Souls-like RPG

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Prepare to Die

"Perhaps the game's greatest triumph, however, is that it takes qualities normally associated with frustration and discomfort—constant trial and error, slow progression, harsh enemies—and makes them virtues."

—Gamespot review of Demon's Souls

A Souls-like RPG (sometimes referred to as a Soulsborne, or "Soulsy") refers to a subgenre of Role-Playing Games that puts emphasis on dodging and moving over other mechanics. The Trope Maker and Trope Namer of this genre is FromSoftware's Demon's Souls, which was released in 2009. The genre gained traction with the release of Demon's Souls' Creator-Driven Successor, Dark Souls, which spawned numerous clones.

Typically, the gameplay may have any of the following elements in some capacity:

The game has to be an Action RPG or an action game with role playing elements; as the latter principles are dependent on direct player control which are at odds within a classic turn based framework.
The game is Nintendo Hard. Even the lowliest Mooks would likely qualify as Demonic Spiders in any other game, which should give you an idea of what qualifies as a Demonic Spider in these games. Expect to die many, many times against some of them, and if you expect any degree of Mook Chivalry from your opponents, you will be horribly mistaken one example could be that a player doesn’t check their surrounding then gets jumped by an enemy around a corner. And just about any boss would be That One Boss in another game. The games attacks & defensive options are on the shoulder buttons & triggers. Additionally pausing the game doesn’t stop time and enemies can still deal damage to the player.
Survival focuses primarily on dodging attacks and/or blocking them — enemies attack swiftly enough and for enough damage that "facetanking" is often lethal unless you have an incredibly tough (often lategame) build. Some games even lack the option to block at all, necessitating evasion of enemy attacks. Additionally, most dodges have "invincibility frames" that let you No-Sell all damage while they are active. Often has an equipment weight mechanic where wearing heavy armor makes your dodge slow but gives you defensive advantages or stagger resistance, and weapons contribute to your equipment weight, but sometimes two-handing a weapon can alleviate this.
Stamina management is critical — stamina is needed for both attacking and dodging, so failing to pay attention to how much you have left can leave you extremely vulnerable when the enemy goes on the offensive. Also, certain animations take priority over others, and there is little to no Lag Canceling — plan your attacks carefully, or you will be demolished however some games reward aggressive play with a poise meter that you can drain from the enemy when the poise bar is drained they will be hitstunable for a limited time. If a game doesn't have a literal stamina bar the latter is usually still present. If guns are involved; expect scarce ammo, long reload times, massive recoil, and frequent weapon malfunctions.
Enemies have noticeable visual and auditory cues for their attacks that must be observed in order to properly evade them.
Money Is Experience Points, requiring you to choose whether to spend it on levelling up, or on items and equipment. In most examples all or some currency is lost on death; however it remains where you died so you can not only recover it but build upon it from respawned foes. If such a mercy is granted, failure to retrieve it before dying again will end in permanent loss. This feature has been dubbed "Corpse Running" by the community.
Min-Maxing is essential. Since leveling up one stat increases the price of all the others, a specialized build focusing on only one or two stats (plus HP and stamina which are necessary for almost any build) while mostly ignoring the rest is imperative. Trying to be a Jack of All Stats is too cost-prohibitive to be viable (unless you want to put in dozens if not hundreds of hours Level Grinding) outside of a New Game Plus.
Leveling and/or other management features are often restricted to save points, hubs, or other fixed locations. There is no instant progress from grinding. You must survive the trip home to reap the rewards or use items that you can crush to give you XP.
There is limited to no save scumming. The player can only manually save at checkpoints and rest spots, and the game will autosave upon death. The latter is oftentimes a mercy in disguise; as anything collected that is not XP will remain in the players inventory, and any alterations to the gameworld will be set in stone, such as an open shortcut. On the flipside, this may also mean permanent consequences upon death, such as Demon's Souls' infamous "World Tendency" system.
Resting at a checkpoint (or dying and respawning at one) causes all slain enemies to respawn, with the exception of bosses and maybe the occasional Elite Mook. If the game has a more loose, less scripted structure (i.e. many a roguelike or open world), it will still alter the state of the world in some way.
Healing resources are often restricted. Some games give you one healing item with multiple "charges" that are replenished when resting at a checkpoint, while others allow you to carry many healing items which are not automatically replenished and must instead be bought or found placed in the world and as drops from killing enemies. In both cases, actually using the healing items puts you into a long animation that makes you vulnerable and has to be planned strategically.
Unorthodox strategies are rewarded — the only way to score a Critical Hit is by locking on to an enemy and getting a Back Stab, jumping on the enemy’s head from a higher platform, or by parrying the enemy's attack with perfect timing and executing a riposte.
A limited form of multiplayer exists, where players can call forth "summons" of other players (or NPCs if offline) to assist them in combat for a time. On the other hand, malicious players can also "invade" your game with the goal of hunting you down and killing you. You can learn emotes throughout the game and preform them with other players or by yourself. You can also leave behind notes for others to read.
Often has a large variety of weapons and play styles. Almost all weapons are equally viable and can be upgraded to improve their damage or change their stat/elemental focus. Each weapon has a specific moveset with pros and cons, and it's very rare for a weapon to be flat out inferior to another weapon.
There is usually some form of free-form exploration. Usually a wide-linear structure to offer options while maintaining a suffocating and claustrophobic atmosphere (similar to a Dungeon Crawler or Metroidvania game) and to encourage strategic backtracking and re-fighting respawned foes to build the player's skill. Even if there are levels they will often be a variety open at once for the player to mix it up. Though plenty of Wide-Open Sandbox examples do exist; they often incorporate more hardcore survival mechanics that encourage players to respect the world with extreme caution.
Usually there is at least one fight that requires paying attention to and juggling between two or more bosses. These fights require learning positioning and most of the time are considered one of if not the hardest boss in the game.
Finally, your reward for beating the game is that you get to start all over again on New Game Plus, where everything is even harder (though you keep all of your levels and equipment to compensate). Beating New Game+ will unlock the even harder New Game+2, beating that will unlock +3, and so on.

When it comes to the storytelling and theming; it usually goes something like this:

Environments like ruined cities, poison swamps, and surreal Eldritch Locations often linked by slow opening one way doors. Obstacles like boulders hurling towards you, small precarious platforms containing items, and seemingly inocuous bridges waiting to be bombarded by a dragon mid-crossing. Bosses behind fog gates with orchestral themes that end with an iconic victory or death screen.
Opaque quest design that requires careful attention to dialog and item descriptions as there are almost never quest markers or trackers, and objectives are merely implied for example there could be a secret item under an elevator. Especially for acquiring the Golden Ending.
The player typically starts out Late to the Tragedy, and the story of the game is often presented through gameplay mechanics, item descriptions, environment details, enemy appearance, and other forms of Story Breadcrumbs. Cutscenes and dialogue are minimal (you can even walk away from NPCs talking to you in some games) and Gameplay and Story Integration are paramount. An unobservant player may think that the game lacks a story entirely, while an investigative player will discover an elaborate backstory and plot, usually after slowly uncovering and connecting all the pieces of lore.
Overall tone of the game will lean more toward bleak and/or tragic. The lore will often revolve around how the setting of the game used to be a monumental civilization or something along these lines, only for everything to degrade into a Dark Fantasy, or worse, a Cosmic Horror Story. Expect many bosses to be highly influential figures in the lore of the setting, who are now far past their prime and are desperately clinging to their glory days, or have been corrupted by some evil force, or some such, and the Final Boss to be none other than the very founder of the civilization in question.
The Player Character is deliberately made out to be some faceless Mook who has risen only slightly above their brethren. They may oftentimes have no name, and their goals lack any individual interest to them, instead being forced by circumstance to embark on whatever quest they're currently on. Expect many endings where the actions of your player character are revealed to simply be part of a Vicious Cycle — assuming that wasn't made clear from the get-go.

Later games have more unique elements to help differentiate them from Dark Souls and its own successors, Bloodborne (more agressive/offensive playstyle), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (active/aggressive defense via parrying), and Elden Ring (Wide-Open Sandbox exploration), such as a heavy focus on ranged combat or having multiple companions with fleshed-out Story Arcs. "Souls-Lites" have also become very common over the years. Usually these games prominently feature some or most of the core tenets but simplified versions of them. ^{For example...} In other words, it doesn't have to copy FromSoft one-to-one so long as the core principles and "soul" (if you will) remain; FromSoft themselves aren't afraid of shakeups, as Sekiro can attest. See also Hack and Slash, Roguelike, Metroidvania, Survival Horror, and Survival Sandbox from which the genre shares much overlap with. Contrast Stylish Action games, which instead encourage the player to approach Nintendo Hard enemies with constant barrages of attacks rather than carefully timed moves. As the years have gone by, however, many examples have managed to blend Stylish Action with Souls-like design principles, as seen with Team Ninja's Nioh series and its successors, and even entering official canon with From's very own Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Examples include:

There have also been multiple attempts to reproduce the Souls-like mechanics in Tabletop RPGs:

Betrayal at House on the Hill
Bloodstone
Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game, an official adaptation of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons by Steamforged Games.
Dark Souls TRPG: Another official adaptation, though only available in Japan.
Dark Souls Unofficial Roleplaying Game
Dice Souls
Fires Far Away
Grave
Runecairn
- Runecairn Wardensaga
You Died

Typically, the gameplay may have any of the following elements in some capacity:

When it comes to the storytelling and theming; it usually goes something like this:

Examples include:

Video Example(s):

Demon's Souls

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Souls-like RPG

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Typically, the gameplay may have any of the following elements in some capacity:

When it comes to the storytelling and theming; it usually goes something like this:

Examples include:

Video Example(s):

Demon's Souls

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Index

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Demon's Souls