Honestly, I do think Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are difficult by today's standards. They aren't "auto-win." They require practice and skill.

That said, they aren't really "old school" hard either. I mean.. they're fair games and totally reasonable. Usually, if you die, it's because you suck.

I think the difficulty label is correct with Souls, but I think it needs to be placed in the modern context.