Mine was in Dark Souls 2.

I played through Demon’s Souls and DS1 before DS2 and thought I felt all the highs and lows one could possibly experience in a video game. From the empty feeling of defeating the final boss of Demon’s Souls to the dread of seeing Sif limp near lifelessly in the waning moments of his life, I thought no game could twist my feelings like those moments. Then Bloodborne came out. Nothing really surprised me there, aside from the obvious tonal shift in aesthetics. And then I played DS3 and felt some weird sense of hollow closure upon completion. This series overall just housed moments that caused my emotions to spin. DS2? When it released, life was going on and I never got around to buying it.

Then in 2019 I finally played DS2 after rarely hearing any talk about it aside from people saying it was just different from the other games. I enjoyed the opening and early game, and by the time I hit the midway point I was becoming the tiniest bit exhausted of it. So many bonfires, a boss at the end of every third hallway, I thought that I saw why no one ever held it to the same level as another game in the series. I followed the lore but nothing truly grasped me like the tale of Gwyn or the end of Boletaria. I kept pushing through, finally felling Velstadt, the protector of Vendrick, the individual that has been played up so much throughout all of DS2. For some reason that battle woke me back up, firing me up to take on the next major hurdle. I prepare myself for a major battle, psyching myself up to take on Vendrick, the king that had all the lore and NPCs speaking of him.

I walk into his chamber. My heart and soul drop.

The piano trickled in: the melancholy simplicity, coupled with the pitch black surrounding this...man. A feared warrior, a master of Drangleic, was nothing more than a husk, a shell of the past king. Not even aware enough to notice your presence or even a couple slashes from a sword. A man who once held everything was home to nothing.

I am by no means a defender of DS2 and recognize the flaws of the game and agree with most negative assessments made of it, especially when compared to DS1. But never have I ever felt so entirely twisted in why felt right and what was the truth of the story.

What is a time in the SoulsBorne series where you received a jarring experience such as this?