What makes Sekiro the hardest Souls game?

What exactly makes Sekiro the most difficult Soulsborne or Soulslike game? I’ve played Sekiro, and it’s easily my favorite game in terms of story and combat. It’s also, without a doubt, the hardest game I’ve ever played. That said, after spending so many hours on it, it feels much easier now. But whenever the conversation about the hardest game comes up, Sekiro is almost always at the top of the list.

Recently, I started playing Bloodborne, and my first reaction was: What the actual hell is this?! Maybe it’s just because I’m not used to the mechanics, but it feels so much more chaotic and difficult to grasp compared to Sekiro. There’s way more going on with the items and inventory slots, enemies seem to be placed randomly in overwhelming numbers, and the movement options feel limited compared to Sekiro. On top of that, the map is confusing—I’ve spent three hours just wandering around, unsure of where to go. The gloomy atmosphere doesn’t help, and the spawn checkpoints? What even is that?!

I know a big part of my struggle comes from not being used to Bloodborne's combat, but the parrying and dodging mechanics just don’t feel intuitive. I’ve heard people say that Sekiro is harder because, unlike other Souls games, you have to face enemies head-on rather than dodging or avoiding them. But is that really true? Wouldn’t it be more straightforward to block and parry attacks rather than constantly trying to predict and dodge them?