Ask anyone who has gone anywhere near FromSoftware games and they will tell you how Hidetaka Miyazaki’s uncompromising vision is at the helm of these magnificent games. This vision is headlined by excruciatingly difficult boss battles, hellish landscapes, and bleak narratives.

RELATED: FromSoftware: Hardest Beast Soulsborne Bosses, RankedSuch thematic and gameplay elements make FromSoftware worlds harsh and formidable places to dwell in and the list below compiles some of the bleakest ones of the bunch. Some of these worlds made it because of the dangerous areas and infrastructure, meanwhile, harsh environments, diseases, and wars are a few reasons for the rest.

7 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Ashina

A War-Torn Land With A Supernatural Twist

In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, players get to experience the vast world of Ashina set in a fictionalized Japan. The land is filled with enormous castles, lush jungles, and mountain ranges that are pleasing to the eye. Despite all of this, Ashina can be considered a harsh place to live in because it is a war-torn land. Endless battles and political unrest lead to violence and the loss of many innocent lives. The regions are led by ruthless warlords from the Ashina Clan who, by nature, are oppressive and feel no sympathy for those around them.

Cultural divide is also a major reason for Ashina's troubles, as being born poor can lead to living in harsh conditions under rich ruling emperors. However, all of these issues are quite small when considering that most areas are filled with supernatural and demonic beings. This makes the environment much more hostile to live in. The Depths of Ashina are filled with poisonous swamps and monkeys that have parasites in them, making it a bad spot for a tourist attraction.

6 Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon - Rubicon 3

A Futuristic World Where Factions Wage War For Resources

Armored Core VI focuses on the Fires of Ibis that ruined Rubicon 3. The world of Armored Core is at war over who gets possession of the Coral present on the planet. This war happens on a massive scale and causes mass destruction. This destruction can lead to buildings and areas being destroyed as well as civilians being killed.

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As the game is set in the future, there is a shortage of resources, meaning that basic necessities will be harder to find. A technological world means humanity depends a lot on technology, but this also affects a lot of people as not everyone can afford it.

5 Demon's Souls - Boletaria

Experiments That Make You Want To Leave, A Fog That Prevents You From Doing So

The Kingdom of Boletaria is a harsh and foreboding world to live in. The whole place is filled with fog that closes Boletaria off from the rest of the world and traps the people inside, so they can not leave. This fog puts forward a sense of imprisonment where a person has to stay in this world forever. There are several regions within Boletaria that are oppressive. The miner city known as the Stonefang Tunnel is an underground area that is tied to a shrine and a temple filled with demonic creatures and a Dragon God.

Areas like the Tower of Latria act as a prison that torments all of its inmates. In the upper parts of the tower, there are rooms where inmates have hung themselves because of the harsh treatment and experiments they have gone through. Many people have their flesh sewn together, turning them into monsters. Other regions in the world are poisonous swamps, chasms, and abandoned castles, none of which are pleasant to visit and definitely not worth living in.

4 Elden Ring - The Lands Between

Vast Areas With Massive Dragons Breathing Fire

The Lands Between stretch out far and wide. Vast areas in a world mean more places to explore, but also mean more areas to avoid if they are infested with dangerous creatures. Areas like the Lake of Rot are covered with the Scarlet Rot as far as the eye can see. Running through these areas can be an impossible task as the disease can take away health faster than it can regenerate. Having a vehicle or an aircraft would help ease this process, but finding those in a medieval era is unlikely.

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Crumbling Farum Azula is an area that is hard to reach, but once there, a resident would not stop complaining about how bad it is to live there. The fact that there are hostile dragons five minutes away from each other and ruins that could crumble at any moment is something to think about.

3 Shadow Tower - Zeptar

A Complex Environment Filled with Deathly Traps

Shadow Tower is an area inside the Holy Land of Zeptar. The tower is a nightmarish place, and one that nobody will be keen to visit. Each area has deadly traps that endanger the lives of anyone in the vicinity, as well as mindless underworld creatures that will kill without a second thought.

Navigating through these hazardous areas can be annoying as well as risky, as a sense of danger persists everywhere a person goes. The haunting ambiance every area has makes it so that everyone feels uncomfortable when exploring the different interconnected passages and chambers. It's unlikely that visitors will find a chamber they'd want to call home.

2 Bloodborne - Yharnam

A Dark Victorian-Inspired City Plagued By A Ghastly Disease

The streets of Yharnam are filled with creatures that howl and scream in the night. This is because of the widespread disease known as the Scourge of the Beast, which transforms everyone in the locality into grotesque monsters and abominations. People in Yharnam are slowly but surely losing their sanity. They try to cover their eyes because having more Insight makes the world much more frightening. The local townsfolk take up pitchforks and spears in their hands and try to kill these monsters, but imbue the Cursed Blood to do so, turning themselves into monsters in the process.

The areas in Yharnam are dark and have a gothic theme. The infrastructure around these parts feels eerie at times and most people do not want to leave their homes. Areas like Cainhurst Castle have a gorgeous view but have ghostly figures bloated with blood whio let out agonizing shrieks, as well as stone gargoyles that roam the roofs and balconies.

1 Dark Souls - Lordran

The Idea Of Becoming Hollow And Endlessly Wandering A Destroyed Land

Lordran is a world that is hostile against everyone. Living in the brutal environments of Lordran can be one of the riskiest things to do. Opening a window in Blighttown could let the smell of poisonous swamps and rotting corpses inside the house, which is highly unsanitary. The infrastructure is poorly built in most areas, leading to bridges and platforms breaking. Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith are both demon-infested areas covered in lava pools, making them impossible to go through. Areas like Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo can be pleasing to look at from afar, but when one ventures inside, they will have a bad time.

In Lordran humans do not go away when they die. Instead, they lose their humanity and start to become hollow. Resurrecting after every death only to lose more and more of their sanity would be an unpleasant sight for anyone choosing to live in Lordran.

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