The game's difficulty I feel was over exaggerated by many. It's hard don't get me wrong but more often then not there's a clear strategy to ending most of the bosses in the game. most of the bosses I killed were easy to deal with. Not to mention when I got Havel's armor it allowed me to face tank most of the damage coming my way. That ON TOP of having iron flesh meant that nothing could damage me unless it was using lightning. I didn't use the strategy on a certain boss duo because of that fact yet I was easily able to end them FIRST TRY! Honestly I over estimated the base game's difficulty. Yet it still has the challenge that makes me proud when I triumph over a boss or challenge. If you want a harder game though... do new game plus. The damage enemies do is buffed and they gain more hp, and it will reward you with more souls from standard enemies and bosses. Plus you keep all your non key items so there's really no reason to fear a loss of a favorite weapon or armor piece. The game is quite fun and challenging but it's not as hard as many made it out to be. If i'm to make a suggestion if you do want to actually make the game actually brutal then perhaps do a challenge run such as a bow only run or a miracle only run. The difficulty really does increase when you incorporate self made restrictions. without those restrictions though you more often than not can use a simple face tanking strategy I said with almost every boss.