Dark Souls is a franchise with a lot of influence over the way games have developed this past decade. The Souls games have inspired a whole swath of imitators, both good and bad, thanks to their revolutionary design. I've also never really played them before now.
Stable frame-rate; Laser-precise level design; Clean; shiny graphics
Still terribly hard; Hardcore fans will find some drawbacks; Causes constant howling of despair