15 Most Brutally Hard Video Game Moments Of The Decade (So Far)

8. Pontiff Sulyvahn - Dark Souls III

Back to Dark Souls, and tackling Pontiff Sulyvahn was one of those fights that fans love to talk about.

You've got your huge, gaping hallway of a battle arena. An imposing, almost ethereal figure at the other end, readying a whopping great weapon, and just... waiting for it all to kick off. You know Pontiff will trigger the second you get close enough - and it's here where Sulyvahn lures many players into a false sense of security.

The first half of this duel plays out like you'd expect: Large arching swings countered with obvious parry windows or well-timed dodges. But the second half... that's when Pontiff essentially splits in two, creating a clone that doubles up on his attacks, alongside connoting that dreadful Ornstein & Smough fight from Dark Souls I.

And if there's anything that strikes at the core of a Souls player's very fibre of being, it's remembering that godawful battle against one of the most infuriatingly coded bosses of all time...

Eesh.