FF Origin? Lies of P is still full price, Lords of Fallen has some bad reviews, Remnant 2 was good but badly optimised so I can’t run it.
Opening up Morrowind to try to replace Starfield or DOS 1 to replace Baldur’s Gate 3
I’d keep an eye on Jedi: Fallen Order, it’s a bit Souls-like and a bit Uncharted-like.
It was going on sale for as low as $5 in the run up to the sequel, so it’s worth keeping an eye on
Try The Surge 1 and 2, they’re definitely my favourite non-fromsoft soulslikes
Took me some getting used to, and the combat feels more clunky than souls.
Surge 1 was the first game I ever refunded on steam because I hated it so much. Gave it another go a few years later and ended up enjoying it though.
I hated surge 1 too. What made you turn around?
I think surge 2 is fine though.
Just leaned into the clunkiness of the combat.
First time I tried to make a fast build to compensate, but that didn’t help and just made it so I did no damage.
Second time I went for a regular build and just accepted it was slower paced than dark souls.
Lies of P is the only game that really matched up to souls games, but Nioh came pretty close. The Nioh complete edition was free on Epic games a while ago, so check if you ever redeemed it. If you don’t own it, it goes on sale for really cheap nowadays.
Nioh 2 is pretty good as well but it’s very much more of the same. I didn’t get that far in it to tell you which is better.
Avoid Mortal Shell, I thought it wasn’t very good.
Salt and Sanctuary is actually really good despite looking kind of mediocre. Expect to get lost a lot, though.
I tried to get into Mortal Shell twice now and both times I’ve ran away screaming. I hear great things about it, but I find the character feel so cumbersome from the outset that I just give up after an hour or two.
It just plays different. Once you get a bit further than an hour or 4 in, it clicks. Frustrating at first as the difficulty has a technique ramp and some rather hard seeming enemies.
Hellpoint is also a lot of fun.
Lords of the fallen is good, though some of the bosses and ranged enemies are annoying. Need a powerful machine due to the optimization and bugs, daily patches for most of the week.
I’m probably going to play Lords when it’s cheaper. I’ve just finished Lies of P and I’m working my way through Dark Souls Remastered, and with Spider-Man and that new Mario game, I’m officially maxed out with regards to game time.
- Code Vein - essentially anime dark souls; on sale in Humble Bundle’s Fights, Frights, and Fantasy bundle; Godeater 3 may be worth a look in the same bundle
- Darksiders 3 - apparently took a souls-like twist from the rest of the series; may be worthwhile if you can find it on sale (GOG currently has it for $10, ends tomorrow); I’m going to play through the first two before this
Some others that I’ve played that are kind of similar in some way in case you want to branch out:
- Ys Origin - older game, but has a “hard Zelda” feel that reminds me of Dark Souls (almost no emphasis on leveling/skills, more on boss fights and gear progression like older Zelda games); if you like it, check out Cross Code or other Ys games (I’ve played 1&2, Celceta, and Felghana)
- Furi - boss rush
- Titan Souls - boss rush where you and the boss have 1HP
- Blasphemous - Metroidvania that has a similar dark fantasy setting as Dark Souls
The Order: 1886
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Demon Souls
Dark Souls 1-3
Bloodborne
Nioh
Looking for a Soulslike? How about Dark Souls 1
Yeah, I heard it was pretty soulslike!
Man, I love Sekiro so much. Such a kickass game. I hope they make more.
It might be my favorite game ever.
That DLC is coming any day now…
Nioh2 is much better than nioh1 in my opinion, though it’s newer. I think it was just on sale for like $30
I want to enjoy those games so bad, but I always get so bogged down by the constant new equipment. I find myself spending 50% of the time comparing new equipment to what I already have.
What I do is dismantle everything that’s not the highest gear quality. You can do that in the menu without looking at any individual items. Then disassemble weapons that aren’t the type I’m using. Also doable without looking at any specific items.
Then I do a quick scan of new armor and throw out anything that’s the wrong weight class. You can’t do that automatically but it’s pretty quick.
That makes the equipment game much faster. You’ll be left with a handful of things to compare. And frankly I sometimes just skim through what’s left for any unusual mods and then move on.
I also was overwhelmed at first but I realized a lot of it isn’t important.
Just a heads up, I wouldn’t consider FF Origin a souls like. It’s more of just a typical action game (though a fun one)
Mortal Shell was pretty good and can be had for less than $5 pretty frequently. It’s not as long as a lot of other Soulslikes but has some interesting mechanics.
Ashen as well gets a recommendation!
I personally didn’t like it. It’s very easy to get lost, there are very few checkpoints, and the gameplay is just a bit too clunky. Maybe the latter two improve later on, but it lost my attention before that.
I strongly second Mortal Shell, I really love its gameplay and art direction
I really intensely disliked mortal shell. I can tell it’s a love letter to dark souls - all the styling is trying very hard - but the gameplay just pisses me off. Especially that first probably-optional boss that you have to parry like 30 times to beat.
It’s always interesting to me talking about this game too Souls fans. I have never really found enjoyment in any of the Dark Souls games but, I’ve dropped probably a couple thousand hours at this point into Bloodborne and I have a feeling that may be why Mortal Shell clicked with me a little better than some of the other stuff like the surge or Lords of the fallen. Either way, it’s fantastic that we have such a bounty of these types of games to choose from right now.
The music was really good too. I still remember it a year later.
You’ve probably already played it, but I found Hollow Knight to really scratch the souls itch in combat, lore, and general tone. It also has some great metroidvania gameplay
There’s a guy on YouTube, Ironpineapple, who has a ton of videos of him playing souls likes of a variety of qualities. You might find something there you like.
I’ve seen Elden Ring on PC for as low as £30 over the last few weeks if that takes your fancy. I’m also fairly sure it’s on sale on PSN and Xbox ATM (at least in the UK).
Wo-Long maybe? It’s from the folks that made Nioh and is on Gamepass.
Been quite enjoying Thymesia.
+1 for Thymesia.
I really liked the way they handled the health system where you first have to hit them with a regular attack to open up wounds and then remove their health by doing a claw attack.
The last hero of nostalgia looks neat.
Previous to the souls games were the king’s field games of from soft, there’s an indie that came out last year (so not much of a patient gamer thing, but it’s criminally cheap) called “lunacid”. I was skeptic at first but it got me hooked, really fun game.
Ashen, Nioh 1 and 2, The Surge 2
If you’re still looking for more games to check out, watch Iron Pineapple on YouTube. He’s got a whole series dedicated to lesser known souls-likes. A lot of them are bad but there’s some good stuff in there too. He’s got great criticisms and generally tries to stay positive even with the bad games. Highly recommended
