10 Times Souls Games That Tricked You

Australian Cinephile

Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring - masters of trolling you to death.

Transcript

00:00Okay, we seriously need to get a handle on what we're calling the burgeoning Souls genre.

00:04Souls games, Soulsborne games, Soulsborne Kiro, I heard at one point, Souls-likes?

00:09The success of this video going with Souls games will tell you whether I got it right or not.

00:14Anyway, From Software's acclaimed selection of titles ranging from the Demons and Dark Souls games,

00:18Bloodborne, Sekiro, and now Elden Ring are ludicrously popular.

00:22However, if these games are recognised for anything, it's brutal difficulty.

00:26Straight up, being dicked on is just something you have to put up with in these games.

00:30I'm Scott from WhatCulture.com and these are 10 times Souls games brutally tricked you.

00:3610. Following the Rainbow Stones

00:38Elden Ring

00:39When legendary dickbag Patches made his triumphant return in Elden Ring,

00:43having screwed us over across the Souls series and Bloodborne beforehand, he'd only got more inventive.

00:49In the Mount Gelmir region, players can spot a friendly note from Patches informing them

00:53that there's some treasure at the end of a trail of brightly lit coloured stones.

00:57Unsurprisingly, this was another trap.

01:00When players reach the end of the trail, which stops at the edge of a cliff,

01:03Patches will appear, goad you for your greed, and then kick you straight off the edge.

01:07What makes this trap extra cruel is players will land in the middle of a group of Basilisks,

01:12every Souls player's worst nightmare, as you're then promptly killed by a supremely gruesome curse.

01:18Thanks, Miyazaki!

01:199. Sen's Fortress Lift Trap

01:22Dark Souls

01:23Located across a bridge near friendly blacksmith Andre in the Undead Parish,

01:27and accessible only after ringing two bells,

01:30Sen's Fortress is a supremely unfun funhouse comprised exclusively of traps.

01:35There are pendulums swinging over narrow walkways, pressure plates that shoot arrows,

01:39a boulder rolling down the main staircase, and plenty of pitfalls.

01:42Even your first encounter with a mimic isn't as deviously cruel as a lift found next to it.

01:47In Dark Souls, the discovery of a lift means finding a path forward or a vital shortcut.

01:52However, this lift is splattered in blood, warning you there's some foul play about to go on.

01:57While this lift will take players to the floor above, loitering for a second too long triggers

02:02another mechanism that flings you into an unavoidable spike trap.

02:06Cheers, hit attacker!

02:078. That item in Irithyll Dungeon

02:10Dark Souls 3

02:11When it comes to terrifying Dark Souls areas, it doesn't get much more oppressive than this

02:16particularly dank dungeon. Namely, thanks to the horrifying jailers who have a nasty ability

02:21of shrinking your health bar. Still, From Software have more tricks in store for you beforehand.

02:26On entering the initial part of this area, players have the brief chance to explore some

02:30empty cells. In one of these cells is a glowing item lying by a corpse just begging to be collected.

02:35Now, at this point, you'll be well-versed in detecting signs of an ambush, and there are

02:39indeed no enemies. However, picking up the item when all seems safe triggers one of the

02:44only scripted jump scares in the entire series. A blood-curdling scream catching you off guard

02:49and setting the tone for the rest of the section.

02:56Again, thanks Miyazaki! I mean look, I'm just gonna say that future thanks go without saying,

03:01because I'll end up doing this every single time.

03:04Number 7. Meeting the Pursuer

03:06Dark Souls 2

03:07Coming up against brutal boss battles is all part of a Soulsborne Kiro-like experience,

03:12though these games are typically kind enough to warn you that one is coming, with either a wall of

03:17fog leading to the boss area, or having a large open area clearly made for a suitably large creature

03:22to fill. Clearly then, the Pursuer in Dark Souls 2 didn't get the memo. A hulking knight with a sword as

03:28massive as the damage it deals, this boss just drops in without any warning after you've climbed a

03:33ladder near the beginning of the game. One of the many indicators that Souls games couldn't care less

03:37about the rules they attempt to live by otherwise, you'll promptly be beaten to a pulp.

03:43Number 6. The Sewer Centipedes

03:45Dark Souls 3

03:46Hands down the enemy that freaked me out so much I actually had to spin my character around and just

03:51keep running away. Enemy ambushes are common in Souls games, but full-on nightmarish spider-limb

03:57things leaping at you from nowhere, that was just a big ol' nope. Located in the waters surrounding

04:02Irithyll, when setting foot in this area, you'll notice what looks to be the corpses of women

04:07floating in the shallow water. Bleak imagery like this is nothing new for Dark Souls, so naturally

04:11you get a little closer. Turns out this fake body look was precisely to lure you in, and now there's

04:17a huge centipede leaping straight at your face. Often found in groups, these creepy crawlies can easily

04:23overwhelm the unexpected, chomping your head off with razor-sharp teeth where their chest is supposed

04:28to be.

04:29Number 5. The Doors of Faros

04:31Dark Souls 2

04:32One of the new additions introduced in Dark Souls 2 were Faros Lockstones. These limited items are

04:37small stones which, as their description informs, were created by a traveller named Faros the

04:42Vagabond, and they're used to unlock his contraptions. These locks are scattered throughout

04:46Dark Souls 2, and provide players with some useful benefits such as revealing secret passages,

04:51illuminating dark areas, or regenerating health with a rejuvenating pool of water.

04:55When you eventually reach an area called the Doors of Faros, you'll be wondering what secrets

04:59can be found, especially as some huge doors require three stones to open.

05:04Turns out though that Faros was also a bit of a dick. Many of the locks either spring a trap or

05:09release enemies into the vicinity. Opening those doors even frees the formidable hulking Mastodon

05:14God, which will then become your newest nightmare.

05:16Number 4. The Flying Nightjar

05:19Shadows Die Twice

05:21The memes and reactions to this thing were legendary. Nothing less than Miyazaki thinking,

05:26hey, why don't we have a yelling NPC fly out the sky and just kill the player? It produced one of

05:32FromSoft's best and funniest trolls ever. Located near the roof of the heavily guarded Ashina Castle,

05:38you're already sneaking around a group of Nightjar ninjas, all lying in wait. Even if you've evaded

05:43everyone while emerging on top, an excited cheer is heard in the distance, as one remaining Nightjar

05:48swoops down through the air to wipe you out. Brilliantly, once you know this is coming,

05:52you can actually look out for the enemy hanging on a kite in midair, waiting for their time to strike.

05:58Number 3. The Log Trap

06:00Bloodborne

06:01Like with the Nightjar ninja, in Souls games, once you know what or where a trap is, you'll be more

06:06equipped to deal with it next time round. Well, Bloodborne's Forbidden Woods decided to F with that

06:11assumption too. Whilst exploring this creepy forest, players will come across a pathway which harbors

06:16a nasty surprise in the form of a spiked log that swings down, flattening you in the process.

06:21Knowing it's coming next time, you'll instinctively roll back to a void. Brilliantly though, once you're

06:26out the way, that same log breaks off and just comes for you anyway regardless of where you're

06:30standing, flattening you all over again. Number 2. Almost everything in Undead Burg

06:36Dark Souls. Back in 2011, Hidetaka Miyazaki wrote his intentions large in the original Dark Souls,

06:42not caring one jot that players could end up wandering into the much harder Catacombs area

06:47before realising the path to the lower leveled Undead Burg was behind them the entire time.

06:52Still, Undead Burg is a crash course in what to expect from the rest of the game, with surprise

06:56ambushes, tough enemies meant to be tackled later, and a massive fire-breathing dragon blocking a bridge,

07:02but not before toasting you from above in a way that you just could never see coming.

07:06One additionally devilish trick that pushed a lot of Rage Quitters to the edge, comes from a small

07:11horde of enemies gathered near a set of stairs leading up. Going up yourself, assuming those

07:15enemies must be the challenge at the bottom and you're now safe, only sees another hollow push a

07:20flaming barrel towards you, wiping you out anyway. Yep, this entire genre is like being in the most

07:25high-budget Mario Maker level ever.

07:271. Transporter Chest, Elden Ring

07:31Even with mention of Elden Ring being the most approachable Souls game yet, dedicated players

07:36know to literally never trust a single treasure chest ever. One of the first you'll stumble

07:41across is found in the Dragon Burnt Ruins, located in the centre of Agil Lake to the east of the

07:46starting area. Players can actually find two chests, and after giving them a good whack to see if they'll

07:50come to life, you're probably just relieved to see no mimics. However, one of these chests hides

07:55something far more unpredictable. When opened, a cloud of mist is released that envelops the

08:00player and transports them deep within the Celia Crystal Tunnel, a much tougher area found

08:05in the heart of the hellish Kaleid that's meant to be tackled much later.

08:09Even after dying, you're stuck respawning in these tunnels. To escape, you need to find

08:13the nearest site of Grey's fast travel, but that means fighting a group of strong enemies

08:17that at this point, anyone other than long-time fans will be too unprepared or underlevel to face.

08:23Even for FromSoftware, this was a cruel trick to play.

08:26One last time though, thank you Miyazaki, and cheers to the entire bigger-than-ever Souls

08:31fandom.

08:33And those are our picks for 10 times the Souls series brutally tricked you. Let me know your

08:37favourites down in the comments below and please subscribe to the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast.

08:41For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com and I'll catch you soon.

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