I have two lists of my favorite games. One is my favorite FromSoft games and another is my favorite non-FromSoft games. In honor of Nightreign coming out in a month (their co-op action adeventrue multiplayer game, which I’ll talk about more later), I decided to rank the FromSoft games I’ve played. I’ve done it before, but who knows? Maybe I’ve changed the position of some of the games. I’ll do it in ascending order, starting with….six, I think?
I’d like to emphasize once again that this is not the ‘best of’ list, but a list of my favorite. I don’t believe in best of lists because it’s really hard to make any kind of objective list about subjective art. I mean, it’s clear to see when something in good or bad, but when it’s at the top echelon, it’s hard to differentiate between excellent and stunning, for example.
I will say that the bottom two are easy.
6. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Look. This one is always going to be divisive. I have gotten so much pushback on this, even when I state that it’s my least-favorite FromSoft game, not the worst. I actually think it’s a fantastic game that is gorgeous to look at and the story is probably the easiest to understand of all the games. I love the main character, the Lone Wolf, and I would shag him in a heartbeat. Emma is a great NPC as are Isshin and Genichiro. Kuro is a serviceable plot point/mover, and I don’t mind that he’s the focal point of the whole game.
The ending I got is the hardest to get and the most involved. It’s also the most hopeful and complete, and it’s the one that many people thought was going to be the springboard for the sequel. The sequel which never happened. No one knows why, but my unfounded theory is that FromSoft did not want to work with Activision again beacuse the latter was too micromanager-y.
This game is brutal if you can’t get the deflect, which I could not. I was able to perform it maybe a quarter of the time, and not with any consistency. When I mentioned that I beat Genichiro without deflecting, my nibling’s spouse commented, “I didn’t think it was possible to do that.” My response: “It is, but it’s not enjoyable.”
That was my feeling about the whole game. I could do it, but it wasn’t enjoyable. Even less so is that there is no summoning in the game. I get why, thematically, but it made me realize that it’s the one From game that I will never plat because there is no fucknig way I can solo all the bosses two more times. Plus the two new bosses I would have to fight and beat for the Shura ending.
It’s pretty heart-rending to me that I will never be good at that game and that I will not be able to beat that game again. That’s just the way it goes, though.