00:00 Okay, we seriously need to get a handle on what we're calling the burgeoning Souls genre.
00:04 Souls games, Souls-born games, Souls-born Kero I heard at one point, Souls-likes?
00:09 The success of this video going with Souls games will tell you whether I got it right or not.
00:13 Anyway, FromSoftware's acclaimed selection of titles ranging from the Demons and Dark Souls games,
00:18 Bloodborne, Sekiro, and now Elden Ring are ludicrously popular.
00:22 However, if these games are recognised for anything, it's brutal difficulty.
00:26 Straight up being dicked on is just something you have to put up with in these games.
00:30 I'm Scott from WhatCulture.com and these are 10 Times Souls Games Brutally Tricked You.
00:34 Number 10, Following the Rainbow Stones, Elden Ring.
00:39 When legendary Dickbag Patches made his triumphant return in Elden Ring,
00:43 having screwed us over across the Souls series and Bloodborne beforehand,
00:46 he'd only got more inventive.
00:48 In the Mount Gelmia region, players can spot a friendly note from Patches informing them
00:52 that there's some treasure at the end of a trail of brightly lit coloured stones.
00:57 Unsurprisingly, this was another trap.
00:59 When players reach the end of the trail, which stops at the edge of a cliff,
01:03 Patches will appear, goad you for your greed, and then kick you straight off the edge.
01:07 What makes this trap extra cruel is players will land in the middle of a group of Basilisks,
01:12 every Souls player's worst nightmare, as you're then promptly killed by a supremely gruesome curse.
01:18 Thanks, Miyazaki.
01:19 Number 9, Sen's Fortress Lift Trap, Dark Souls.
01:23 Located across a bridge near friendly blacksmith Andre in the Undead Parish,
01:27 and accessible only after ringing two bells,
01:29 Sen's Fortress is a supremely unfun funhouse comprised exclusively of traps.
01:34 There are pendulums swinging over narrow walkways, pressure plates that shoot arrows,
01:38 a boulder rolling down the main staircase, and plenty of pitfalls.
01:42 Even your first encounter with a Mimic isn't as deviously cruel as a lift found next to it.
01:47 In Dark Souls, the discovery of a lift means finding a path forward or a vital shortcut.
01:52 However, this lift is splattered in blood,
01:54 warning you there's some foul play about to go on.
01:57 While this lift will take players to the floor above, loitering for a second too long
02:01 triggers another mechanism that flings you into an unavoidable spike trap.
02:06 Cheers, hit attacker!
02:07 Number 8, that item in Irithyll Dungeon, Dark Souls 3.
02:11 When it comes to terrifying Dark Souls areas,
02:14 it doesn't get much more oppressive than this particularly dank dungeon,
02:17 namely thanks to the horrifying jailers who have a nasty ability of shrinking your health bar.
02:22 Still, From Software have more tricks in store for you beforehand.
02:25 On entering the initial part of this area,
02:27 players have the brief chance to explore some empty cells.
02:30 In one of these cells is a glowing item lying by a corpse just begging to be collected.
02:35 Now, at this point you'll be well-versed in detecting signs of an ambush,
02:38 and there are indeed no enemies.
02:40 However, picking up the item when all seems safe triggers one of the only
02:44 scripted jump scares in the entire series,
02:46 a blood-curdling scream catching you off-guard and setting the tone for the rest of the section.
02:51 Again, thanks, Miyazaki!
02:57 I mean, look, I'm just gonna say that future thanks go without saying,
03:01 because I'll end up doing this every single time.
03:03 Number 7, meeting the Pursuer, Dark Souls 2.
03:07 Coming up against brutal boss battles, it's all part of a Souls-borne, Kiro-like experience,
03:12 though these games are typically kind enough to warn you that one is coming,
03:15 with either a wall of fog leading to the boss area,
03:18 or having a large open area clearly made for a suitably large creature to fill.
03:22 Clearly then, the Pursuer in Dark Souls 2 didn't get the memo.
03:26 A hulking knight with a sword as massive as the damage it deals,
03:29 this boss just drops in without any warning after you've climbed a ladder
03:33 near the beginning of the game.
03:34 One of the many indicators that Souls games couldn't care less
03:37 about the rules they attempt to live by otherwise, you'll promptly be beaten to a pulp.
03:41 Number 6, the sewer centipedes, Dark Souls 3.
03:46 Hands down the enemy that freaked me out so much I actually had to spin my character around
03:50 and just keep running away.
03:52 Enemy ambushes are common in Souls games, but full-on nightmarish spider-limb things
03:57 leaping at you from nowhere, that was just a big ol' nope.
04:00 Located in the waters surrounding Irithyll, when setting foot in this area,
04:04 you'll notice what looks to be the corpses of women floating in the shallow water.
04:08 Bleak imagery like this is nothing new for Dark Souls, so naturally you get a little closer.
04:13 Turns out this fake body look was precisely to lure you in,
04:16 and now there's a huge centipede leaping straight at your face.
04:20 Often found in groups, these creepy crawlies can easily overwhelm the unexpected,
04:24 chomping your head off with razor-sharp teeth where their chest is supposed to be.
04:29 Number 5, the Doors of Pharos, Dark Souls 2.
04:32 One of the new additions introduced in Dark Souls 2 were Pharos Lockstones.
04:36 These limited items are small stones which, as their description informs,
04:40 were created by a traveller named Pharos the Vagabond,
04:42 and they're used to unlock his contraptions.
04:44 These locks are scattered throughout Dark Souls 2,
04:47 and provide players with some useful benefits such as revealing secret passages,
04:51 illuminating dark areas, or regenerating health with a rejuvenating pool of water.
04:55 When you eventually reach an area called the Doors of Pharos,
04:58 you'll be wondering what secrets can be found,
05:00 especially as some huge doors require three stones to open.
05:03 Turns out though that Pharos was also a bit of a dick.
05:06 Many of the locks either spring a trap or release enemies into the vicinity.
05:10 Opening those doors even frees the formidable hulking Mastodon God,
05:14 which will then become your newest nightmare.
05:16 Number 4, the Flying Nightjar, Sekiro Shadows Die Twice.
05:21 The memes and reactions to this thing were legendary.
05:24 Nothing less than Miyazaki thinking, "Hey, why don't we have a yelling NPC
05:29 fly out the sky and just kill the player?"
05:31 It produced one of FromSoft's best and funniest trolls ever.
05:35 Located near the roof of the heavily guarded Ashina Castle,
05:38 you're already sneaking around a group of Nightjar ninjas, all lying in wait.
05:42 Even if you've evaded everyone while emerging on top,
05:44 an excited cheer is heard in the distance,
05:47 as one remaining Nightjar swoops down through the air to wipe you out.
05:50 Brilliantly, once you know this is coming,
05:52 you can actually look out for the enemy hanging on a kite in midair,
05:56 waiting for their time to strike.
05:57 Number 3, the Log Trap, Bloodborne.
06:01 Like with the Nightjar ninja, in Souls games, once you know what or where a trap is,
06:05 you'll be more equipped to deal with it next time round.
06:08 Well, Bloodborne's forbidden woods decided to F with that assumption too.
06:12 Whilst exploring this creepy forest, players will come across a pathway
06:15 which harbours a nasty surprise in the form of a spiked log that swings down,
06:19 flattening you in the process.
06:21 Knowing it's coming next time, you'll instinctively roll back to avoid.
06:24 Brilliantly though, once you're out the way, that same log breaks off
06:28 and just comes for you anyway regardless of where you're standing,
06:31 flattening you all over again.
06:32 Number 2, Almost Everything in Undead Burg, Dark Souls.
06:37 Back in 2011, hit-attacker Miyazaki wrote his intentions large in the original Dark Souls,
06:42 not caring one jot that players could end up wandering into the much harder Catacombs area,
06:47 before realising the path to the lower-levelled Undead Burg was behind them the entire time.
06:52 Still, Undead Burg is a crash course in what to expect from the rest of the game,
06:56 with surprise ambushes, tough enemies meant to be tackled later,
06:59 and a massive fire-breathing dragon blocking a bridge,
07:01 but not before toasting you from above in a way that you just could never see coming.
07:06 One additionally devilish trick that pushed a lot of rage-quitters to the edge
07:09 comes from a small horde of enemies gathered near a set of stairs leading up.
07:13 Going up yourself, assuming those enemies must be the challenge at the bottom,
07:17 and you're now safe, only sees another hollow push a flaming barrel towards you,
07:21 wiping you out anyway. Yep, this entire genre is like being in the most high-budget Mario Maker.
07:26 And number 1, Transporter Chest, Elden Ring.
07:31 Even with mention of Elden Ring being the most approachable Souls game yet,
07:35 dedicated players know to literally never trust a single treasure chest ever.
07:39 One of the first you'll stumble across is found in the Dragon Burnt Ruins,
07:43 located in the centre of Aguille Lake to the east of the starting area.
07:46 Players can actually find two chests, and after giving them a good whack to see if they'll come
07:50 to life, you're probably just relieved to see no mimics. However, one of these chests hides
07:55 something far more unpredictable. When opened, a cloud of mist is released that envelops the
08:00 player and transports them deep within the Celia Crystal Tunnel, a much tougher area found in the
08:05 heart of the hellish Caled that's meant to be tackled much later. Even after dying, you're
08:09 stuck respawning in these tunnels. To escape, you need to find the nearest site of Grace Fast
08:14 Travel, but that means fighting a group of strong enemies that at this point, anyone other than
08:19 long-time fans will be too unprepared or underleveled to face. Even for From Software,
08:24 this was a cruel trick to play. One last time though, thank you,
08:27 Miyazaki, and cheers to the entire bigger-than-ever Souls fandom.
08:31 And those are our picks for 10 times the Souls series brutally tricked you. Let me know your
08:37 favourites down in the comments below, and please subscribe to the What Culture Gaming Podcast.
08:41 For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com, and I'll catch you soon.
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