For connoisseurs of "Souls" (Demon's Soul on PS3, Dark Souls on all platforms), the game has "almost" no connection with Dark Souls first name. And the universe, as the gameplay is similar to Demon's Soul.
For the difficulty, even if it was seen falling to attract more public, it is possible you used "objects" to make the game more difficult (during the game). Even in "normal", there are gigantically difficult optional bosses.