All FromSoftware Souls games ranked from easy to impossible

These are our votes for the toughest Souls games FromSoftware has made.

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters / FromSoftware

FromSoftware’s Demon’s Souls started an action game revolution, and it’s tough to play a modern action game that doesn’t take a few cues from the Souls series. Since its inception the series has seen some dramatic twists and reinventions, but one things remains constant: these games are pretty tough.

Difficulty has always been in the conversation when it comes to FromSoftware’s Souls games, but trying to compare them is a challenge. Some of them are wildly different in terms of mechanics, and others have many more in-game tools to use to make the experience easier.

For all of FromSoftware’s Souls games, ranked from easy to impossible, just read through our list below. We have more rankings too, like our ranking of Dark Souls games from best to worst.

Dark Souls (The Easiest Souls Game)

Dark Souls / Bandai Namco

Dark Souls is hard, right? Well it certainly is if it’s one of the first Soulslike game you encounter. Playing it after beating another game is an entirely different story, though. Yes, Dark Souls was tough as nails in its era, but it manages to be less confusing than Demon’s Souls, with combat challenges that are pretty easy to overcome once you know what to expect. Sure, you can only roll in four directions, but that’s all you need when most enemies are so slow.

Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls 2 / Bandai Namco

Dark Souls, for the most part, offers more of what the original game had, but it’s a bit unbalanced. It leans too far into hidden enemies and the geography of the world simply doesn’t make any sense. There’s good fun to be had here, but many bosses can be overcome with the heaviest armor and a fat roll.

Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls / Sony

FromSoftware’s first attempt at a Souls game was a steep challenge. It’s not really because of the bosses though, it’s some confusing level layouts – thinking of you, Tower of Latria – and mechanics. If you play the original version of this game, you’ll never understand World Tendency, and even Bluepoint’s remake doesn’t exactly lay it out plainly. It’s a steep, confusing challenge for Souls newbies, but experienced players should mostly walk through it.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree / FromSoftware

Elden Ring is tough, and yes, people are finding the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC expansion to be a huge challenge, but if you have a solid build, maybe some Spirit Ashes at your side, and plenty of Scadutree Blessing in the DLC, it’s a challenging game but you can overcome it handily. Especially now that there are dozens of strategies to do huge damage to Radahn with specific builds.

Dark Souls 3

Dark Souls 3 / Bandai Namco

Dark Souls 3 has plenty of options to approach enemies with, but there are some bosses that are just as tough as the strongest enemies in Elden Ring, and you don’t have as many in-game options to overcome them. No Spirit Ashes, no Mimic Tear – just you and those big bosses. The DLCs feature enemies that are guaranteed to make you sweat.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne / Sony

Bloodborne forces you to drop the shields, unlike all the other games in our list, and puts you on the offensive. You’ll be at an advantage if you get good at parrying, but every enemy can be taken down with some well-timed dodges and a strong gameplan. It’s an intimidating game, but once you break enemies down and understand their attack patterns, it’s truly brilliant. Difficult, too.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (The Hardest Souls Game)

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice / Activision

Once you get good at Sekiro there’s no other FromSoftware game quite like it. It’s fast, responsive, and feels incredible to play. Wearing down the stamina of imposing bosses before finally cutting them down is fantastic, but it might take you a while to get there. No other FromSoftware game forced me to retry a boss so many times, but that just made victory even sweeter. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice features some of the toughest bosses of any FromSoftware game, and for our money, it’s the most difficult to beat.