Spoilers ahoy! Turn away now if you don’t want spoiled on the endings of certain games! You have been warned!
Dark Souls – Bed of Chaos
Frustrating Boss Fights That Almost Spoiled a Great Game
Dark Souls is a very frustrating game, but for the right reasons. Its boss encounters are brutally difficult, but with some practice, and a careful reserve, they can be bested. The reason this dynamic works is because the game is very rarely unfair. You always know exactly why you died, a feeling which only makes you want to jump back in and try again. So when the game decides to change its tact and throw in a boss that requires more luck than anything else, you bet that it quickly gets annoying. The Bed of Chaos is pretty awesome on the face of it. After sliding down a huge ravine you are greeted by a truly terrifying creature. It doesn’t take long to realize that this isn’t your standard Dark Souls boss fight though, as you run behind it and land your first hit.
A cutscene plays, before the player is forced to run a gauntlet of crumbling floors and huge sweeping arm attacks. The fight hinges on the player’s ability to dodge, jump and run past the obstacles, something which leads to more than a few random fall-deaths and weird shaky platforming. Eventually though, you’ll land another blow and breathe a sigh of relief, surely it’s time to fight the damn thing mano-a-mano? Not exactly, because once again it’s time for another difficult obstacle course! This time there’s rising fire attacks which take half your health, more crumbling floors and even a part where you have to jump onto one of the creature’s roots from a height. If you do manage to make the jump without being wistfully cast aside into the abyss, you’ll have to dodge roll your way through some twigs, where you’ll encounter your true enemy. After all that annoyance, all that falling and being tossed around like a ragdoll, you’re greeted by a small worm which you must one-hit kill, ending the fight. The Bed of Chaos is an unwelcome change in direction from a game that is otherwise so focused on its promise of harsh but fair boss encounters.
