The Soulsborne franchise has come a long way since its inception as the humble Demon’s Souls, released exclusively for the PS3. While many hold firm that Dark Souls was the game that truly codified the series, Demon’s Souls stands out for its sheer creativity. Call it early franchise misgivings, but Demon’s Souls bosses are nowhere near as one-note as the later games.
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Where one on one duels would come to define boss fights in the Souls games, Demon’s Souls opts for meaningful encounters. No two bosses are alike, each one offering a unique gameplay challenge. The intent behind Demon’s Souls’ bosses was never pure difficulty, but rather to intelligently challenge players. Each Archstone in Demon’s Souls has its own set of bosses to fight through, but some are notably more difficult than others. For better or worse.
5 Archstone Of The Shadowmen
The Archstone of the Shadowmen warps players to the Shrine of Storms, a battlefield lost to time and dedicated to the dead. The Storm of Shrines is composed primarily of ruins, and anyone without access to fire or a blunt weapon will likely have a hard time against all the skeletons. Thankfully, the bosses aren’t actually all that difficult.
The Adjudicator has wide attacks that can be easily dodged along with being fought in a layered arena with plenty of places to hide. The Adjudicator’s hitbox is also fairly generous. It’s not difficult to just wail on him to death. The Old Hero is a bit more complicated, reacting to any noise the player makes, but a slow playstyle can easily take advantage of the Hero’s blind eyes.
The Storm King is arguably the easiest Archdemon in the game. Not only does the fight give you a weapon that specifically counters the Storm King, the Stormruler. Despite being a simple encounter, the fight against the Storm King is an incredible set piece.
4 Archstone Of The Burrow King
Stonefang Tunnel can cause some whiplash coming from the Boletarian Palace. Not only is fire a constant threat with tracks around every corner, the Archstone of the Burrow King is home to one of the absolute hardest bosses in the game: Flamelurker. That said, the archstone’s other two bosses are a bit on the easy side.
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Armor Spider can catch players off-guard with its massive breath of fire, but it’s actually not that difficult to find hiding spaces with the boss arena. So long as you’re quick to break out of the tunnel and avoid the flames, Armor Spider goes down fast. Similarly, Dragon God is an imposing Archdemon in theory, but the actual battle amounts to little more than light stealth.
The fight against Flamelurker will push players to their limits, his aggressive play style only countered by a player who knows when to dodge or use a copious amount of Soul Arrows. As weapon upgrading is locked behind Flamelurker, it’s best to suffer his wrath out as early as humanly possible.
3 Archstone Of The Chieftain
The Valley of Defilement is notoriously considered one of the hardest areas in Demon’s Souls, if not outright the hardest. Not only is the stage obscenely dark and filled with hazards that can instantly kill players, half of the map is covered by a thick, poisonous swamp. So much as making it to a Fog Gate is a challenge.
Fortunately, the bosses themselves prove to be considerably easier. Leechmonger can drain the player’s health, but fire takes it out incredibly fast and it’s not a particularly hard boss to fight to begin with. The same is true for Dirty Colossus, who goes down just as with fire. Maiden Astraea– while easy– is another matter entirely.
Maiden Astraea can either be confronted head-on, where she’ll use magic, or players can opt to fight her personal knight. Garl Vinland is easy to parry, but he’s an incredibly satisfying character to fight one on one. Should players kill Garl before approaching Astraea, the maiden will take her own life in grief.
2 Archstone Of The Small King
The Archstone of the Small King is the only one to feature four bosses instead of three, but there is a caveat here. While players can complete the Boletarian Palace all the way up to the second boss, the third Fog Gate will be locked until another Archstone has been finished. That said, it’s perhaps best to leave the Archstone for the end.
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Phalanx and the Tower Knight might be simply fights, but the Penetrator and Old King Allant are a bit tougher. The Penetrator can be circumvented entirely by rescuing an NPC in the dungeons beforehand, but the fight against Old King Allant is a challenge no matter what. He even has the ability to drain a player’s level.
Old King Allant is the only boss in the game designed for a one on one duel. Considering his lore relevance and the actual final boss’ inability to do much, Old King Allant is the closest thing Demon’s Souls has to an actual finale challenge.
1 Archstone Of The Tower Queen
The Tower of Latria is far and away Demon’s Souls’ standout area. A terrifying prison filled with abominations and death traps, the Tower of Latria borders on actual survival horror at points. Beyond the Archstone’s oppressive design, the bosses are some of the most creative and haunting in the game.
The Fool’s Idol isn’t hard, but defeating her requires exploring all of 3-1 before entering the Fog Gate and killing the right enemy. Maneater is Demon’s Souls’ sole two on one fight, and a second Maneater swooping down halfway through the fight makes the battle even more tense (while also highlighting how dangerous the boss arena is.)
The Old Monk is a mixed bag, but it has the potential to be the singlest hardest challenge in the game. If players are connected online and someone is trying to invade, they’ll be summoned as the Old Monk. A competent player can wreck others as the boss in one of the game’s best encounters. Demon’s Souls’ official servers might be down, but there are still ways of getting online & triggering this fight as intended.
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