Dark Souls 1 is truthfully an incredible game that, even in a time period where a plethora of games all inspired by it, feels unique and fresh that makes it stand the test of time. There is so much sincerity and passion to everything put into this game. Sure some area's are underdeveloped and the second half of the game ditches the "go anywhere and find out" format, for a semi-linear approach but also i really like both halves. The feeling of exploring aimlessly for the first half is unbeatable though. Getting little hints of what there is to find and discover is so special and engaging. It drops just enough information at the right time always to have you checking every little crevasse. It helps that most the locations in this game are incredibly well designed, immensely dense, and wholely engaging. The only comparable thing to this is Elden Ring, but even then it's not quite the same. Every discovery in that game is actually just so far and beyond satisfying. Especially since every area in the game's first half is interconnected. So when you finally reach Anor Londo, it feels earned and you are just struck by the beatuy of this game. The second half of the game, while not nearly as strong, still manages to deliever on a different, semi-linear approach. Yet still having so much more to explore. It genuinely incredible. To add to all of it, this game's art direction and design is so incredibly stunning. Every area feels unique, but also like it belongs to the same world. The actual balance of that is just insane. The bosses are truthfully the most mixed bag in the series for me though. It's highs are some of the best ever, but its low's are like actually some of the worst designed features in From Software's entire catalogue. For the majority though, the bosses in this game are fine but most are nothing special. Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and Dark Souls 3 all have incredible bosses. While Elden Ring has some pretty boring/copy-paste bosses, it can get away with it easier considering that game is like 5x bigger than this game with about 9x the bosses. Unique one's at least. I still enjoyed most the fights nonetheless. Some of the enemies are also obnoxious, but there are obnoxious enemies in every From Software game. While this is only my first playthrough and I still have yet to look further into the lore, the little peek behind the curtian I got on this first playthrough is insanely dense and facinating. The music for most the boss fights as well are just incredible. There is so much to be said about Dark Souls 1, a lot of it has already been said, but as someone who has finally experienced it after seeing all the games that came after, just incredible. It's influence and impact on all of From Software's other titles and other souls-like games is unmatched. Every souls-like game wants to be Dark Souls 1, but no souls-like game can ever capture that same unique feeling this game brings.