It’s hard to be impressed by new Dark Souls feats in 2026 because the feats have become ludicrous. “Dark Souls 2 player beats its hardest boss on NG+7 by wearing his clothes and committing seppuku 47 times,” reads a headline from June. “Dark Souls completed by throwing literal crap at bosses,” was a thing that happened in 2022. That’s not to mention all the dance mat and music peripheral challenges.
Which is why I’m drawn to the relative simplicity of this latest feat. YouTuber Zeldasouls has beaten Dark Souls at soul level 1 without using dodge rolls or ranged weapons. In the run embedded above, every boss is beaten under these limitations.
When I say “simplicity” I mean it’s a pretty straightforward challenge as far as Dark Souls challenge runs go in 2026. There’s no headline-grabbing twist, it’s not completed on a set of bongos, but it’s nevertheless bullshit hard. I don’t think I could beat the Asylum Demon without dodge rolling, for example. I don’t think I’d get far without ranged weapons either, which under Zeldasouls’ conditions includes not only bows and magic projectiles, but also throwable items.
Just to be perfectly clear, here’s the full list of conditions as per Zeldasouls:
No levelling upNo bows, crossbows, ranged consumablesNo ranged pyromancies, sorceries or miraclesNo rollsNo jump rollsNo back stepsNo quit outs to de-aggro enemies or reset player positionNo hits from enemiesNo staggers from enemiesNo deaths incurred by enemies (except for the first Seath encounter, which is a scripted death)
So basically: you’re at a severe-verging-insurmountable disadvantage.
“I genuinely do not have the words to describe how I feel now that this is over,” Zeldasouls writes on YouTube. “I spent countless hours grinding, coming up with strats, failing, suffering, raging, all over the course of the last two years. This is undoubtedly the hardest hitless run ever done in dark souls 1, and possibly in the entire souls series.
“Thank you to everyone who watched me attempt this run over the years. Most people will only see the end result of my blood, sweat, and tears.”
You’ll probably need to be a Dark Souls fanatic to endure the full playthrough: due to the limitations Zeldasouls has to take it extremely slowly, practicing a molasses-slow abundance of caution even in early areas like the Undead Burg. Still: If you’ve got three and a half hours, it’s a gruelling watch.
