Rocky Balboa once said: It’s not about how hard you hit - it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. I believe it precisely catches what Dark Souls is in its core.

This is a game about perseverance, determination, patience, and will. It’s also about being ready for any encounter, and any danger that may lurk in the shadows.

The real difficulty of Dark Souls lies in the demand of being persistent - you can only lose when you stop trying. However, if you keep on being watchful, methodical, and stubborn, and then if you accept the fact that you may fail at some point, that you may need to start your hard work again from scratch - you will actually win, eventually.

Doesn’t it sound like real life?

When any rotten weakling can 2-hit you in the very first location, you know you’re not in fu**ing Kansas anymore. Nioh twisted my arm when I attempted to greet it and punched me in the face when I tried to say "hi". I love it.

I swear I am a better man when I can take a break from anything I’m doing and spend just 20 minutes overcoming the pain these kinds of games take the player through.

On the serious note, it’s one of the best titles I’ve ever played. Combining great action, combat, leveling/gearing, and mission system with souls-like features (e.g. bonfires) truly was a brilliant gameplay idea.