I'm extremely late for playing this game for the first time since it came out almost a decade ago. I ended up buying the game to see what all the hype was about. The only game that I had played that was anything close to it was star wars jedi fallen order and I had tons of fun with that game. I had my doubts thinking that such an old game wouldn't hold up but I was proved wrong. I can comfortably say that Dark Souls 1 became one of my favorite games of all time. In terms of gameplay the controls feel pretty good and responsive which is a good thing because timing is a very important thing in this game. If I got hit then most of the time it was because of my own early/late input. Landing a hit on an enemy feels really good because of the sound and animations. Once I found a weapon I liked, I just stayed with it until the end. In terms of difficulty I didn't find the game to be impossibly hard but it is challenging at first. Once you get the hang of dodging and enemy attack patterns you'll end up wanting more. The world and lore of Dark Souls is personally my favorite part about the game. I also think that its the game's strongest quality. The map layout is fun to traverse and feels like an actual world rather than just a bunch of empty corridors. The characters you meet have little dialogue but a lot of charm in both their delivery and choice of words which made them feel alive; Siegmeyer and Solaire being my favorites. The bosses also have their own interesting stories as well. I do believe that this is a game that everyone should try at least once and hopefully beat it. Its not a beginner friendly game at all but it can be easier depending on what you use. On the other hand, what fun is a game that's not at least a little challenging?