The only form-pushing entry in this series since Dark Souls. At once, the most abrasive and confident work of Fromsoft's career. An anti-accessible experiment huddling in the cloak of the biggest blockbuster gaming has ever seen. In every way, the 2020s' The Lost Levels.

I love the phrase 'What were they thinking!' It sounds like a question, but it isn't. It's the defacto reaction when a game frustrates. I remember saying it plenty of times fighting Malenia in the base game. She's not just overtuned; she flies in the face of what I perceived as the fun part of these games. She's too fast, too tanky, too difficult to dodge. She's an error, a blemish on the piece. What were they thinking!

Rellana, the first mandatory boss of Shadow of the Erdtree can be described in all the same ways. The parallels are so obvious it becomes funny. How can you not laugh at the triple full-stage nuclear bomb? Ridiculous! There are two possible reactions to this.

1. FromSoft are morons. They've learnt no lessons from the wrong and bad design of the base game. What were they thinking!
2. FromSoft is up to something. They've consciously rejected the complaints people levied at the base game and are making it apparent immediately. What were they thinking?

Throughout this DLC, I slowly moved from the former to the latter. Having been deeply frustrated by the ramping difficulty at the start, I came away thinking this may be the most exciting piece of late-career reactionary metatext gaming has ever seen.

I've never ideologically been a Puritan player of these games, but I have functionally. I'd trained myself to see these as nothing more than spruced-up rhythm games or downbeat character action games, whatever floats your boat. It was me and a halberd against the world. I'd reject every additional mechanic the game threw at me. Not out of some sense of ego, I don't look down on other styles, but I believed this was the most fun way to play—the 'pure' experience. Summons, spirits, co-op, consumables, throwables, magic, range weapons, even fucking ashes of war. All off the table. Enough about what they were thinking; what was I thinking? Why did I allow myself to fall into such a repetitive cycle? The simple answer, I was never made not to. Even when the games got hard, I had the patience and rote memorisation skills to overcome any obstacle.

So, I blast through this DLC. I do my famous trick of pressing the roll and attack buttons in perfect synchronicity until the other guy falls over. It's a little more annoying than usual. Then, the final boss. The cinnamon challenge for 'True Souls Gamers (tm).' No spoilers, but they kicked my ass. Again and again and again. I had hit a proper wall. They had an attack (the left, right, double cross slash, for those curious) that was nigh impossible not to take damage from. It's unfair, it's unreasonable, it's impossible! Try and try as I might, I just could not fucking beat it!

I abandon my morals. I hang my head in shame. I humph and say, 'Fine, Miyazaki, you dickhead. I'll make a real build.'

I return to exploration, not just to get stronger, for once, but to find answers. I engage deeper. I started to notice this was the densest and most beautiful world they'd ever made. By a lot. Wow! Finally, here are some locations from the people who brought us Majula. And these bosses! Annoying at times but visual feasts the likes of which I've never seen. Goop Horse! And the level design is excellent! This is the best and most stuff per stuff Souls has ever seen. I'm having a blast! I missed all of this! Have I always missed all of this?

So, what were they thinking? Here's my theory. Miyazaki doesn't hate Git Gud Gamers. I do, but he doesn't. He added a tear that lets you turn this game into fucking Sekiro! Someone has already no hit the final boss! But he wants that to be only one piece of the puzzle. He wants people to deal a billion damage a hit and become immovable walls and re-enact scenes from Attack of the Clones. This team painted a beautiful piece and wanted eyes on every part of it. They're desperately trying to ascend past the repetition of their combat system and boss design. If the only avenue they have are encounters so unfair as to wrangle the melee-only build out of your hands, then so be it. The whole is richer for it. It forced me to engage, to think, even! To get my ass ground into a paste and not just blindly return for more. To go to the drawing board, cobble together the most demented combination I could, and emerge victorious. It's an entirely different kind of joy than I'm used to, but joyful nonetheless.

For a series so marketed on 'difficulty,' this is the first in a decade to challenge me on a level deeper than execution. This is the only thing they've made aside from Sekiro that makes me play it on its terms. Ideologically, it's a ROM hack. It exists not just to be beaten but to converse with the player. It subverts and supplants traditional game design and the expectations of hardcore fans. It demands you find a way to keep up. I loved it after doing so, but I can't be surprised it sounds like muffled gibberish to the die hards blocking their ears. You guys are right. It is the most boring, tedious and difficult attack pattern training room they've made to date. Even if it grabs you by the shoulders and desperately tries to tell you that's not what it is!