Eldest Souls' first boss fight tells me it's a keeper Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Eldest Souls' first boss fight tells me it's a keeper Slay where you are. Feature by Christian Donlan Features Editor Updated on 28 Mar 2020 6 comments Souls-like games are sort of like Hilbert's Hotel by this point. You can't imagine ever needing another one, but then the right game turns up and you realise you've got a bit of room for it after all. Eldest Souls is a game I have room for. It's a pixel-art Souls-alike and all the parts are in place. Muddy environments, moody art and sound, a massive sword on your back and a stamina bar that you have to keep an eye on. All the parts are great. But then I reached the first boss fight and I realised - oh, this may be special. Reader, I was flattened immediately. So I went back and was flattened again - maybe quicker this time. Then I started to use the recharging dash move to get in and out of danger. Lasted a bit longer but still flattened. Then I went away and sulked. I came back the next day. And I started to notice things. Hey, the dash move doesn't come from my stamina pool. Hey, this comically large sword I have actually comes with a real bit of range. Hey, the charge attack actually slide me forward in a direction I can pick while it's charging. I battled on. I kept dying. But each time I made a bit more progress and I felt like I understood things a bit better. I danced in, struck, and danced back again. I learned patterns and discovered I would live longer if I used a lot of the arena's empty space. I slowed down! Man, I slowed down. I looked for chances. Watch on YouTube And then I was rewarded with an extra special thingy! Charge the attack and then when you're still buffed from it there's a window where you can press another button and lay on absolutely massive amounts of damage. Listen, chances are you'll play this game and defeat the boss first time. That's great! But what's interesting to me is that Eldest Souls managed to take someone like me who is terrible at this stuff - it managed to take someone like me and make them want to be better at it. It didn't make things simpler. It just gave me prompts to learn. And a fast reset. That helped too, I'll admit. We're covering this game as part of Rezzed Digital, highlighting our favourite indie games from the delayed EGX Rezzed. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. 12 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 34 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store