The first one is easier than a dark souls, it never really gets to that difficulty (although I did stop at the final boss as it’s gimmick was super annoying) but the first game is kind of based around multiplayer as almost every boss spawns ads constantly.
I just beat it with what I would consider mid range, I did use the starting blade for critical hits though. Mostly being in the air a lot is what helped, full blowing the altitude to avoid the claw attacks really helps.