The game that came to prove that handholding gameplay isn't the way to go, and that overcoming a good challenge is the key to satisfaction. I can't undersell the cultural impact Dark Souls had in the landscape of gaming. To this day, pretty much a decade later, it still inspires other games, and even managed to spawn a sub-genre of games named after itself.

But does it still hold up after all these years? I would say so. The story is absolutely stellar, full of memorable characters with gripping characterization. The gameplay is slow and methodical, making it so the player has to adapt to each enemy, learn it's moveset and counter when given an opening. The bosses are a mixed bag, ranging from pillars of gaming history to stinking piles of garbage that are better off as being meme'd by the community. The world and level design is probably the most fondly talked about thing from this game. An interconnected world, coupled with the stellar art direction that has come to be expected from these developers made for a phenomenom that will not be forgotten anytime soon