I grew up a Nintendo kid with an Xbox on the side to play Halo and Guitar Hero, but that all changed when FromSoftware released the original Demon's Souls on PS3 back in 2009. Discourse around the first Souls was a combination of criticism for the punishing difficulty and overall jankiness, mixed with plaudits for innovation - in an era of gaming defined by hand-holding tutorials, Demon's Souls was all about friction. That was enough to convince me, but after reaching the first boss I realized I made a mistake. Demon's Souls wasn't fun. It was needlessly cruel. Fifteen years later, this same complaint is being leveled at Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
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