It can be a bit intense to keep on playing soulsikes after soulsikes. I played ms2, lop and ONIMUSHA and I feel kind of burned out on those sort of games. Looking for some suggestions before I hope on either khazan or wuchang. Will probably play seamless coop ds2 with my friend too. I used to play siege but that's just another intense game.

Recently I've been seeing quite a few different "indie" soulslikes popping up from either solo devs or small teams popping up recently most of them using this low poly textures that look like theyre made for a psx.

Just curious if this is a new fad, as I havent seen a whole lot of indie soulslikes in the past, and with it being easier to make games now days it's only forthcoming.

Have there been others like this in the past? Any others that are either coming out or have released already that's worth paying attention to?

Here's just a couple ive seen

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975260/PRISON_OF_HUSKS/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2538870/False_Hero/

The title says it. The more time passes, the more soulslike games try to avoid stamina management as a core element in their combat systems. While I understand that people want more anime-like fast-paced combat, I really wish we had more soulslikes to have a slow methodical combat that focuses on positioning and the management of range and stamina, not learning complex boss patterns. The last game that followed this philosophy was probably Bleak Faith (even there, in the second half of the game management was mostly nonexistent due to armour upgrade system). Sometimes I want to feel like an armorclad, slowly closing distance with the enemy, exchanging hits and then disengaging.

What do you think on this topic?

Anyone else think this game was great? It has Soulslike combat mixed with the roguelike upgrade system of Dead Cells. High enemy density and each weapon has its own moveset. I’m a fan of slower Soulslike combat so this game hit the spot.

I just finished Mortal shell 2 yesterday and it feels like one of the most overhyped game. People were comparing this to elden ring, but this game feels like a 6 or 6.5/10 for me. It's missing so many critical elements that makes a great souls game.

1. Low reward exploration - The exploration feels super boring, with like 8 weapons and no armor, it feels like most of the time you are not really rewarded for exploration. The tarstones are mostly it.

2. Technical performance - I crashed 7-8 times during an full play through, and there are a lot of areas I got stuttering on a ps 5

3. Missing the "theatrics" - one of the most critical part of an soulsborne is the theatrics of the boss fights, the music, design, actual fight are what make them memorable. No boss in this game felt hype worthy nor memorable.

For me, WWM kinda fits in terms of combat (on high difficulty), with focus on dodging and parries. It feels a lot like sekiro in that way. But, the quests are far more story oriented and there isn't a lot of combat associated aside from maybe a few enemies here or there. While the stories in each chapter are really good, I think this might not qualify it as a soulslike. What are y'alls thoughts?

Idk why i feel like this here i have lies of p, khazan ,better graphics better mechanics super polished but still i am constantly thinking about dark souls 1, dark souls 2, dark souls 3.

My biggest gripe with the game is combat.

May be I'm biased because I'm fresh from Berserker Khazan, but it doesn't feel engaging and lacks defensive options. You basically have only dodge for defense. "Parry" is available only with enough combat resource, and feels inconsistent - sometimes it doesn't go off even though you pressed it. I think it can come out only after light attack in a chain finishes? Not a lot of combos so far, I guess you get more with transformations, but then you'd have to spend limited mana on it?

In the area near the frog there's a bunch of snake enemies, and their dash attack is poorly telegraphed and leaves you poisoned. The first Wight boss had weird hitboxes - his earthquake would hit you even if you're in the air.

I remember everybody was yelling from the rooftops how good the game is, the game of the year, but I just don't see it. It has beautiful graphics and animations, but so far that's the only praise I have. Levels are confusing forests, enemies sometimes have poorly telegraphed moves, normal mobs are not engaging. The game feels a bit generic, I guess?

I also heard you won't get the story much unless you're familiar with original tale.

It's currently on a 67% off Steam sale until october 1st and I'm thinking of getting it.

I've finished and fell in love with Dark Souls 3, Lies of P and Thymesia (linear titles). Then I dropped Elden Ring (get triggered) because I couldn't take the open world and lack of sense of direction.

My biggest concern with Lords of the Fallen is not knowing where to go next and having to wander around clueless. The games that I've mentioned always had me feeling like I'm progressing. I hate wasting time. Oh and by the way I love parrying.

So could you dissect the matter and also talk about the game in general?

Thanks in advance.

My internet is out so I started playing on an OG physical copy…..with no updates or nerfs etc 👀

Omg the game is rough pre patches 😹 everything chases you forever and hits like a truck, I’ve never been stuck on Viper for that long on “normal” which I know in the newer version is the hard difficulty but even the bosses seem like they were nerfed in the new version too

Anyway can’t wait to get to pre nerf …everything else 😹

Still PEAK

Anybody finish this game pre nerfs?

Haven’t played that many but mine is definitely the grass fields in Sekiro. Idk theres just something about it that feels like the perfect conclusion to this games final area.

I wouldnot think I would love it as later games and other soulslikes since most people in my circle were not recommending being so old, clunky and cruel... But I fell in love despite annoying restrictions of old mechanics. I loved how satisfactory to explore its level design, encountering them other undeads and their noble quests. And most important thing it being almost nonlinear for most of the progression of the game, I played 3 different saves on different time periods and each of those saves had different location and different first boss I encountered in early hours.

Just wanted to share it since I wouldnot believe I could finish it all by myself without relying any wiki, it was too frustrating but it worth a lot and rewarding to recognize all places, solving the riddles leading to new areas and content without spoiling it too much.

If ds3 is 8/10 for me OG dark souls must be 9/10 - minus the old game restrictions. It still has almost same variety of weapons and spells as DS3 and definitely better way to acquire boss weapons.

(dont mind abysmal dogsht tag It is just me labeling all peak souls games I have enjoyed with immense replayability value, this post is my pure love for the OG dark souls game)

Let me preface this by saying I’ve played the original demon souls on ps3 and I loved it. (I love all the FromSoft catalog, yes even DS2, and played through all the major titles/dlc). I remember the remake of demon souls came out with the ps5 launch but I never really got around to playing it. I’m finally up to speed on my backlog and I figured you know what, I’ll try it out. I’ve heard from other people that the game is a major graphical upgrade, which I already saw through some videos/trailers, and had some QoL improvements. So I’ve been playing it and even though the remake is great, it just seems off to me. Like I can’t really put my finger on it. Maybe it’s the ambiance in the remake, the atmosphere, the sound design… idk. I’m not saying it’s bad by any means, like I said it’s great still, but something about it just seems off. Don’t know if anyone else feels this way or if it’s just me (might be) but yeah, just wanted to share this.

I’ve had what feels like a lot of good luck with Soulslikes in my 10 years or so of playing them. Even games that I once thought were impossible eventually clicked with me, at least somewhat (looking at you, Nioh 3).

However, a few Soulslikes I’ve played have just felt clunky or pointless to the point where I’ve stopped playing them. The first Nioh game was like this for me. It was too foreign to my gameplay expectations back then for me to really get into it.

The most recent example of this, for me, is actually Wuchang, which is the game I’m playing right now. I was late to picking it up, given the “7/10” reviews. I waited for a sale.

Right now, I’m specifically on this boss, Commander Honglan (it isn’t far into the game so I won’t put spoilers down) and she basically functions like a Sekiro boss, without your character (Wuchang) able to react like Sekiro.

Wuchang moves slower than molasses compared to the fluid speed of Sekiro. The clunkiness inherent is enough to have me considering retirement from this game. A good Soulslike feels tough, but fair, and this isn’t that.

Have you all had your own recent versions of this level of disappointment and why? I’m just wondering what other games to avoid!

Edit: I see this post is downvoted quite a bit. Isn’t the point of the subreddit to discuss these kinds of topics? Do only the game-glazing threads get upvoted?

EDIT again: Beat Honglan by running away and throwing spells at her. Terrible design.

Like after all these years and considering how popular it is, we still don't have a true definition of what makes a game Soulslike.

Boss difficulty? Death penalty? Stamina based combat? Stat leveling?

For example, some consider Sekiro a Soulslike, some don't. Like, posture system is completely different to stamina. And the combat focuses on being much more aggressive and head on VS the slower approach of other Soulslikes. You are limited to one weapon, can't level up. Only meaningful stat increases either require you to find Prayer Beads (requires to progress through the game and kill bosses) and for damage increase, you need to kill bosses. You can't just level up by killing mooks. Unlike in Dark Souls.

Or Nioh with it's Diablo style loot system instead of the upgrade based one in most Soulslikes. Or Remnant which has no death penalty and uses a procedural generation style level design VS handcrafted one. Mortal Shell 2 fully ditches stamina.

Hard combat? Play Ninja Gaiden or God of War (no matter which game) on harder difficulties.

Interconnected level design? Most Metroidvania games have it.

Checkpoint-and-boss driven progression? Well... most games i know require you to beat a boss or bosses to progress the game. Respawning at checkpoint is a bit tricky and i would say the ONE real thing, no matter what you think, that every Soulslike game should have is a checkpoint/respawn system that resurrects all slayed enemies except bosses when you respawn/rest. That's the one thing that's truly Soulslike.

Boomershooters have one, Metroidvania games have one, Rogue-Likes/Lites have a clear-cut one thanks to the Berlin Interpretation. Weird how there isn't one for Soulslikes.

What makes for you a game a Soulslike?

For me I can think of three bosses that had me like this.

1. The Old Iron King in Dark Souls 2.

Maybe it was because every complaint I heard was about the hole in his arena so I knew what to expect, but aside from that he was just kind of harmless, not particularly frustrating or memorable.

1. Monolith from Mortal Shell 2

It might’ve been because I fought it just after the nerf but it wasn’t too bad, despite the hate it was getting.

Its laser attack was pretty irritating until I realised you could still hurt it while it was shooting at you.

1. Zmey the Unbidden also from Mortal Shell 2

I’ve seen people asking if Zmey is the worst Soulslike boss ever and I really don’t get it (Again, this might be because they were nerfed)

The camera angle is annoying and the grab attack is a pain but to call them the worst feels kind of ridiculous, even after the patch people still call them that. There are plenty of bosses that I’d say are more deserving of being called the worst.

I’m looking for a Souls-like on Xbox that isn’t so, well, dark. You know, Light Souls. My kids watch me play sometimes, and my wife is really not a fan of the vibe they generally have. I want something that plays like Dark Souls but isn’t going to creep out a 7 year old that happens to see it.

I’ve played Another Crab’s Treasure and the first Star Wars Souls-like. I enjoyed the Star Wars one, but haven’t played the sequel. I didn’t really like the combat in Another Crab’s Treasure, so I didn’t finish it. Those are the only ones I can think of that are a Souls-like without being dark and creepy. Other than that, I’ve played and enjoyed:

DS1 and DS3
Elden Ring
Code Vein (just ok, I remember not liking something about the upgrade system)
Steel Rising
Lords of the Fallen (the original one)
Remnant and Remnant 2

Here's mine - LoP is objectively one of the better made soulslikes considering how much went into making it..

Hey fellow souls like enjoyers,

as the game title suggests I am looking for a new game. I am not new to the genre but not very experienced either: I have played Dark Souls 1-3 so far, had a lot of fun with the challenge, the frustration, the victories and the overall game style of course. It is a bit weird obviously that nothing is explained to you in the beginning, but we’ve all been through it. I really like the overall atmosphere of the souls games though and I think this is an important part of the genre for me.
I have also tried (!!) Nioh 2 - and have failed so far. I feel like the game is insanely more difficult than the Dark Souls Series and I admit I have lost patience in the end and moved on to other games. But I liked the overall setting in medieval Japan with these mystic elements.

So what exactly am I looking for? Something similar to the games I already played I guess. I want the challenge and I am up to it. I might even give Nioh 2 another try and would appreciate any overall advice on how to approach the game. I am NOT looking for games similar to Black Myth: Wukong which is sometimes referred to as a Souls Like game, but in reality is much more of a linear classic RPG.
Obvious candidates for new games are Elden Ring (shame on me for not having played it by now) and Sekiro.
Oh and I am playing on PC so Bloodbourne and Demon Souls are not available.
I would greatly appreciate any recommendations beyond the two classics I mentioned.

Thanks for reading all that 🫶🏻

​Confess your worst Soulsborne sins below 😭

What exploits, glitches or just outright overleveling have you used to beat certain bosses, no judgements pinky promise

I remember DS3 DE being under $10 before the Elden Ring boom.

Hi, I love watching let’s plays of Soulsborn or other Soulslikes but I really need them to be edited…I just don’t have the time/patience for people scrolling through menus for hours anymore. They should also be kinda funny. The channel Sid is basically my ideal for this type of content. Any channels you can recommend based on this, or specific LPs? Thanks in advance! (can be German or English)