Hardest Soulsborne game for the initiated?(not the first one you played)

For those who have played their fair amount of Soulsborne games, which is the hardest? First one you played isn't an answer. As your skill and knowledge stand now, which one is the most difficult?

I find Bloodborne to be the most difficult one. Simply for the fact that there is no shield. In the Souls games you can almost always cower behind your shield in case things get rough. In Bloodborne you can just run away and hope you don't get hit.

1. Bloodborne

2. Demon's Souls

3. Dark Souls

4. Dark Souls III

Don't care for Dark Souls II.

This goes to Bloodborne and second to Dark Souls 3. While the other games have harder points here and there such as Ornstein/Smough, I found that the methodical pace allowed me to be rewarded for being thoughtful and patient. In Bloodborne though that went right out the window, everything's really aggressive and you have to be thinking fast all the time. Personally I prefer the original pace of the games, but I can somewhat appreciate where they're at now.

But to be sure your hardest Souls game is always your first.

Played through Demons, Dark1, and Bloodborne.

Only played a bit of Dark2 and none of Dark3.

All I can say for sure is that Dark1 was the easiest of the three I played. Hate to give you the answer you don't want, but Demons being my first was obviously the hardest. I'd have to go replay it again to give you an honest answer between it and Bloodborne.

Yeah raising your shield saves your life 80% of the time in DkS and is usually the safest solution and your best bet to survival. Not being hasty and carefully coming up with a counter pays off.

In Bloodborne it's totally different. You gotta think really quick. Do I dodge and heal? Do I just strike back to regain some health? Do I attempt a charge attack to try and kill that beast? Enemies are mad quick and very aggressive so you have very little time to come up with something and often by the time you do, it's too late.

You should give DkS III a go. Pretty damn good game and the online last I played was booming on PC. I still rank it behind DkS and Bloodborne but on par with Demon's Souls but it's definitely worth playing. It's a lot better than DkS II in my books.

@Juub1990:

Oh yeah I'm sure it's great. I do intend on playing it eventually.

Right now it's just a mix of franchise fatigue and being too busy with other stuff, but when I get that itch for some Souls it'll be there.

Come to think of it, the only Souls game I played at release was Demons. Otherwise I'm always at least a year late to playing these games lol.

@Juub1990: Demons Souls

How is BB the hardest? The only hard part about this game is depth 5 cursed dungeons. BB was casualised to hell (just like DkS3 with a bonfire every 5 feet). The DLC was chellenging, tho. That's how the whole game should've been. Demon's Souls was the hardest, followed by DkS1. DkS2 was ONLY difficult if you were doing your first playthrough with Company of Champions covenant (which i did and it was great on the first PT). This is the list from hardest to easiest

• Demon's Souls
• Dark Souls 2 with Company of Champions covenant. If you aren't using the covenant, DkS1 is the 2nd hardest Souls game
• DkS1
• Bloodborne (playing with 99 insight, it made the game less facerolling)
• DkS3 the bonfire simulator.

Edit: the king of difficulty is Nioh, tho. Its harder than Demon's Souls and much harder than the rest of the Souls games.

I didn't play it long enough but I didn't exactly dig the gameplay of Nioh. I'll give it another go once the full version is out. Wasn't sold on the demo.

@ConanTheStoner I hear you. Franchise fatigue set in for a lot of people. Dark Souls II in 2014. Bloodborne in 2015. Dark Souls III in 2016. Been craving Hack-N-Slash games a lot lately which is why I'm just bulldozing through these games. I'll probably get fed up eventually but man what I wouldn't give for a Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma remaster. I need my challenging Hack-N-Slash fix lol. Shit's like a drug and at the moment I only got a PS4 Pro so Bloodborne is the only game that does it for me.

It was the first one I played, but after going back to it after playing all the other souls games I still think Demon's Souls is the hardest. I'd probably put Dark Souls 1 next, followed by Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne (Depth 5 Chalice Dungeons were harder than anything in Demon's though), and Dark Souls 2 is just trash.

There's a lot of depth in that game. It'll click with you when you'll begin understanding the depth that's offered. The combat system in that game is so damn good and the more you play it, the better you get with all the combos and stance swapping mid combo.

@Juub1990:

Yeah man, I can never get enough of a good beat em up. I still fire up Bayo 2 on occasion, and say what you will of the game itself, but the combat in DMC4: SE is dope as fvck. That game is worth owning for the Bloody Palace alone. I was playing the shit out of the PC version a few weeks back.

But Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 are still the ultimate satisfaction for me. I'd love to see either of those games get a re-release.

People keep talking up the difficulty in Nioh, but compared to a Master Ninja run in NGB or NG2?

Nioh, is challenging of course, but just sayin lol.

Of the Souls games, Dark Souls 2 (SotFS is the only version worth playing IMO and is the best in the series) has the best experience in terms of difficulty and scaling. With each new game, it changes the enemy placement along with the difficulty. It also has a covenant that makes it even more challenging, the Covenant of Champions. NG+7 Throne Watcher and Defender are just crazy in this game - unlike Ornstein and Smough who sort of take turns attacking you, they are on your ass the entire fight. Try it with Covenant of Champions.

Second hardest would be Demon's Souls. This one also changes with each new game up to NG++ and is already unforgiving to begin with.

Third hardest would be Bloodborne, but only in the beginning. The rest of the game is about as difficult as Dark Souls 1 which I would say is equal Bloodborne overall. Dark Souls 1 has a high concentration of the best boss fights in the entire series.

Least challenging is Dark Souls 3, which is actually very easy itself. The only things that make it difficult are the deep design flaws with the game - some of the enemies will plant their feet like they are preparing an attack, and then before the attack begins, they just slide on the ground and skate around attacking and it makes no sense. Once you get used to all of the wonkiness and garbage animations, the game system is pretty simple itself - just use a fast weapon and mash roll when you are being attacked and you are fine. The layout is also the same with every NG iteration, barring new items.

More challenging than all of these games is Nioh, which I am pumped for. I just saw that Horizon is getting a PS4 bundle. I think that Nioh should get a bundle and Sony should stop advertising all of these cinematic games they tend to focus on. Nioh is a return to when video games were difficult and rewarding.

Hardest is Demon's Souls. Try NG+; it laughs at NG+ in any of the Dark games. Also, black phantom salen vinland. lol

Second hardest is Bloodborne because of the chalice dungeons. One of the bosses just kills you in one hit on your first playthrough, so you must perfect/no miss him.

The rest are in order from hardest to easiest:

Dark2 (NG+ contains surprises like Demon's, but the game is a lot easier).
Dark (Once you've seen the tricks this game throws at you, they won't really challenge you ever again).
Dark3 (just hit the enemies first in this game and you'll have no trouble).

@mazuiface: There's no way Dark Souls 2 is the hardest. Not even with fume knight. I agree with most of that tho, esp the NiOh part :))

@X_CAPCOM_X: Fume Knight forces you to think hard, like, even on NG regular, there's no way to play this game like Dark Souls 3 against fume knight.

Demon's Souls was the hardest since it was the first I played.

The first few hours of Bloodborne gave me a lot of trouble, but after the Blood Starved Beast, it became the easiest in the series for me. Though Dark Souls 2 and 3 were fairly easy as well.

Try BB's Old Hunters on NG+. Ludwig is in a league of his own when it comes to rage quitting.

Demon Souls has been the hardest. Bloodborne has been the easiest.... but i havent played the DLC yet, ive been farming Echoes to level up before i even attempt it

Orphan is harder than any other boss in the soulsborne set.

"bloodborne is the easiest" he says as he's 3 times the level recommendation for sections.

Demons hardest since it was only for playstation gamers who are hardcorest. Once the franchise was opened to lems it had to be dumbed down to their level. TLHBO.

darks souls I was the hardest and it was the first one I played, But I think I made it hard on myself to start out as a mage and then levelled up mid game as a knight.

bloodborne was more difficult than ds II imo , but it was a much better game.

never played demon and ds III, this is not a series that you can milk imo.

Played demons souls, dark souls and a bit of dark souls 2 before I got fed up. Finished demons souls but with dark souls it's not possible for me to get passed the bit where you run up a ledge whilst having arrows shot at you. There is no one to summon to get passed this part of the game, and I must have spent hours trying to get up there but no matter what I do I get knocked off. It's a joke.. Game wasn't even hard, but that is just irritating.

What I like about dsI was the poise , and I've read it's like all broken, if it wasn't for that , I might have even started ds III.

It's not really a great achievement to be better than dsII though, that game was atrocious. It would be nice if it captured the magic of ds1 but after playing dsII and bloodborne I don't hink it's even possible.

Bloodborne is a great game though, and while you can see the obvious similarities with the souls games, it's still quite different imo, a bit like you would compare fallout and elder scrolls games.

haha i don't know or remember exactly what part of the game you're referring to but i'd like to see you rage in it rofl. when i hear people say that they are simply unable to get passed through a certain point, i simply don't get it. I mean, sure, the souls series are more difficult than playing Call of Dooty and most of the other mainstream trash but at the same time this is not Ninja Gaiden NES hard. Unless you're not paying attention while playing, the game isn't that hard.

I only played the main games in the series so for me its,

Dark Souls 3

Dark Souls- Artorias still kick my arse in NG+.

Dark Souls 2

Btw I found salt and sanctuary a lot harder than these games.

@silversix_:

Sorry realised I said dark souls 2, but it's dark souls. I believe it's anor londo. I don't know how much I raged but just felt like I was wasting my time and decided enough was enough ha. And I agree, it's not that hard at all, it's just that one tiny part of the game. Funny you mention Ninja Gaiden though as I am currently trying to finish that on my nes..

What the hell is wrong with this forum? I can't see what I'm writing... The message box keeps going grey (on phone)

I've played the first and third and the first was much harder for me, thanks to the level design I think. The third was more linear. Both are awesome games, though.

That's in Anor Londo and that part is indeed infuriating. Just keep your shield up and sprint towards the knight on the right ledge. With a bit of luck the other won't shoot you in the back and you can just parry the one in front of you and kick him off the ledge. While parrying you're invincible.

@Juub1990: ha yeah I've tried that but every time I get shot in the back, or end up falling off somehow. And there is no one to summon at the start to help me either. Funny thing is I got stuck at that point on the ps3 version and the PC version... I might try again later.

Bloodborne gave me the most trouble between it, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 3.

Nioh.

But for real though (unless we're talking about games 'like Dark Souls' then yeah Nioh), Probably Dark Souls 2.

Why?

1. You're in a constant state of being cursed. After you die and respawn, you're not 100% unless you use an Effigy.
2. Game Branches out like a Web. It's not as straight forward or actually apparent on which way you should go first. You could end up fighting one of the Dragon Riders before fighting the Last Giant if you're not too careful. So in other words, you can get lost pretty quickly in this game.
3. Enemies don't respawn after a certain point, so Grinding for Souls is not an Option for this game. You're FORCED to progress even though you're probably not prepared for it. Also because of this, you have to choose whether or not you want to buy an Item or a Piece of Armor, OR if you want to use your Souls to Level yourself up.
4. in Scholar, They fixed a Boss character called "The Pursuer" who is supposed to "Invade" you at random points in the game. So yeah, good luck fighting that guy every time he shows back up.
5. Of all the Dark Souls games I have played, I've encountered more Player Invasions in this one then the others. Yeah there's like that one spot in Dark Souls 3 and then you got the Forest in Dark Souls 1, but Dark Souls 2 it's like there's no end to these players. No matter where you're at you're gonna get invaded and it's gonna suck.

This is just a few things I can think of with MY experience with the game. Some people would probably read this and say "LOL look at this scrub!" but I feel like Dark Souls 2 is probably the hardest of the SoulsBorne games.

BB DLC (on NG+). I really struggled to defeat some of the bosses.

Haven't played Demon Souls or Bloodborne.

Dark Souls 3, 2 and 1 for me, scale down in difficulty in that order. I obviously had the most trouble with 1 seeing as that was my first game but that is the only reason. 3 is far and away more difficult than 1 for a lot of reasons. Shields are severely nerfed. I remember a good shield will carry you through most of the game. A fully upgraded weapon was also much more significant. Pyromancy didn't require stat investments. Parrying everything was A LOT easier. Monsters in general just didn't take as many swings to kill. NPC phantoms were far easier to kill.

This is a really big reason.... Dark Souls 1 was absolutely NOT linear at all. The other two games are, 3 more so than 2 but the point is 1 could take considerably less time, effort and as a result far less chance of screwing things up and dying on a speed rush to whatever weapon or spell you want for a particular character build. I could realistically make a new character on one night, play for a couple hours or something like that and have that character for the most part up and ready on the next day with whatever i wanted on it unless it was Sorcery or something from Dukes Archives. That just isn't possible with the other two, more linear games.

I feel like I cheesed my way through demon's souls something I didn't do in the others. So for easiest I pick demon's souls.

Hardest...hmmm...dark souls 2...but for all the wrong reasons. Swarms of enemies, bosses in the twos and threes. Hallways just littered with one enemy after another. Every souls borne game has a difficult or frustrating area...but I felt dark souls 2 had this everywhere.

I still love all the games but dark souls 2 is the most difficult of all the games.

I dunno. They're all pretty easy once you know what's up, or if you are progressing slowly and carefully through the first time. Most bosses have some sort of gimmick that makes them easy.

Honestly I think if we are talking about today, Demon's Souls is the most difficult because of the god-awful frame rate.

I've only played DS1 and Bloodborne, but I found Bloodborne to be easier

I only played Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3. I had more trouble with BB because it was my first game and so I grinded a bit here and there to survive the run. But I did prefer the rapid action where you stay far at first until you see what the ennemy can do and wait for an opening to use the gun or your weapon.

I found the shield in DS3 to greatly slow down the game since you get behind the shield hoping to survive and kill the thingy. There is also more weight in DS3 which can change the feel of the evasion and run.

I could help pc would be more convenient though. There are a couple ways of cheesing them if you have the right build/can't parry to save your life. have a bow shot them with poison arrows, magic build use Homing Soulmass, faith build use Wraith of the Gods, pyromancy requires no stats (besides attunement) and when it's fully upgraded it should one shot them! you roll to dodge arrows or you could use Force, and once you are close to them they will stop shooting at you. there's a bonfire in the room to the left once you get down.

steam raschel2010

I still have only completed Bloodborne once, but I'm over halfway through the NG+ and I've started on The Old Hunters for the first time.

The first time through Bloodborne, it's challenging and frustrating as hell. Once I overcame the Bloodstarved Beast, I didn't struggle as much throughout the rest of the game. In NG+, Yahar'gul has given me the most trouble--everything else has been decently challenging so far. Even the bosses I'm doing better against.

I'm working my way through Demon's Souls which is still a bit frustrating. Not too far in it. Stuck on the Flamelurker boss, though.

Collect the treasures and run past everything else. For the gank squad just lure them one by one to the door right next to the lamp(the shortcut). I did it and Yahar'ghul was nowhere near as challenging. In fact I was surprised how easy it was.

just using what resources and opportunities i have before me to my advantage ;)

A bit strange now that I think about it, the Souls games (and bloodborne) rank themselves according to release.

I find Demon's souls hardest, and Dark Souls 3 as the easiest. Which might have a lot to do with the faster possible player responce, and speed afforded to the player.

Some I would argue is due to level and trap design, Demon's could be downright cheap at times, and so could DS1. But those two I would call hardest, as you are far slowest, and has less help then the rest of the games, technical issues none withstanding (only in a souls game is lag a feature).

DS2 potentially has more frustrating bosses, but plenty of healing and items that makes sure that any penalties for failing getting very high, the level design changes in DS2 as well, going for simpler, more "gaming levels" and less "deathtrap because I hate you"

Bloodborne and DS3, I find easiest, which is very tightly linked with the movement speed you have. Gone are cumbersome advancements, as we have characters WAYS more agile. Bloodborne lacks shield, but stuns with firearm instead, and a good steady supply of vails, and I found the damage the player can dole out is far higher then the souls games. Technical issues are likely the hardest and most painful part of Bloodborne to this day (blight town level of jank). DS3, while lacking armor upgrades (and almost pointless armor), allows for shield, a good helping of Estus flasks, and a pacing that is closer to Bloodborne then any of the other souls games. Also bosses are much easier (well Frida is a right pain, but otherwise)

So in order of difficulty: Demon's souls ->Dark souls 1 -> Dark Souls 2 -> bloodborne -> Dark souls 3

@locus-solus: thanks a lot, I will give this a go. I haven't played the game in a very long time though, might be tough picking it up again.. But I'll see how I get on!

People who say bloodborne is easiest just don't realize how easy dark souls 1 actually is.

Go back and play it, it was hard cuz you played it first.

Audio cues are a big thing with Soul games when you can't have the camera looking at potential threats. The Greatbows those Silver Knights use are VERY loud, with a distinct, separate sound for both firing the arrow and once it strikes an object. That can help you possibly time a roll to evade an arrow shot at your back when you can't see it. But honestly, an arrow shot at your back shouldn't knock you off the ledge because if i remember right, it was a straight run up the archway followed by a right turn at the ledge running straight along the wall. Even if you get hit by an arrow at that point, the angle would knock you either into the wall or just straight along the path, not off the edge. I remember the relatively open area at the bottom of that with the Gargoyles was far more dangerous to me than further up with just the Knights. That is a spot where the arrows can barely reach you and you have to fight the Gargoyles.

Arrows can actually easily knock you off the ledge.

None of them are that hard. But in terms of difficulty

Dark Souls 2>Dark Souls 1 > Demons Souls.

The structure of Demons Souls, Overpowered spells, and absurdly predictable AI, made Demons souls an absolute walk in the park.

I had more trouble with super mario galaxy and pokemon than I had with Demons Souls. That game was insultingly easy. Didnt even get close to dying even once on my second playthrough. Cleared bosses without getting hit even once. Had so many healing items, I had to deposit some because I was getting overburdened by them.

@Juub1990:

Hmm ok. Its been a while since i played so i suppose i could be mistaken. I do remember catching a shot in the back many times on that ledge but it always just knocked me down and forward, which would still leave me on the ledge. Of course i did go flying off that ledge on several occasions but that was always from trying to fight the Silver Knight standing directly in front of me. Until i learned two things.

1. How to reliably parry Silver Knights.

2. I could just run right around the Knight despite how little space there is.

The only way an arrow would send me plummeting to my death was if it struck me off that narrow archway bridge thingy leading up to the ledge on the wall but it was relatively easy to roll through those.

Sure, NG is pretty simple in Demon's souls. Try NG+ or higher in Demon's souls. It doesn't even matter how many healing items you have then.