Elden Ring is the biggest and most popular soulslike game of all time, and many would argue it stands unrivaled as the genre’s crowning achievement. While few projects match the scope, depth, and addictiveness of FromSoftware’s masterpiece, exceptions not only exist, but some are even better than Elden Ring in certain ways. They might offer superior combat, bosses, atmosphere, or world structure.
The Lands Between is a special place that continues to serve as home for countless players, and that won’t change anytime soon. However, those same folks might want to take a trip to another soulslike realm that could very well become their favorite place away from home, and not all of these games are from FromSoftware.
Bloodborne Is Still A Gothic Masterpiece
Atmosphere And Flavor For Days
Details:
- Unreal world-building and environments
- Gritty and fast combat that holds up today
Bloodborne is now over a decade old, but aside from FPS lock, the game hasn’t aged a day. From the moment players step into the world, it is very clear they are in for something special, as everything from the towering structures to the eerie skybox creates a sense of darkness and intrigue that never goes away until the end credits finally roll.
While previous games had their own parry mechanics, here guns become the player’s tool for deflection, setting up some incredibly visceral sequences in which they quickly dispatch and destroy anything and anyone that dares to take a swing at them. The standout, though, will always be the world and the stories within it, both taking heavy influence from Lovecraftian fiction to deliver a horrific yet enticing experience that will have players begging on their knees for more.
Nioh 2 Is All About That Team Ninja Combat
Endless Action That Never Lets Up
Details:
- Fast-paced combat that layers mechanics on top of each other
- Extremely long mission-based campaign that blends fantasy and history
Team Ninja certainly took a liking to the soulslike format, essentially spending the last decade exploring the genre. While the FromSoftware inspiration is plain for all to see, Team Ninja quickly established its own niche that combines soulslike exploration with more aggressive-than-usual combat akin to the developer’s earlier Ninja Gaiden games. Nioh 3 comes arguably the closest to being an Elden Ring proxy due to its open-world design, and it is fantastic; however, Nioh 2 remains the franchise’s high point.
If I had to pick one way to describe Nioh 2, it would be “a lot.” Like Elden Ring, the game gives you all the tools and systems you could possibly need to take on the many challenges that await over the 50-hour campaign, and that goes beyond the variety of melee and ranged weapon types that greatly influence your playstyle.
Players can switch between three stances at any given time, all of which are viable and useful. They need to master the Burst Counter, a counter that utilizes the player’s Yokai power to interrupt enemies. Then there are dozens of Soul Cores, which summon Yokai for a single attack. So much to learn, and it’s so much fun.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Might Be FromSoftware’s Best
Perhaps The Best There Is
Details:
- Perfect parry mechanics
- Smaller yet more refined roster of bosses
It is pretty fair to say that when Sekiro exploded onto the scene, the entire soulslike genre was shaken down to its very core. Gone were the days of slow, methodical exploration, and in their place was fast, unforgiving combat that relied solely on reaction speed and muscle memory in a way no other game in the space had even come close to.
Mechanically, it remains at the top of the genre, demonstrating a level of precision and satisfaction that many have tried to replicate, but very few have succeeded. Then there are the boss fights, each posing a different kind of challenge to the player, and all requiring a huge amount of knowledge and patience in order to take them down. Elden Ring might have the scale, but Sekiro checks every other box, with the most important being the gameplay and the actual mechanics that players will come to learn and master over time.
Hollow Knight Is A Whole Different Type Of Masterpiece
On A Completely Different Plane
Details:
- Considered the king of the metroidvanias
- Detailed and dynamic world
Hollow Knight doesn’t look like the traditional third-person soulslike many people associate the genre with, yet the gameplay and the design of the game quickly reveal that it more than fits the criteria. The way the game unfolds feels so organic and natural, something that Elden Ring definitely excels at, but here, the environments are far more claustrophobic and intimate, making the player feel one with the world throughout their long and perilous journey.
The goodness doesn’t stop there, as players will find themselves tested to their absolute mechanical limits, with their platforming mechanics and their combat prowess being pushed far further than they may have expected. By the time players have scoured the map for caterpillars and conquered just about every foe in sight, they may think the adventure is coming to an end, but that’s exactly when the game throws a curveball and introduces a brand-new cavern of secrets for them to explore and fall in love with all over again.
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