10 Most Brutally Hard Levels In Dark Souls History

3. Lothric Castle/Grand Archives

Lothric Castle proper is primed as an end-game area reserved only for the mightiest of Ashen Ones to tackle, and bringing anything but your A-game when exploring its upper echelons will result in nothing but misery and despair.

The bulk of the castle's armed forces are nothing you haven't already encountered, battled and sent to the grave countless times before, but these noble Lothric Knights, dregs and other nasties have had their damage and health boosted to such insane heights that taking a single hit from anything will immediately slice your own in half, if not more.

The rulebook on how many enemies you're expected to tussle with in any given engagement goes right out the window, too. By the time you've reached the grand bridge that joins the throne room and castle together, exhausted and out of Estus as you are, From Soft has long since thrown caution to the wind and littered it with a literal army's worth of enemies.

If you want a meeting with the final Lord of Cinder, you'll have to earn it.