One would be hard-pressed to talk about some of the most influential games of the modern era without mentioning the absolute behemoth that is Dark Souls. The fact of the matter is that this particular title made a resounding impact in the gaming industry when it was released in 2011, exposing a ton of gamers to what was clearly the most challenging yet fun experience they’d ever had in a long, long time.
The challenge was just one ingredient in the amazing meal that is Dark Souls. The NPCs were fun and varied, the lore was surprisingly deep, and the areas that the player could explore displayed some of the most ingenious level design that had been done in quite a while. That being said, not all the areas present in this legendary title are worth a mention. Dark Souls is essentially a game of two halves — a tightly-crafted first half that makes every single step the player takes daunting and enlightening, and a second half that is full to the brim with painfully mediocre level design which is a clear indication of the constraints in the game’s development. Keeping this in mind, here are ten of the worst areas present in Dark Souls.
10 Darkroot Garden
For the most part, both the Darkroot areas are largely forgettable and feature nothing particularly of note — save for what is admittedly one of the best boss fights in the game.
It’s a testament to the level design of Dark Souls that one of its worst areas isn’t even bad per se, but just painfully average instead.
9 Catacombs
The Catacombs are easily one of the more frustrating parts to access, and players in the early game would’ve definitely torn their hair out after dying countless times to the skeletons in the graveyard.
Leveling up and crossing this path certainly doesn’t make things easier, since now the player has to traverse a tight, claustrophobic area with barely any respite… or light, for that matter.
8 Depths
The Depths might feature in the first half of Dark Souls, but the bleak nature of this area coupled with some largely forgettable level design definitely hurts this level in terms of sheer enjoyability.
However, even if the Depths was a great area, it would still feature on this list due to the infamous Basilisk ambush that it throws players into. Any Chosen Undead who gets cursed will find it really hard to undo this state without some outside help.
7 Darkroot Basin
The second Darkroot area managed to oust the first one in terms of sheer nothingness — something which ideally shouldn’t have even been possible.
The only things of note in this area are the Hydra and the gateway into the DLC. If these two elements are shifted somewhere else, then the player has pretty much no reason to visit this area at all.
6 Tomb Of Giants
Tomb of the Giants decided to take the “dark” in Dark Souls a bit too literally, making for a level that is easily one of the worst experiences in the game by quite a margin.
The lack of visibility can still be curbed somewhat if the Chosen Undead brings a light source, but the player will still find themselves in somewhat of a pickle throughout the area. The darkness is always an issue, the enemy placement is incredibly devious — feeling borderline cheap at times — and the location also has Patches, who’ll pull a prank on the player by sending them tumbling down a pit.
5 Crystal Cave
The Duke’s Archives is a surprisingly good area, given the fact that its features in the latter half of Dark Souls. This makes the second encounter with Seath the Scaleless feel more meaningful… that is, before the player transitions into the Crystal Cave.
The Crystal Cave is easily one of the shortest areas in Dark Souls, and easily one of the worst as well. The fact that this area thought that invisible slippery platforms would be a good idea speaks volumes when it comes to just how annoying the Crystal Cave really is.
4 New Londo Ruins
It’s only a given that players would’ve been quite frustrated once they realized that they couldn’t attack the ghosts in New Londo Ruins, which should’ve made the means to damage these ghosts quite a godsend.
Instead, players who can finally damage these ghosts will have to travel through an absolute slog of a level, with barely any interesting visuals and some of the most frustrating level design around.
3 Blighttown
It would be impossible to talk about the worst areas in Dark Souls without mentioning this stuttering monstrosity. One can definitely make an argument for this area and state that it’s one of the many obstacles that players need to overcome in order to “git gud.”
However, this obstacle is not a fun one in the slightest. The poison bog is easily one of the worst tropes in From Software games, and even a title like Dark Souls is no exception to this golden rule.
2 Demon Ruins
Dark Souls might’ve done a ton of good for the franchise, but one of its biggest missteps was making the players hate any form of lava in video games. One need only explore the Demon Ruins and the next area to understand why this is the case.
The level design is painstakingly boring, the enemy placement is as cheap & lazy as can be, and the difficulty flits between ridiculously easy to unfairly hard in the blink of an eye.
1 Lost Izalith
Whatever Demon Ruins does wrong, Lost Izalith emulates… but it somehow makes these experiences even more frustrating in the process. This is quite surprising, especially since this area at least has some semblance of video game design, unlike the mishmash of textures that was Demon Ruins.
However, the reason why most people hate this area is that the boss at the end of this nightmarish slog is easily one of the worst bosses in Dark Souls. In fact, Lost Izalith would still be the worst area even if the level design was fixed simply because any area that leads to the Bed of Chaos fight deserves absolutely nothing.
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