I believe it's also about soulsborne games not holding your hand, they just give you the basics and expect you to manage. Either way they're great games and use their difficulty in ways not many do so, just like all other great action games

[@krod11358]

Perfect list honestly well put !

[@robertmeyer6837]

Its crazy how on point this is. There's a lot of different angles you can take and I feel like this considered and balanced them all well.

[@tescobakery1927]

"You never have to worry about going black"

[@mikhailkalinin6536]

Sekiro was the easiest for me, bc/ I find that souls/bloodborne require you to understand direction as well as timing when you roll. You have to know when to roll into someone, when to roll out, when roll to the right/left. In sekiro, there is no directionality, just paarrying. So it's pure timing. Also, recovery time on parries is way faster than on rolls. I never got parry-caught, but I constantly get roll-caught.

[@akeiri3296]

What do you mean? As far as I can agree with the first part about knowledge when to roll etc, I can't agree with sekiro. It still has a wide variety of "tips" you have to know to get past something, like when to parry, when to mikiri, when to jump, when to dash. It's like, yes parrying is less complicated than rolls in 1:1 comparison, but you have substitutes to parrying, usually when the parry doesn't work. Recovery time on parry is indeed smaller, but I think it's doubtful that anywhere besides sekiro you need to do sometimes 10 parry in a row, like 10 rolls. Usually it's 1-3 and you're free

[@mikhailkalinin6536]

@@akeiri3296 Nah man, there is a visual indicator of when to do a mikiri, and there is only one direction to mikiri counter - Its forward. Positioning isn't nearly as important in sekiro, plus recovery time on block/parry is much faster than roll. Plus blocking reduces your stamina damage versus punishing it like in Souls. And delay attacks...They're a killer in Elden ring, but were there any in Sekiro? If so, parrying must have trivialized them for me. Also idk where other than DS1 you're free after 1 roll lol that would be nice.

[@camcoquyt6919]

My first souls game ever was Sekiro, quickly followed by Bloodborne! I beat Mergo and Lady Maria without realizing you could equip runes/rings 😢 I wouldn’t trade my perspective for anyone’s though!

[@don-lock]

Sekiro is my first as well. I absolutely love it but am kinda worried about if I will enjoy the others as much as if I had played them first since Sekiro is supposedly the hardest and that challenge is what I love most about it

[@Sandlund93]

I couldn't remember who Mergo is so I had to check it up. I think it was Dist who referred to her as Wet Nurse, so that's the name that stuck with me. Mergo is actually the baby and not the boss.

[@Sandlund93]

@@don-lock Sekiro was my first soulslike as well. Unless you count Fallen Order lol. And so far, Elden Ring, Bloodborne and Dark Souls have all been a letdown. I don't see the appeal of dodge simulators. So I'm not even hyped to try DS2, DS3 and DeS at this point. Once you've fallen in love with Sekiro's combat it's tough for any game to even compete.

[@don-lock]

can confirm, i tried DS1 and 2 recently for a bit and i miss the clang clang parry timing action. dodging is lame. Will probably try them more later. I have been playing Blasphemous 1 and now 2 and also Dead Cells. Lots of precise action and parry fun in those games @@Sandlund93

[@ProjectOrionGaming]

Great Video!

[@SharkyShocker]

I'm not sure how I should feel having beaten Sekiro but gave up on DS III Maybe I should go back and give it another shot.

[@xiphi7138]

As someone who played all the Souls starting with DS1 -> DS3 -> Elden Ring -> Sekiro -> DS2 -> Bloodborne, I think they're are two Souls games who are the hardest depending of context. Of course the first Souls game is the hardest, but I think Bloodborne is the hardest of all the Souls as a newcomer. The limited munitions and flasks can be so difficult to handle. I destroyed the game in 20 hours because I played many Souls game before, and still needed to farm Blood flasks and munitions, so I can't imagine my experience if BB was my first Souls. In the other hand, I think Sekiro is the hardest as a veteran because of how the gameplay is different. I got wrecked many times and I think it was the hardest to me because of that. I don't know if Elden Ring is considered hard even if you play without a broken build or summons. At the release it was definitely really hard, but now that much people know how to deal with the bosses by using the stance break mechanic, I think the game is not so hard. FS still need to show us this stance bar DS1 was my first experience so I got wrecked but the second part was a cakewalk in the comparaison. After beating the wall O&S, I feeled like there is some click

[@finlay701]

With both playing bloodborne and sekiro from scratch being my first and second ever soulsborne games. Bloodborne wasnt actually that difficult compared to sekiro. I spent months on sekiro constantly losing, until i finally mastered parrying Now the game is more forgiving because i have memorised every boss after countless defeats. I still believe bloodborne is easier though, didnt take me as long to get to the final boss and i beat him second try.

[@TheAwesomePal]

It’s so interesting to me that you ranked dark souls higher than I thought. For me it’d be easiest or second (haven’t played demon souls). It’s entirely because of the fact when I found a boss I found difficult I just put on heavy armor and threw out learning anything

[@chasemonk1682]

My list from Easiest to Heardest 7. Dark Souls 1 ●First ever play through was this October and I really enjoyed my time with it but I was never stuck in this game didn't find any real challenge from any of the bosses. 6. Demon Souls ●With the dark and light tendency thing without knowing about it that was a slight announce but unlike Dark Souls 1 there where a few bosses that I was genuinely stuck on. 5. Bloodborne ●After adjusting to the more aggressive nature of the combat I had blitzed through this one what puts this above Demon Souls for me was the fact that it's not very well optimized the game targets 30fps but it almost never hits that mark also the start of the game was a struggle. 4. Elden Ring ●Maybe because I have played other souls like this was not as hard as others I had played with the amount of builds available in this game is insane I loved the open world and the sheer amount of bosses to tackle my only real grip was if you missed a dungeon that was intended for a lower level it doesn't scale with you so when you back track and run through the dungeon it is a absolute breeze. 3. Dark Souls 3 ●After finishing Demon Souls (ps5) my roommate would not stop saying "you need to play Dark Souls 3" "Did you start Dark Souls 3 yet" and so on when I finally started it the game was a huge jump in terms of difficulty. 2. Sekiro ●I was dieing left right and center for regular mobs until I got down the perry system and a friend of mine told me don't play it like an action game it's actually a rhythm game in disguise however Isshin was an absolute nightmare 1. Dark Souls 2 (sotfs) ●I heated every second of this game I had to play it because it was the only game left in the series and I had to have it under my belt it was my buddies favorite Souls games and he gave me so much grief for not loving this game.

[@shahvirkhan5748]

Naww that can’t be right, heardest no way, bb is hard, Sekiro is hard, Elden ring is easjdgy 💀

[@slapyomomma8727]

I think i would agree with most of this. Sekiro is definitely the hardest, it’s the only one i never was able to complete

[@robertgolden1534]

Elden Ring feels like a greatest hits album.

[@dontknow452]

Sekiros linda weird since it comes off very hard at first, but once you realize how to game the parry system it becomes a joke. Hardest part for me was the two samurai guys right before isshin

[@tahireed]

That doesn't make sense. That's like saying all the other games are a joke once you learn how to dodge roll. Sekiro forces you to dodge grabs and sweeps so you can't just parry all the time. Literally all you have to do for the other games is dodge. Much easier.

[@dontknow452]

@@tahireed the way parry works is that you can overlap your parries while keeping an almost 100% uptime. This will break your posture if you keep fucking up, but it gives you a lot of leeway in learning attacks and timings until you get the perfect parry. Perilous attacks are usually a one and done kind of thing and after you see them a couple times you should never get hit by them. Except for the snake eyes gran that shit is annoying.

[@tahireed]

@@dontknow452 I guess I get what you are saying. Being able to take the hits without actually taking damage makes dealing with bosses easier. Agree for the most part with perilous attacks being easily avoided accept for a few bs grab attacks. Fair enough. I suppose it requires the most mastery but also has a very forgiving system.

[@delgrengo2135]

Owl (father), Demon of Hatred, and Ishiin were all harder than the bosses from any other game in the series. Yes, that includes Orphan of Kos, Slave Knight Gael, etc.

[@XxJackGriffinxX]

I completely agree with this and i dont see many people saying this. In other games you have to wait for an opening before attacking but in sekiro you can defeat almost anything without having to attack. Which in my opinion makes it a lot easier because for most enemies you can just spam L1 for most of the game and you’ll be fine

[@AmazingOwnage]

Sekiro was my first FromSoft game. I liked it so much I platinumed it. I tried to play DS3 afterwards and dropped it after getting to the first bonfire lol Not sure if it was fatigue or if I didn’t vibe with the slower, defensive combat, but I haven’t picked it back up since. Maybe I’ll try Bloodborne next.

[@Sandlund93]

If you like Sekiro enough to platinum it, then there is no way a dodge simulator will ever be able to top that. I know because I beat Sekiro 27 times lol. Even went on to complete Mortal Journey, which pushed me to try no charm+bell in playthrough 10. That's when I maxed out my attack power at 99. And I'm still considering more new game runs where I collect all prayer beads again, just for lols. Even if I did it like 5 times. Meanwhile, Elden Ring, Bloodborne and Dark Souls have all been a letdown. It's not that they are bad, it's that people hype them up like crazy.

[@AmazingOwnage]

@@Sandlund93 that’s a shame to hear tbh. I was hoping given enough time I’d come around or that at least the faster pace of Bloodborne’s combat would be good. Congrats on getting so good at Sekiro and finding enjoyment in the game after beating it so many times! That’s how I feel about DMC3, 4, and 5. The combat system is so deep and rewarding that I can’t help but to come back to them time and time again (even though there is a long learning period before I can “git good” again lol). The freedom of expression they offer players make combo videos modern works of art hahaha

[@Sandlund93]

@@AmazingOwnage You should try Bloodborne. Even if it's just circle and R1. It's my second favourite FromSoft game after Sekiro but I still expected more, because of how much people praise it. It's a weird one because it's really punishing in the beginning but by the end you're so powerful that nothing can touch you. I first tried the hardest boss in the game, which is considered Orphan. Granted, I was level 150 at the time, thanks to the Chalice Dungeons. But I didn't even have to bother with parrying, the starting weapon (I went with saw cleaver because it was in the cinematic) is just too OP. Even with simple R1 spamming every enemy. Interesting that you like DMC. I always thought about giving it a shot so when I did with DMC 5 I was... well, let's just say that I enjoyed the visuals and we can leave it at that. But I also found Red Dead Redemption 2 to be one of the most boring games I have ever played. So maybe I'm too based haha. At the end of the day you won't know if you like Bloodborne until you try it, maybe it will become a new favourite.

[@Him82826]

@@Sandlund93no boss is hard with one of the most OP weapons in the game along with being level 150 💀

[@Jet_extremis]

I just started playing Dark Souls for the first time (I know, I'm a heathen). It's surprisingly harder than I thought, though mainly due to the four way dodging. That and the remaster has weird hitboxes and huge invisible walls when trying to run past enemies. The controls and mechanics make it more difficult since they're a little archaic. I do agree that Demon's souls in the easiest. What makes it difficult is understanding world tendency and the stupid long runbacks. Bloodborne is tough, but the combat is so much fun that I sometimes don't notice the difficulty. Plus, parrying is so satisfying. But also Orphan of Kos exists. I will say Elden Ring gave me trouble, though mainly to bosses. Some world bosses, too. But traversing the world is surprisingly easy for me. But Malenia was the hardest boss I've ever gone against, especially with my build. Don't go after me when I say i haven't played DS2, DS3, or Sekiro. Here's my limited list from easiest to hardest IMO. 4. Demon's Souls 3. Elden Ring 2. Bloodborne 1. Dark Souls 1&2 can switch for me.

[@buenas1236]

I started playing these games in september last year, and I've played exactly the same ones as you so far lol. Well, in fact I just started elden ring, so I don't have an opinion on its difficulty yet. I think Dark Souls is the hardest, then Demon's Souls then Bloodborne. I'm going against the grain here, because I didn't like bloodborne much, thought it was too easy and that its combat lacked depth

[@Sandlund93]

Bloodborne is a pain until you hit like level 30. Then it becomes too easy, unless you go into the DLC. I did all the Chalice Dungeons first, so I was level 140 when I went into the DLC. I 2-tried Ludwig and Failures and first tried the other 3, including Orphan. But I could tell that he would have messed me up if I went there before the Chalice Dungeons. The fact that you can become so powerful in Bloodborne makes it so that even Lies of P is harder. I think any future soulslike will struggle to be more punishing than the first run of Sekiro, it has at least 6 bosses that are harder than Malenia, if you include the 3 Inner ones as separate from their base game counterparts. Because at the end of the day, there is only one build and no summons. Against Malenia, you have literally countless options at your disposal, I heard Tiche is nice. I went with int build and Mimic but that meant she was able to heal like crazy. That build made all the main bosses so easy that it was boring though, so I think it's safe to say that I'm done with summons and magic in soulslike. But they are still there as an option in Elden Ring, which makes it the easiest soulsborne. Like, how could it not? It even makes it one of the easiest soulslike, for Christ sake. People who think it's hard should rethink their build, that's all there is to it.

[@XSacredX27]

24:04 - My first ever soulsborne game is Bloodborne and im loving it. An easy way to farm up early blood vials as well as quick silver bullets is after unlocking the gate left of the Central Yharnam spawn point. Kill the guy down the stairs from the gate, then one more in the house. There's a gunner in the back who you can one shot with a heavy attack who drops 4 bullets. Going up the stairs there's two more enemies hiding in the darkness. Once you kill them, up the stairs from the second story door there's one more dude, and then you can kite the two beasts that lurk on the bridge into the door way where they cant reach you, and you can kill them both for a total of 6 vials. do this a few times and you're in business. If that's too much effort, if you go down another flight of stairs instead of going into that house, there's two of the big guys lurking there. killing them will give you 2 blood vials each. I spent hours in Central Yharnam farming to beat the Cleric beast and then consequently Father Gascoigne.

[@kasplat5874]

I recently tried playing The Surge and it has multiple issues that make it difficult compared to the FromSoftware games and unless you are playing an early unpatched version, you can't glitch your way to success. First of all, it is single player and there are no NPC helpers for boss fights. The bosses act as gates on progression, so even if you grind regular enemies and get the best possible gear before the area boss, you can't upgrade your armor or weapon above the current zone level. When you die, there is a timer for retrieving your currency; you can extend the timer by killing enemies, but then increase the risk of dying before you reach your "bloodstain." Except for bosses, you generally can't fight "unlocked" because the main mechanic in the game is targeting specific body parts. In addition, you need to use a different button than your basic light and strong attack buttons as a special finishing move to dismember enemy body parts. This can be quite annoying when you are having to deal with multiple enemies at once, which happens fairly frequently. The zones are literal mazes that require you to unlock multiple shortcuts to progress and anyone that is spatially challenged will probably fail or be hopelessly lost most of the game. Key pieces of gear are often tied to unique enemies, that once dead, don't respawn. These missables are sometimes available much later in the game, similar to Black Knight gear in Dark Souls, but other times, if you fail to get something, you're out of luck. The weapon types have proficiency as well as needing to upgrade individual weapons, so you end up needing to do a fair amount of grinding, especially when swapping weapon types after focusing on another for most of the game. Enemies hit hard, so even a tanky build isn't that tanky and even basic enemies can kill you pretty easily. BTW, if you decide to try it, then turn off the Medbay Music or you will hate the game before you even finish the first boss ;-)

[@Paul_McSeol]

Sekiro is totally the correct choice in my mind. The only game I was not able to beat. I finally just gave up, tossed the controller, and gave the game the middle finger. 🤷‍♂️

[@demondude665]

Go back. Finish. I believe in you.

[@aelalkaualmadias8502]

For me honestly Bloodborne has been the easiest SoulsBorne

[@robertoberto9385]

The healing system was a pain the ass, it removes a lot of replayability

[@aelalkaualmadias8502]

​@@robertoberto9385oh yeah I remember going into a chalice dungeon and over-farmed the blood vials 😂

[@debater452]

​@@aelalkaualmadias8502Or just cummmf and buy a few hundred

[@LoraLindemann]

I found Bloodborne way more difficult than Sekiro.

[@LuisSAS]

I always heard that Bloodborne was the most complicated from soft games, so me and my friends all started playing it simultaneously and we all agreed that we found it one of the easiest ones. The bosses are pretty mediocre and easy to learn, but that of course is our personal opinion. But still, i find it pretty funny that me and my friends all thought it was easy when everybody seems to think otherwise

[@MalzraAirwynn]

It's interesting to think of what criteria to even apply for 'hardest souls game.' Do you look at the average difficulty of all the bosses? Or do you single out the hardest moments/bosses? Do you count DLC and optional levels/bosses, or only the content required to hit the credits? Do you account for different scaling in new game plus? Do you assume fully knowledge of game systems or assume the player is going in blind? I feel like the same person could potentially come up with multiple lists depending on how you define the criteria, so a vibes based list is perfectly fine for this I think.

[@elevationblue]

Pretty good list...I'd agree with the placement of all of these pretty much 👍

[@Ricard1807o]

Thank you for pointing out the glaring issue I also have with dark souls 2 scholar enemy placements

[@darbycrash55]

Sekiro is a masterpiece. Anyone who has completed a playthrough was in awe at how the game felt at the beginning vs how it feels when you get to Sword Saint. It makes you feel how far you've come. It's the best feeling in gaming.

[@mrdemonictaco5879]

I agree. I just beat that game

[@daronofennell3474]

Lies of P is my favorite eldenshadowbourneliesofsouls game!

[@vide0gameCaster]

Apart from Demon Souls who is indeed the easiest souls game, I would have put Bloodborne in the second easier SoulsGame, the gun parry mechanic made the game a piece cake and the fact that you get an S-tier weapon (the saw cleaver) from the get-go, just allows you to roll throughout the rest of the game by spam staggering even bosses.

[@Bleachdemon88]

Interesting choice, you didn’t find the difficulty spike in the dlc substantial? I personally noticed it was a jump for me when I first started playing. The old hunter enemies are pretty vicious, as are the giant squid face church behemoths. The shark giants are harder than a lot of bosses I think and the bosses themselves are among the hardest in any from games (Lawrence and Ludwig I find hardest). Parry is a great mechanic but on huge enemies like Lawrence, Ludwig, Eberitis, it can’t really help. It’s great against Maria, OoK and the shadows of Yarnam

[@theultimatep1e40]

Basically you got this objectively right, except DS2 and ER, which csn really shift around when you put more importance on certain stuff

[@herohunter81]

18:34 I remember using the Bonfire ascetic before this area to get the Chloranthy Ring 2. It’s worth it but damn is this run hell each time. The enemies hit you at the fog gate. And the skeletons inside are no joke. Then the chariot!! You can get a different cut scene with the chariot somehow too.

[@fairytomb]

And where would you put the remake of Demon's Souls in the scale?

[@wildcard4358]

Maybe a hot take but in sekiro you can either stealth through tough areas, u can skip minibosses if you wanna sacrifice your max hp, you can spam most of the trashmobs, youre invincible during every deathblow and basically all you need to learn is to mikiri, prepare to parry when enemy hits a perfect parry and most of the time youre fine with spamming deflect, i dont think it is the hardest, i think its just different from the rest, it has a completely different aproach from DS or Elden ring therefore players expecting that combat system struggle more

[@lyuboslavsokolov3325]

Once he get a grip of parrying and mikiri countering also light countering you feel incredibly powerful. REally high skill ceiling but also high rewarding

[@err0rc0degames]

Your points on DS2 were spot on

[@drewbydoobydoo2918]

Most everyone I see rank ER as easy is a long-time souls player. I think knowing how to play a Fromsoft game going in makes a big difference on initial impression, which you can't forget when you go back to compare. Especially if you know where everything is and where to go already, the open world does make it easier. If you don't though, and you're a blind first-timer to FS games like I tried to be, you will likely get overwhelmed and potentially quit. It doesnt matter if you *can* go get awesome weapons/talismans/armor/smithing stones super early if you dont know how/where and you can barely get past the first soldier encampment. I knew I *could* go to other places, but I figured they would be even more impossible than what I was already struggling to do. The lack of quest tracking and very clear objective markers add to this struggle (I like it now, btw, but it was very foreign to me at first). I doubt ER is the hardest of course, but as a first time Soulslike player, I had tons of trouble in the legacy dungeons and minibosses. It only took me 6 tries to beat Malenia because I bullied her into a corner and repeatedly staggered her. The putrid avatar on the Halig Tree Brace (the one alone on the bridge) took me 30 tries (including rolling off the edge to my death more times than I'd like to admit). I almost quit ER starting out because it was so new and foreign to me, and I had no idea what to do. The easiest enemies were so hard to me. I had never played any game like it. I ended up using a guide to help figure out how to play the game and where to go and get good stuff. That made the game playable, albeit still hard asf. I then started working ahead and watching the guide to ensure I didn't miss stuff and for fun as well. In contrast, I started DS3 after. The opening was so much easier simply because I had some idea what to do. I knew roughly what combat was like, how to manage heals, etc. The game is very linear, which makes figuring out what to do so much easier. I learned how to explore areas, how to do combat, how to manage heals, etc in ER. The lower graphic fidelity makes it way easier for my eyes to see what is happening, and the clunkier animations allow me to see telegraphs and time perries/blocks/dodges more easily. To sum it up, I think ER being easy for a seasoned player makes perfect sense. I think for a blind first-timer, DS3 would be much easier starting out due to linearity and lower fidelity (although that may be because I now know what to do). I've heard many rate DS2 as the hardest, which makes sense from watching it be played. I've even see some people say Sekiro's style of of combat and general gameplay was easier for them than ER, BB, orDark Souls, so there is definitely a lot of individual gameplay style contributing to how easy or hard some of the games are. I'm excited to keep going in DS3. I wish I could try BB, but I am a lowly Xbox head. ER became my favorite game since in the last decade after 200+ hours on my first run. Tje wirld was just too beautiful amd the lore too interesting to quit on. I could not lay my foolish ambitions to rest.

[@joshuacoleman8814]

I think one of the things that most differentiates how difficult people felt the games were depends on how well you learned to parry..... or if you ever learned lol

[@stuartallen5649]

“You’re never going to have much of an issue with the levels” he says while showing the subterranean lobsters on screen 😂😂😂

[@buffhardback7595]

the way you figure out how to get to those areas is you read the description of the items you get and you explore the world

[@backlogbaldie]

Excellent video sir! I’ve made a lot of souls content recently and was planning a break but now obviously I need to play them all again and make my own list 😂 Liked and subbed 👍

[@griffinray938]

congratulations! this was my exact ranking. therefore, good video.

[@PYGMYSMASHER30]

I know it’s still the hardest in the series but the way you describe the difficulty in DS2SOTFS but then put BB above it is mind boggling to me, I played it for the first time recently beat it in 12 hours with DLC and only died about 20ish times, the gun parry is too strong and you’re not even required to worry about rally to heal since you’re given 20 blood vials and they always heal 40% of your health no matter how much health you have

[@Eckythump]

I agree with what you said about Dark Souls 3. That was my first foray into the Souls series. I then went back to Dark Souls 1 and found that a cake walk in comparison and 1 shot some of the toughest bosses the game throws at you. I'd switch DS3 and DS1's placement due to my experience.

[@shadowkeeper4179]

By far I’ve played both Elden Ring and sekiro. And I gotta say elden ring was harder most of the time since I didn’t even know summons and spirit ashes existed. The first few bosses in sekiro were brutal yes. But after genichiro the game felt like a satisfying flow state blade clash game. When you have mastered everything in sekiro I personally think it’s the easiest.

[@chico605]

im now playing ds2, its so painfull to play, from the fact that i keep losing hp when i die, to starting the game with 1 estusflask, or getting hit mid roll, and the fact that are few bonfires and tons of enemies. Getting pass "No Man's Wharf" was so fucking painfull i had 4 ADP and 2 estusflask and i was at 50% hp, i had to kill like 20 enemies and each enemy needed 3/4 hits to kill just to get to the thing to call the boat, after getting the shortcut to the boss fight it was fine, the fight just took me 4 tries, but getting there was just awfull.

[@jemharayuki]

Interesting - I would have said 3 is harder than 1 because I got stuck on the hard bosses in 3 a lot longer than I ever did in 1, but your reasons about the area difficulties and the navigation makes a lot of sense too! I love how it's so different for everyone~

[@sreeharipradeep]

ill be honest, in ds2 during my first playthrough, i was scared of running out of human effigies so i didnt use a single one until i beat the rotten, lost sinner and freja

[@khldwb1425]

It’s weird how extremely subjective this list can be, because I would easily switch Bloodborne and Elden Ring.

[@thesmallwoo2010]

Elden ring basically has a difficulty slider so that's why. From what I heard the creator is ranking it based on you using summons and spirit ashes as well as an op build

[@bluefingerz219]

such a good video

[@asomelord]

I'm nearing the end of my first playthrough of Elden Ring (Started with Bloodborne, then all 3 Dark Souls games +DLC). It's funny, but i like playing as a lone and stoic knight wandering the world and fighting whatever i come across... So you describing the no broken playstyles, no summons is exactly how i beat Malenia yesterday (and all previous bosses) and how I'm taking on the Beast Clergyman/Maliketh now. It's definitely a struggle as i get closer to the end

[@JohnnyLREACTS]

It's hard to top the Sekiro Boss fights which were out of this world. Some of the parry timing honestly was just muscle memory reaction taking over just so intense. Unlike any of the others agreed. That game needs a sequel.

[@idokisme]

it was my first souls game and i just beat it today 50 hours total. just knowing its the hardest outta the lot makes me happy.

[@nyrayegermangenson8160]

I personally, put ds1 up higher because of the reasons you mentioned, the wold building often puts you on cat walks constantly though the a very good chunk game and it's super easy to find yourself fighting on a "tightrope" and very quickly turns into a panic struggle to not fall off and die

[@evo.1803]

2:50 NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT ?

[@SkillIncarnate]

Theres just something about finishing a Souls Game... that immense satisfaction of overcoming overwhelming difficulty that you just cant get from any other game. I still remember the first time I defeated Mergo in Bloodborne. I was hooked from there on. With each game you complete you get a little better and can use the skills in other titles. Im attempting Sekiro next wish me luck