FromSoftwaregames are known for their challenging difficulty and adrenaline-pumping boss fights that kick into high gear when you have just a sliver of health remaining. Soulsborne games have a lot of boss fights and each game steps up from the last, delivering more than fans expect.
A good boss fight is characterized by a combination of lore, mechanics, music, and cinematics and having all four of them raises the bar. A lot of players miss out on some of the bosses because they only remember that one difficult boss they had a hard time with, but these bosses check almost all the boxes for an entertaining boss fight.
10The Rotten - Dark Souls 2
Challenge This Hideous Monstrosity Of A Creature At Your Own Risk
One of the most underrated and disturbing looking bossesinDark Souls 2is the aptly named Rotten. This amalgamation of rotten bodies coddled together doesn’t get enough credit for how challenging and interesting he is when fighting against him.
The Rotten teaches you how to be patient in a Souls game like no other boss before him, and healing windows are scarce and earned after multiple failures. He can do fake sweeps and can punish you if you make the wrong move, forcing you to learn from every mistake. People often misattribute difficulty and cinematics as the main qualities of a good boss fight in a FromSoftware game, but when it comes to mechanics, few bosses compare to how good The Rotten is.
9Emma And Isshin Ashina - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
A Beautiful Dance Disguised As A Fight To The Death
In the shura ending ofSekiro, Wolf decides to obey his father and follow the iron code, which leads to a confrontation with Emma the Gentle Blade.The emotional battle and the dance-like patternsthat lead to the climax of the fight against Isshin are surprisingly underrated.
Both the fights against Emma and Isshin are iconic, and since many players don’t consider this ending canon, few make it to the boss fight. The feeling that comes when the arena catches fire and Wolf turning against the good guys and, eventually, his father, to become the demon Shura, makes this one of the best boss fights in Sekiro.
8Pinwheel - Dark Souls Remastered
Taking Creepy To The Next Level
Pinwheel fromDark Soulsis often criticized for being one of the easiest bosses a souls game has to offer, despite the creepy cinematics that makes it look like a massive challenge. The problem is thatmost players don’t face him at the start of the gameand instead head over to the Undead Burg without properly exploring the catacombs.
If you face Pinwheel at the start of a playthrough, his bark lives up to his bite and is actually a super fun boss with some horror elements. Pinwheel eventually becomes a regular enemy you face, which makes the initial boss fight reductive, but he’s still massively underrated.
7Mergo’s Wet Nurse - Bloodborne
An Often Forgotten But Extremely Fun Fight
Bloodbornehas many creative bosses and one of them is Mergo’s Wet Nurse, who has six arms equipped with blades that make her extremely intimidating. She stands guard for Mergo and looks imposing, which makes for a tough fight and a fun cinematic boss.
She’s outshined by bosses like Orphan of Kos and Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, who push the limits of difficulty in Bloodborne, but Mergo’s Wet Nurse is a decent challenge as well with fun mechanics, especially when you start understanding her rhythm.
6Phalanx - Demon’s Souls
A Test That Challenges The Skills You’ve Acquired So Far
Phalanx is a classicDemon’s Soulsboss that tests everything you’ve learned so far while in active combat without being difficult or challenging beyond an average person’s abilities. The lore of Phalanx is also interesting, following the story of an archer who turned into a demon after having other people die for them on the front lines.
The fight is representative of the story of Phalanx and, besides being fair and fun, adds depth to make you finally understand that the strong in the Demon’s Souls world survive while the weak grovel.
5True Corrupted Monk - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Colorful, Artistic, Challenging, And Fun
A Sekiro boss that isn’t shown enough love is the True Corrupted Monk, guarding the gate to the mythical fountainhead palace. You fight a single-phase version of the monk earlier in the game and True Monk is essentially that same boss with three phases and some unique attacks that can throw you off.
Almost every boss in Sekiro is artistic, but not enough credit is given to True Monk and the arena you fight her in. The colors and the sound design for this boss are especially well done, and she doesn’t even feel difficult, even though the fight is long and would take multiple attempts. Being fair while also being challenging is the hallmark of a well-designed boss and True Corrupted Monk represents it faithfully.
4Oceiros, The Consumed King - Dark Souls 3
Oceiros is an optional bossinDark Souls 3and one of the few bosses given a cut scene in the Souls series to emphasize their role. Oceiros was like Seath the Scaleless in the first Dark Souls, and turned himself into a dragon while spouting on about some prophecy about his invisible half-dragon son.
Halfway through the fight, he goes off the rails and crushes his son, and the fight turns into something even more intense. He doesn’t feel difficult and can be pretty easily cheesed, but Oceiros is one of the more unique bosses in Dark Souls and is severely underrated.
3Full Grown Fallingstar Beast - Elden Ring
An Optional Boss That Feels Like A Main Boss
You face the Full Grown Fallingstar Beast on your way to Volcano Manor, and just as easily as you enter the arena, you’re able to leave it by ignoring the boss entirely. You’d be missing out on the epic fight though, and one of the most well-designed artistic bosses inElden Ring.
The Fallingstar Beast resembles Astel, Naturalborn of the Void in a lot of ways, hinting towards their potential shared heritage, and he’s also one of the lesser-known side bosses in Elden Ring. Fighting him is a treat for the eyes and the soul, with satisfying combat that rivals that of the main bosses in the game.
2Lady Butterfly - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
A Classic Tale Of A Student Becoming A Master
Lady Butterfly from Sekiro is not talked about enough because of how amazingly fluid the fight against her is. She’s fought in Wolf’s memories and is the final obstacle in the Hirata Estate. The fight with her is cinematic, emotional and all sorts of fun when you’re freshly learning the combat of Sekiro.
Wolf faces his old teacher and battles her to the death in a two-phase boss fight full of unique and fun game mechanics that immerse you into the Sekiro gameplay without feeling forced or too difficult.
1Lothric And Lorian, The Twin Princes - Dark Souls 3
You Can Rest Here Too, If You Like
Dark Souls 3 takes everything great about boss fights it learned in previous games and implements them perfectly in one of the best closing acts of a trilogy you could ever imagine. Though most people are awestruck by bosses like the Nameless King or the Soul of Cinder, a lot of people gloss over the Twin Princes and the emotional end you bring them before entering the kiln of the first flame.
Everything about this fight is amazing; the musical score and the extremely fun and often frustrating attacks by Lorian. In the second phase, Lothric joins his brother, and you fight them both before finally taking them down in an emotional ending for the duo. In a game full of brilliant boss fights, the Twin Princes are recognized the least and should be shown more respect.
