Rating the Souls Games

     The Souls series (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Bloodborne) is arguably my favorite game series of all time, and I obviously have my favorites, though they are all great games. The replay value is great, the difficulty is punishing, yet rewarding But, this list will be in the order of my least favorite to my favorite.

4. Demon's Souls:

     Though I do respect its influence on the series, and I like the dark setting of the game,  I just haven't played it enough to have a legitimate opinion on it. The controls just didn't hit it for me, and I just felt no need to play it.

3. Dark Souls 2:

     I have played the shit out of this game because it is a great game, but I think it is a bad sequel. The mechanics were solid, the replay value was great, there are plentiful weapons (I think that is a downfall, but can also add to build variety), and good environments (again, a double-edged sword). The lore in this game seemed like it was unfinished (and this was almost proven in SOTFS edition, which I haven't really delved into too much) and the areas seemed disconnected geographically and design wise. It almost seems like a Demon's Souls style of Hub-Zone and different portals to other worlds, which I don't like.

2. Bloodborne:

     Let me start off with saying that this game is damn good. The gameplay is the tightest of all, the lore is great and deep, the art style and level design is great, the enemy design is great, it's an almost perfect game. Where this game falls short, though, and why it's not number one on my list is its replay value. While trick weapons add depth to the combat, there is not many of them, and the lack of weapons take away from the replay value. There is a very strong meta that basically makes one weapon the most viable for a build (that is just how I feel, sorry if that upsets you (actually not really that sorry, this is an opinion piece)) and that takes away from replayability.

1. Dark Souls:

     This game is in my top 3 favorite games of all time, the design and inter-connectivity of the world is great, the enemies look cool, there are plenty of weapons and armors to build your characters around, and the bosses are spectacular. Also, the lore and the story is ambiguous, but not to the point of being unintelligible. The covenants were functional and fun to be a part of and they added a depth to PvP that made being in a covenant feel worth it.  Also, Solaire (Praise the Sun \[T]/).