While most Soulslike players have been busy with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, one dedicated player has somehow managed to complete Dark Souls 2 without using the left stick. As a result, he can no longer walk at all, climb ladders or move around freely.
If you don’t believe it, YouTuber Ymfah has shown the whole run and all the trials and tribulations in a new video, demonstrating all the clever ways to get around with the left stick. Not being able to walk doesn’t mean you can’t move. In its most basic form, the challenge replaces walking with attacking or stepping back. When you attack, your character moves forward, so you can still traverse the map by swinging wildly from side to side until you reach your destination, or by moving backwards and jumping backwards.
Except it’s not that simple. As Ymfah discovered early in the run, you still have to figure out how to turn yourself around so you don’t end up throwing your hands against a wall for the rest of the time. Fortunately, this can be accomplished in a few different ways: Clinging to an enemy will make you turn toward him or her, and you may very well do that: terribly slowly turn around by moving back and forth on a slope (by attacking and then stepping back). The latter was absolutely crucial for the YouTuber at the start of the challenge, as there simply aren’t enough enemies to trap in the opening area to successfully get to the door and create your character.
After that point, spinning becomes easier, as Ymfah chooses the Bandit class which gains access to an arc, allowing them to spin around it whenever they want (assuming they don’t already have another weapon and a shield in hand). The binoculars that were purchased a little later also do exactly the same. However, as you might expect, the trials are far from over. Defeating stronger enemies is a huge effort if your character can’t be as agile as normal. Luckily there are sometimes Phantoms (NPC summons) to help, but each area requires a well thought out strategy, and even later in the race, after clearing levels to become a powerful magic wielder, Ymfah hit some bricks walls with bosses.
However, aside from the bosses, one of the biggest hurdles was the inability to use ladders. On several occasions, Ymfah had to plan completely new routes after encountering self-imposed dead ends. This was such a big deal that shortly after fighting the boss duo of Dragonriders in Drangleic Castle, Ymfah had to summon an actual player to go up a ladder for them and fight some enemies, in order to get a ride activate so they go up and continue. Hi, someone Maybe they should have walked, but they weren’t.
Admittedly, Ymfah had to pull off some slightly questionable save file shenanigans towards the end of the run, after yet another ladder seemed to be a dead end. By loading another save file and activating the Bonfire checkpoint after the ladder they were stopped by, then overwriting their challenge file and exiting the game after entering a boss arena, they could use an Aged Feather to return to ‘the last bonfire rested upon.’ At this point the game determined that this was the Bonfire that the other save file had access to, allowing them to continue the run without running on the actual run’s save at all. It’s very complicated, but more or less falls under the same category as when another player goes up the ladder to take an elevator down, just with more obstacles.
All in all it is one incredible boring challenge that I can’t imagine anyone wanting to try at home. So much so that you’d think Ymfah would have been the first to think of doing it, but it’s worth noting that a smaller YouTuber, Qui, beat them to it about three years ago, so shout out to her.
While you’re here, be sure to check out the top 10 games like Dark Souls that will test your chances of survival.