They are daunting and interesting at the same time. They are infamous for their mercilessness. In addition to the hard difficulty, these games also surprise players with seemingly unfair encounters. And yet, Souls games enjoy a cult following. But what’s the appeal? Is it only about the difficulty and the associated privilege to say, maybe even brag about having finished one of the most challenging types of games? Is it a status symbol, a badge of honor, when you beat the Dark Souls series or its contemporary counterparts? What has always been something special among core gamers has seemingly exploded since the overwhelming success of Elden Ring. Especially action-oriented alternatives are in abundance nowadays.
As someone who stays on top of the gaming news, I see all the trailers, watch reviews, and even tune in to streams. They all look cool, but playing myself has never crossed my mind. And that’s due to the difficulty, which is a huge deterrent.
But then I discovered Steelrising, a double-A Soulslike set in an alternate history version of France during the French Revolution. According to HowLongToBeat, the campaign supposedly wouldn’t overstay its welcome and, more importantly, the game featured a slider to adjust the amount of damage taken. Of course, the plan was to finish the game without any adjustments, like a real gamer. Since I expected to rack up a ton of deaths, I intended to spice things up by counting all of my mishaps to have a laugh at my expense at the end. So, I dived in and started recycling angry bots as the only sane Android in this hostile world.
The Gameslinger 