If there's one thing the notoriously difficult Dark Souls series has never been short on, it's exhausting boss fights. Not only do the bosses of Dark Souls pillory the player with relentless attacks, many of them also have complex personalities and rich backstories to discover.
Testing players' skill and determination, these tragic antagonists lend a heavier sense of darkness to the already bleak world of Dark Souls. AS the measuring stick by which gaming difficulty is often analyzed, the macabre fantasy series relies heavily on its excessively brutal boss fights to take gamers to the limit. At this point, Hidetaka's Miyazaki's magnum opus has essentially become its own genre thanks to both its extreme gameplay and heavy themes and characters. Among the many boss confrontations on offer throughout the series, some stand out for handing the story an even darker edge than usual.
6 The Four Kings
To get to The Four Kings, players must first sift through the New Londo Ruins on their way into the Abyss, providing a suitably glum, atmospheric journey into this hellish boss fight. Once leaders of New Londo, the Kings fell due to the dreaded art of lifedrain. Now consumed by the Abyss, these corrupted leaders emit an unpleasant aura of darkness.
In combat, all four of them are utterly relentless in their assault, hammering the player with overwhelming offense. Among the most dangerous threats in the original game, the Four Kings' only saving grace is their recklessness in telegraphing their attacks to the player. Between their sad fall into corruption and the brutal nature of their inevitable demise, the Four Kings are a scary look at the consequences of greed. Once heralded as heroes, their self-destructive move into evil is a tough reminder of how bad things can get for troubled figures in the Dark Souls universe.
5 Gwyn, Lord Of Cinder
The climactic boss of the 2011 classic original embodies the final flicker of a dying world. Gwyn was one of the four lords who managed to triumph over the dragons. Residing in the Kiln of the First Flame, Gwyn has grown into a melancholy, fallen deity who now lives as a mere husk of his old self. The former Lord of Sunlight, while dangerous and threatening, is a tragic figure by the time players finally do battle with him.
Between his story as a fallen, mighty hero and the high stakes drama of the closing boss fight in the narrative, Gwyn's intense standoff with the player character is a memorable, bleak affair. Despite his poor state, Gwyn's speed and aggression allow him to live up to the dreaded signature difficulty of the Dark Souls series. Considering his morally gray history and often heroic feats, the Lord of Cinder's lengthy suffering makes him one of the most complex and sorrowful characters in the series.
4 Sister Friede & Father Ariandel
This dynamic duo boasts a rich, almost predictably dark origin story that lends greatly to the lore of the Ashes of Ariandel DLC. Living as an Unkindled, Friede's manipulative actions lead to Father Ariandel's grim mistake regarding the rotting affliction of the Painted World.
For players, Sister Friede provides an extensive, three-stage boss fight. In the first round, players must grow accustomed to Friede's lethal scythe-based attacks. In the second round, Father Ariandel gets involved, resurrecting the freshly defeated Friede despite their disturbing history. In round three, the relentless Friede will come back swinging with two scythes at the ready, providing plenty of deadly weaponry mayhem for players to overcome. Between their unpleasant history, world-altering antics, and Ariandel's decision to undo all of his work in a doomed bid to save Friede, this pair is among the saddest and most unsettling boss fights in Dark Souls 3 and the series as a whole.
3 The Abyss Watchers
This gang of bosses from Dark Souls 3 are an infuriatingly troublesome bunch to deal with. Worse still, their story revolves around them all being locked in battle with each other forever, condemning to an endless cycle of bloodshed and pain.
Lurking in the predictably spooky Farron Keep, the Watchers provide players with an excellent representation of the corrupting influence of the Abyss. The hauntingly somber music and unsettlingly desolate backdrop set up a dark and melancholic atmosphere for the player's dramatic confrontation with the ghostly warriors. The actual clashes with the Watchers are vicious and action-packed, the cherry on top of these violent, tragic figures from the series' widely acclaimed third installment.
2 Manus, Father Of The Abyss
This grim, final boss is a key figure in the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. Sporting a monstrous, demonic aesthetic, Manus can be found in the Chasm of the Abyss and is in a grim, maddened state in his ongoing quest to find the Broken Pendant.
Manus' origin story is especially twisted. He started life as a primordial human whose people came under fire from the betrayal of a demonic serpent. The betrayal and subsequent desecration of Manus' grave prompted his move into madness, as his obsession with the Broken Pendant consumed him.
By the time players meet him, his tortured, malformed appearance is completely inhuman, as is his general savagery and bloodlust. Between the brutality of the fight and the disconcerting feeling of the setting, Manus is one of the scariest and darkest boss fights the series has to offer.
1 Gravelord Nito
The showdown with Gravelord Nito ultimately proves to be one of Dark Souls' most haunting experiences. Residing in the eerie Tomb of the Giants, Nito is a skeletal, dangerous boss who emerges from a swirling pit of darkness. Surrounded by a horde of skeletal fiends, Nito's imposing appearance and devastating, health-sapping attacks make him among the creepiest and most stressful bosses to deal with. As if that wasn't enough, he also has Gravelord Servants to tangle with, who can prove fatal through their Eyes of Death.
The literal Lord of Death, Nito serves as an overlord for the deceased in the dreaded Catacombs, and is a keeper of one of the four Lord Souls. Interestingly, a covenant can be established with this fearsome reaper, but no matter how players approach it, the main storyline in the original Dark Souls will demand a fight with him eventually.