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.
Games
Dark Souls
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.
Dark Souls II
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.
Bloodborne
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.
Dark Souls III
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.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
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.
Demon's Souls
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.
Elden Ring
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
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.
Nioh 2
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
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.
Salt and Sanctuary
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.
The Surge
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.
The Surge 2
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.
Lords of the Fallen (2014)
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.
Immortal: Unchained
A respectable idea ('shooter souls '), but ultimately falls very short, feeling very derivative, clunky, repetitive and... just not very fun.
Code Vein
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.
Hyper Light Drifter
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.
Death's Gambit: Afterlife
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.
Necropolis: Brutal Edition
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.
Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King
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.
Brume
Not for everyone by virtue of its hyper minimalism, but a treat of exploration and simplistic Soulsy combat. Short little experience which can be completed in one sitting.
Mortal Shell
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.
Blasphemous
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.
Hellpoint
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.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
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.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
It feels lazy to say so, but it really is - in the best way - more of the same but improved. I wish they leaned more into the soulslike aspects, but they understandably want to retain a broader audience. The set pieces are bombastic, combat fun and exploration a bit more rewarding this time around.
Thymesia
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.
Steelrising
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.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
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.
Lies of P
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.
Lords of the Fallen
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.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
Unashamedly Dark Souls 1 -pilled, Wuchang brings back slow, stamina-tight combat, interconnected level design and more, while introducing its own novel ideas. Difficulty starts mild, then spikes pretty hard. Builds feel meaningful, from clash-happy dual blades to busted spellcasting. Really solid!
Death Howl
A moody, folklore-soaked strategy deckbuilder where battles play out on grid, so positioning matters as much as your draw. You explore distinct regions, craft loads of cards from enemy materials, and swap archetypes as each biome pushes different mechanics. It's tough-but-fair with low death penalty, and the pixel art and soundscape absolutely rule. Really cool.
Nioh 3
Team Ninja's return to the franchise is a confident evolution. The dual Samurai and Ninja style system adds real depth to an already unbelievably satisfying combat engine, and the ‘open field’ structure works far better IMO. It is, by a wide margin, the easiest Nioh - which is a little disappointing - but the trade-off is a different kind of fun: less punishing, more expressive, and very hard to put down.