Soulslikes
Who actually knows what defines a soulslike… Is it animation based combat? Stamina bars? Deep lore? Exploration? Corpse-running? Rolling? Either way, these are those games.
A project handed to a junior employee, who then crafted it into an uncompromising lesson in perseverance that rewards exploration and subverts expectations. Bleak, brutal and beautiful. Pretty much perfect - Dark Souls legacy & impact cannot be overstated.
A good game, but not a great Souls game. While there are some mechanical improvements, Dark Souls II is the buffet to it’s predecessors fine dining: lots of content, but none of it very good.
Takes all the best foundations from Souls and dials up the speed & aggression. Absolutely inspired and masterfully pulled off. Incredible setting, world design, story and of course combat. Masterpiece, close to perfection.
All of the learnings from DS through BB are here, and as a final instalment to the franchise is a remarkably rounded love letter to its fans. Almost certainly the most accessible Souls game.
The latest game by FROM is just as challenging as its predecessors, while taking things in a different direction: combat is more demanding, the world is more vertical & platformy. Extremely good.
A loving and faithful return to Boletaria, now rendered in spectacular modern tech. It’s clear to see FROM’s approach was unrefined back then, but it’s still a fantastic, brutal, important game.
So masterfully crafted, creative, confident and bold that it immediately makes the rest of the openworld genre feel dated and uninspired. A landmark achievement and a very special game. Masterpiece.
Nioh transcends its soulslike roots by adding successful new ideas like stances in combat and Guardian Spirits. Enemies and environments become repetitive after a while, but worth the price of entry.
A refinement of its great predecessor, Nioh 2 does everything you’d hope for from a sequel. The core mechanics remain tight & additions fit in seamlessly without ruining any balance. Outstanding game.
Ashen is a refreshing take on the soulslike, capturing all the right things; challenge, exploration and intrigue. Bosses are a bit easy, but still fun. The VA is its only drastic weak point.
A great 2D side-scrolling soulslike. At times the difficulty feels a little artificial, but overall a solid experience with well crafted mechanics and world.
As with a lot of soulslikes; The Surge has a few respectable and cool ideas for ideation on the genre, but ultimately falls flat - repetitive enemies & environments, and a not-very-engaging story.
Addresses some of the flaws in the original (map design, enemy variation), but still feels underwhelming and repetitive. If you have soulslike withdrawals it’s worth a shot because it has fun moments.
Another soulslike with potential but not enough to stand on its own. People call this “clunky souls” but forget it was released before DS3, and that DS1/2 were also very slow.
A respectable idea (‘shooter souls’), but ultimately falls very short, feeling very derivative, clunky, repetitive and… just not very fun.
Ranges from OK to Pretty Bad. Movement is slippery, combat is floaty & clunky, lacking in impact. Boss design suffers from poor telegraphs and artificial difficulty. I couldn’t get into the art style.
Hauntingly beautiful, tight controls and an atmospheric world. Hyper Light Drifter is a great example of how to do top-down adventure standing on the shoulders of giants like Zelda and Dark Souls.
Another in the line of 2D soulslikes. This one is quite a bit more derivative than most, and I’m sure somewhere beneath the clunky mechanics and lack of polish is a decent game, but I struggled.
A rogue/soulslike with a great aesthetic and lots of potential, but sadly underwhelming after having been abandoned by its developers before introducing sustainable amount of content.
Full of potential, but I wasn’t feeling it. Great atmosphere and intriguing world, but let down by underwhelming combat and a fair bit of enemy repetition. If you’re desperate for a soulslike, try it.
Extremely promising during beta, and remains modest (but never dull) at release. A good example of how to take on soulslikes, with great atmosphere & fresh ideas, but often clunky and repetitive.
All layers of presentation are brilliant in this uber-dark (verging on edgy) souls-inspired metroidvania, but often I felt it leans too hard into its tone. Difficulty can be pretty cheap at times.
A very imperfect and quite buggy, but still worth-playing soulslike. While it lacks polish, it’s very sincere and has some interesting ideas. Bosses are a bit simple/easy. Combat is a bit clunky.
EA published a good game! This clearly takes some inspiration from soulslikes - and some of that is present - I would draw more comparisons to Tomb Raider, God of War and Unchartered. Very fun.
Can’t blame them, but someone clearly loves Bloodborne. Thymesia is cool and like a lot of new soulslikes, has a bunch of neat ideas, but somehow feels like less than the sum of its parts. Decent.
A surprisingly compelling soulslike despite quite a bit of jank. World is cool & very pretty. Combat is easy but enjoyable. Disappointing amount of invisible walls, and overall a bit clunky, but fun.
A lot of Nioh buildcrafting stuff has been simplified, some new stuff has been added. Morale system is clever, forcing further exploration. Combat is very satisfying. Story is passable. Good game.
As far as non-FromSoft soulslikes go, this is the real deal. It’s not doing anything revolutionary, but it has enough compelling new ideas, and a level of polish that elevates it beyond its otherwise decent contemporaries. It also commits so hard to Timothée Chalamet Pinocchio Bloodborne that you kind of forget how silly that actually is.
What a huge step forward since the first one! The dual world concept is fantastic and executed really well - transitioning between realities feels fresh, and exploration is way better this time. Difficulty feels a bit artificial at times and I questioned balance more than once. Combat is varied, flexible & satisfying (if a little bit floaty). Boss battles are often really artistic and often memorable. Mixed feelings linger, but it’s definitely worth a play.