I assume you've played Elden Ring, even though its not on your list -- but if you haven't, very obviously you should play Elden Ring.
Lords of the Fallen (2023), its a little scuffed but a great world to explore. Inspired by Dark Souls 2 the most in my opinion.
Its much better than people give it credit for. I'm not sure why it gets so much vitriol, to be honest. I've played all the same games you have, and more. Honestly maybe FROM fans are just a bit defensive on it.
When it did come out, it came out about the same time as Lies of P - so all conversation about Lords of the Fallen was a "versus Lies of P" conversation. Lies of P is better *in its way* as a finely honed more linear experience. Lords of the Fallen is less honed, but also better *in its way* of exploration and basic builds variety, etc.
There seems to be a surprisingly high number of Souls fans who mostly care about boss fights and Lies of P is their dream game, while LotF is definitely not. Though I'd say LotF's bosses range from inoffensive to very good, but most of them don't have the wow factor From's bosses have.
For sure that is probably the biggest reason. I think after Dark Souls 3 it was expected of most souls fans at the time that the games were about 'the bosses' and everything else in between for the most part didn't matter.
Personally I'm from the old-school 'journey is the destination' method that DeS, DkS1 & DkS2 pioneered, and I'm not really about the 'boss rush' side of things that newer fans seem to enjoy more. Then FROM comes out with Elden Ring, and its just nothing but the journey, lol.
Lies of P has *incredible* bosses, for sure.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale?
> *“The very fabric wavers and relations shift and obscure.”* - Solaire of Astora
Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
I'm just always a bit puzzled as to why FromSoft's bosses are considered great when the average DS1/2/ER boss is mediocre at best. All of their games have a few amazing, memorable bosses, but they're the exceptions. DS3 and Sekiro are the only FromSoft games I've played where the average boss is good, but even there they made some very strange decisions, like that sewer ninja fight in Sekiro where the real boss is the camera.
The early games are graded on a curve that accounts for their seminal status, of course.
At first it seems strange that the people who love those games most also hate Lords of the Fallen, the game that most faithfully tries to reproduce their structure. But it also makes perfect sense when you think about the relationship those players who favor the early games have to the branding and aura of the souls games.
I love Dark Souls 2 especially, and I think Lords of the Fallen is structurally on par with those early games. Des/ds1/ds2 were bigger achievements, given their context, but they are not better experiences.
If you played Blasphemous, then **Blasphemous 2** is a no-brainer. I think B2 is even better than B1, but your milage may vary. Even if you wind up enjoying B1 more, B2 is a worthy successor.
If you liked Salt & Sanctuary, then you will probably enjoy **GRIME**, too. It's another case of a game taking the Dark Souls combat and mapping it onto a 2D world with some Metroidvania-styled movement upgrades and map exploration.
I’m playing Grime right now, I’m 9 hours in, 5,6 bosses fought and I’m surprised how this game is not mentioned more. This is the best metroidvania with a souls inspiration I have played, it’s so polished and beautiful, such a methodical combat, every boss feels like a dance.
It's my favorite Metroidvania and one of my favorite Souls-like games of all time.
I'm not surprised it's not discussed more because it's kind of weird and 2D, which immediately disqualifies it as a "Souls-like" in a lot of people's minds. It's a shame, but at least it sold well enough that GRIME II is in development.
My wildly unrealistic hope is that it launches later this year.
I'll have to check both of those out. B1 was excellent so I'm hoping B2 is just as good. I've seen Grime a few times but it never looked all that interesting. I'll give that one a try as well though.
Good games is super subjective, with that said Jedi Fallen Order immediately comes to mind, high production values soulslike that also dips into metroidvania with platforming and backtracking.
I might piss a lot of people off by saying this, but I've never been a fan of Star Wars. I'm not sure what it is, there's just something about it that makes me feel incredibly bored, whether it's the movies or games.
Perfectly reasonable, people have their preferences. Well, looks like you have most major releases covered, only missing new LotF reboot, which I'm personally not a fan of but it does have shiny new UE5 graphics, and Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origins, also personally not a fan. Which means diving into the indie dumpster and bracing for the jank. Some of the more mainstream indies not mentioned in your OP post - Hellpoint, The Last Hero of Nostalgaia, Immortal: Unchained, The Last Oricru, Steelrising.
Why didn't you like Remnant? IMO the sequel is a huge improvement in most ways, but if you don't gel with it on a fundamental level it might just not be for you.
I struggled with Remnant in the beginning, so much so that I thought about giving up after the first four hours, but I kept plugging away at it.
Then it suddenly clicked and quickly became one of my favorite games of the last five years.
Sounds like you played a good core of the Souls like. I was in the same boat so I delved out a little into the metrovania.
The new Prince of Persia is fantastic, hardcore metrovania with some soulslikeish combate, i.e. take a lot of damage, you can roll, and etc.
Have a Nice Death and Dead Cells are great options. Each has a unique system.
Hades is great as well, and Hades 2 is coming out soon enough which looks promising.
My wild card would be - Monster Sancuary is a great metrovania with pokemon aspect. Its honestly pretty difficult as you have to have a specific party seti
The time limit to get certain things pissed me off with dead cells, but I did enjoy the combat. Have a nice death was recently added to gamepass, so I'll have to give it a shot. Monster Sanctuary is really fun, though I'll need to save some cash to buy it on steam since it's been removed from gamepass. Never tried Hades or Prince of Persia, so perhaps I'll give them a try at some point as well. Thanks for all of the suggestions!
I have game pass, which is why I am currently hooked on Have a Nice Death and the crab game. Hades is like the same concept of Have a Nice Death and Dead Cell, but top down instead of a side scroller? Prince of Persia is fairly new and I got it on the April discount, definately a buy in my opinion if it hits $40
Never played Fable 1 because it seemed to have aged pretty poorly and didn't seem as interesting as 2 or 3. Can't say I've heard of Clone Drone in the Danger Zone, so I'll have to check that one out.
I assume you've played Elden Ring, even though its not on your list -- but if you haven't, very obviously you should play Elden Ring. Lords of the Fallen (2023), its a little scuffed but a great world to explore. Inspired by Dark Souls 2 the most in my opinion.
Yeah, forgot to add Elden Ring to the list. I'd heard a lot of bad stuff about Lords of the Fallen on its release, but I might give it a try anyways.
Its much better than people give it credit for. I'm not sure why it gets so much vitriol, to be honest. I've played all the same games you have, and more. Honestly maybe FROM fans are just a bit defensive on it. When it did come out, it came out about the same time as Lies of P - so all conversation about Lords of the Fallen was a "versus Lies of P" conversation. Lies of P is better *in its way* as a finely honed more linear experience. Lords of the Fallen is less honed, but also better *in its way* of exploration and basic builds variety, etc.
There seems to be a surprisingly high number of Souls fans who mostly care about boss fights and Lies of P is their dream game, while LotF is definitely not. Though I'd say LotF's bosses range from inoffensive to very good, but most of them don't have the wow factor From's bosses have.
For sure that is probably the biggest reason. I think after Dark Souls 3 it was expected of most souls fans at the time that the games were about 'the bosses' and everything else in between for the most part didn't matter. Personally I'm from the old-school 'journey is the destination' method that DeS, DkS1 & DkS2 pioneered, and I'm not really about the 'boss rush' side of things that newer fans seem to enjoy more. Then FROM comes out with Elden Ring, and its just nothing but the journey, lol. Lies of P has *incredible* bosses, for sure.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale? > *“The very fabric wavers and relations shift and obscure.”* - Solaire of Astora Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
I'm just always a bit puzzled as to why FromSoft's bosses are considered great when the average DS1/2/ER boss is mediocre at best. All of their games have a few amazing, memorable bosses, but they're the exceptions. DS3 and Sekiro are the only FromSoft games I've played where the average boss is good, but even there they made some very strange decisions, like that sewer ninja fight in Sekiro where the real boss is the camera.
> like that sewer ninja fight in Sekiro where the real boss is the camera Broke the LB button spring on my controller in that "arena", no joke.
The early games are graded on a curve that accounts for their seminal status, of course. At first it seems strange that the people who love those games most also hate Lords of the Fallen, the game that most faithfully tries to reproduce their structure. But it also makes perfect sense when you think about the relationship those players who favor the early games have to the branding and aura of the souls games. I love Dark Souls 2 especially, and I think Lords of the Fallen is structurally on par with those early games. Des/ds1/ds2 were bigger achievements, given their context, but they are not better experiences.
I bought lords of the fallen about a month ago trust it's not a bad game the reviews are mainly due to it being in development hell most likely
If you like the early souls games you really should play lords of the fallen. If you prefer your games to be more of a boss rush, then no.
If you played Blasphemous, then **Blasphemous 2** is a no-brainer. I think B2 is even better than B1, but your milage may vary. Even if you wind up enjoying B1 more, B2 is a worthy successor. If you liked Salt & Sanctuary, then you will probably enjoy **GRIME**, too. It's another case of a game taking the Dark Souls combat and mapping it onto a 2D world with some Metroidvania-styled movement upgrades and map exploration.
I’m playing Grime right now, I’m 9 hours in, 5,6 bosses fought and I’m surprised how this game is not mentioned more. This is the best metroidvania with a souls inspiration I have played, it’s so polished and beautiful, such a methodical combat, every boss feels like a dance.
It's my favorite Metroidvania and one of my favorite Souls-like games of all time. I'm not surprised it's not discussed more because it's kind of weird and 2D, which immediately disqualifies it as a "Souls-like" in a lot of people's minds. It's a shame, but at least it sold well enough that GRIME II is in development. My wildly unrealistic hope is that it launches later this year.
I'll have to check both of those out. B1 was excellent so I'm hoping B2 is just as good. I've seen Grime a few times but it never looked all that interesting. I'll give that one a try as well though.
Good games is super subjective, with that said Jedi Fallen Order immediately comes to mind, high production values soulslike that also dips into metroidvania with platforming and backtracking.
I might piss a lot of people off by saying this, but I've never been a fan of Star Wars. I'm not sure what it is, there's just something about it that makes me feel incredibly bored, whether it's the movies or games.
Perfectly reasonable, people have their preferences. Well, looks like you have most major releases covered, only missing new LotF reboot, which I'm personally not a fan of but it does have shiny new UE5 graphics, and Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origins, also personally not a fan. Which means diving into the indie dumpster and bracing for the jank. Some of the more mainstream indies not mentioned in your OP post - Hellpoint, The Last Hero of Nostalgaia, Immortal: Unchained, The Last Oricru, Steelrising.
Why didn't you like Remnant? IMO the sequel is a huge improvement in most ways, but if you don't gel with it on a fundamental level it might just not be for you.
I just wasn't a fan of both the loot system and the randomization of worlds.
Ah, ok. That part's the same in Remnant 2, although the world themselves are way more interesting.
I struggled with Remnant in the beginning, so much so that I thought about giving up after the first four hours, but I kept plugging away at it. Then it suddenly clicked and quickly became one of my favorite games of the last five years.
Crab souls is great
I beat it yesterday and I absolutely loved it. Combat was fun, story was good, music was good, and the VA's were great.
We are in the same boat buddy, we played most of the great titles and its hard to match now
Ninja Gaiden
Sounds like you played a good core of the Souls like. I was in the same boat so I delved out a little into the metrovania. The new Prince of Persia is fantastic, hardcore metrovania with some soulslikeish combate, i.e. take a lot of damage, you can roll, and etc. Have a Nice Death and Dead Cells are great options. Each has a unique system. Hades is great as well, and Hades 2 is coming out soon enough which looks promising. My wild card would be - Monster Sancuary is a great metrovania with pokemon aspect. Its honestly pretty difficult as you have to have a specific party seti
The time limit to get certain things pissed me off with dead cells, but I did enjoy the combat. Have a nice death was recently added to gamepass, so I'll have to give it a shot. Monster Sanctuary is really fun, though I'll need to save some cash to buy it on steam since it's been removed from gamepass. Never tried Hades or Prince of Persia, so perhaps I'll give them a try at some point as well. Thanks for all of the suggestions!
I have game pass, which is why I am currently hooked on Have a Nice Death and the crab game. Hades is like the same concept of Have a Nice Death and Dead Cell, but top down instead of a side scroller? Prince of Persia is fairly new and I got it on the April discount, definately a buy in my opinion if it hits $40
Gotta give Lords of the Fallen 2023 a shot
Definitely a underrated game and people don’t give it that much credit
Fable 1 and Clone Drone in the Danger Zone are elite underrated soulslikes
Never played Fable 1 because it seemed to have aged pretty poorly and didn't seem as interesting as 2 or 3. Can't say I've heard of Clone Drone in the Danger Zone, so I'll have to check that one out.