I'll note that, so it seems to me, quite a few of the current day's metroidvanias are Soulslikes to one degree or another. See for example Hollow Knight.
My Games and Asset PacksSINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption but it is a Boss Game
Edited by jormis29 on Dec 21st 2022 at 8:39:34 PM
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Salt and Sanctuary is another 2-D Soulslike and might even have been the first one of that kind.
Silksong I believe isn't out yet, and I fear that I know little of it (besides it following an NPC from the first game and taking place in a new location).
Hollow Knight, however, might perhaps be described in brief as: "Dark Souls by way of bugs".
The setting is the vast, crumbling, all-but-dead kingdom of Hallownest, peopled in this case by bugs. And within this kingdom is a plague that drives the living insane and animates the husks of the dead.
Into this comes a small, mute bug, who ventures throughout the myriad paths and tunnels of the kingdom, discovering its scattered remaining people and fighting its myriad vicious creatures.
All, perhaps, to face the bearer—and perhaps the source—of the plague...
Mechanically, Hollow Knight is primarily a metroidvania platformer: The game-world is 2D, seen side-on, and traversal challenges involve various types of platforming. Over the course of the game, various abilities are gained that aid in traversal and that open up access to new areas.
However, it's also a Soulslike: On death, the player loses all money, as well as suffering a limitation to their maximum "mana"-equivalent—both of which, of course, may be recovered. The money, however, is lost if the player dies again before recovery. Further, where Dark Souls has "bonfires", Hollow Knight has "benches": places where the player can recover, deal with their equipment—and reset all standard enemies.
There's more, of course—including some of the specifics that give Hollow Knight its particular "flavour", its individuality. For example, "equipment" primarily takes the form of "charms", each providing some benefit or alteration, and a limited number of which may be equipped at any one time.
But this post is getting long, so I won't delve too much further right now, I intend!
My Games and Asset PacksLet It Die would be another candidate - except the design is focused on the fact it's a Free-to-Play game and noticeably rougher around the edges. Oh, and Suda 51 was involved in it's creation, so it's definitely on the zanier side of things.
Edited by SgtRicko on Dec 22nd 2022 at 2:12:38 AM
Momodora series has Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, a metroidvania game which I think is pretty close to being called a souls-like: it has a depressingly dark atmosphere and setting, minimal story which mostly gets unveiled through flavour text and rare dialogues, simple melee and ranged combat combined with a Unnecessary Combat Roll, challenging bosses, various items you can equip to improve your weapons and skills and gain useful effects, etc.
Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is currently in development and seem to be going on a similar path as its predecessor in regards of gameplay and overall aesthetic.
There's also Minoria, which is sort of a spiritual successor made by the same developer.
Blasphemous also fits a lot of these molds in a similar way as Hollow Knight due to both also being Metroidvanias.
- Explore a crumbling kingdom(debatable if Cvstodia was ever great).
- Money is dropped and penalty is incurred on death.
- Large amounts of the story and lore are told via flavor text.
- Most bosses are horrific abominations of famous or once great people.
- Much Gothic and depressing world.
So, Nobeta was pretty fun. It even got into some of the more thematic Soulslike elements as things went on, like a very strong implication of a world after the end (or at least very destroyed kingdoms), tragic bosses, and the final boss having sad piano music. (Not an old man, though, that wouldn't fit the theme).
Also a pretty fun thing. Far more shooty than most soulslikes, but the core idea of dodge and attack is still there, you get a parry feature, etc.
So, despite using hololive members to do boss voiceovers and being an adorable anime game, it's probably more of a soulslike than the metroidvanias mentioned so far. xD
Might start on a page, but god do I hate indexing.
Do we have a basic list of "Souslike" criteria for the purpose of this discussion? I don't think anyone would actually call Crash Bandicoot 4 as one other than in joking reference to its high difficulty, for example. I think that a title would need maybe half of these to qualify:
- Money Is Experience Points
- Corpse running, aka you drop your currency/XPs when you die and need to go back to the spot to retrieve it (or a similar consequence mechanic for deaths)
- Well-telegraphed enemy attacks that balance out the precision needed to successfully dodge, block or parry them
- You can save and refill your health/mana at fixed save points, which also revives most non-boss enemies (as well as resetting the world state in other ways)
- Interconnected level design, with unlockable shortcuts balancing out the distance between save points
- High design and narrative focus on boss battles
- Emphasis on "organic" storytelling, relying more on environmental details and gameplay elements (like boss moves) to lay out the story over expository dialogue and traditional cutscenes
Going forward, I think it would be a good idea to introduce whichever title we want to talk about by briefly explaining how it fits (or doesn't fit) these criteria, as well as the unique elements they bring to the table.
One day, we will read his name in the news and cheer.Mmm, I think you're underselling the fight mechanics there. I'm always extremely leery of things that would classify anything without at least 2/3 of the combat formula as a Soulslike.
And a reliance on the level designed evidenced in DS 1 might be overdoing it, since I don't think that shows up in any of the sequels or Bloodborne (or Elden Ring), so it's hardly integral. A neat bonus (Grime had it IIRC), but very much not a defining feature. Even the DLC of Dark Souls is pretty linear.
Also, have we listed Nioh yet? It is like THE most obvious example of a non-From level-based soulslike.
Edit: yup, see it there now. Missed it because no link.
Edited by RainehDaze on Dec 24th 2022 at 2:56:31 PM
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Interestingly, I ran Hollow Knight through that out of curiosity, and... it checks all of those points, I believe.
(It's hard to say just how much time and effort went into designing the bosses, of course, but there's plenty of them and they're each quite different.)
Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Dec 24th 2022 at 5:06:20 PM
My Games and Asset PacksYou sure? I'd consider that the essential action components of the action RPG part of it are the majority of a dodge, block, parry, a stamina system to limit endless abuse of same mechanics, and a third person perspective to wrap it together. Weapon options are a pretty common one. And then you add in the generally-exacting timing or hitboxes to add difficulty (and a hatred of mercy invulnerability).
That is what I consider the core of what I look for in a new soulslike. Nioh doesn't have a generic parry option but it has all the rest. Grime is 2d and I can't remember if it DOES have a block or stamina (sorry flaky memory), but it has the others for sure. Nobeta's combat lacks weapon choices (it has magic options instead which are more ranged) and a block, but everything else is checked off.
And maybe limited healing that leaves you open to getting whacked more.

I was searching Youtube and saw a new game called "Lies of P" that sounded neat. Turns out it was a Dark Souls-esque game. Normally I'd have just made a thread to discuss it, but I realized something - there's a whole dang lot of these games now.
So I figure this thread can be here to isolate commonalities between games like this and discuss all of them in general.
If there's any other traits to these games, or anything wrong here, feel free to add.
Participants are currently working on a list of basic requirements for a "Souls-like" title. Follow along here
There is a workpage for Souls-like RPG's
Edited by FOFD on Dec 25th 2022 at 10:01:41 AM