Dark Souls has built its reputation as an incredible difficult experience. While most games nowadays are fairly easy compared to older titles, Dark Souls is notorious for its lack of hand-holding - throwing players into the thick of things with barely any explanation and expecting them to survive against ridiculous odds.

This formula has made the franchise into a phenomenon in and of itself, developing a dedicated and rabid fan base. One fan in particular, Benjamin "Bearzly" Gwin, has taken his dedication to completely new levels by repeatedly conquering Dark Souls using outrageous control methods. However, his latest feat may be the most astonishing yet.

Using a website called VoiceAttack, Gwin was able to translate voice commands into keyboard presses. The voice recognition software caused a 1.5 second delay, making the already extraordinarily difficult game that much more difficult. Even so, he pressed on, completing the game in about 30 hours.

Gwin's adventure was streamed live on Twitch, but he has added a snippet of the accomplishment to his YouTube page. In the video, which can be seen below, Gwin battles Ornstein and Smaugh, considered to be the hardest boss battle in Dark Souls, using only the voice commands. As stated by Gwin himself, "I was never sure if this run would be possible, but I never gave up and this finally happened."

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This latest run through Dark Souls using an abnormal control method may have been the most difficult for Gwin, but it's certainly not his first rodeo. In the past, he has completed the game using the Donkey Konga bongo controller as well as the Rock Band guitar and drums.

Other players in the Dark Souls community have also started attempting ridiculous runs at the game. For example, one gamer , Lobos Jr, has attempted to beat the game blindfolded, as well as beating it upside down. As these types of challenges become more popular, expect to see even more creative methods of people conquering not only Dark Souls, but other popular video games as well.

A sister game to the Dark Souls titles, Bloodborne, has similarly seen its fair share of crazy challenges. In fact, Gwin has taken it upon himself to conquer Bloodborne with a Rock Band guitar controller too, just like he did with Dark Souls.

For one reason or another, fans of this franchise like to inflict as much punishment on themselves as possible. With Dark Souls 3 announced at E3 2015, it will be interesting to see what kind of crazy restrictions players place upon themselves when trying to beat that game when it releases next year.

For more of Benjamin "Bearzly" Gwin's ridiculous gaming feats, don't forget to check out his Twitch channel.

Dark Souls is currently available for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, for anyone that else looking to make a name for themselves doing the seemingly impossible.

Source: gbbearzly