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Banned
I get your point and agree with you somewhat but if Dark Souls isnt hard what is? I'm just curious what you classify as hard in the contemporary sense. And I dont believe those games are targeting that demographic that you describe, maybe other games do but definitely not the souls games.
nowadays almost no game is actually hard.
some indy titles are maybe, but in the AA or AAA space, basically zero
in the Indy scene, I would say there are quite a few. "Jump King" for example, or "Getting over It". Cuphead is pretty hard towards the end...
it would be easier to list games that came out before the PS360 gen tho. Ninja Gaiden Black is somewhat hard, as is DMC3 if you don't play on easy (which you have to unlock first by dying enough), or God Hand can be really hard, especially since it gets harder the better you play... you are literally dynamically switching between difficulty levels if you do good in the game
Super Mario Bros 2/Lost Levels is a hard game, as is Super Ghouls & Ghosts, Contra 3, Contra: Shattered Solider... stuff like that
basically these are games that aren't just about being focused but also demand a good amount of mechanical skill from the player.
Dark Souls is rarely really demanding in terms of mechanical skill (it is way too slow for that to begin with), it's more about knowing strategies and choosing the character build that fits your style... I for example usually am all about dodging using light weight builds with fast rolls, but I know someone who barely dodges and is all about using shields and hard hitting weapons and his character usually has a fat roll because of all the tanking gear, which I could never play with.
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