“What defines a Soulslike?” is a query I might not dare to attempt to reply on IGN given the myriad viewpoints on it on the market, however one oft-discussed characteristic of FromSoftware’s video games at the least is the “runback”, or the… effectively, run again to a boss after you have died to it, particularly when there’s a important distance or problem concerned. Not a lot of video games have these. FromSoftware and Hole Knight video games have some heinous ones.
How heinous? Actually heinous, if the many web threads and discussions complaining about a few of them are any indication. However we needed to know, which one is the worst?
We ran a ballot on IGN final month the place we requested readers to vote on the Soulslike boss with the worst runback. To populate our ballot choices, I consulted a variety of sources. I requested our Soulslike consultants right here at IGN, I requested for strategies on Bluesky, and I went again to a number of previous Reddit threads in numerous Souls communities the place followers lamented horrible runbacks to see what was complained about the most.
Curiously sufficient, completely nobody recommended something that wasn’t both a Hole Knight sport or a FromSoftware sport, which maybe says one thing about how each of these video games method save factors in relation to bosses. I requested IGN employees to suppose actually onerous if there have been some other bosses from some other video games we must always add, and we got here up with Umi-Bozu from Nioh, simply so as to add some selection.
We then posted the ballot on a number of articles related to Soulslike video games, and shared it round on social media asking our readers to vote. We acknowledge that is a relatively unscientific ballot, provided that it was included first in an article explicitly about Bilewater in Hole Knight: Silksong. That mentioned…
IGN readers voted for Groal from Silksong as the Soulslike boss with the worst runback, at 16.2% of the vote.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t an amazing victory. Coming in simply behind it with 15.3% was “Your complete Darkish Souls 2 DLC” which we listed to incorporate the Blue Smelter Demon, Lud and Zallen, and Sir Allone. Once more, that is an admittedly unscientific ballot – together with three bosses in that one in all probability swung the vote a little bit, however after we requested round so many individuals talked about both bosses from or the entirety of the Darkish Souls 2 DLC it felt incorrect to not group them collectively.
In third place with a marginally extra scientific p.c of the vote at 9.8% was Placidusax from Elden Ring and… yeah, that chunk of Crumbling Farum Azula you must run by way of each time you battle him sucks! Shut behind him was Mattress of Chaos from the unique Darkish Souls, an already-frustrating battle compounded by a horrible runback no matter whether or not you slog by way of lava or take the “brief”-cut behind Queelag’s sister.
Umi-Bozu bought the least quantity of votes, maybe suggesting that runbacks exterior of Hole Knight and FromSoftware video games actually aren’t that dangerous.
If you happen to’re enjoying Silksong and have not gotten to Groal but, nice information: we’ve a walkthrough that may make it easier to survive Bilewater in normal, and in case you’re adversarial to utilizing guides, we’ve a fast tip right here that may make your runback to Groal… barely simpler. It is nonetheless dangerous. Along with our Bilewater information, we’ve a detailed Wiki that can assist you by way of each step of your journey in Pharloom, so test it out earlier than, throughout, and after Bilewater.
And in case you’ve already overwhelmed Groal and suppose our ballot is incorrect, please be at liberty to vote above. Percentages point out in this piece are correct at the time of publication, however possibly there are some Nioh followers that actually need to assist Umi-Bozu out. Personally, after two straight nights of failing to climb a tower with nothing at the high of it, I am regretting not having put Child Steps in this ballot someplace.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Received a story tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.