We’ve already looked at a few of the many ways that modders are making the infamously difficult Dark Souls games even more challenging, but a new mod for the original Dark Souls looks like it will challenge even the most skilled Souls players by forcing them to become progressively weaker for every boss they defeat.
The Scorched Contract mod from Nexus Mods community member HotPocketRemix adds an interesting new wrinkle to Dark Souls’ standard difficulty. Every time a player fells one of the game’s boss enemies, they’ll be inflicted with a debuff that will negatively affect their character in some way. These debuffs are represented by items which hint at the nature of the debuff itself, but in true Dark Souls fashion the debuff descriptions are also vague enough that it might not be readily apparent what they do (at least until the player experiences them firsthand).
Along with the stacking debuffs, defeating bosses has other consequences that can affect the game world itself. Previously unlocked doors will become locked, enemy positions will change, and the locations of helpful items will be moved. HotPocketRemix also warns that harder bosses will inflict more debilitating debuffs, forcing players to choose whether they want to get them out of the way early (and live with the consequences long-term), or save them until after they’ve defeated easier bosses (and suffered their associated debuffs). In short, if the standard Dark Souls experience feels just a bit too easy for you, The Scorched Contract should help to remedy that issue and then some.
The above Nexus Mods page contains detailed instructions for installing The Scorched Contract, and potential users should definitely read it if they also use other mods like DSFix or custom textures. Currently, The Scorched Contract only works with the default Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition PC port, but HotPocketRemix says they’re strongly considering adapting the mod for the recently launched Dark Souls Remastered in the future.