Literally the result of a tantrum by Bamco after FromSoft refused to make anymore sequels to Dark Souls.

The aesthetic carries this heavily.

Hidetaka Miyazaki's magnum opus! Although it has an infamously unfinished area, people love to omit the fact that the other games were partially - or wholly especially in DS2's case - unfinished too. Also thanks to poor performance on consoles during release a negative reputation has stuck to certain areas in this game that are otherwise well-designed and interesting challenges. Also also, the European/Japanese mythological and architectural inspiration that went into this game's worldbuilding goes DEEP.

The most linear but arguably the most consistent boss lineup of the Souls series. Also the plot literally just amounts to the concept of futility and is a barely-veiled message about how much Miyazaki hates making sequels.

Cult classic that was saved from developmental disaster by Miyazaki. (kinda like DS3 later). Although it came first it isn't THE game that defined the genre of Souls-likes.