Look, I've been playing Souls games for years now, and I love them to bits. The challenge, the atmosphere, the incredible world design... it's all part of the magic. But as a dedicated fan, even I have to admit there are some mechanics that made me want to throw my controller out the window. They’re the kind of things that feel less like a fair challenge and more like a cruel prank from the developers. So, here’s my personal plea to the devs: please, for the love of all that is good, never bring these back. This is my rundown of the absolute worst mechanics in otherwise amazing Souls games.

11. Forced Platforming

Let’s start with one that plagues almost every game in the series (thank goodness Elden Ring finally gave us a proper jump button!). You know the sections I’m talking about. 😤 Those moments where you’re forced to navigate across a razor-thin beam with archers sniping you from a mile away, or you have to make a series of pixel-perfect leaps using controls that were clearly never meant for platforming. It’s not a test of skill—it’s a war of attrition. You just keep trying until you finally get lucky. Some people might enjoy it, but for me, it’s a cheap gimmick that completely breaks the flow of the game.

10. World Tendency (Demon's Souls)

Okay, I’ll admit it: World Tendency is a cool idea. The concept of the world changing based on your actions is genuinely innovative. The problem? The game does absolutely nothing to explain how it works! 🤯 Even if it did, the system is so convoluted that most players would need a PhD in Boletaria Studies to understand it. If you accidentally mess up and push your world into Black Tendency on your first playthrough... well, good luck. It’s brutal. This mechanic has so much potential, but it needs a massive overhaul—or at least a simple on/off toggle.

9. No Health Refill (Bloodborne & Demon's Souls)

The Estus Flask is a masterpiece of game design. It’s your reliable lifeline. But in Bloodborne and Demon's Souls, you’re stuck with consumable healing items. At best, you can stockpile them for a tough boss. At worst, you’ll run out completely and be forced to stop your progress to go farming. 🥱 There’s nothing fun about grinding old areas just to buy Blood Vials or Grass. It completely kills the pacing. Demon's Souls gets a pass as the pioneer, but Bloodborne should have known better by then.

8. Inventory Encumbrance (Demon's Souls)

Remember when you had a weight limit for your inventory, not just your equipped gear? Demon's Souls did. If you picked up too much loot while exploring, you’d either have to drop items or fat-roll your way back to an archstone. Sure, you could store stuff with Stockpile Thomas, but that just meant tedious backtracking. This was pure inventory management hell and added nothing to the experience. Thank goodness this mechanic was left in 2009 where it belongs.

7. Invasions

I know this is controversial, but hear me out. I’ve never been a fan of Souls PvP. It always feels like a distraction. And the worst part of it? Invasions. 😡 There’s nothing worse than being fully immersed in your solo adventure, carefully making your way through a dangerous area, only to have some over-leveled, hyper-toxic player invade your world just to ruin your day in the most drawn-out way possible. I get it’s part of the Miyazaki signature trolling, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I’d be perfectly happy if this feature vanished forever.

6. Weapon Degradation (Demon's Souls)

Weapon degradation exists in most Souls games, and that’s fine. It adds a layer of resource management. But Demon's Souls took it to an absurd extreme. Your weapons would break at an insane rate. You could barely make it through half a level before your sword was on the verge of shattering. And don’t get me started on enemies with stone shields that could grind your weapon down to a useless nub in seconds! It was an unrefined, frustrating system that felt more punishing than challenging.

5. Curse Status Effect (Dark Souls)

Status effects can be annoying, but they’re usually manageable. Then there’s the Curse from the original Dark Souls. This nightmare of a mechanic halves your maximum health until you find a cure. The problem? Curing it is a massive hassle. You have to buy a Purging Stone for 3,000 or 6,000 Souls from specific, easy-to-miss (or kill!) merchants. If you accidentally kill the one in Firelink Shrine early on? You might as well restart your entire save file. It’s an early-game trap that can completely ruin a new player’s experience.

4. Fog Gate Vulnerability (Dark Souls 2)

Ah, Dark Souls 2. I’ve saved a special place on this list for you. This has to be one of the most baffling design choices ever. In DS2, enemies can still hit you while you’re walking through a fog gate. 😤 You haven’t even fully loaded into the boss arena, and you’re already down half your health, desperately scrambling for a safe moment to heal. Souls games are famously "tough but fair." This? This is just unfair. It’s a cheap shot that serves no purpose other than to frustrate.

3. Soul Memory (Dark Souls 2)

Even as someone who doesn’t PvP much, I can recognize a broken matchmaking system. Soul Memory matches players based on the total number of Souls they’ve ever collected, not their current level or gear. Here’s the flaw: if you lose a huge pile of Souls by dying twice, your character isn’t any stronger, but the matchmaking system thinks you are! This led to countless mismatches where under-leveled players were pitted against veterans. It was a well-intentioned but deeply flawed system that just made online interactions worse.

2. Despawning Enemies (Dark Souls 2)

This one feels like a betrayal of the Souls philosophy. In Dark Souls 2, if you kill a regular enemy enough times (usually around 12), they stop respawning permanently. 🚫 The game is basically saying, "You’re struggling too much, so we’ll just make it easier for you." But overcoming struggle is the entire point! Souls games are about perseverance, memorization, and mastering challenges. Removing enemies patronizes the player and removes the need to truly "git gud." It was supposedly an anti-farming measure, but it just encouraged farming kills instead of Souls. A terrible idea all around.

1. Adaptability (Dark Souls 2)

And now, the number one spot has to go to Dark Souls 2's most infamous hidden trap: the Adaptability stat. This wasn't explicitly in the reference list, but as a veteran, I have to include it because it embodies everything wrong with opaque mechanics. Your i-frames during rolls and the speed at which you used items like Estus were tied to this stat. The game never explains this crucial detail! New players would level up normally, wonder why their rolls felt useless, and get demolished. A core defensive mechanic being locked behind a hidden, poorly explained stat is the pinnacle of bad Souls design. It's the ultimate "gotcha" that has (thankfully) never been repeated.

So there you have it. My personal hall of shame for Souls game mechanics. Every time I replay these classics, I'm reminded of both their brilliance and their occasional moments of sheer madness. Here's hoping the lessons from these missteps continue to shape the incredible games of the future. What mechanics drive you crazy? Let me know!