10 Gruelling Video Game Levels That Were Just The Beginning
6. Undead Burg - Dark Souls
Frankly I could have made half this list made up of levels from FromSoftware games, and only because they haven't made ten Soulsborne games yet, but for the sake of maintaining SOME creative integrity (not a lot, I mean I'm a writer on the internet for God's sake, but some) I managed to whittle it down to just one - the Undead Burg from Dark Souls.
While not the hardest level in the game, make no mistake, this is where you will become INTIMATELY familiar with Dark Souls' legendary difficulty. The Undead Burg can actually be considered a perfect introduction to how the game is going to work going forward: enemies hit hard, you must be on constant alert if you want to survive, and if you aren't a pyromancer... good luck.
All culminating in the first boss you actually have to think about in order to win, with the Taurus Demon fight requiring a lot of strategic usage of the environment around you in order to win. And while finally defeating it will feel so damn good, it takes one mere glance at the horizon around you to see just how much farther you still have to go.