This sadistic mod makes Dark Souls even harder through a series of debuffs

Everyone knows Dark Souls is hard, but that doesn't mean that experienced players aren't up for making it even trickier. Jack wrote a guide to doing just that last year, and a new mod called The Scorched Contract would slot in nicely. Every time you beat a boss you gain a debilitating debuff, making the next battle even more of a slog.

Beating lower level bosses grants less crippling effects, while the debuffs you get from harder bosses "could be simple challenge runs on their own", according to the mod's creator HotPocketRemix. After every boss battle, you'll get an item that describes the debuff—although some of them are "cryptic", which makes it even more difficult. 

The mod's description also says that defeating bosses will "change the world of Lordran", which means certain doors will lock, or enemy positions might change. 

If you fancy it, then go to the mod's Nexus page for installation instructions. HotPocketRemix says they'd consider adapting the mod for Dark Souls Remastered in the future.

Samuel Horti

Samuel Horti is a long-time freelance writer for PC Gamer based in the UK, who loves RPGs and making long lists of games he'll never have time to play. 

Latest in Dark Souls
Ten planks of wood from Dark Souls, responsible for my nightmares in Blighttown.
The co-creator of Dark Souls' most ambitious mod resurfaces to inform me that Blighttown, source of my nightmares, was cobbled together with '10 bits of wood'
dinossindgeil celebrates a hard-earned victory over seven consecutive souls games without a single hit, at level 1.
Streamer achieves git gud godhood by beating all mainline Souls games at level 1, back to back, without getting hit—then explodes into tears of relief
The creator of the Elden Ring Seamless co-op mod is now infusing unlimited multiplayer into Dark Souls 3
A warrior in Elden Ring: Nightreign readies an arm crossbow before entering into bloody combat.
It's not the Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 2 I'd hoped for, but Elden Ring: Nightreign might just sate my insatiable hunger for FromSoftware to pick up the pace
A mounted warrior fleeing fire and rocks
FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki says the studio doesn't 'have any particular plans to develop Elden Ring 2', but that doesn't mean the 'Elden Ring IP' is over
Elden Ring
Elden Ring streamer completes a level 1 playthrough beating the game's 165 bosses—on NG+7, a difficulty she had to finish the game 7 times over just to reach
Latest in News
Lenovo Legion Go S in someone's hands with an apartment behind it
The first non-Steam Deck SteamOS handheld is now available for preorder, and Lenovo may be aiming for the ROG Ally X's throne
Scorched person with their hands on their head
Ghoul players in Fallout 76 are starting to place their camps in the most radioactive areas of the map, and regular humans aren't happy: 'I had to inject 30+ radaway into my veins'
The "mind blown" meme from Tim & Eric.
Friendship ended with human race: Boffins declare the 'meme Turing test' has been passed, and AI is now making funnier captions on average than you useless lumps
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's latest stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that caused a total party-wipe on Ironman Mode at the game's final boss, forcing dejected testers to restart the entire game
Two adventurers face off against a pair of undead scallywags in Frosthaven
X-Com creator Julian Gollop unexpectedly takes over sequel to sprawling board game adaptation, and you can try out the closed beta next week
Naoe and Yasuke pose against the backdrop of a burning building.
After Ubi came crawlin' back to Steam, Assassin's Creed Shadows blasts past a million players in under 24 hours and has already smashed Valhalla's player record