I wouldn't say Dark Souls is artificially difficult for the most part. Most deaths are caused by impatiently rushing through an area you don't know or being greedy to try and kill a boss faster. However there are a few encounters that actively punish you for taking your time like the Four Kings and the Bed of Chaos, which feel kind of out of place in my opinion.
I think there are much worse offenders when it comes to artifical difficulty, like permadeath game modes or even the original Doom's Nightmare! difficulty (even though this wasn't intended to be a serious game mode).
I think Doom's nightmare mode was the complete opposite of artificial difficulty, it required you to know absolutely everything about the game, right down to the spawns of enemies, how to move, where to move and where the health/armor powerups are.
I was more talking about boss battles where one missed step was insta death, i agree with you on some permadeath though, i fucking hate it.
And yeah Four kings can fuck off haha, that being said the actual game Dark Souls+Demon Souls isn't something i'd put in that category i was more talking about 2-3.
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