11 Terrible Mechanics In Soulsborne Games

It can be a hard slog to break through the initial loathing period that comes before becoming a veteran Souls player. But those who endure the hardship that comes with learning the ropes of this punishing genre often come out the other side with a newfound love for these brutal games.

Those who love them know that most games in the Souls genre offer a wealth of deep RPG systems, refined combat mechanics, and so much more. There’s a laundry list of things to love, but equally, there are some mechanics that we Souls fans simply cannot stand.

So, in a plea to Souls devs to never include these mechanics again, here is a list of ten terrible mechanics in amazing Souls games.

11

Forced Platforming

Various Souls Games

We kick things off with one that pretty much applies to all Souls games, perhaps with the exception of Elden Ring, because at least that game has a dedicated jump button, making these sections much less of a burden.

You’ll find that in a variety of Souls games, there will be sections that force players to navigate across narrow beams, with ranged attackers shooting at them with pinpoint accuracy.

Or alternatively, you may have no enemies to contend with, but instead, you’ll have to line up precise leaps using the most ill-suited platforming mechanics you can imagine.

I’m all for a challenge, but these sections never feel fair, or a test of skill. They merely feel like a war of attrition until you eventually luck out and make the jump, or live long enough to teach the ranged attacker a lesson.

Some people like it, and I get that, but for me, at least, it’s more of a cheap and cruel gimmick than a true ‘harsh-but-fair’ Souls challenge.

10

World Tendency

Demon’s Souls

Systems

Released

November 12, 2020

Publisher(s)

Sony

Engine

Proprietary Engine

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence

How Long To Beat

23 Hours

Metascore

92

Number of Players

1-6

PS Plus Availability

Extra & Premium

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Expand

Okay, so I want to say that, In Demon’s Souls and World Tendency’s defense, it’s actually a really cool idea and one that has real value if you do the legwork to understand how it works.

My main issue, and everyone’s main issue with World Tendency, is that the game never explains how it works, and even if it did, it would be far too complicated for most players to follow.

But, World Tendency is a vital part of the Demon Souls experience, whether you like it or not. So, if you make a few wrong moves and end up on a Black Tendency path on your initial playthrough. Well, all I will say is, good luck with that.

It’s something I would love to see reworked and simplified in future Souls games, but as it exists in Demon’s Souls, it would probably be better set as something you can toggle on or off.

9

No Health Refill

Bloodborne & Demon’s Souls

Systems

Released

March 24, 2015

Publisher(s)

Sony

Engine

Havok

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence

How Long To Beat

33 Hours

X|S Optimized

no

PS Plus Availability

Extra & Premium

Steam Deck Compatibility

no

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Cross Save

yes

Cross-Platform Play

ps4,ps5

Expand

The Estus Flask is a beautiful piece of equipment. It’s your lifeline in times of peril and one of the few things you can rely on in a punishing souls game.

Well, in Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls, you won’t have an Estus Flask with set charges, and instead, you’ll have health consumables to restore health.

At its best, it can be a boon as you’ll have ample healing items to get through very tough bosses. But at its worst, this system can derail the pace of the game and lead to needless grinding just to progress.

You’ll often find that you’ll have no health items, and will need to head to previously cleared areas to farm Blood Echoes or Souls to purchase the items you need. Something the Estus Flask eradicated.

So, Demon’s Souls, it gets a pass. It didn’t know any better. But Bloodborne, shame on you.

8

Inventory Encumbrance

Demon’s Souls

Just in case you weren’t acutely aware already, Demon’s Souls features a lot on this list, as the Souls framework was very much a work in progress back then, hence the encumbrance system.

Players in Demon’s Souls would have a set inventory weight that they could carry, and if they ever exceeded this when away from the Nexus, they would either need to drop items, or fat roll to the nearest world exit.

It was a system that could be somewhat solved by storing items with Stockpile Thomas, but the fact you even needed to do that at all made for some needless backtracking and inventory management that detracted from the overall enjoyment of the Souls experience.

It’s never popped up again since, aside from the remake, and long may that continue.

7

Invasions

Various Souls Games

You may feel otherwise, and more power to you, but I have never thought of Souls PvP as anything but a needless distraction.

But, to be fair, most of the PvP experience is kept separate from the core experience of these games, so I have never really had any need to hold a grudge. That is, aside from one PvP aspect, invasions.

Throughout various FromSoft Souls experiences, I have been going about my merry little adventure through Souls hell, only to have a toxic, overlevelled Souls Veteran come along, ruin my run, and often, do so in the most drawn out, obnoxious way possible.

I get that this is just another strand of the typical Miyazaki troll we have come to expect in his games. But, be that as it may, I still hate invasions, and I would love to see them gone for good.

6

Weapon Degradation

Demon’s Souls

We head back to Boletaria for yet another one of my Souls foibles, and this is one that is technically present in all Souls games. But I need to be clear: I only have an issue with how it works in Demon’s Souls specifically.

In pretty much all Souls games, your weapons slowly degrade over time, and you’ll need to head to a Blacksmith and repair your gear, or it will slowly but surely deal less damage and break.

That I have no issue with. What I take issue with is the rate at which it degrades in Demon’s Souls. It’s rare that you’ll be able to get through to portions of a world before your weapon is in desperate need of repair, and while Ed’s Grindstones help in a pinch, it’s a pretty expensive alternative regarding Souls.

Then add into the miss the variety of enemies with shields that can degrade your weapon down to a nub in a single encounter, and you have a mechanic so unrefined it would make you pull your hair out.

5

Curse Status Effects

Dark Souls

Status effects are something that gets on a lot of Souls players’ nerves. Whether that be instant-kill effects like Frenzy and Death Blight, or perhaps something like Sekiro’s Enfeebled effect.

I, for one, am not opposed to these status effects, but the exception to the rule is definitely the original Dark Souls’ Curse effect.

Related

17 Underrated Souls-Likes You Need To Try

The under-the-radar gems of your favorite genre.

This is an effect that can happen rather early in the game, and when it does, the player will have 50% of their max health until they find a cure for this curse. Which seems not too unlike Demon’s Souls HP situation, but here’s the thing.

Getting a Purging Stone isn’t always easy. As you really only have the option of heading to Osward in the Gargoyle Belltower and paying 3,000 Souls a time, which is a pain. Or alternatively, you’ll need to unlock the Firelink Shrine merchant and pay 6,000 Souls per stone.

Oh, and if you kill her, as many unwitting players do. You might as well restart your game with a new save, as the alternative isn’t worth the hassle.

4

Fog Gate Vulnerability

Dark Souls 2

You might have been waiting for Dark Souls 2 to pop up on this list, and if you were, good news, I’ve been saving them all, as they are the worst of the bunch.

First up, we have one of the most brain-dead decisions of all. Allowing enemies to whack you when you are passing through a Fog Gate.

I’m pretty amenable when it comes to fast-paced attacks right out the gate from bosses. Shadow of the Erdtree’s bosses were relentless in this regard, and I loved that. But critically, they still let you through the gate first.

In Dark Souls 2, before you had even existed the Fog Gate animation, you would often find yourself on half HP and in desperate need of a safe window to pop an estus. Souls games already don’t fight fair at the best of times, but this really takes the cake.

3

Soul Memory

Dark Souls 2

While I’m not someone who particularly dabbles in the world of online Souls Multiplayer, I still know a terrible matchmaking system when I see one, and Soul Memory definitely fits the bill.

For those unaware, Souls Memory was a matchmaking feature in DS2 that would match players up based on the total number of Souls accrued over the course of their character’s journey. On paper, it’s not a bad plan, but here’s where it all went wrong.

If the player were to, say, earn 100,000 Souls on a majestic run of form, then die, and die again, losing all those souls in dramatic fashion, then their character would be no better off.

However, Soul Memory would still register these Souls and, therefore, place your under-leveled character against better-off combatants, making for a litany of mismatches across the board.

Just another reason why Souls PvP is best left alone.

2

Despawning Enemies

Dark Souls 2

Souls games are all about the pursuit of perfection. Trying, again and again, to make it through endless gank, mastering boss attack patterns, and memorizing the world around you to avoid wasting any precious Estus.

This in a nutshell is why the choice to despawn enemies after a certain amount of kills in Dark Souls 2 goes so deeply against the Souls mantra.

After you killed a certain enemy in DS2 a set amount of times, they would be considered permanently killed, and would no longer show up as you passed through that area, effectively patronizing you for not quite mastering the area and saying, ‘It’s okay little buddy, we made it easier for you.’

View it however you like, but for me, that is the antithesis of what Dark Souls stands for. It should be hard, you should be humbled on the regular, and you should need to be perfect to proceed.

Supposedly, this was to stop farming, but in the process, it effectively meant there was no need for farming souls; players just needed to farm kills instead.

1

Adaptable I-Frames

By far, the worst mechanic ever implemented in the history of Souls games has to be Dark Souls 2’s choice to tie Adaptability/Agility to the player’s I-Frames.

In a maverick move, this game would, instead of giving a base amount of I-frames per dodge, allowing you to become accustomed to your dodging window and, in turn, better at the game.

Instead, the game would start you on a quite frankly terrible I-Frame rate, a stone’s throw away from a fat roll in DS1, and then, only through investing in your Agility stat would you be able to improve this I-Frame rate.

It’s a system that never allows you to get comfortable with your own dodging patterns, and in a game that needs to establish a fair and consistent combat format to succeed as an overall experience, this is a really dumb move.

With enough time and investment, you can make your character more evasive than ever before, but a consistent, set I-Frame structure would have been far preferable.

NEXT

10 Hardest Game Genres To Get Into, Ranked

There’s a multitude of game genres that you can’t love no matter how hard you try, but which are the hardest to get into?