The 10 Best Soulslike Games

The legacy of FromSoftware’s Souls series isn’t just defined by the amazing games that it’s made up of, but also the subgenre that’s been given life thanks to its very existence: The Soulslike. It’s a complicated thing, though; every fan of these games knows that defining the term “Soulslike” is about as easy as beating Melania without summons or cheese strats. Developer FromSoftware’s influence on the industry has been so profound that slithers of its DNA can be found everywhere from Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Death Stranding to Dead Cells and 2018’s God of War. At this point, what game featuring towering bosses or encouraged exploration doesn’t seem at least a little Soulslike?

To keep our ranking somewhat coherent, we’re boiling the essence of Soulslikes down to a number of key building blocks. To be eligible for this list, a game must have:

Punishing consequences for death.

A currency gained by defeating enemies that is integral to character progression and can be lost upon death.

Deliberate combat, typically tied to a stamina meter or similar resource.

Checkpoints that reset the world.

While those are the essentials, we’re also looking for a complex narrative, impressive boss battles, an immersive world made up of interconnected levels, and as little handholding, spoonfeeding, or signposting as possible. Oh, and games that are NOT developed by FromSoftware. This is a list of the best soulslikes, not the best Souls games – and yes, we’re including Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring under that banner, too. Now that we got all of that out of the way, we can move on to the full list!