10 Times Souls Games That Tricked You

WhatCulture

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 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.

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