Poll: Are You Sick of Soulslike Games?

I'm not sick of it I just have no interest in them whatsoever.

No, not at all. They're my favorite subgenre in gaming after Fighting games.

Anyone sick of them should stop playing them lol

Edit

And Black Myth is not a Soulslike according to the developers.

Nah, I appreciate how I always have a bunch of them available to play if I'm feeling like it, and I enjoy making my way through the ever increasing selection one at a time. It's a neat subgenre.

I would definitely feel burnt out if I played several of them in a row, but I tend to pick one up every couple months or so, and that pace has worked well.

I've reached the point with soulslikes that I don't even play them anymore. Just like roguelikes and metroidvanias. They're just so saturated and generic now.

Not at all.

But I will admit that no Soulslike from another dev came even close to what FromSoft manages to output.

I think I'm more sick of every game being called a Souls-like. At this point, people talk like FromSoftware invented the concept of attacking, blocking and dodging in video games.

I’m not too keen on soulslikes that misinterpret the ethos of what makes From Software’s defining genre so special but I suppose that is in the eye of the beholder.

No I really like the way they approach combat. But a lot of those games you listed I don't consider "soulslike" at all. Especially the 2D ones like salt and sanctuary

Soulslike to me is basically just being almost a carbon copy of From's Souls series which isn't a bad thing as long as it's good. So stuff like lies of p and code vein definitely fall under that

What annoys me is seeing a sweet new trailer for a game that seems to have promise and then finding out later that it's a souls like

I don't know how the answer to this question could be anything but yes. Even if souls-likes are your literal favorite genre, there is an objective truth that there is a clear overabundance of them at the great cost of other genres and true original ideas

Eh I'm kinda tired of it, only because when said term is used that it means that the gameplay is just going to be almost one to one control and feel wise to FromSoft's titles, which just make them look like they kinda play the same in footage. I just think that devs should try and bring a little variety to it by trying new things in terms of art design and gameplay feel to make it stand-out. Like Another Crab's Treasure is a souls-like and does tons of unique stuff with it in terms of those

The fastest way to make me lose interest in a game is when ab article says it has "souls-like" combat.

I would love to like them, but I'm not skilled enough and short of patience for videogames.
I'm sorry.
but I'm glad so many people enjoy this type of games.

I never played a souls-like I didn’t like

@Yousef- Momodora: RutM isn't a soulslike though, it's a a pure metroidvania. There's a subset of metroidvanias that have a lot of overlap with soulslikes, Salt & Sanctuary being the most obvious one, but I'd definitely not put Momodora in that subset.

On the topic: soulslikes are just like other games at the end of the day, some good, some bad. I'm sick of the bad soulslikes that are straight up FromSoft worship but fail at it (looking at you, original Lords of the Fallen), but there are plenty of good ones that bring something original to the table.

I rarely play soulslikes because it always feels like a knockoff playing them.

I'm fine with more Soulslite (trademarked 🤓) akin to Wukong and Phantom Blade. I'm tiring of brutal difficulty after circa 10 years of playing Fromsoftware. I love the proposition of the aforementioned titles, elements inspired by souls, but with all the relentless friction smoothed off; difficulty options, power fantasy vs powerful enemies, forgiving checkpoints.

I loved Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 was ok but any other souls like these days is just pure tedium to me.
Especially all the stupid nonsense with having no pause screen, delayed annoying attacks and when they attack THROUGH your attack.

Just find them annoying now, they never have the proper FromSoft atmosphere too I find.

@InfidelFrigidstraigh If developers make more character action games instead of Soulslikes I would gladly play them.

Just barely any developers are making them.

Just Bored Of Them Now, Give Me Astro Bot Anyday Over Them

I really wish that there were more AA or AAA games in the Character Action space or the button masher space so I could point the long-suffering people who are tired of Souls-likes in their direction.

I'll keep having a good time though, lots of neat Souls-likes and "Souls-likes" on the horizon!

So is Stellar Blade not in the Soulslike category? Only played it for an hour, twice, soon to be 3x, but it feels like the whole "lets send someone to a planet full of aliens armed only w/ a sword, no long range weapons whatsoever where even Lara Croft would forge herself a bow" is just begging to be in that category.🤷‍♂️

I also thinks it's weird that Elden Ring, a wide open great exploration adventure, is considered part of a series of hall crawlers which make you fight, die, repeat and constantly block your way. Which is what that first hour of Stellar Blade feels like, hope it opens up soon or I'm done.

So I don't play "soulslike" b/c they are hard, only picked up SB yesterday b/c I found out it has a story mode, but, if they just put in a difficulty setting for "Easy", I'd probably play a lot more. Wukang looks good. I'd like 3rd person fighting, PS3 was the glory days for that, God of War, Enslaved and a bunch of others. I'm just sick of the whole "git gud" nonsense. Not everyone can equally git gud any more than color blind people can all of a sudden see colors. Good is relative, it just factually is.

Maybe by PS6 games can use AI to put us in a battle arena at the beginning, have us do a tutorial, then do half a dozen fights, then set the right difficulty for us. That I'd accept, otherwise it's just laziness and blaming the gamer.

Having recently started Bloodborne (got tired of waiting for a Remaster) and having played and enjoyed both Salt and Sanctuary and Salt and Sacrifice I can confidently say yes they need to slow it down. Too many Souls-likes are killing they genre. But on occasion they csn be a nice change of pace so they shouldn't disappear completely.

Let's be honest if not for Souls-like we would have to rely on FromSofr completely and they just don't want to modernize in some aspects. Souls-like do a great job of showing us what FromSoft refuse to, for better or worse.

Can't stand them, won't buy them, and never will.

And that's fine. I'm happy that gamers that are interested in this genre of game are well served, in the same way I am enjoying the renaissance of JRPG titles.

My issue does come however when souls like mechanics get shoehorned into every title where they don't feel necessary just because it's the trend of the day. It becomes exhausting.

@rjejr sounds like a skill issue

Nah, I will not go into a frustrating experience knowing the game isn’t that good, even games from FS are too much sometimes.

Certainly do! Doesn't hate them though.
Bloodborne might the only one I ever gone through and enjoyed, and that's fine, because I know I'm more of a gacha gamer than anything else.
If the Phantom Blade Zero I've seen feels anything near like Zenless Zone Zero, I'd welcome it any day.

@rjejr I’m no expert but I imagine that in the From Souls genetic tree there is a branch for Sekiro and that some games are inspired by that branch, and maybe Stellar Blade comes from that. Of course I’ve played neither of them, but I know that ever since Sekiro took the gaming world by storm that all these action games are more reliant on parry mechanics in their combat.

We haven't got enough souls like games, we need more, like MORE....

As someone who has beaten code vein, demons souls, dark souls trilogy, bloodborne, sekiro and elden ring... Yes, I'm very sick of them. Especially with how bad of a game elden ring was it really soured me on the genre.

While I enjoy the Souls game that FromSoftware made, outside of those, the only other Souls-like games that I enjoyed so far are Nioh and Lies of P (and maybe Code Vein)

I'm ok with the Souls-like games releasing more often but I do want to see some variety/unique take on the formula

If there were a lot more normal character action games then it wouldn’t be a problem but it seems 90% of character action games are souls like. It seems most developers have got lazy and just chasing trends instead of making something unique.

Yup I'm pretty tired, they're too many. I will now only play them if they're made by Fromsoft themselves.

Basically most genres are overcrowded by now. Souls-likes, roguelikes, 2d platformers, pixel art rpgs, overwatch clones, battle royales, etc., have been the bread and butter recently, and as long as people keep buying them, it won’t end…

I’m completely burned out on pure Souls games. If it’s a lite version of it, I’m fine.

I’m not a fan of these games being referred to as challenging when it just wants you to grind to boost numbers.

The newer God of War games are souls-lite, which I’m cool with but I vastly prefer the gameplay of older GoW, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Bayenetta, etc.

I just beat Flintlock which is a souls-lite, and it was fine, but I have zero interest in that new Elden Ring DLC for example.

Also, Sekiro is better than every Souls game Fromsoft has ever released.

Think I played one for like 30 minutes. Realised.it may look amazing but no fun just painful learning curves, life too short.

As someone not into them it's frustrating seeing so many.

You see a trailer for an interesting game then find it's a souls like, I miss good old fashioned action adventure games like Enslaved, Lords of shadow etc.

Give me games with difficulty options please

There is so much to play so how cari be sick with souls like games. Complain less buy what you want I have more problems with free 2 play garbage bleeding into the real games.

No its all good.soulslike is fine by me.but i play all kinds of video games.word up son

There’s so many at the minute. So some variety again would be nice.

Problem with many of them is they just aren’t great? Many have a lot of jank and are just a poor fromsoft game. Obviously some are good.

But yes variety please. I just roll my eyes when I read souls like.

i’ve been sick of them for a long time now & they’re not my kind of games either. their bloat is the equivalent of live service shooters

@Savage_Joe
Now that reminds me of what GenDesign and Kojima is cooking on the other end, and when can we finally get a look-see

From Soft's games are excellent titles. Some of my favorite of all time.

But I don't play 'Soulslikes.' I don't like From Soft's titles because they are a part of that 'genre,' but because they are made by From Soft and I love how they make games. Playing other Souls Likes is like playing a game that's trying to be like a Nintendo game. It'll never be as good, so why bother.

So I guess I can't be sick of them, because I don't play them. Most video game genres are over-saturated, and only ever a few titles in those genres legitimately stand out, so...it's up the player to wade through the garbage to find the treasure.

Respawning enemies can get tiresome as a feature, but otherwise I love a good dungeon crawl, don't think I'll ever tire of it. Bring on the monsters!

@Ainu20 I am listening to Caligula right now. It's so good. She is completely demented.

You always have the option to not play them.

As someone who grew up playing Ninja Gaiden (Xbox), which managed to accomplish almost every claim to fame of the Souls-likes while simultaneously actually having good character action, I've never really understood the fascination with the sub-genre.

While I much prefer an industry obsessed with Dark Souls to one obsessed with Gears/Uncharted, I wish developers would at least branch out from what's been established by From. Take some difficulty and design cues, but every game doesn't have to be a grimdark fairy tale aesthetic, campfire-having, dodge/parry focused combat system, build-building, obtuse guidance Dark Souls but Pinocchio/crab/samurai/anime/butt/2D/indie. If your game can be sumed up as "Dark Souls, but...," go back to the drawing board.

@Yousef- I often wonder what makes a soulslike. Clearly, we can point at specific mechanics, such as the risk/reward of losing one’s experience on death and say, “That’s a soulslike.” Yet there is arguably something more to the formula, something less tangible that few developers outside of FS really grasp and I think you’ve nailed the gist there.

I mostly only play Fromsoft's Souls style games. They just have that special flavor that is tough to emulate. Though there are some I want to get to at some point.

That said I wouldn't say no to some more hack and slash games being more arcady-like. Like Devil May Cry for example.

The polls speak for themselves, the industry is drowning in this *****. Fair enough some may love em, that's ok. But this trend has to stop, personally I love the original God of War games. I would like something that looks like souls but plays more old school, is that really to much to ask

Never played any Soulslike, play the original ones from From.

@RoomWithaMoose I agree with most of what you said. But I love games like Gears & Uncharted. We need more games like that but with the gorgeous art style of souls, that would suit me. This is the problem with the industry. Dev costs has stifled creativity, so its just endless cut & paste to play it safe.

Definitely enjoy Soulslike games but there’s no question the actual ones by FromSoftware are the very best (obviously) and the ones I enjoy the most. Although in recent memory, I’d say the ones NOT by FromSoftware that I’ve enjoyed most are: Mortal Shell, Steelrising and (if they count?), especially, the Remnant games.

We really havent had that many proper and decent soulslikes recently.
Half the problem is that the category of "Soulslike" gets thrown around and applied to games far too often!

@DETfaninATL
Have you tried Lies of P - it was easily one of my favourite games last year, and it wasnt as convoluted as some can be. The atmosphere and storytelling came off very well too.

@Yousef-
I would really recommend Lies of P if you havent played it - its often overlooked but i preferred some aspects of it better than some of Froms games.

The reason there is so many Soulslikes is because FromSoftware are really good at sticking to budgets and schedules.

In general there isn’t enough innovation in triple A games, Soulslikes included.

Most soulslike games are very poor imitations. But it’s still a better format than most action adventure games where you can one shot nearly all the bosses and the satisfaction of beating the games are almost non existent

Good God no..no,no,no..

Dear friend @GloriosaDaisy
Would you be so kind and tell us, how bad was elden ring?
We will be very interested to listen.
Thank you.

I like Edgar Allan Poe, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank Herbert and Kentaro Miura...
So, you tell me, how an earth I could be sick of soul games?

YES! So freaking sick of Souls games.

Also, if you're sick of Souls games, and are looking for something different, have you heard about CONCORD yet?!

@Bentleyma Everything about Black Myth should give people pause. So little of it has been seen, so much of it has been hyped, and it's yet another souls game on top of it. But most alarming is even through all that, it's actually being promoted and distributed with GPU purchases by Nvida. Whenever Nvidia itself is paying to get a game into people's hands, you know the game has one overriding purpose: To abuse your GPU beyond its limits and push you to feel compelled to buy a 5090 the day it's announced for $1850. It may also have some gameplay too.

The problem for this genre is that no one is standing out as different or innovative enough. It's basically a dark souls copy with a different story or setting.

The problem I have, is that I love the From Software games, but no other Souls-like I have ever played has ever come close to being as good.
A lot of them just feel wrong and many of them think that the way to make a Souls-like is just to make the game hard by having enemies with ridiculous amounts of health so they take ages to kill rather than making, which is not really any fun.

I would really like the Souls-like style in more games that are just easier to be honest, like Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor. Both have great mechanics and very Souls-like combat mechanics, but the games are pretty easy, which I am a big fan of!

@fleenerstrunk " skill issue "

So I've been told. 🤣

@Th3solution Wait, so Sekiro isn't a Soulslike? My 19 year old, who says we need more Souls like games, said it was. 😂

If they are quality made, I say keep them coming.

As soon as I saw that restoring health in Stellar Blade respawned enemies, I switched the demo off and never came back.

I've never liked them, and I'm frustrated that all these action games with interesting (but far too gloomy) characters and worlds go down the same path again and again.

I think there are a lot of them now, but it doesn't really bother me? I don't gravitate toward the genre, but it I don't mind other people getting their fill.

The only reason I wish there were less is because obviously I would prefer development teams make game that I AM interested in. I did love Elden Ring, but I also used Save Wizard to neuter the hell out of it. Otherwise, hard pass on soulslike for me.

Not bored of them yet and I have played most, or have them wishlisted for future plays. I understand they are not everyones cup of tea due to the perceived difficulty but I find that applies to every genre and if anything Souls games are easier that most to me. I tend to find faster paced action games like DMC, GoW harder and the hardest games are any shooters with a pad.

@rjejr Sekiro is a Nioh-like.

Nioh is the Souls-like. Keep up.

Give me one to play every week and I'll gladly do it, just don't make me play Dark Souls 2 or the first Lords of the Fallen ever again

I hope they stop making Soulslike games

I like the genre, have been playing since Demon's Souls released exclusively in Asia, though would prefer less volume but better quality Soulslikes.

Over the years I grew to enjoy the fast skill based games over Soulslikes. Your Niohs, Bayonettas, DMCs, Ninja Gaidens. Even Vanquish which is a shooter but follows a similar style.

FromSoft make fantastic games though. Not DS2, that was the b team.

I don't wanna be a negative Nelly, but I really did try multiple Fromsoft games (both versions of Demons Souls, DS2 and Bloodborne) and they just didn't do anything for me — progress always felt glacial and combat felt repetitive and lacked a satisfying impact; it's like I was cutting through jelly.

It's just another subgenre of gaming that began with a seminal title/series and set a trend. It's happened time and time again. If it's not your thing, maybe you are fed up with them.

Personally I'm not sick of them because I love the format and have been selective about what to play (all of Fromsoft's, all of Team Ninjas and a few indies like Mortal Shell, Lies of P and Thymesia). I also haven't replayed any of them aside from Bloodborne (three times) which is one of my favourite games of all time.

@Rich33 I have it on my list and I’m really tempted to play it as I keep hearing great things about it. What’s holding me back though is I hear it’s harder than Sekiro and that game was the toughest FromSoft game (IMHO), and I’ve played them all. I just don’t know if I’m up for that much frustration and 3 playthroughs of it no less, for the platinum (I platinum everything I play if it’s within my ability to do so). So….???? Not sure. I may cave in and grab it while it’s on sale but I have to finish Shadow Of The Erd Tree first. I’ll see if I’m up for another Soulslike when Erd Tree is done w me! 😉😂

I'm honestly sick of how gaming media / journalist overused "Soulslike". Every time they see games with stamina bar under health bar, challenging boss who can one hit kill you, or exploration where you can take a shortcut to other area, they quickly called the game as "Soulslike" or "The Dark Souls of x genre". Heck, some even just give label Soulslike to every challenging games which is lazy af 🤦‍♂️

Like Phantom Blade Zero for example, the game clearly took inspiration from DMC or Ninja Gaiden. But i've seen some gaming journalist who said "It plays like Dark Souls" when it doesn't even look similar. SMH.

I enjoyed "Soulslike" game but i already played a lot of them. Right now i just want to play other games without "Soulslike" label.

I don’t like soulslike games because I loved Dark Souls games, and I hate the lack of ideas of modern gaming. If I need a Souls game I play the From Software ones. And since time is finite and there are a lot of great original games being released constantly, i’d rather play something fresh, than a product of a desperate developer trying to get on a hype in order to make some bucks with a subpar product (Most Soulslike games tends to be 6/10 ones)

IMO i think its more everything being called Soulslike when its not soulslike but just has a difficulty to it. The word itself seems to be over-saturated not the genre.

Naw, it's just a genre now. It'd be like saying you're "sick of" fighting games, or FPS', or metroidvanias.

They're here to stay. There will be good ones, there will be bad ones, there will be super derivative ones and there will be ones that really push innovative mechanics that really blur the "Is this still a souls-like" line.

Just don't play them if you don't want to. No one is picking what games you're playing but you.

I play a bunch of fighting games. I didn't pick up Tekken. I'm not "sick of" fighting games because I didn't buy one.

If you don't like Souls games why are you dwelling on them? There's thousands of other games released each year. Stop letting the internet dictate what you're paying attention too. You'll be much happier.

No i love Soulslike.

Video games are supposed to be fun no matter what the game is. Yes there's very many different styles including Souls. HAVE FUN

I am still struggling to understand what is the key element for soulslike games. On reddit, I saw many games in different groups.
I don't know any of the games from the list above yet, so I guess I am not into it?

@YoureTooSlowBro

Likewise. I'm burnt out especially since most are clones of Dark Souls.

Black myth, I'm not sure that's even a Soulslike. It looks different and plays much different like a traditional action RPG so I'm looking forward to that.

All the other actual Soulslike games coming out look and play exactly like Dark Souls though. I fail to understand why some people can still enjoy them. If I want Dark Souls, I'll go play Dark Souls.

With all the games that use the souls formula out it makes games like Dragons Dogma 2 and the recent announcement of Expedition 33 feel like a breath of fresh air!

@PuppetMaster You're right.

Even Black myth is being called a Soulslike even when it looks like the gameplay is completely different. For starters it has combos, then transformations like an action game but because there's a stamina bar (which seems to function more similarly to Monster Hunter) and big bosses, there's people calling it a Soulslike.

That's the thing. Souls didn't even invent those mechanics or even learning boss attack patterns. Monster Hunter had that from the very beginning and so did Castlevania games with the player having to learn boss attack patterns. Ninja Gaiden 3 too including the unblockable but counterable red attacks that everything thinks Sekiro did first but NG3 actually did.

The worst one though is seeing user tags on Steam calling the latest God of War a Soulslike.

I swear, some Soulslike fans haven't played much games. I picture them as some Bethesda fans where their whole library is Call of Duty, FIFA, Fortnite then maybe Skyrim or Fallout, so when they come across another open world game, they say "it is like Skyrim" because they don't realise there's other open world RPGs. I think that's how some Soulslike fans are. Some of them have only played CoD, FIFA and Fortnite next to Elden Ring, so when they finally try another action game, they call it a Soulslike because that's been their only exposure to the action genre.

I'm not sick of them as I don't play them. I play videogames primarily to have fun. I don't find extremely difficult games "fun". They look cool but after trying and failing miserably at them I've just accepted the fact they're not for me.

This is probably blasphemous but as a kid I never really liked Mega Man games for the same reason.

No I've been a fan even before Soulslikes was a thing since I imported a US version of PS3 Demon's Souls before it was even out in Europe.

Golden Rule: If you don't like em, don't click on articles about them. That's what I tend to do with stuff I don't care about like Soccer or Sims or MMOs etc.

I'm not against Dark Shadows Borne Elden Souls Blood Ring Die Twice games. I just don't care about 'em. (but there are alot of em coming out nowadays that's for sure)

@NEStalgia " Sekiro is a Nioh-like "

Are there any roguelike soulslike? 😝

Well going by results we definitely have.
It’s a shame as I have tried a few of them and what amazing games and design and gameplay.

Please give me an easier mode and I will buy and play the game for hours.

It’s a stupid stance and format if you ask me to take on games.

Imagine the loads of extra sales the games would get if they put some sort of easement into the games.

The main one is Elden Ring for me to miss out on.

Only one I really loved was Bloodborne. 50% is my enjoyment was the atmosphere and setting of Yharnam, the other 50% is some combination of gameplay and the lore/story. I'm not a fan or remasters/reboots but BB is definitely the one I'd be hyped to play.

@rjejr I've always said that souls itself is actually just a cleverly disguised rogue like...

@NEStalgia rogue lite, souls dark 😜

Never played them (unless you consider Monster Hunter) but I have had Elden Ring and Hollow Knight in my backlog for a while now, along with wanting to try Another Crab’s Treasure on gamepass. We’ll see if I like em lol.

@InfidelFrigidstraigh Aye, we play the genres we love and for thise we don't, we dont....it's as simple as that. Try before ye purchase or commit

@InfidelFrigidstraigh ah yes, the developers of Black Myth: Wukong, AKA the patron saints of scumbaggery.

This is going to sound stupid but I own pretty much all of the soulsbourne games but have barely played any of them. I keep seeing, more and more of people saying what a slog they are so I'm thinking of selling them all to reduce my backlog.

You forgot Steelrising, wasn't that also a soulslike

hhmm, what makes a souls a souls experience?

Come to think of it, I've always treated my gacha games as a ''souls experience'' (if you will), and how is that even souls you might ask..?
If I must explain, well, resources. They come and go if you're not prudent. Skill whereas can manifest in different forms, not just reaction, but understanding of the landscape.
Now if someone comes along with the obligatory ''g word", then clearly didn't read between the lines on how some of us play our games.

Food for thought!
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Just adding (very, very late) this here, Elden etc is considered a live service at least to me. Traditionally, games as a service is heavily reliant on 'version updates', and nowadays, even offline games are going to be semi-live, just not to the degree of No Man Sky .. just yet.
Live service is very prevalent in everyone's lives, in fact, so to speak.

Love them. Probably my favorite genre, no-one does them like Fromsoftware though. I hope they have a few more left in them..

@Perturbator I'll never forget my first playthrough of Demon Souls on PS3, fell head over heels. Never could have dreamed we'd see 15 years more of these games with them finding mainstream success and birthing a genre. I knew they were amazing, but thought they'd be too obtuse. We've been spoilt. Long may it continue.

There are a lot of them that have incredibly patchy combat. When an enemy switches direction mid-air and lands a punishing attack or attacks through walls or doesn't react at all when I attack them (but they can interrupt every one of my attacks...), I nope out quick.

On a personal note, the poll didn’t allow me to say, “I’m a big From Soft Soulslike fan, but not so keen on the plethora of copy cats.” However broadly speaking, perhaps the genre’s emergence is no different to platformers, metroidvanias, and tower defense. Here to stay as a part of gaming cannon.

Not at all. I don't play them, but I can see why they're so popular.

No, if there IS something i'm sick off is these stupid live service games. Most of the time they either: Don't work well at all and are unsuccesfull.. or they ARE succesfull but then are quickly forgotten weeks after launch. People really should stop making these types of games. Almost nobody cares and nobody will remember them 10-20 years from now, unlike games like The Witcher 3 or Zelda Breath of the Wild which were both created with love and passion.. unlike these ***** live service games.

When it comes to soulslikes I almost completely just play the from softwares ones. I've had a little go here and there of others but I've never properly gotten into them (unless something like Hollow Knight counts).
So overall I'm nowhere near burnt out and ready for more!

@DETfaninATL
Lies of P is certainly up there, difficulty wise, though some of the harder bosses were nerfed a bit early on. I never played sekiro (just didnt appeal for some reason i cant explain), and am waiting on them fixing Shadow of Erdtrees performance before I get it.
LoP (for me i might add) is harder than Demon Souls, but somewhat fairer, harder than elden ring, and is set somewhere around Bloodborne / Nioh 2 difficulty (though its ages since i played BB) - and is easier than Nioh 2s dlc.

LoP definitely gets its rep from its boss fights, though there are strategies, but it definitely starts hard too whilst you have limited options. NG+ etc is easier than NG particularly in the early stages.

I had a lot of trouble with the end boss, but then I found the elden beast harder than melenia (mainly because i found that she really doesnt like ancient death rancor, even though no guides really talk about this).

LoP is imo pretty fair though, even if difficult, and doesnt often try and trip you up with convoluted side quests etc, or enemies that are super difficult with certain builds.

@ozkrmz Search Elden Ring Critique on youtube, there's a lot of videos explaining the game's shortcomings.

Or just play it yourself.

Playing too many, one after another leaves me completely burnt out for sure. A good soulslike game demands your full attention. The trouble is good soulslikes (not a masterpiece by FromSoft) are few and far between. 'Lies of P' is the closest any game has ever come.

Im so sucks at soulslike game. But im kinda hyped for Black Myth Wukong lol.

From Softwsre games are my favourite games and have pretty much ruined everything else for me because nothing else compares.

So, I’m happy that other develops are taking notes. However, no one seems to manage to nail the formula so a lot of the others come off as poor imitations.

@Bentleyma The devs have been pushing back against the soulslike label and consider the game more of an action adventure. The combat is quicker and dodging takes prescience over parrying.
Though maybe waiting for reviews to drop is still the safest option regardless.

Best genre of game — keep them coming! There's really only a couple good clones now and again; if you avoid the mediocre and lousy ones, it's not too many.

I like the offerings of FromSoft. And I enjoyed Team Ninja's efforts (Niohs 1 and 2), and while there have been a few good efforts from smaller companies, like Salt and Sanctuary, or The Surge that were enjoyably different, I do feel like the best ones are by From, and the rest generally pale in comparison. That said, Star Wars worked well, and I don't see why the formula can't be used successfully, but there needs to be more originality and less aping what's come before.

@SterlingEyes Bingo!

For me I don't play every soulslike so I don't feel burnt out on em like most people but they definitely too many of that genre around.. what happened to the hack and slashes

Dear friend @GloriosaDaisy
I did play it and even got the platinium achievement.
Here is the proof
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197991842852

Dear friend @J2theEzzo
Totally agree Nioh was good and Nioh 2 was even way better.
Enjoyed so much...
Also, I platiniumed both, not just on PS 4 but also on pc.
I am ready to share my (ps4 & steam) profiles if proof needs be.
Can not wait for Nioh 3

Only if their made by From Software, any others, despite some being good, I can never click with. They just feel like imitations, so Id rather replay the genuine article.

I don't like them at all, but they do seem to sell.
A bit like open worlds. I am not averted to them, but they become very boring very quickly.

But both of those sell, so... it is what it is.

I'm just happy falcom exists. 😁

Don't like them. My time is too valuable to be wasted.

Didn't vote as it's not for me to say there are too many. That's up to whether the number of buyers can support the current market.

There are a lot of them, but if they are making money then there aren't "too many".

As soon as I see a game I like the look of and discover it is "souls-like" though, my wallet seals shut.

For me, it’s not so much the difficulty of combat, it’s the exploring the worlds and the lore. Bloodborne got me hooked and I’ve gone back and played pretty much everything

I hate them as much as I hate gaas. Ridiculous checkpoint system, depressing art design, mediocre graphics and animations, waste of time "difficulty level" etc. Don't forget that you have to read every spare slip slop's bottom to understand the story and the world too.

They are one of the worst things in gaming for some years now.

Not at all. One of my favorite genre. Developers making these kind of games for a simple reason, because it's popular. It is a typical human behavior, if you don't like something, you want people stop making them. But why?
There are popular genres, which I don't like, for example Final fantasy and anime or manga types games or shooters like Cod, and they're coming on regular basis too, but that's fine. I just don't play them, there are more than enough games for everyone.
Also Flintlock Siege of Dawn has 3 difficulty options if anyone fancy to try

I've tried so many but just don't like the slow fighting and stamina watching, much prefer faster combat like ninja gaidan

I didn’t vote. But I never got into them enough to be sick of them. Played a few (Elden Ring, Darksiders, The Surge, etc.) to know they’re not for me.

Most games aren't any fun anymore!

@Jimmer-jammer This is it. Lords of the fallen was a perfect example, imo, of a confused interpretation of what a souls game should be.

@Markatron84 That's been debunked as a mistranslation. IGN just has it out for Black Myth because the devs didn't want to work with Sweet Baby or whatever.

@Rich33 Thanks for all the good info - I appreciate it! I’ll definitely give Lies of P a shot sometime here in the near future. Happy gaming !!

I grew up as a jrpg kid, but after my first taste, soulslikes/lites/etc became what I love most.

There could never be enough of them and I never even begin to feel fatigue for the genre, as there are constant fresh takes on every aspect of the game as well as genre blending to oft decent results.

No other type of game makes me feel more accomplished and I have less fun with every other type of game in the long run.

There are amazing ones coming in 24/25 so im STOKED.

Hang on, it was 2 years between Elden Ring and its DLC. Unless I am mistaken the only Soulslike in the meantime was Lies of P.
So 2 in 2 years is not OTT.

@NEStalgia sekiro is a nioh like? It's not at all. Remember tenchu stealth assassins on the ps1? Sekiro is much more like that game. Sekiro only has 2 mechanics that put it in the souls like genre and those are the bonfire/spawn points and the coins you drop when you die. I never once thought that sekiro was like nioh but I always get a strong tenchu vibe because of the stealth required. Personally I'd go as far to say that sekiro is a game like bloodborne that just stands off to oneside on their own and pretty much tower over everything that trys to be them.

@DETfaninATL lies of p is superb. Lords of the fallen is damn good too and well worth a look. Steel rising was surprisingly good too and I recommend that game as well.

I'm not sick of the genre per se.... but I am sick of how over-saturated the market is with very average (or below average) games that fall within this bracket.

The quality seems to be far outweighed by quantity, with so many souls-like games striving for greatness - but instead ending up as quite forgettable.

It doesn't help that FromSoft have set the highest of standards also, making it difficulties for other devs to stand out in the crowd.

I'll certainly gives Lies of P its due though - a remarkable effort, and could easily be mistaken for an item in From's portfolio

@Northern_munkey I played Steelrising and loved it. Thought it was an excellent Soulslike. Lords Of The Fallen has had my eye since it was in development and it looks gorgeous but I keep hearing a lot of very mixed things about it so I’m not sure on that one. Lies Of P however I’ve heard nothing bad about and I’m likely gonna give it a go. The only thing holding me back is the difficulty which I’ve heard is harder than Sekiro, so we’ll see but I’m likely to give it a go.

Yes, it's getting extremely annoying at this point. I'll play this style of game from time to time but definitely not my favorite. What prevents Stellar Blade from being my current favorite game of the year is it's gameplay. If it was more similar to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, it'd be much more fun. Instead, another Soulslike.

@DETfaninATL there is no way on earth that lies of p is more difficult than sekiro. I love sekiro but that game is brutal. Lies of p is much more forgiving.

You either like the genre or you don't, for those that like it the issue isn't the amount of games but rather the quality of whats on offer, personally i loved Stellar Blade and Lies of P.

For many souls players Elden Ring is the apogee of the genre, for me Demon Souls is the most special.

@Northern_munkey That’s good to hear! I will likely give that a shot then in the near future. Maybe after I’m done with Shadow Of The Erd Tree.

@Northern_munkey I loved Tenchu!! And I know sekiro was intended to be inspired by it. But I never really felt the Tenchu vibe in the actual gameplay, it always felt much more "souls inspired by nioh inspired by souls" to me.

@NEStalgia it's good to see another person's take on it. I find the nioh games to be very floaty and almost a bit arcade control wise. I like both games but preferred wo long fallen dynasty. I much prefer the stealth in sekiro and that's pretty much what makes me think tenchu rather than nioh.

@Northern_munkey Yeah the stealth part is definitely fun, though I play all "souls" stealthy so maybe it's why I didn't think Tenchu just because of that. Elden Ring I spend a lot of time lurking in the shrubbery lol. I haven't actually tried Wo Long! I'm so bad at Nioh 2 I'm hesitant lol

I love them. I still play the Nioh games. They are my favorite souls like not made by From.

As long as they're decent why would you be sick of them? You should only get sick of them when they start becoming bland and boring but right now there's a lot that are good and the variety within them is nice too.

Sorta. I feel that not as many regular action games come out because this type of game somewhat is the easier sell. I want more games like bayonetta, or action/adventure games.

Would rather complete a crossword than play a souls like game

I really wonder if bandai namco ever knew (back then) they are going to polarize people so much with their "PREPARE TO DIE" stupidity...
Marketing a game one thing, but (by going beyond it purpose and) starting a civil war is another thing...
Maybe they may apologize one day. Who knows...
Last 13 years we see everwhere "scared to death" people who rather cut their arms off to prevent to play any souls game.
Level of fear is absolutely undescribable. With the very first "PREPARE TO DIE" trauma will never go away for some people.
I got multiple friends, they sweared years and years ago, even before they touch any souls game. Because, the undistructible fear which poisoned them, makes them think WHY SHOULD I MAKE MYSELF USED ON A TORTURE PORN? AM I THAT STUPID? AM I THAT NAIVE? I'LL AVOID ALL AND ANY KIND OF SOULS GAME UNTIL THE DAY I DIE. NOBODY CAN MAKES ME PLAY THOSE SADISTIC TORTURE HELL.

I like souls-likes, I like good games; as long as a souls-like game is good, keep them coming. Simple.

I'm just tired of basically 99% of all new hack n slash games, being souls-like.

Doesn't help that most of them looks the same.
You could take screenshots from 5 games, and it still looks like it's part of the same one.

Sekiro is probably the only one I enjoyed.

@Wolfgar

Yeah, I feel the same.
The lack of innovation, game developers playing it safe, using the same tired old formulas over and over again, have made modern gaming extremely boring. And this goes for both Indie and AAA.

I miss the 80:s and 90:s, when every year brought us something new and original. Checking out the arcades, for the new breakthroughs in gameplay and graphics. And console generations, that took huge leaps in hardware and innovation.

VR didn't manage to shake things up either, due to most games being mediocre and shallow experiences.

The PS3/360 generation, was the last one, that (too me) was still truly fun. But the crap that would plague future generations, sadly began during the last years, of that one.

Right now my favorite genre for sure. It all started with Bloodborne for me which is still my favorite after I played Demon's Souls remake, Elden Ring with DLC (final boss still to beat though). Currently on Dark Souls Remastered, I plan in the future Dark Souls 3, Sekiro (not sure if I'm patient enough for this one) and Lies of P...also would like to give Nioh games and Wo Long a try later.

I tried several demos of soulslike games, but quickly found out they're not for me...there's something special in those cooked by FromSoft, hope Miyazaki still have something for us in the future

@Olmaz Agreed.. Nioh and Lies of P are fantastic, but I'll choose Bloodborne over anything

I love these games and welcome any new iteration on them. The reality is, that their are so many thing you can tweak or improve upon the base Fromsoft formula that I feel we have only scratched the surface of it all.

To say that it's becoming oversaturated when there are a fraction of these titles in existence compared to other genres (jrpgs, shooters, rpgs, puzzles, racing/sports, and live service trash, etc), is reductive. I also think that the term soulslike is a bit over labeled. As nearly any third person combat game seems to be compared in this light.

For me the bottom line though, is that I just have fun with these games. I enjoy exploration, difficulty, and less hand holding. Despite all the bloated budget fervor of let's say a god of war or more so uncharted, they just are way to on rails and simplistic in actual Gameplay design to be anything more than a way too easy playable b movie. Too much watching in between corridor walking overtly simplified gameplay so the title is accessible as possible to Maximize profit potential.

No matter what the spectacle of the time, I always gravitate back to, spend the most time in, and have the most fun with the soulslikes, even as far back as the kings field series when I was a kid playing the first playstation.

As into the spectacle that the soulslikes don't have, the pacing/flow of combat especially kills soulslikes for me, basic puzzles, PS3/360/Wii was the turn of 'the same game of this direction and the still last of experimental design before it was only Indies or Indies with nostalgia/copy pasting too' that we are in nowadays. I can compare racing/shooters/platformers of 5-7th gen. I can't a soulslike and not just because I haven't researched them. I mean I didn't say Foamstars mode/map ideas for nothing, is because it could have been more unique yet it wasn't. Diofield is more bland than Valkyria Chronicles 4 with more compelling missions and mechanics.

Stellar Blade's combat pacing, made me not buy the game, the rest is great.

Some put fair additions to the formula no doubt but not in ways I want to play and also the trend never interested me. Playing shooters/platformers/racing of 20 years ago and the mechanics I notice them more then I do other AAA of nowadays, sure Watch Dogs/Fenix or others from Ubisoft on occassion or some other types (as not a fan of those open worlds at all but know people that play them otherwise wouldn't even notice the mechanics).

The combat/armour heaviness (not just oh 'controls' but no justification fort the character moving that way either) and tone/worlds/etc. Of From Software makes total sense from their other dungeon crawlers, horror games and more of the past or even Cookies and Cream and other different games they have made, the competitors like Lords of the Fallen of OLD went too fair and learned nothing of mistakes showing they just are stupid for a trend and issues players can have they will copy then understand why they don't work and why other entries changed things, why audiences said so as well, while others have tried and to me feel like fair ideas but not impactful or are too much wannabes for the trend and wasting their time. Can say the same for multiplayer games, some have great ideas but don't apply them well or only apply them to multiplayer.

AA soulslikes though the metroidvania, RPG or whatever I don't notice as much, like Darksiders 3/Chronos I noticed their mechanics but the others I couldn't tell you they seem like just whatever different setting and similar combat I have no interest in and all blend together gameplay wise (like Steel Rising is cool of setting but that's about it). Or another character in Code Vein. I rarely see much that exciting or impactful to the trend as I have past overly pushed genres.

the worlds and other factors or going oh it's wait ah trailer for yep, it's a soulslike, pass yeah you bet I prefer hack n slashes/character action games because of the pacing of combat, because of the effects, the level design,

because if I wanted an RPG or a soulslike in TONE or level design or basic combat and want hack n slash DEPTH of combos I'd get an action RPG if I want something differently paced, different set pieces, and other factors but I don't want action RPGs to buy regardless of their missions/journey/combat/perks and so on story, soulslikes have tried many things but it's not a trend i care for because the pacing of combat, because the level design isn't exciting to me.

Part 2:
There is a reason I hated the way DMC 5's V or Bayonetta 3 plays because the two balancing of characters is so bad. Bayonetta Origins and Astral Chain balance it better. So Astral Chain to Bayonetta 3 to me was the most what were they thinking and in V's case for DMC 5 the NPC like waiting for actions to happen was just horrible. I'll get back to the game at some point but it put me off the game as I think V's character is a great idea for gameplay, just executed so badly.

I prefer a Bayo, old God of War, DMC, Knack, Darksiders 1 & 2, Conan, Beowulf, Dante's Inferno, etc. Ninja Gaiden 2 is hard but also requires more skill in the genre, I'm fine with that. Z is fair. 3 not played much of. But I'll take a Gori or AKimbot even as inspired by Jak/Ratchet with fair tones then others. I think there is appeal for Conker/Naughty Bear yet those won't sell with the mixed cartoony/mature tone either.

I get tactics games for my RPGs for strategy, stats, geo panels, third person shooter whatever combo of pacing for things, I mean there is a reason I get picky with tactics RPGs is pacing for grinding or what mechanics they have, having just whatever Darksidesr 3 tried to do to be like the others but more dull in it's souls or metroidvania way of changing itself I just found it annoying,

Chronos is a fair game but even then it's combat, the aging mechanic is cool, the thing is the level design, the lack of armour justification when moving which thematically and gameplay wise made no sense, and other things in these games. I mean they want to be a soulslike so bad yet they don't have level design, combat or world balance that From does.

Soulslikes feel like how I feel about fighting games, clunky and slow paced. Fighting games feel like moving heavy action figures around, I hate the more strict and awkward movement of the characters, for 2D it makes sense per sprite/frame of animation for 2.5D or 3D, why? The sprite art makes sense in 2D with certain animations, in 3D they feel clunky and horrible.

Smash it's the case too I hate the way characters feel it's like they have to walk on a grid/tip toe almost it feels weird. It's the reason I don't buy fighting games is the movement, the arenas sizes and what to do on them.

Let alone tag or others of the 1 on 1, the locations look boring terrain wise, just wow the same flat thing to fight on but the background is different. XD

It's why I don't mind the better action adventure feeling but combos of hack n slash/character action I get the feeling I want of characters but the combos I want of combat variety to be as spam or as strategic as I want. (Hack n slash I get is Diablo but I don't play those really and I hate the term character action).

Not a character action game with boring skill trees or clunky slower paced combat.

It's like buying Doom/Quake and going great only boomer shooters to buy because of only slower paced modern shooters (not just because the settings being military/SWAT and being really boring and repetitive). Pacing can make a game.

Or lacking arcade racers and pushing brands/generic modes so why should I want to play or buy them when they are so boring and overplayed. Some people want a spectale but also something fast and fun, not slow, repetitive combat, fair world design of course in soulslikes no doubt but also particular design that isn't appealing to me to play as a character.

I´m unhappy with how focused on difficulty through twitch reflex recent Souls-likes have been. I always try to play these games solo and without any cheesy gimmicks and I have been getting pushed to the brink on several occasions. Elden Ring for example is too difficult as a solo melee character in my opinion. I can beat the game, sure, but I don´t find it reasonable if every boss takes me at least 15 attempts. Again, I could just take the L and just use summons, but for me that defeats the purpose.

I wish they shifted the focus of the difficulty just slightly further away from the action and more towards the RPG elements.

On another note: I did a pure mage run in Elden Ring and managed to solo pretty much every boss first try. It was a ton of fun creating the perfect scenario where I basically couldn´t lose because the boss just instantly died with the huge laser beam. I could really feel my thorough preparations paying off and it was really rewarding.

Maybe it's because I'm now past half a century old and my reactions are not as fast as they once were, but I am getting a bit frustrated that I cannot really enjoy many of these soulslike titles. I am cognisant of the fact that I am running out of life and feel I just cannot justify grinding the same level or boss fight 20+ times hoping I get lucky enough to get through it if I give it one more try.
I feel it is a shame that life long gamers like me are being denied the chance to enjoy and complete these standout titles.
While I appreciate that the younger gamers thirst for genuinely challenging games and it's great they are getting what they want, I also think some game designers forget they are in the entertainment industry and people don't want to fork out £70 for some entertainment that they can only complete a small percentage of.
My suggestion is making games with lower difficulty settings if you need to use them, or having the game make things easier for you depending on how many times you have already failed.

@mkr Exaxtly. I’d put Darksiders 3 on that list as well. It’s a series I love but can’t get over how poorly implemented the souls formula was in its third instalment. It just didn’t ‘get’ it.