The Dark Souls series represents some of my favorite games of all time, and despite finishing each of them multiple times I am always eager to jump back in and see what sort of silly build I can pull off. As such, I am very happy to say that both Dark Souls 2 and 3 are currently massively discounted on Steam, and will remain discounted until Monday, September 18th. So if you ever wanted to give the series a try, now would be the best time to do so!
As a part of the Bandai Namco publisher week Dark Souls 3 is 60% off and will set you back €24, while you can grab Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the Sin Edition (including all of the DLC) for a rather low €10. If you're going to grab only one I would suggest you go with Dark Souls 2 simply because its cheaper. Both games are excellent in their own way, however, so you really can't go wrong no matter what you choose.
As you're probably aware, the Dark Souls series has quite a reputation for being insanely difficult, so much so that it scares away potential new players. Well, you'll be glad to hear that the reports about the difficulty have been greatly exaggerated. Its completely true that even the weakest of enemies can beat you up within seconds if you're careless, but if you play with even a tiny bit of common sense you'll be able to get through it just fine.
You'll still die, and to be perfectly honest you'll die a lot, but that's all part of the process. With each death you'll become tougher and more skilled, and when you finally exact revenge on whatever cosmic monstrosity smacked you down the feeling of exhilaration will be quite something indeed! So if you decide to give the series a try, just make sure not to give up. It'll take you a little while to get used to the controls, but once you get over the initial difficulty hump you'll find out why so many people praise Dark Souls to high heavens.
If you need more information you'll find my review for Dark Souls 3 over here, and if you're wondering why you should even give the series a try, you'll find my rather detailed answer over yonder. Have fun with the Souls games, and here's the opening cinematic trailer to help set the mood: