With their endless continues and unlimited lives, modern videogames are just too damned easy. But with Dark Souls, today’s puny players can sample the sort of remorseless challenges posed by old-school coin-ops and 1980s home computers.
A follow-up to 2010’s Demon’s Souls – one of the most unforgiving action role-players ever devised – Dark Souls is a fantasy romp where devious traps, monsters and black magic lurk around every corner. And while you’ll die more times than in every other game this year combined, Dark Souls staves off frustration by encouraging players to keep trying to get a little further. When your hard work does pay off and that impassable demon lies broken at your feet, the sense of reward and giddy exhilaration is like nothing else in gaming.
See how Dark Souls did on our list of the 100 greatest games.