A strange entry sure, but ask any intrepid Souls player what makes the games so alluring, and aside from tackling the infuriating boss characters themselves, it's the challenge of battling through and surviving the heinous world itself that allows for a sensation of incremental progression where every new checkpoint is a huge personal victory. Cases in point? Firstly a certain stretch at the opening of the game where you'll trepidatiously venture forward only for a rather large dragon to torch you to cinders - all happening straight after you've beaten one of the first bosses in the game, minus a checkpoint. Second is a godawful place called Blighttown, somewhere that apart from being a giant bog infested with creatures that'll hone-in on your position alongside larger ones that'll have your eyelids for breakfast, was an absolute mess to play through on consoles thanks to a horrific flip-book feeling frame rate. Dark Souls may have the monopoly on frustration through its larger encounters alone, but getting to them is just as much a feat of endurance in the first place.
