JF

The only game in the franchise that actually makes you run through a whole ass gauntlet just to fight the boss again more than once or twice is Dark Souls 2, and even that is restricted to the DLC, which were designed to be extra challenging.

And the game even nerfs that by permamently removing the non-boss enemies after you've killed them a certain number of times.

There is also a flow you get into if you enjoy the franchise. Think of Tom Cruise's character in Edge of Tomorrow just plowing through the battlefield like a god of war after his Xth resurrection. *That* is the high of playing a From Soft game.

Yeah I don’t really enjoy the franchise anyway so I’ve never gotten into that flow. I mostly like Bloodborne for the aesthetics. I do also like the weighty combat with blocking and rolling and all that but it just never works for me overall.

The open world nature of Elden Ring peaks my interest because more space gives me more room to experiment.

You might enjoy Sekiro. Great verticality and the gameplay encourages stealth and experimention over grinding through every mook who stands in your way. The combat is also tweaked in a way that makes it play almost like a rhythm game.

I will instead play Sniper Elite and make myself nauseous via repeated graphic head and ball shots on krauts

I don't play as many shooters these days, but that's the one that depicts all that in slow motion x-ray, right?