FromSoftware fans may be spending most of their time playing the studio's latest release, Elden Ring, but others are still revisiting the classics like Demon's Souls, the Dark Souls trilogy, and Bloodborne. Collectively, these games have come to be known as the Soulsborne games.
A defining characteristic of a Soulsborne game is its challenging boss fights. Some of the most memorable boss fights in all of gaming can be found in the Soulsborne series, and while most of the boss encounters are fantastic, there are some that standout as less-than-stellar.
Here are the worst bosses in the Soulsborne games. For the purposes of this list, only bosses from Demon's Souls, the Dark Souls trilogy, and Bloodborne were considered.
Dragon God (Demon's Souls)
The Dragon God in Demon's Souls is a massive monstrosity and a jaw-dropping spectacle. When playing the Demon's Souls PS5 remake, the Dragon God is even more impressive-looking, and it is easily one of the most best-looking bosses in the franchise. But while Dragon God looks great, actually fighting the creature is not fun in the least. Whereas Demon's Souls boss fights are usually nail-biting affairs, the same can't be said for the Dragon God fight.
To beat the Dragon God in Demon's Souls, players have to shoot him with ballistas, carefully moving from pillar to pillar to avoid being hit by his attacks. The Dragon God is fully capable of killing Demon's Souls players with a single hit, and dying means having to restart the tedious process all over again. It's completely counter to the fun battles found throughout the rest of the game and completely interrupts its flow.
Red Dragon (Demon's Souls)
Like the Dragon God, the Red Dragon is good for visual spectacle, but not much else. The first encounter with the Red Dragon and its flames is one of the most memorable moments in all the Soulsborne games, but the actual fight fails to live up to expectations. To beat the Red Dragon, players simply have to shoot it with arrows until it dies. There's nothing particularly challenging about this fight, and it's just boring.
Seath the Scaleless (Dark Souls)
Seath the Scaleless is one of the last bosses that players encounter in the original Dark Souls game. He's a massive dragon with huge tails that he likes to use to smash players with. The first encounter with Seath leaves players defeated and locked in a cell, but then they can navigate across an annoying path of invisible bridges and dangerous drops to take Seath on in his lair. The fight itself isn't too difficult, but the journey there is frustrating.
Those trying to unlock all of the achievements in Dark Souls will likely find Seath the Scaleless more annoying than those who are simply trying to get through the game. Players have to cut off Seath's tail to get the Moonlight Greatsword, but getting to the tail can be extremely frustrating with the way he moves around the area. Beyond that, it's fairly easy for players to accidentally kill Seath before the tail comes off, meaning players will have to kill themselves and repeat the annoying journey across the invisible bridges to try again.
The Bed of Chaos (Dark Souls)
Another annoying boss from the original Dark Souls is the Bed of Chaos. Similar to gimmicky bosses like the Demon God, the Bed of Chaos stands out as particularly bad because it's one of the few bosses that doesn't allow players to fight it like they do other bosses in the game. To beat the Bed of Chaos, players have to avoid its attacks and destroy orbs protecting it. They then go to the creature at its center and hit it once to win the fight. Oddly enough, the orbs don't regenerate if players die, which also makes The Bed of Chaos mind-numbingly easy.
Covetous Demon (Dark Souls 2)
Speaking of easy bosses, Dark Souls 2 has its fair share, and one of them is the Covetous Demon. A fat monster that tries to crush the player by rolling on top of them, the Covetous Demon is one of Dark Souls 2's least intimidating bosses. It can be easily killed and doesn't even have a cool design to make up for its shortcomings like some of the other lackluster bosses in the Soulsborne series.
The Darklurker (Dark Souls 2)
Dark Souls 2 has some easy bosses, but it also has some of the most irritating bosses in the franchise. The Darkluker would certainly fit that description, as players have to repeatedly fight their way through a long line of enemies to reach him, and not only that, but they have to use a human effigy every time they start the fight. The Darklurker has a lot of health and more devastating attacks than many of the other Dark Souls 2 bosses, though the challenge wouldn't be so bad if the walk to get to him wasn't so tedious. Players eventually have to fight two Darklurkers at once, which ups the difficulty even further and makes the fight one of the most annoying in the entire franchise.
Micolash (Bloodborne)
Choosing a "worst boss" in Bloodborne is difficult as the game boasts some of the best combat in any FromSoftware game so almost every encounter is an absolute blast. However, the one boss that is somewhat underwhelming is Micolash, Host of the Nightmare. Whereas most Bloodborne boss fights are exciting fights that make full use of the game's aggressive combat, this fight is comparatively dull and has players mostly chasing after Micolash instead of fighting him head-on.