Multi-Stage Boss Fights Are the Worst Video Game Mechanic of All Time

Boss battles have remained a staple of interactive entertainment for nearly as long as the medium has existed. They fulfill various design philosophies: overcoming them might be mandatory for narrative progression, or they may act as optional sentinels protecting coveted gear. A confrontation might pit you against an entirely original adversary equipped with novel mechanics and bespoke animations, or simply present a hardened iteration of a familiar adversary you have previously conquered. Yet, they all share a singular truth: emerging victorious from a grueling boss encounter remains one of the most deeply gratifying experiences a gamer can achieve.

Such triumphs are entirely straightforward when dealing with a conventional boss fight. Unfortunately, not all encounters adhere to this fair design paradigm. Certain antagonists—I am looking directly at FromSoftware and their punishing catalog of Souls titles—frequently incorporate a secondary (and occasionally tertiary!) phase where the foe fundamentally mutates into a vastly more formidable entity, complete with devastating new attacks and fresh visual flair. Frequently, these transformations are accompanied by an entirely replenished health pool.

It is these specific multi-tiered encounters that continually spark my deepest frustrations. If the boss’s stamina bar does not magically refill, that remains entirely acceptable, as expectations are respected. However, when you finally whittle an imposing enemy down to their absolute last sliver of life, only for them to trigger a cinematic transition that heals them entirely while granting the player no such reprieve? It evokes pure exasperation and completely strips away the earned sense of accomplishment.

This is a grievance I have harbored for years, but the issue crystallized entirely during my encounter with The Dancer in Control Resonant. Serving as roughly the second or third major boss in this action-heavy title, The Dancer isn’t inherently an insurmountable wall. Even so, surviving the markedly simpler opening phase only to be thrust into a punishing second round feels deeply demoralizing, primarily because, in the player’s mind, the adversary has already been slain. I depleted the health bar; the target should remain defeated!

While Souls-likes are universally recognized for this design choice, I ultimately find them the least offensive simply because they lean into the trope so predictably. I approached every major confrontation in Elden Ring knowing full well that my opponent likely possessed hidden tricks up their sleeve, typically manifesting as an aggressive transformation. The psychological anticipation is built right into the experience. Conversely, when this design philosophy ambushes you in a game where such endurance tests aren’t traditionally expected, it feels like an abrupt punch to the gut.

There is also the underlying progression hurdle: because subsequent phases ramp up the difficulty significantly, players are forced to spend numerous attempts studying intricate attack patterns to survive. However, if you are only permitted to practice those late-stage maneuvers after successfully navigating the initial phase every single time, it introduces an arbitrary and exhausting gatekeeper. This annoyance multiplies tenfold when the opening phase demands immense concentration on its own, forcing you to endure a grueling gauntlet just to reach the true test.

Even so, developers certainly possess the capability to execute multi-stage boss encounters gracefully. Consider the Ganondorf showdown in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, for instance. The initial phase pits Link against Demon King Ganondorf – The Menace Unleashed, where he functions largely as a traditional swordsman devoid of overly complex mechanics or an inflated health pool.

Once you overcome this preliminary hurdle, he evolves into Demon King Ganondorf – Master of the Secret Stone, accompanied by a phenomenal visual cue where his health bar stretches grandly across the entire user interface, defying the usual boundaries of the screen. It immediately establishes a sense of supreme intimidation and theatrical flair. Yet, even within this empowered state, the ensuing battle remains accessible rather than punishingly unfair—delivering an iconic spectacle that proves multi-phase fights can genuinely excel when thoughtfully balanced.

A sensible compromise for titles leaning heavily into punishing design would be the inclusion of a checkpoint right between transitions. This simple adjustment ensures that if a player falls during the chaotic second act, they aren’t needlessly forced to replay the introductory phase from scratch. Repetition of this nature actively drains the joy from an experience. Following my initial defeat during The Dancer’s secondary form, I slumped back, sighed deeply, and reached for my phone to mindlessly scroll through social media. I simply lacked the mental stamina to immediately dive back into a conflict requiring me to re-earn my progress through a phase I had already bested.

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The entire mechanic would also feel considerably less deceitful if a second phase triggered naturally once the boss’s vitality was reduced to precisely fifty percent. Under those parameters, it becomes an acceptable visual illusion: the mechanical challenge remains identical, yet the player is spared the demoralizing sensation of watching an enemy recover mid-battle while they are forced to manage their original resource pool.

Developers should seriously reconsider letting bosses regenerate between stages, and ideally, provide checkpoints following each distinct milestone. Multi-stage encounters are not fundamentally flawed in concept, but their prevailing execution in modern game design frequently turns an exciting challenge into a tedious chore.

If you love Elden Ring as much as I do, this might not be the game for you, oddly enough

Source: Polygon