Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
EDIT: After a few playthroughs of Elden Ring, I feel that I misunderstood a lot of what I didn't like in my first playthrough, mainly the boss movesets. While I still think that spirit summons are too powerful and remove a lot of the difficulty of the fight with zero drawback (unlike player or NPC summons that increase boss health), I don't agree anymore that any bosses feel "unfair" when you're solo, they just demand way more from the player than previous Souls games did. If you want more discussion on this, there's actually a great video that's a direct response to the Joseph Anderson video that changed my mind about several "issues" I had with Elden Ring: youtu.be/EZ_9F73R1tE
Thank you for watching this far! Below is my tier list explanation for the FromSoft Souls games:
Elden Ring (A tier) (EDIT: S tier): This is one of the best adventure games I've played. Exploring is exciting, whether I'm finding new areas, new enemies, or getting got by the many traps and such. This is easily the best feature of this game, and almost matches that feeling of going on an adventure that DS1 had for me, even with fast travel always available.
A big issue I have with the game is the repeat bosses. Repeating bosses isn't always a bad thing, but it definitely dillutes how meaningful the first encounter with the boss is. The biggest disappointments in repeats were definitely Astel and Ancestral Spirit, really brought down the novelty of the first fight.
EDIT: I don't agree with the following anymore:
And the biggest issue I have is the overall worse boss design. The design appears to be based around you using spirit summons a lot. But summons make you disengage from the battle, its way more boring, not my preferred playstyle. Malenia took me 4 hours to beat because I went without summons. One of my friends who used mimic only took a few attempts to beat her. Using summons makes the game too easy and less exciting, but going without them makes the game difficult in an unfun way.
Sekiro (S+ tier): Amazing and satisfying combat system that lets you dominate bosses once you master it. And the main bosses are probably my favorite in all of FromSoft's history, rivaling DS3's boss roster. The world is unique and fun to explore as well. Only downside would be some annoying repeated minibosses.
Bloodborne (S+ tier): Peak of the standard Souls combat system, the best FromSoft has done at streamlining the variety of weapons and upgrade system. The setting is my favorite out the series, the lore is the most interesting. This is the only FromSoft game I'll play casually whenever I feel like it. The bosses aren't all perfect but there are many amazing ones.
Dark Souls 1 (S tier): A masterpiece of a first half. No fast travel creates a feeling of dread no other FromSoft game has captured again. Feels like you're really on an adventure. The combat is slow and methodical but not clunky (assuming you don't lock on to enemies and fast roll). The second half of the game is a lot more tedious, not terrible all the time, sometimes really terrible (e.g. Tomb of the Giants, Izalith).
Dark Souls 3 (S tier): My favorite boss roster, only rivaled maybe by Sekiro. The bosses are very aggressive, but their movesets don't feel faster than the speed Dark Souls can handle. Almost every difficult boss feels extremely fair. The game is less fun to explore, as it is mostly linear, though the levels have great shortcut design.
Demon's Souls (A tier): Has the best atmosphere out of all the games. PS3 style visuals and audio are very nostalgic and engrossing for me. Most experimental of all the Souls games. Bosses and areas are hit or miss. The combat still feel smooth despite its age, though jank hitboxes are common. Infinite grass is kind of busted. The remake had some amazing visuals and quality of life changes, but the atmosphere I liked is gone, and they kind of ruined the music.
Dark Souls 2 (B tier): Still a great game despite it coming in at the bottom. Has some of the best QoL changes, was the first to do powerstancing that only Elden Ring has finally brought back, has the most satisfying jump and ladder climbing, and bonfire ascetics are genius. The areas are varied, the world is interesting to explore. The game takes a huge hit in the ranking because the combat is simply less fun. Stamina is way more limited, attacks have really long recovery windows, infinite lifegems make any encounter less scary, hitboxes last longer than they should to try and counteract ADP, all leading to something closer to turn-based combat.
Songs (in order of appearance):
Field of Hopes and Dreams - Deltarune Chapter 1 OST
Sneaky Business - Biz Baz Studio
BFG Division - Doom (2016) OST
Blooming Villain - Persona 5 OST
Endless Motion - Bensound
0:00 Mohgwyn Palace
2:11 Mohg
6:37 Farum Azula
9:04 Godskin Duo
12:18 Maliketh
15:18 Gideon
16:20 Godfrey
20:55 Final Boss
26:15 Final Thoughts
EDIT: After a few playthroughs of Elden Ring, I feel that I misunderstood a lot of what I didn't like in my first playthrough, mainly the boss movesets. While I still think that spirit summons are too powerful and remove a lot of the difficulty of the fight with zero drawback (unlike player or NPC summons that increase boss health), I don't agree anymore that any bosses feel "unfair" when you're solo, they just demand way more from the player than previous Souls games did. If you want more discussion on this, there's actually a great video that's a direct response to the Joseph Anderson video that changed my mind about several "issues" I had with Elden Ring: youtu.be/EZ_9F73R1tE
Thank you for watching this far! Below is my tier list explanation for the FromSoft Souls games:
Elden Ring (A tier) (EDIT: S tier): This is one of the best adventure games I've played. Exploring is exciting, whether I'm finding new areas, new enemies, or getting got by the many traps and such. This is easily the best feature of this game, and almost matches that feeling of going on an adventure that DS1 had for me, even with fast travel always available.
A big issue I have with the game is the repeat bosses. Repeating bosses isn't always a bad thing, but it definitely dillutes how meaningful the first encounter with the boss is. The biggest disappointments in repeats were definitely Astel and Ancestral Spirit, really brought down the novelty of the first fight.
EDIT: I don't agree with the following anymore:
And the biggest issue I have is the overall worse boss design. The design appears to be based around you using spirit summons a lot. But summons make you disengage from the battle, its way more boring, not my preferred playstyle. Malenia took me 4 hours to beat because I went without summons. One of my friends who used mimic only took a few attempts to beat her. Using summons makes the game too easy and less exciting, but going without them makes the game difficult in an unfun way.
Sekiro (S+ tier): Amazing and satisfying combat system that lets you dominate bosses once you master it. And the main bosses are probably my favorite in all of FromSoft's history, rivaling DS3's boss roster. The world is unique and fun to explore as well. Only downside would be some annoying repeated minibosses.
Bloodborne (S+ tier): Peak of the standard Souls combat system, the best FromSoft has done at streamlining the variety of weapons and upgrade system. The setting is my favorite out the series, the lore is the most interesting. This is the only FromSoft game I'll play casually whenever I feel like it. The bosses aren't all perfect but there are many amazing ones.
Dark Souls 1 (S tier): A masterpiece of a first half. No fast travel creates a feeling of dread no other FromSoft game has captured again. Feels like you're really on an adventure. The combat is slow and methodical but not clunky (assuming you don't lock on to enemies and fast roll). The second half of the game is a lot more tedious, not terrible all the time, sometimes really terrible (e.g. Tomb of the Giants, Izalith).
Dark Souls 3 (S tier): My favorite boss roster, only rivaled maybe by Sekiro. The bosses are very aggressive, but their movesets don't feel faster than the speed Dark Souls can handle. Almost every difficult boss feels extremely fair. The game is less fun to explore, as it is mostly linear, though the levels have great shortcut design.
Demon's Souls (A tier): Has the best atmosphere out of all the games. PS3 style visuals and audio are very nostalgic and engrossing for me. Most experimental of all the Souls games. Bosses and areas are hit or miss. The combat still feel smooth despite its age, though jank hitboxes are common. Infinite grass is kind of busted. The remake had some amazing visuals and quality of life changes, but the atmosphere I liked is gone, and they kind of ruined the music.
Dark Souls 2 (B tier): Still a great game despite it coming in at the bottom. Has some of the best QoL changes, was the first to do powerstancing that only Elden Ring has finally brought back, has the most satisfying jump and ladder climbing, and bonfire ascetics are genius. The areas are varied, the world is interesting to explore. The game takes a huge hit in the ranking because the combat is simply less fun. Stamina is way more limited, attacks have really long recovery windows, infinite lifegems make any encounter less scary, hitboxes last longer than they should to try and counteract ADP, all leading to something closer to turn-based combat.
Songs (in order of appearance):
Field of Hopes and Dreams - Deltarune Chapter 1 OST
Sneaky Business - Biz Baz Studio
BFG Division - Doom (2016) OST
Blooming Villain - Persona 5 OST
Endless Motion - Bensound
0:00 Mohgwyn Palace
2:11 Mohg
6:37 Farum Azula
9:04 Godskin Duo
12:18 Maliketh
15:18 Gideon
16:20 Godfrey
20:55 Final Boss
26:15 Final Thoughts
