Very well deserved. It's incredible that a series like Souls with:
- a dark fantasy aesthetic
- an oppressive atmosphere that makes players feel insignificant rather than empowered
- very little cinematic elements, and a lack of traditional storytelling elements, with a focus on environmental storytelling
- no quests or missions or objective markers. No direction in the form of "go there, do this, kill that, save them", aside from maybe "kill the bosses"
- non-linear level design and game structure that isn't open world, consisting of tightly crafted, interconnected areas
- a huge amount of optional content consisting of entire areas and bosses, as opposed to minor quests or collectibles
- a heavy focus on challenge, very little to no handholding, with many of the most difficult boss fights of any action/adventure/RPG game
- a gameplay philosophy where player death is expected and built into the core experience, with the possibility of significant progress and point loss with a single death
manages to sell as well as it does.
Companies like Capcom and Tecmo Koei with franchises like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, franchises once infamous for being challenging action titles, where they watered down the difficulty and tried to spread out the experiences with a bigger focus on story, more platforming and more cinematic elements like contextual button prompts, look like incompetent boobs by comparison.