They are and in a weird way they aren’t… I didn’t play a WHOLE lot of souls likes. I finished Elden Ring, am pretty far into Dark Souls 3 and Lies of P, played some Dark Souls 1 and 2.
The thing is: Yes, you die very often for sometimes maddening and sometimes silly reasons, but you get better: The mechanics just start to “click”, you earn just enough souls to afford another level up or some piece of equipment, you learn the positioning of you enemies, their attack patterns, timings etc… And slowly and steadily you progress: Around the next corner, to the next boss, you beat the boss. Then you come back to an area you already visited and murder everything…
And if you can’t progress in any way there are summons (players or NPC) that can give you an edge or you try using consumables you forgot about…
Especially the Fromsoftware games have managed to hit that sweet spot where the game is challenging but (most of the times) doesn’t feel unfair or broken. It’s just an amazing piece of game design and you should try it. :)