Ask for the shape of the challenge.

Parry-first combat with windows tight enough that blocking on reflex fails and blocking on rhythm works.

Modern checkpoint generosity on the surface, with a completion layer underneath that wants every box and no deaths across a level built to cause both.

The EMMI zones are one-hit deaths with a counter window measured in frames, and the bosses expect dodges on reaction rather than pattern.

Sekiro’s deflection on a 2D plane. Chip damage means blocking is not a plan, and every boss is a rhythm you learn on frames rather than a health bar you widdle down.

You can finish it by mashing. The difficulty lives entirely in the gap between finishing it and playing it, and the game is happy to let you ignore that gap forever.

It takes the one thing roguelikes normally give you — time to think — and puts it on a metronome.

Kinder than the first in every way that matters — the instant-death platforming is gone — and the map is still built to be read rather than followed.

Runs are fast and deaths are total. Boss cells stack modifiers until a loadout that felt comfortable dies to two hits, and there is no difficulty setting hiding under them.

Two hits and you are in your underwear, three and the level restarts, and the game expects a second full loop before it will show you an ending.

The gentlest soulslike on the shelf, largely because the AI companion it gives you will happily solo a boss you cannot beat.