Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring - masters of trolling you to death.
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00:00Okay, we seriously need to get a handle on what we're calling the burgeoning Souls genre.
00:04Souls games, Soulsborne games, Soulsborne Kero, I heard at one point, Soulslikes?
00:09The success of this video going with Souls games will tell you whether I got it right or not.
00:13Anyway, FromSoftware'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.
00:39When 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.
00:48In the Mount Gelmia region, players can spot a friendly note from Patches
00:52informing them that 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, Patches will appear,
01:04goad you for your greed, and then kick you straight off the edge.
01:08What 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.
01:23Located 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
02:02triggers another mechanism that flings you into an unavoidable spike trap.
02:06Cheers, hit attacker!
02:12When it comes to terrifying Dark Souls areas, it doesn't get much more oppressive than this particularly dank dungeon.
02:18Namely thanks to the horrifying jailers who have a nasty ability of shrinking your health bar.
02:22Still, FromSoftware 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 empty cells.
02:31In 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 indeed no enemies.
02:41However, picking up the item when all seems safe triggers one of the only scripted jumpscares in the entire series.
02:47A bloodcurdling scream catching you off-guard, and setting the tone for the rest of the section.
02:56Again, thanks Miyazaki!
02:57I mean look, I'm just gonna say that future thanks go without saying, because I'll end up doing this every single time.
03:07Coming up against brutal boss battles, it is all part of a Soulsborne Kero-like experience.
03:12Though, these games are typically kind enough to warn you that one is coming.
03:16With either a wall of fog leading to the boss area, or having a large open area clearly made for a suitably large creature to fill.
03:22Clearly then, the pursuer in Dark Souls 2 didn't get the memo.
03:26A hulking knight with a sword as massive as the damage it deals,
03:29this boss just drops in without any warning after you've climbed a ladder near the beginning of the game.
03:34One of the many indicators that Souls games couldn't care less about the rules they attempt to live by otherwise,
03:39you'll promptly be beaten to a pulp.
03:46Hands down the enemy that freaked me out so much I actually had to spin my character around and just keep running away.
03:52Enemy ambushes are common in Souls games, but full-on nightmarish spider-limbed things leaping at you from nowhere,
03:58that was just a big old nope.
04:00Located in the waters surrounding Irithyll, when setting foot in this area,
04:04you'll notice what looks to be the corpses of women floating in the shallow water.
04:08Bleak imagery like this is nothing new for Dark Souls, so naturally you get a little closer.
04:13Turns out this fake body look was precisely to lure you in,
04:17and now there's a huge centipede leaping straight at your face.
04:20Often found in groups, these creepy-crawlies can easily overwhelm the unexpected,
04:25chomping your head off with razor-sharp teeth where their chest is supposed to be.
04:33One of the new additions introduced in Dark Souls 2 were Faros Lockstones.
04:37These limited items are small stones which, as their description informs,
04:40were created by a traveller named Faros the Vagabond.
04:43And they're used to unlock his contraptions.
04:45These locks are scattered throughout Dark Souls 2, and provide players with some useful benefits,
04:49such as revealing secret passages, illuminating dark areas,
04:52or regenerating health with a rejuvenating pool of water.
04:55When you eventually reach an area called the Doors of Faros,
04:58you'll be wondering what secrets can be found,
05:00especially as some huge doors require three stones to open.
05:04Turns out though that Faros was also a bit of a dick.
05:07Many of the locks either spring a trap or release enemies into the vicinity.
05:10Opening those doors even frees the formidable, hulking Mastodon Guard,
05:14which will then become your newest nightmare.
05:21The memes and reactions to this thing were legendary.
05:24Nothing less than Miyazaki thinking,
05:26hey, why don't we have a yelling NPC fly out the sky and just kill the player?
05:31It produced one of FromSoft's best and funniest trolls ever.
05:35Located near the roof of the heavily guarded Ashina Castle,
05:38you're already sneaking around a group of Nightjar ninjas, all lying in wait.
05:42Even if you've evaded everyone while emerging on top,
05:45an excited cheer is heard in the distance,
05:47as one remaining Nightjar swoops down through the air to wipe you out.
05:51Brilliantly, once you know this is coming,
05:52you can actually look out for the enemy hanging on a kite in midair,
05:56waiting for their time to strike.
06:01Like with the Nightjar ninja, in Souls games,
06:03once you know what or where a trap is,
06:05you'll be more equipped to deal with it next time round.
06:08Well, Bloodborne's forbidden words decided to F with that assumption too.
06:12Whilst exploring this creepy forest,
06:14players will come across a pathway which harbours a nasty surprise
06:17in 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 avoid.
06:24Brilliantly though, once you're out the way,
06:26that same log breaks off and just comes for you anyway,
06:29regardless of where you're standing, flattening you all over again.
06:36Dark Souls
06:37Back in 2011, hit attacker 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,
06:56with surprise ambushes, tough enemies meant to be tackled later,
06:59and 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
07:10comes from a small horde of enemies gathered near a set of stairs leading up.
07:14Going up yourself, assuming those enemies must be the challenge at the bottom and you're now safe,
07:18only sees another hollow push a flaming barrel towards you, wiping you out anyway.
07:23Yep, this entire genre is like being in the most high-budget Mario Maker level ever.
07:30Transporter Chest
07:31Elden Ring
07:32Even with mention of Elden Ring being the most approachable Souls game yet,
07:35dedicated players know to literally never trust a single treasure chest ever.
07:40One of the first you'll stumble across is found in the Dragon Burnt Ruins,
07:43located in the centre of a geel lake to the east of the starting area.
07:47Players can actually find two chests, and after giving them a good whack to see if they'll come to life,
07:51you're probably just relieved to see no mimics.
07:54However, one of these chests hides something far more unpredictable.
07:57When opened, a cloud of mist is released that envelops the player
08:00and transports them deep within the Celia Crystal Tunnel,
08:03a much tougher area found in the heart of the Hellish Caled that's meant to be tackled much later.
08:08Even after dying, you're stuck respawning in these tunnels.
08:12To escape, you need to find the nearest site of Grace Fast Travel,
08:15but that means fighting a group of strong enemies that at this point,
08:18anyone other than long-time fans will be too unprepared or underleveled to face.
08:22Even for From Software, this was a cruel trick to play.
08:26One last time, though, thank you, Miyazaki,
08:28and cheers to the entire bigger-than-ever Souls fandom.
08:32And those are our picks for 10 times the Souls series brutally tricked you.
08:36Let me know your favourites down in the comments below
08:38and please subscribe to the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast.
08:41For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com, and I'll catch you soon.