Ranked: Top 5 "Soulslike" games not developed by FromSoft

Mick Fraser: "It's such a masochistically popular sub-genre that it's no wonder many other developers have tried to ape the core mechanics in an attempt to get a slice of that rage-inducing pie. But determining which are worth your time and money, and which are just pretenders is tricky, so we've rounded up 5 of the best examples available today."

[jeki]

What about Ashen, have you guys played that?

[CanadianTurtle]

Does anyone know if God of War(PS4) is souls-like? I'm worried about playing it because I'm not interested in these souls-like games at all. It's just not my genre, and I'd hate to see one of my favourite action series get the DarkSouls treatment.

[LordoftheCritics]

Don't worry God of War is the exact opposite.

You will enjoy it.

I'm not a fan of these death simulators either.

[jznrpg]

It’s not Souls like but you do need to pay attention to combat especially on harder difficulties

[Casepb]

Kinda weird that you still never played it and it's one of your favorites.

[RabbitFly]

God of war borrows the control scheme from the soulslikes, but it really does make it into it's own thing.

I remember being hopeful that God of War could potentially evolve the soulslike to be more arcady. To see if such a formula would still work without the punishing mechanics. However God of War did not actually do that. I would say that god of war actually plays a lot more like God of War than any soulslike, despite using the soulslike control setup.

The combat in God of war is really quite amazing. So while it did not exactly show me what I wanted or what I expected. What it actually did was probably better. It heightened the "action beat em up" genre to a whole new level. And it did that by quite a huge margin.

Especially when you compare it to the other one that has attempted something similar. Namely assassin's creed. Where they seemingly copied the control system but completely missed all of the design behind the system that made it great in the soulslike games. I. e. Enemy design.

Sony Santa Monica seemed to have been keenly aware that changing the controls should not diminish the experience of the genre the game was traditionally part of. You will still be fighting multiple opponents at a time, you will still feel very powerful and you will still use jugle-like mechanics to manage the battlefield. Not only is the combat design of God of War clearly mindful of where the game and the genre it is part of comes from, but I would argue heightens it to a whole new level entirely. Probably one of the most cohesive and well designed combat experiences ever done.

You really have nothing to worry about.

[EmperorDalek]

God of War on the hardest difficulty was actually harder than The Fromsoftware games. On normal mode it's not so so bad. But it does play a bit like a Souls game with added abilities, I'd we're just talking about combat mechanics.

[Father__Merrin]

Lords of fallen was excellent combat and movement was extremely clunky but the graphics and level structure was awesome loved all the wep and armor sets.

[SoulWarrior]

I thought Lords of the Fallen was awful, the rest I agree though, Nioh is excellent.

[jznrpg]

NiOH is my favorite by far .But it definitely has its own style and feel . Salt and Sanctuary was really good. Lord of the Fallen was ok some good and some bad, but I do want to play their follow up game The Surge . Heard it was decent it’s sitting in my backlog closet

[Nacho_Z]

I thought Lords of the Fallen was mechanically sound but it was a total rip off that did nothing as well as Souls does and didn't have two original ideas to rub together. Ironically considering what a blatant clone it was it had no soul.

Salt and Sanctuary was also strongly inspired by Souls but the gameplay was fantastic and it forged its own path, plenty of its own personality.

[senorfartcushion]

Give them all an easy mode.

[Rangerman1208]

Lords of the Fallen was okay but nothing special. Wasn't much of a fan with Immortal Unchained but it at least tried to do something different instead of just being a clunkier and slower version of Dark Souls unlike LotF. The rest however are pretty good. The Surge suffered many issues at launch but thankfully they improved the game through patches. Surprised that Ashen isn't here.

Also, does anyone remembers Necropolis? That game just kinda came and went.

[Thundercat77]

NiOh is my favorite and the game is so good. It has its own style, additions and ideas. Also, you can see that Sekiro has some inspiration on Nioh.

If you haven't played NiOh, you are missing on a great gem 💎.

[RabbitFly]

I have a hard time making a top list, because all of the soulslike I have played each have certain strengths and certain weaknesses.

Lords of The Fallen has arguably the both best, and the worst, boss design of any souls-like. Even including, in my opinion, from software titles. Because every boss has a unique mechanic that forces you to adapt your playstyle quite a lot. Most From software bosses usually depend on very intricate visual designs, but very simple combat mechanics.

Lords of The Fallen is also way more visually polished than most soulslike titles, but it's stylistical choices can be hit or miss for many.

The Surge has the best build system of any soulslike. No longer relying on the extremely outdated and simple stat system, where you usually just choose a damage type and put all your points into that stat. Leaving very little variation in builds. Instead it has a much more dynamic system where your build can rely on anything from ability modules to stat enhancing modules, which incorporates different mechanics for doing damage, healing and many other things. A system that encourages exploration of it's levels and encourages for you to experiment with the system. As a system for character building in an action rpg it is far better than anything From Software has brought to the table, and it beats most contemporary attempts in the genre and others.

The Surge also has, in my opinion, a very enjoyable combat system. Featuring much more movement and quite a high pace compared to most from software titles, exception is probably Bloodborne. However, it's boss design is rather weak. Some decent bosses that could have been in any From software games, and some extremely terrible bosses that should have had much more work before they were put into the game.

Salt and Sanctuary's concept of emulating the soulslike experience within a 2d platformer was amazing. At times my favorite soulslike experience, but also my least favorite at times. I think mostly because the bosses and levels became too repetitive without any need for progression after a point. I absolutely adored the first half of the game, but I thoroughly disliked the last third. At that point it felt a lot like I was just going through the motions to finish the game. Still with everything it does I found the game to be extremely successful at what it set out to do and it is, by far, the most original take on the genre. While, at the same time, the one staying the most true to the original formula. Strange I know.

I have not managed to give Nioh a proper go yet. I found the level design of putting and janky. I also wish it did not go the demon route, as I find it too similar to From softwares titles in that way, but rather went more realistic. But I will probably get around to giving it another try.

I have chosen to stay away form Immortal Unchained because it looks too unpolished for me at the moment, might try it at a later date though.

Anyways for me I would rather give out awards.

Best bosses - Lords of the Fallen

Best build system - The Surge

Best Combat - The Surge

Most Original adaption - Salt and Sanctuary

That is my take, at least with the experience I have had.

[Dragonscale]

Dead Cells is great.

[sampsonon]

THE SURGE ; "As a result, it’s probably the most grounded game on the list, if you ignore the endlessly respawning enemies and homemade mech suits, that is."
Bloodborne also had respawning enemies when you leave the instance and return.
so i don't get the problem. unless you have a problem with FromSoft doing it as well.

[FernDiggidy]

I feel like GOW PS4 is a Souls-like game. One with thee best combat system at that.

Am I crazy?