Ranking the Soulsborne Games by Difficulty!

Hey all, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone tuning in to this video. It's a very personal topic for anyone attempting to rank it - My experiences won't match yours, and that's okay. Loving all the good-hearted debates in the comments, and I appreciate all of your support. It's my most viewed video on my channel, and doesn't seem to be slowing down. So if you're interested in more Soulsborne stuff, I've got a whole playlist's worth! Consider subbing, we're trying to reach 20,000 by Summer!

The hardest souls game is your first souls game

sekiro was my first ever souls game- it was beyond brutal, and still my favorite game of all time by a mile

Sekiro is a weird one because up until Genichiro it was easily the hardest FromSoft game I played. But that was the moment it clicked for me and it became a completely different beast. Once you gitgud it becomes an absolute blast.

Even now bloodborne is my favorite in the series. Fun bosses, each weapon feels fun and unique. That’s why I love its quality over quantity for weapons. Also it was my first souls experience and it was amazing.

I think Elden Ring is always going to be difficult to rank difficulty on because, in strict inverse to Sekiro, it has staggering levels of player choice in terms of build and playstyle that will dramatically affect difficulty to a point that it can be considered very honestly for any spot on this list, and figuring out how to get the "average difficulty" from all that variance is tricky!

The hardest Souls game is your first Souls game. That being said, Sekiro is the most difficult to brute force without the requisite combat skills

That's a solid list, from my pov (having played all but DS2 and 3) Elden Ring was the one I had a smoother time with. It is huge compared to the rest and you have the opportunity to explore and do something else if you've reached a wall. Also, some mechanics make it easier (ashes of war, spirits, etc) shall you choose to use them. In Bloodborne and Sekiro, once you learn the parrying system it makes combat much more forgiving, which is what I like about em: you master it, you're rewarded; you don't, you're punished.

This was such an amazing breakdown! It's a well-worn topic but you raised so many great points that it felt fresh. The DS3 placement and the DS1 discussion was particularly fascinating because I would have reversed them but you make a great case.

Elden Ring having the crimson/cerulean tear scarabs, and open world clusters of enemies likewise refilling your flasks were cool ways of maintaining Bloodborne's style of getting back healing as you explore without all of the drawbacks of healing being a consumable item.

I think the summoning in Elden ring not raising the bosses HP make it objectively not the hardest in addition to being able to over level so easily but Melania, pre nerfed radhan, the black blade, and the final bosses in general are so impressive and challenging.

I remember going to Sekiro for the first time. Sengoku era Japanese drama is grizzled warrior defending sweet baby boy? Sounds awesome. Then I encountered the raw difficulty, and I was floored. How do they expect you to win? How is this even possible? And every fight harder than the next? How does anyone defeat Genichiro? He's impossible! And then it happened. It clicked. I learned. It's like a secret lever was left in my brain since birth, and once I realized how the game wanted me to play it, the entire game felt like this beautiful dance. What were the most brutal, unfair combats I had seen in any souls game turned into this weird, rhythmic trance state that makes you move like a shinobi. It was wild. I went on to 100% the game. I almost never 100% complete a game. It was inarguably one of the most fulfilling gaming experiences I've ever had. It's truly an impressive work of game design.

Hey all, I'm pretty busy over the upcoming weeks, so I won't have as much time to interact down here right now, but I'd just like to stress that this video specifically is about my PERSONAL experience with each Soulsborne game - Difficulty is subjective, there is no wrong answer, I'm just sharing how I find these games easiest to hardest from my playthroughs. Please feel free to share your own personal rankings and experiences down below, and please be respectful of each other. I know when the games themselves get ranked for whatever reason, people get VERY heated.

I think Elden Ring can be summed up as, “You basically have a difficulty slider in this game”. My first play through I used all the Items and summons i could, i made it as easy as possible but then on my 2-4th play throughs I tried harder builds, without summons, and didn’t cheese any bosses (even the horrid duo) and i must say it was pretty hard that way. But it really just depends from player to player.

Having only played through each game once this is my exact ranking myself. Sekiro is hard to get in tune with but it turned out to be my favorite! Each boss was just another ceiling to my skill level. The final ishin destroyed me so much but when I finally beat him you'd have argued I was a pro. I love the natural growth vs Elden Ring being as difficult as you make it.

Binged a ton of your videos today, fantastic work! Love em

I love that you brought up your DS2 build. I always wondered why in nearly every clip you use of DS2 gameplay, you are always using a big club.....until I tried it myself. Flattening enemies with a big bonker is so damn satisfying and will always be my go to main weapon from now on. I also like keeping a raw rapier on the side because the quick stabs+low stamina cost just melts through boss health bars

Thank you for all the work you put in. You been getting me through the day lately.

Great breakdown really! I think you did a fine job with this video. I agree 100% with the list :D

the algorithm sent me here and I'm happy it did! very enjoyable content, subbed!