I was expecting to come out of this game admiring it for the classic game it is but wow. Even with everything I knew I came out still surprised not just by how much I didn't know, but how much it really immersed and sold me.

I played pretty much the majority of the game with a bunch of my friends watching, which I mean that alone really adds a lot. Souls more than most series really works as a social experience, and its safe to say we all had a blast watching me absolutely get my ass smashed in Blighttown, Ornstein & Smough, and all the DLC has to offer. But even outside of that wow, the worldbuilding, character, and feeling of this world is still really unmatched. Areas like The Abyss or Anor Londo really fill me with a special type of feeling that is hard to describe, and even a decade later it still captures that desolate, brutal, yet oddly beautiful pull it sells you on.

Obviously the game isn't perfect, the Demon Ruins run alone cements that, but coming hot off Bloodborne last year and adoring that, I guess I didn't expect it to quite grab me the same way it did. Glad to be wrong though, this game is and forever will be a modern classic.