10 Most MADDENING Bosses In SoulsBorne Games

Now this is a surprise.

As you likely noticed, the much-anticipated Shadow of the Erdtree finally dropped on June 21st. Yet rather than the unanimous praise many expected for FromSoftware's latest, the reaction from gamers has been surprisingly mixed (literally, in the case of the game's overall Steam rating). Many of the complaints stem from Shadow of the Erdtree's punishingly high difficulty as, despite coming out two years after the base game, the DLC brooks no quarter for those whose skills have grown rusty in the intervening period. Erdtree starts out hard, and finishes with the stiffest challenge in SoulBorne history.

To be fair, we should probably have seen this coming. After all, FromSoftware have a long and storied history of casting their customers into the pits of madness.

This list will take a look at ten bosses from the delightfully portmanteaued SoulsBorne series (so no Armored Core 6 - sorry, CEL 240 lovers/haters). Each boss has been chosen specifically for its ability to drive the player into a frenzy that would have the average C'thulu cultist say "Dude, chill", whether it be from a ludicrously high level of challenge, bad design, or unfair mechanics.

And to start us off, let's take a look at the man of the hour...

Picture the scene:

You've just paid £35/$40 for Shadow of the Erdtree. You've gone through dozens of hours of high-stress combat in the base game just to reach the area where the DLC begins. You've jumped through every hoop and are ready to explore the Lands of Shadow. You take your first tentative, trembling steps into a whole new world...

And then a homocidal knight charges in and one-shots you into oblivion.

"You buffoon. You dolt. You blundering, oafish poltroon of a human. You dare - you dare - think that just because you paid money, just because you passed every test we set you, you can simply wander in to the Lands of Shadow and enjoy yourself? You scum. You worm. You snivelling little excrement. Get down on your knees, lick our armored boots, and PRAY FOR MERCY THAT SHALL NEVER BE GRANTED!"

Now, obviously there's no way of knowing if this meme-inspired rant was actually going through the mind of whoever designed the Blackgaol Knight. But that's the impression given by Shadow of the Erdtree's brutal introduction into its world. Simply even reaching the DLC's start point is a feat in itself, yet having done so your first experience in the Lands of Shadow will likely be a chastening, knight-assisted annihilation.

It's enough to make you feel like developers FromSoftware made a concerted attempt to break their fanbase as quickly as possible. And given how many negative Steam reviews mention the Blackgaol Knight by name, it's safe to say they succeeded.