You Didn't Beat the Game

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Part of a series on Soulslike. [View Related Entries]

About

You Didn't Beat the Game and You Didn't Beat the Boss are catchphrases referring to the argument that using a certain in-game mechanic, such as summons or bleed in Elden Ring, disqualifies the player from being considered to have beaten the video game. The argument has inspired counter-arguments, memes and parodies online since it was first discussed by hardcore Soulslike players in 2018.

Origin

The sentiment that using summons in Soulslike games such as Dark Souls took away from the achievement of beating them has been spread online since at least mid-2010s. For example, on April 19th, 2016, an anonymous 4chan user wrote, "You may only reply to this thread if you beat all the bosses without summons. If you used summons on this game then you are a scrub lol" in a /v/^[1] thread that garnered over 320 replies in eight years.

On March 12th, 2018, an anonymous 4chan /v/^[2] user created the earliest notable thread that specifically argued that using summons in Dark Souls games made a completion of the game ineligible (shown below, left). In the same thread, users replied^[3] with comments that ridiculed the argument by exaggerating it (shown below, right).

More similar posts were made on /v/ in the following years about Dark Souls and other games such as Nioh, as well as posts that made counter-arguments (examples^[4]^[5] shown below, left and right).

On February 25th, 2022, the video game Elden Ring was released by FromSoftware, becoming the best-selling game within the genre. In the days following the release, multiple posts bringing up the argument were made on 4chan,^[6]^[7] X^[8] / Twitter and other social media (compilation image shown below).

Spread

Along with "You didn't beat the game" arguments, counter-arguments, memes and parodies were made on 4chan, and later on X / Twitter. For example, on February 27th, 2022, an anonymous 4chan /v/^[9] user posted a Soyjak meme (shown below, left). On March 8th, X^[10] user @fo_ego posted a Yes Chad meme that garnered over 2,700 reposts and 18,000 likes and was widely shared online in the following months (authorship unconfirmed, shown below, right).

More memes parodying the argument were shared on 4chan and X / Twitter in the following weeks. On March 11th, 2022, a 4chan user made a parody post in /v/^[11] that was widely circulated online (shown below, left). On April 3rd, X^[12] user @Orbitaldropkick made a post about beating the boss character Malenia that garnered over 1,800 reposts and 16,000 likes in two years (shown below, right).

In the following years, the meme saw further spread and development, with users applying the parody formula to other games. For example, on February 17th, 2023, X^[13] user @excelblem made a Fire Emblem meme that received over 140 reposts and 2,100 likes in one year (shown below).

You Cheated Not Only the Game, But Yourself refers to a viral tweet made by Twitter user @Fetusberry in which he criticized PC Gamer journalist James Davenport for resorting to cheats to beat the final boss in 2019 video game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Starting in April 2019, the tweet has been parodied and used as a copypasta, often in reference to well-known exploits used in video games and lifehacks.