Well, for one, it was a relatively obscure, niche action RPG. But why isn’t Demon’s Souls as popular as Dark Souls? This PlayStation 3 exclusive was released in 2009, and it laid the foundation for the revolutionary game that would be released two years later. The first entry is technically the very first “Souls-like” game, as it is the first “Souls” game developed by FromSoftware – Demon’s Souls. This article includes games that may be similar to Dark Souls from a gameplay perspective, although having little in common with it when narrative or the atmosphere are concerned.Īdditionally, we will also present games that play differently from Dark Souls but use similar storytelling techniques and delve into related themes. In contrast, others take a more liberal approach to defining this “subgenre,” attributing it to games that are, perhaps, only thematically linked to Dark Souls.Īs anyone who has played through Dark Souls knows, there is much more to the game than the sheer difficulty that it is best known for in the mainstream.Īs such, there are many reasons why a game can be deemed “Souls-like”: the gameplay mechanics, the plot, the storytelling techniques, the atmosphere, or just the art direction. Some feel that only the games that offer the kind of gameplay similar to what we’ve seen in Dark Souls should be described as Souls-like. In this guide, we will be going over some of the best games that are described as Souls-like.īut before we get into it, let’s try to answer this question.Īrguably, the “Souls-like” label has been used, re-used, and overused, so much so that it can be difficult to define it, seeing as different people have different opinions regarding what it should describe. Now, Dark Souls has produced two sequels and a slew of other games that attempted to replicate it with varying degrees of success, thus spawning the somewhat dubious “Souls-like” subgenre. Dying carried the possibility of losing all your unspent XP, but it was an inevitable part of the long, epic, and unforgettable journey of Dark Souls.

The story was cryptic and required an actual effort to unravel. Instead of handing everything to the player on a silver platter and bombarding them with tutorial prompts, it let the player figure the game out through trial and error.īutton-mashing was out of the question, and attentiveness was mandatory. In the sea of generic AAA titles that hold the player’s hand throughout the game, offering unlimited quicksaves and no real penalty for dying, Dark Souls dared to stand out. The significance of the Dark Souls series cannot be overstated.

Games like dark souls on steam