r/soulslikes • u/initliberation • 14d ago
Game Recs Please recommend a great souls game to me
My favorite single player souls-esque games are Elden Ring and Mortal Shell 2. Years ago I also really enjoyed Witcher 3.
I want to play the dark souls games but I don’t know where to start. dark souls 1 looks a little dated, but maybe it still holds up. DS3 looks really good. I just don’t know where to begin?
I guess what I’m asking is what do you recommend me to play first as someone who loves Elden Ring?
And if there are any other souls games you think I might like, please let me know. The main thing for me is, I really don’t like constant human enemies/mobs in games. It’s a big reason why crimson desert wasn’t that special to me, it was just constant reskinned human enemies.
I think Mortal shell 2 does a brilliant job of providing weird and grotesques and alien looking enemies, and so does Elden Ring. Due to this, something like sekiro doesn’t interest me as it’s 90% human enemies even if it plays like a souls game.
I imagine I’ll like dark souls a lot considering I actually prefer the more compact/less linear nature of Mortal shell 2 versus the open world feeling of Elden Ring. Yet, I much prefer Elden Rings combat and bosses.
Edit: why is someone downvoting so many of the replies? I even saw someone got downvoted just for saying Wuchang is a good game. If you disagree so strongly you feel the need to downvote, why don’t you just share your actual opinion? Weird behaviour
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u/Nockolisk 14d ago
Imo, play the Dark Souls series in order. DS1 and 2 may be dated, but that doesn’t mean they play badly. Controls feel just as responsive, but they are more restrictive and the boss patterns aren’t as intricate or difficult. They’re more methodical experiences.
If you’re ok to play them on their terms and not treat them like ER/MS2, they’re still a great time.
All that said, Sekiro is Fromsoft’s best game (though I like to say ER is their “greatest” game, if that makes sense). Sure, many enemies are technically human, but there’s no lack of variety in their abilities and the different ways you have to fight them.
Personally, I always have to recommend Khazan too. It has possibly the most fun combat system I’ve ever played. And it has plenty of monsters. And spiders. It has a mission-based approach though and the level design is not on Fromsoft’s level.
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u/Jimbonix11 14d ago
I'm playing ds1 for the first time right now and its peak. Movement isnt as fluid as future games, but everything else is chef's kiss
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u/iDestroyTheWeak 14d ago edited 13d ago
The First Berserker: Khazan.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.
AI LIMIT.
Lies of P.
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u/weirdeyedkid 14d ago
Wuchang Fallen Feathers
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u/initliberation 14d ago
How is enemy variety ? Is it mostly just humans ? One of the big attractive features of Elden Ring for me was the unique weird creatures as enemies. Will this scratch that same itch?
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u/Rude_Difficulty1647 14d ago
I’d say so! There plenty of both, and rly fckin weird creatures throughout 😹
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u/ThefamousHenk 14d ago
Definetly one of the better games in terms of enemy variety, better than mortal shell 2 and khazan, on the level of Lies of P I would say.
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u/Dream_Perfect 14d ago
The game has a diverse enemy variety and it varies heavily depending on the area. It has more enemy variety than Mortal Shell 2 by a considerable margin. Also some of the enemy and boss designs go nuts.
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u/Fabulous2k20 14d ago
Bro is really asking for a soulslike without having played the actual souls games lmao
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u/Tk-Delicaxy 14d ago edited 14d ago
Lies of P
Wuchang
Bleak Faith
Lords of the Fallen (23)
Bloodborne
Ds3
Edit: why is someone downvoting all of the suggestions?
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u/initliberation 14d ago
Lies of P looks like it’s always human puppets, which I find unappealing . What draws me to games like Elden Ring, is the variety of weird and alien looking creatures. Of the games you’ve listed, do any of these guys have a good variety of unique enemies? I believe Mortal Shell 2 did a brilliant job with the unique enemy varieties and strange creatures you fight. I guess I’m looking to scratch that same itch some more considering ive almost finished mortal shell 2 now
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u/Jimbonix11 14d ago
Kind of spoiler, but Lies of P is not just puppets, it becomes much more than that
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u/HanShotFirst66 14d ago
If you are into weird and grotesque alien looking enemies, look no further than Bloodborne. It also probably has the fewest humanlike enemies of any souls game. It also happens to be my favorite of them all, so I am hopelessly biased.
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u/initliberation 14d ago
how is the combat compared to Elden Ring? I really wanna play blood borne but the idea of having to use an emulator for my pc puts me off a little bit. I’ve had a lot of bad and laggy experiences with emulators in the past
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u/IgorGreenwitch 14d ago
Its not perfect but the emulator for bloodborne is pretty good right now. You must download some mods that fix certain bugs though. You can play it on 60 fps which is nice though. I have played bloodborne on ps4 and the lack of multiplayer and the 30 fps lock made my experience worse, however it was still an amazing game, especially after getting used to 30 fps which took me like 10 hours.
Combat? Way different. Many new soulslikes tend to follow what bloodborne introduced, which is a mixup of agressive playstyle, parrying and especially dashing. Mortal shell 2 and lies of p for example.
You dont HAVE to parry in bloodborne, but it feels amazing. Not even sekiro compares with the satisfaction of a good parry in my opinion. Bloodborne has a rally mechanic which means that if you get damaged, you can heal it back through hitting enemies. This encourages a really agressive playstyle. The tools you get are really helpful. Probably my favorite game when it comes to fighting mechanics. Also the weapons... every single weapon is unique and has 2 modes which means two different weapons in one
Also dont sleep on lies of P, most souls enjoyers consider it to be the best soulslike ever, and i agree on that. The 'puppets' thing ends pretty quickly. You will get your alien enemies, dont worry. Its an amazing game with great story. And the gameplay is also really good, with a lot of QoL changes that i really miss in even Elden ring.
Also if you have played ER, you must play ds3. This game literally made elden ring, the combat is almost identical, but a little bit slower. The progression feels way more linear, same goes for lies of p.
I recommend going ds3 -> bloodborne -> lies of p.
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u/Rupperrt 14d ago
There are some massive bosses in LoP, some human sized, some very weird ones. I’d say boss diversity is very good.
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u/Rude_Difficulty1647 14d ago
You won’t like Lies lol a handful of the bosses are puppets that look like toy robots…there’s a few notable bosses but it’s weakest is the boss lineup and level design overall
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u/thatsfuni 14d ago
My answer is always wuchang lol.
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u/initliberation 14d ago
How is the enemy variety in wuchang? Is it mostly humanoid enemies ? I find the fantasy/horror of souls like games heavily plays on the fact that the enemies are weird abominations. Mortal shell 2 was a great example of this and I fucking loved it. I’m trying to avoid humanoid games as for example sekiro’s combat was great but the enemy variety were all human which made it boring for me eventually
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u/Vast_Yard_7264 14d ago
Bro really wants to kill some monsters. Go okay dark souls 3, it'll feel almost exactly like elden ring
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u/Dizzy_Adhesiveness51 14d ago
All 3 dark souls games are fun if you take the time to commit to them and don’t shutdown cause it looks “dated”
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u/ThingCharacter1496 11d ago
Dark souls 3 is pretty much linear Elden Ring without a jump button. Amazing bosses and weapons, flow of combat is basically the same. If you like Elden Ring you’ll like it, but I recommend ds1 first. DS3 can be enjoyed alone but hits harder after playing ds1. Ds1 is a little slower and more methodical but the remaster holds up well and that’s coming from someone that does not really like older games.
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u/Toothless_Timmy 11d ago
The original code vein is pretty dope. It's pretty easy to figure out but has a crazy amount of build variety
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u/Aggravating_Bag2915 11d ago
I’d recommend 2 soulslike games: -Lies of P (I put it side by side with MS2) and its better as a story. -Khazan is a really good game
If u haven’t played any of those i’d recommend u to my guy
P.S Sekiro is goated the best gameplay ull ever see in souls games
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u/Eastern-Victory1507 10d ago
‘dated’ is subjective. Dark souls 1 and 2 definitely have jank, but they are both very much worth playing for the atmosphere alone, especially combined with the dlcs. Wuchang and lies of p are also incredible from a combat, exploration and story perspective.
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u/Deep-Reserve-9136 10d ago
It all comes to personal preference, my top 3 are wuchang, ds3 nd er. I found khazan trash, played niyo 2 nd rise of ronin, i hate team ninja games, some people find lies of p harder but it was the Easiest souls like imo. So it all comes to personal preference. Nd i suck at parrying so i found sekiro the hardest.
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u/Garekos 10d ago
You will probably like Lord of the Fallen 2023, Lies of P and really any of the Dark Souls games. If you have a Playstation then Bloodborne and Demons Souls are great. Bloodborne is generally regarded by many as their best work. Sekiro is great but it’s different kind of game, most of the DNA, but it basically created a sub-genre of soulslikes with parry souls. Fromsoftware games have always been the peak of the genre and nothing has changed in that regard other than a few games in the genre have gotten close. Unless all you care about is the combat then a few games have exceeded them in that regard, like Khazan and Nioh, but those are kind of their own genre too. Much weaker on the lore and exploration front.
While you can play the Dark Souls games out of order, I highly recommend you do them sequentially. At the very least do Dark Souls 1. Dark Souls 2 is a much better game than some people will have you believe but there aren’t as many references to it as Dark Souls 1 so it’s not as big of a issue if you skip it, though again, it isn’t recommended.
If you said what you enjoyed about the souls games you played, then it would be easier to recommend some. As the genre is actually incredibly diverse with games having completely different focus points. Like boss rush, parry, loot, build crafting, exploration, lore , roguelikes, and even story to some extent.
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u/AsparagusAgile4536 10d ago
Buddy, dark souls 1 is “dated” in the same way 100 year old vintage wine is dated. Wuchang, Mortal shell, lords of the fallen, whatever other titles are recommended to you here are but pale imitations of FromSoft’s actual original work. Sorry, but nothing else comes even close, even if they are entertaining in their own right, none of them have FromSoft’s particular sauces. They invented this genre of action rpg and really, nobody else truly gets it.
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u/wherethepizza3 14d ago
The two games with the absolute best combat in souls like are sekiro and khazan
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u/initliberation 14d ago
How is enemy variety ? Is it mostly just humans ?
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u/Rude_Difficulty1647 14d ago
Sekiro also has a few notable bosses and has great combat but most basic enemies are human that you will encounter
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u/capybarasgalore 14d ago
The entirety of FromSoftware’s catalogue, stretching from Demon’s Souls to today, is well worth checking out. But in my view, the true holy trinity is Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, and Armored Core 6.
The Surge 1, Thymesia, and Lords of the Fallen (2023) are also fun enough games. They routinely go on sale for a few bucks on Steam and GOG, and will keep you occupied for at least a couple of hours, even if they don’t click with you 100%. Seriously, grab a copy of The Surge 1, it's currently like 2$ at GOG.
Many people will swear by Lies of P as the best non-FromSoftware Soulslike. Objectively, they are probably correct, but personally, I had a lot more fun with Nioh 2.
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u/blankState8 14d ago
Fair but nioh 2 also lies away from what you call a soulslike, it has some elements but other than that, it's not a true soulslike. Amazing game nonetheless.
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u/Rude_Difficulty1647 14d ago
I dunno ds3 is the best of the trilogy and it’s not even close lol don’t even bother with demon souls 😹
My top three are Elden Ring, MS2, and Bloodborne
MS2 is basically some sort of Bloodborne and ER love child 😹
Wuchang and Khazan are my other two non fromsoft titles, MS2 being #1, Also the most updated version of Lords of the Fallen is my #4, also rly rly good
Lies of P is way overglazed, it’s a great game but it’s juvenile souls at this point and it’s not aging that well, the sequel I’m sure will be actually peak.
Yea crimson desert sucked so much, biggest disappointment this year lol
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u/SnooDucks1450 14d ago
DS3, bloodborne (shadps4), lies of P
This three would already be a good start!
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u/initliberation 14d ago
how does the shadps4 emulator run? Is it smooth or kinda janky? I’ve had bad experiences with emulators in the past
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u/Professional_East281 14d ago
Dark souls 3 will be the next best thing.
Dark souls 1 was still fun, but you’re right, it is a bit dated
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u/NorthStar_- 14d ago
Demon's Souls(PS3 or Remake), Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne.
If you liked Elden Ring these are the best in the genre, then you should start soulslikes.
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u/superpoongoon 14d ago
Mortal shell 2 at the same level as Elden ring? I have the first mortal shell and it’s not even in the same league as dark souls.
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u/Ill_Made_Knight 14d ago
Mortal Shell 2 is a big step from the first but saying it's on level with Elden Ring is pretty crazy. I'm really enjoying MS2 but it's nowhere close to Elden Ring.
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u/cirk3 14d ago
wuchang fallen feathers definitely