I beat all the Souls games this year, including Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro. I had originally played Demon’s Souls in 2011, at the insistence of a coworker who loaned it to me. I got through around half of it and returned it to him because I didn’t really click with it. Even worse was my experience with Bloodborne back when it was released; I didn’t even beat the second boss. But in early 2019 I was going through the games I already owned and decided to give Demon’s Souls another shot and had fun this time. So I picked up Sekiro when it came out and loved it so much I did 4 playthroughs to get all the endings and trophies.
The first game I decided to dive into during the pandemic was Bloodborne. I don’t really know why, but again I had a great time and chased down all the trophies, doing multiple playthroughs with different builds. Then I played Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. I was playing the Demon’s Souls remake when I realized that if I just also got through Dark Souls 3 and did a replay of Sekiro I would have beat all the games this year, so I set out to do just that.
With all that knowledge, what follows is my ranking of the Souls games by various factors, and some thoughts on why.
Combat (minus bosses)
- Sekiro
- Bloodborne
- Dark Souls 3
- Dark Souls
- Demon’s Souls
- Dark Souls 2
Generally speaking the proper Souls games combat isn’t that engaging. The skills you have available to you are largely static from the beginning of the game to the end. Even magic-based builds are predominantly executed with weapon attacks and spells may just be your opening attack. Dark Souls 3 is ranked higher from the addition of the weapon arts and Dark Souls 2 is lower because the lack of enemy diversity (a higher percentage of the enemies are “guys in armor”) further restricts the variability. Bloodborne’s weapon transformations are more interesting and fun than the other games’ option of being able to 2-hand your weapon and the parrying feature is more fun and easier to do and Sekiro’s combat wins for having the most variance and for evolving over the course of the game.
Bosses
- Sekiro
- Dark Souls 3
- Bloodborne
- Demon’s Souls
- Dark Souls
- Dark Souls 2
Dark Souls 2 loses here because the bosses generally aren’t fun to fight, nor are they spectacular in their presentation and it also loses LOTS of points for the Ruin Sentinels and because my magic build completely trivialized the final boss. Demon’s Souls comes out on top here because while the combat in the bottom 3 games is basically equivalent, Demon’s Souls bosses are more puzzly in a way that makes them fun to figure out. Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 were very close for me and it was a tough choice, but I went with Dark Souls 3 because the presentation and production value on them was so frequently amazing. Sekiro again comes out on top, but that’s no surprise as Sekiro sacrificed customizable character builds so players would have a consistent set of skills that could be designed around.
Character Growth/Progression
- Bloodborne
- Dark Souls 3
- Demon’s Souls
- Dark Souls 2
- Dark Souls
- Sekiro
The proper Souls games land in the middle here because their systems are mostly the same, but Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 land lower for me because you can also upgrade your armor. This redirects upgrade materials from weapons and shields and locks you into the armor that you’ve upgraded, making it harder for you to experiment with different armors and weapons. Sekiro lands at the bottom because it doesn’t really have nearly as much in the way of character customizability and progression. Bloodborne lands highest for me because it simplifies the stats you can level up and removes things like equip load that get in the way of fashion and replacing the Infusion system with the Gem system makes playing around with different weapons a lot easier and less punishing.
Level Design
- Dark Souls
- Dark Souls 3
- Sekiro
- Bloodborne
- Dark Souls 2
- Demon’s Souls
This relates to the more mechanical aspects of the game’s world. Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, and Bloodborne are all pretty equivalent for me in the middle. Demon’s Souls loses for its laid-bare linearity and Dark Souls 2 comes in second for it’s straightforward wheel-and-spoke design. Dark Souls comes out on top for it’s very vertical, highly interconnected world that delights you finding new ways to get to places.
World Design
- Sekiro
- Demon’s Souls
- Dark Souls 3
- Dark Souls
- Dark Souls 2
- Bloodborne
This comprises the look and feel of the world. How interesting are the environments to be in? This was the hardest category by far. The only comments I really have are that each of Demon’s Souls’ areas are distinctly visually interesting in a way that I truly loved and that Sekiro’s environments were also diverse and delightful. Dark Souls 2 lands above Bloodborne because I just love Majula so much and Bloodborne’s environments are a bit bland.
Lore
- Dark Souls
- Dark Souls 3
- Bloodborne
- Dark Souls 2
- Sekiro
- Demon’s Souls
Lore is about the setting and world the game takes place in and is separate from the story and the events of the game itself. The disparate zones of Demon’s Souls, while they each may have their own history and details, don’t come together and form a full, interesting picture like in the other games. Sekiro lands lower on this scale because this game is more about what your character does and what is happening during the game, as opposed to before the game. The top four are fairly close in my mind but Dark Souls wins for being the closest to the important events of that universe and Dark Souls 2, while still interesting suffers a bit for feeling so disconnected from the rest of the series.
Story
- Sekiro
- Dark Souls 3
- Dark Souls
- Dark Souls 2
- Bloodborne
- Demon’s Souls
Story is about what happens during the game, the character you play, and the characters you interact with. Sekiro wins here because it’s the one game that’s really more focused on the present than the past and has specific player character that a story can be better built around. Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls are at the bottom because it’s hard to feel many of your actions having an impact on the world. The questlines in the Dark Souls games are what really elevate them here. Though Dark Souls 2 lands above Bloodborne for Nashandra, Vendrick, and Aldia.
Personal Overall Ranking
- Bloodborne
- Sekiro
- Dark Souls 3
- Demon’s Souls
- Dark Souls
- Dark Souls 2
Dark Souls 2
Despite what is may seem, I don’t hate Dark Souls 2. I had a fun enough time playing it and I think it’s an alright game. But it doesn’t have any exceptional qualities that make me want to play it over any other game. But I do think the story of Vendrick, Nashandra, and Aldia is really interesting.
Dark Souls
Dark Souls’ world is so compelling. Going from the Undead Burg, down to the lower Undead Burg, lower into The Depths, then Blighttown, then the swamp below Blighttown, getting lost and finding my way inside a gigantic tree, going even further down its hollow trunk and finding the Ash Lake at the bottom of it all is one my top gaming moments of this year. Every time I went on a long journey and found it connected to a place I had been before was a delight. Still though, the combat is rather weak.
Demon’s Souls
Although Demon’s Souls world lacks the interesting layout of Dark Souls, I think its progression systems are better and the bosses are far more interesting and the look and feel of the levels is so varied and beautiful. Much gets improved for the later games, but Demon’s Souls has an something to it that elevates it above the others.
Dark Souls 3
Although the combat mechanics are largely the same, the pace and feel of the combat is much higher and closer to Bloodborne than the other Dark Souls games. The improvement of the progression systems, the weapon arts, and the reintroduction of FP (instead of each spell having a specific number of times it can be cast) really elevate the combat. Combine that with the world and story and it’s a really great game. The production value put into a lot of the boss battles is breathtaking. This was my favorite of the traditional Souls games by far.
Sekiro
Choosing between Sekiro and Bloodborne was really hard for me but ultimately I decided to put Sekiro second. The combat in this game is top notch and the story and world are absolutely great. I really don’t have any complaints about this game, except for the Headless Ape boss fight. The parry and deathblow system does an amazing job of making you feel amazing when you beat a boss, miniboss, or even a regular enemy.
Bloodborne
Ultimately Bloodborne comes out on top for me for nailing a balance between having excellent combat and bosses while still having character customization, online coop, and PVP. All this makes it the game I most want to play again. Every weapon feels distinct and interesting and lends the game a different pace and feel and if I didn’t have other games that I feel I should play, I would dive right back in.
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I think these games appealed to me this year because they could offer me a sense of growth and accomplishment that, even early on, I sensed would be missing. Facing a challenge, learning how to approach it, and overcoming it is the pattern these games present to you better than many others. But also, they’re something that’s loomed large in the gaming landscape for a long time and I wanted to understand them better. Coming out the other end of all of this I’ve become the person who is waiting to hear more about Elden Ring while I also hope for sequels to Bloodborne and Sekiro in the future. I would have expected Sekiro to get DLC but it’s a bit late for that at this point, and I’m not really holding my breath for a Bloodborne sequel but would be out-of-my-mind excited if one were announced.
One big takeaway I have about the series as a whole, save Sekiro, is that while besting a challenge on your own is very rewarding, summoning help and working with someone else (or being the person helping someone else) is also incredibly fun, and the toxic, macho attitude about “getting good” isn’t the best way to have fun. Some bosses practically seem like you’re supposed to summon help, like those where you’re fighting multiple enemies. Summon help. Look up their weaknesses online. Don’t trick yourself into thinking you have to do everything by yourself. I like to overcome a difficult challenge, but recognizing when I was no longer having fun and whatever joy I’d receive would be from relief instead of accomplishment was a valuable thing to learn.
Thank you for reading this. I’ll leave you with my two favorite quotes from Demon’s Souls
“You have a heart of gold. Don’t let them take it from you.” — Stockpile Thomas
“Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended.” — Maiden in Black
