What are the very best soulslike video games? An off-shoot of motion RPGs, the defining rules of this ever-growing subgenre sprung up from Demon’s Souls again in 2009. Nevertheless, it took the discharge of its religious successor two years later to actually gentle a fireplace below followers. FromSoftware’s Darkish Souls is a landmark recreation in lots of respects, however the soulslike style is its best legacy.
Whereas efforts have been made to diversify soulslike video games lately, persistence within the face of adversity stays the focus. Characterised by punishing stamina-based fight, risk-reward foreign money methods, and difficult bosses, victory results in development via wealthy worlds that always seize a darkish fantasy recreation aesthetic. Whether or not you’re a newcomer who’s undecided the place to begin or an RPG recreation veteran searching for a brand new problem, we’ve bought the easiest soulslikes on PC you possibly can play proper now.
Listed here are the very best soulslikes in 2025:
Elden Ring
It’s unimaginable to debate soulslikes with out mentioning Elden Ring – so let’s get it out of the best way. Like most shops, PCGamesN rated it the Sport of the Yr in 2022. If you happen to by some means nonetheless haven’t performed FromSoftware’s (present) magnum opus, you gained’t discover a higher – if slightly additional intimidating due to its sprawling open world – soulslike to get began with.
From the primary moments after you end the tutorial, the Lands Between function one of the intriguing and beautiful fantasy worlds ever made. From the large elevator that descends into the subterranean but star-speckled Siofra River, to the sprawling vista of Liurnia of the Lakes proper after Stormwind Fort, it’s straightforward to sink hours simply exploring and taking in all of the great sights. Troublesome bosses, hard-to-decipher-lore, numerous character builds, and secrets and techniques upon secrets and techniques encourage playthroughs upon playthroughs. You don’t actually need one other soulslike after Elden Ring – but when the open world isn’t for you, the remainder of the video games on this record are way more linear.
And when you thought issues couldn’t get any higher, our Shadow of the Erdtree assessment goes into element about how the enlargement continues to set extremely excessive requirements for the style as an entire. There have been some complaints that the DLC is needlessly tough, however all gamers have to do is put together themselves with among the finest Elden Ring builds and discover the Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes places instantly. When you’ve sorted that out, the remainder of the sport turns into considerably simpler.
One other Crab’s Treasure
Aggro Crab scuttled into our hearts and took the indie seas by storm with One other Crab’s Treasure, an underwater soulslike that’s a bit like if somebody caught Darkish Souls, Discovering Nemo, and Spongebob Squarepants in a blender. Kril the hermit crab has been rudely ejected from his beloved mollusc shell. Tin cans and plastic cups supply scant safety for Kril as he navigates the various risks on the backside of the ocean, the place man-made trash turns into, effectively, treasure.
Discover garbage-filled coral reefs, gather curious doodads to improve your stats, and make buddies (or, most of the time, enemies) with undersea denizens. This soulslike recreation is an ideal approach to introduce new gamers to the style with minimal frustration, whereas its comedic and creative aptitude will maintain seasoned gamers to the tip. One other Crab’s Treasure is the one soulslike round that pits you in opposition to a large crab wielding a tea strainer like a flail, and delivers its environmentalist message with out pretension.
Darkish Souls Trilogy
Excellent news! All three Darkish Souls video games can be found on PC, and very like Elden Ring, you’re doing your self a disservice when you haven’t performed them. Darkish Souls: Remastered options a few of the tightest degree design in all the style and is an effective way to expertise the sport that really popularized it. Whereas Darkish Souls II sadly takes a step again with its degree design, it makes up for it with some nice high quality of life enhancements, new design concepts, and superb DLC – when you’re eager to shell out slightly extra coin for it. After all, Darkish Souls III performs extremely tight and has probably the most difficult, effectively designed bosses, nice lore, and even higher artwork design. You’ll be able to’t go improper with booting up any of the three and sinking a pair dozen hours into their darkish, wealthy worlds.
If you happen to needed to choose one, the remastered model of the unique can’t be beat. From Undead Parish to the Kiln of The First Flame, it epitomizes the style in each respect.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Just one extra FromSoftware recreation – I promise. The place the Darkish Souls video games created the style, and Elden Ring broadens it into an open world, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice makes it extra of a katana-heavy motion recreation. There aren’t many role-playing components right here, with character creation and leveling a set of attributes. As a substitute, Sekiro focuses on the usage of the titular character’s katana to interrupt enemies’ stability, deflect their assaults, and open them up for a killing blow. With the inclusion of some actually enjoyable instruments connected to Sekrio’s prosthetic arm, such because the grappling hook, a metallic umbrella-shield, and a literal flame-thrower, and also you’ve bought a soulslike that performs fairly in another way than the remainder of FromSoftware’s catalog.
What stays the identical? Aside from Sekiro typically having the ability revive after defeat, you continue to gather ‘souls’ within the type of talent factors you could spend in sure talent timber and typically lose progress towards the following talent level upon demise. You’ll additionally discover an enormous world crammed with superior foes in an equal components mythologically and traditionally impressed Japan.
Black Delusion Wukong
Black Delusion Wukong straddles the razor-thin line between soulslike and motion recreation, so its inclusion on this record is considerably controversial. Nevertheless, there’s little doubt that this stellar adaptation of Journey to the West employs every part we love in a very good soulslike. The Black Delusion Wukong bosses are an adrenaline-laced spectacle pulled straight from Chinese language folklore and unwilling to go down simply. As a lowly monkey man following within the footsteps of the legendary Solar Wukong, you will need to overcome the percentages along with your wits, a heavy-duty construct, and a pinch of magic.
Our Black Delusion Wukong assessment calls it a “GOTY contender of epic proportions” that “appears to be like to iterate upon FromSoftware’s legacy moderately than use it as a crutch.” It might need appeared to good to be true, however this debut motion RPG from Sport Science has risen from obscurity to change into among the finest PC video games of 2024.
Lords of the Fallen
With the FromSoftware video games out of the best way, the latest and high-profile soulslike launch is Lords of the Fallen. A reimagining of a 2014 recreation of the identical title, Lords of the Fallen borrows lots from the unique Darkish Souls, to the purpose that from motion and visuals alone, you’d assume you had been as soon as once more adventuring via Lordran. In fact, Lords of the Fallen takes place in Mournstead and provides just a few distinctive twists to the method. Chief amongst them is the Umbral mechanic, which, when your totally customizable character dies, you enter an alternate Umbral realm that mirrors the true one, revealing new enemies, secrets and techniques, and objects to find.
Due to the Umbral mechanic, Lords of the Fallen takes exploration to a different degree, and with a handful of updates post-launch, it has change into one of many higher shameless Darkish Souls copycats on the market – even when the enemy density continues to be slightly too excessive.
Lies of P
Whereas Bloodborne isn’t on PC (but – I pray to the Nice Ones each night for a 4K remaster), Lies of P isn’t a half unhealthy substitute. The ‘P’ in Lies of P stands for – of all issues – Pinocchio. Sure, builders Neowitz Video games and Round8 Studio went forward and made a soulslike that stars Geppetto’s puppet. It has an identical Victorian Gothic aesthetic as Bloodborne, and attracts quite a lot of different aesthetic and gameplay decisions from the likes of Sekiro and Darkish Souls. Nevertheless, it locations a heavier emphasis on animatronic enemies than the fantastical or the nightmarish.
The place Lies of P actually shines is inside its narrative. Nobody requested for a Bloodborne-esque Pinocchio story, however Lies of P delivers a story effectively price seeing via, full with a number of endings. For a style recognized for obtuse lore moderately than an precise plot, Lies of P stands out as one of many higher soulslikes lately.
Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty
If you happen to’ve performed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and might’t get sufficient of the Japan-inspired setting, Wo Lengthy’s Han Dynasty China will certainly scratch an identical itch. Developed by Workforce Ninja, recognized for, amongst different issues, the soulslike collection Nioh and Ninja Gaiden, few video games match Wo Lengthy by way of tight, face-paced fight. Wo Lengthy additionally ditches the linked world typical of the style in favor of separate story-heavy missions that may be replayed for higher loot, making it an amazing alternative for people who prefer to grind swords with greater numbers connected to them. It has an amazing feeling of development – returning to earlier ranges to filter out tough enemies or discover a hidden merchandise reveals simply how highly effective your avatar has change into.
That mentioned, it follows a number of different staples of the style: failure is essential to development, and Real Qi serves as its model of ‘soul’ foreign money. Workforce Ninja has additionally put out a handful of nice expansions that make it an amazing alternative for individuals who like their video games prolonged.
Hole Knight
Whereas we’re all nonetheless eternally ready for the Hole Knight Silksong launch date, those that haven’t performed the unique ought to positively leap on one of many best indie video games ever made. Equal components atmospheric and difficult, you assume the function of the titular knight as he descends into the insectoid Kingdom of Hallownest.
A 2D recreation moderately than 3D, Hole Knight pulls extra mechanics from Metroidvania video games than it does soulslike. To progress via the dense world map, it’s important to discover completely to seek out new skills that mean you can attain new areas. Nevertheless, it adopts the principle options of soulslikes, providing difficult fight and “souls” foreign money that may be misplaced on defeat. Hole Knight additionally follows in FromSoftware’s footsteps with obscure, intriguing lore it’s important to piece collectively your self, making it a soulslike in additional than spirit.
Blasphemous 2
Like Hole Knight, Blasphemous 2 (and its prequel) trades the everyday soulslike perspective of a third-person motion RPG for a 2D platforming journey, this time of the gorgeously animated pixel selection. It does, nevertheless, hold the nightmarish fantasy environment of the unique FromSoftware video games, although with slightly bit extra grotesque spiritual iconography. Whereas the primary Blasphemous centered totally on fight, the sequel places way more emphasis on puzzles this time round, facilitated by new weapons, making for a a lot much less repetitive journey.
Maybe the least soulslike recreation on this record, it nonetheless borrows loads of mechanics from the style, together with a limited-use therapeutic merchandise that refills at the price of all enemies respawning, difficult bosses that gatekeep the journey, and sparse storytelling that takes slightly little bit of participant effort to work out. Our Blasphemous 2 assessment will get to the underside of this Catholic horror sequel.
Thymesia
Trendy soulslikes usually check the boundaries of this emergent subgenre with new mechanics and aesthetics that push its definition to the restrict. A couple of even make an look on this record, providing chilly consolation to soulslike followers searching for a traditional expertise. Thymesia goes proper again to fundamentals with a darkish fantasy aesthetic pulled straight out of FromSoftware’s greatest, with a Victorian Gothic aesthetic that provides Bloodborne a run for its cash.
We arrive within the Kingdom of Hermes within the wake of a calamitous alchemical plague that has diminished its topics to monsters. The treatment to this chaos lies hidden within the misplaced reminiscences of shapeshifting protagonist Corvus, who can harness the plague for his personal ends. Thymesia is a brief, candy, however no much less brutal soulslike that calls for cautious execution of complicated assault combos, well-timed parries, and a robust structure to beat its procession of intimidating bosses.
9 Sols
If you happen to’re caught between Hole Knight and Sekiro, 9 Sols is the right compromise. This 2D action-platformer takes the Metroidvania framework of interconnected maps laden with secrets and techniques and marries it with deflection-driven fight in opposition to an array of ferocious bosses. Its “Taopunk” setting is a brilliant spot within the slew of grimdark fantasy soulslikes, however don’t let it lull you right into a false sense of safety. Developer Purple Candle Video games minimize its enamel on horror video games, and that heritage is on full show with flashes of gore and brutal violence that depart a ruby-red smear throughout its colourful, hand-drawn environments. 9 Sols is a brutal soulslike fuelled by revenge, and its story is price seeing via to the tip.
Ashen
Ashen is probably going the least well-known and most underrated soulslike on this record. It’s additionally one of the distinctive with its muted cel-shaded graphics. Borrowing gameplay closely from Darkish Souls, it adopts the passive multiplayer whereby different gamers will present up in your world as an NPC to cooperate with when you play on-line. It’s a fairly cool mechanic that makes Ashen’s pseudo-open world extra manageable and enjoyable to discover. And very like different soulslikes, that world is crammed with a darkish (fairly actually as Ashen’s world had no solar for some time) lore to unravel as you play.
In any other case, every part you’d anticipate from a typical soulslike is right here: third-person motion RPG fight, gentle RPG mechanics to enhance your character, and higher weapons and equipment to seek out as you delve into extra harmful areas, defeating bosses alongside the best way.
Remnant 2
Need slightly bit extra taking pictures in your soulslike? Whereas loads of them characteristic bows and different ranged weaponry, Remnant 2 is a full on third-person shooter closely impressed by soulslikes. Moreover, it’s an enormous enchancment upon the unique Remnant in nearly each manner – smoother fight and higher bosses, deeper construct improvement, and a number of other distinct worlds to discover. The hallmark of Remnant 2 is its procedurally generated ranges which permit for an unbelievable quantity of replayability.
It may not have the identical staggering issue as different soulslikes – and whether or not you see that as a optimistic or adverse is as much as you – however Remnant 2 is unquestionably a singular and worthy entry into the style.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Whereas Star Wars Jedi Survivor may very well be thought-about a “soulslite” moderately than a full-blown soulslike, there’s no denying Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi collection takes its fight cues from FromSoft’s gruelling ARPGs. In his 8/10 Star Wars Jedi Survivor assessment, our very personal Will Nelson remarks that the most recent installment within the collection “aspires to be larger in nearly each manner” however its choice-driven scope can “undermine the stream and number of fight.” Nevertheless, Jedi Survivor is an inarguable win for followers of Cal Kestis and a galaxy far, far-off.
And there you’ve got it – the very best soulslike video games you possibly can play in your PC in 2023. As confirmed by latest releases like Remnant 2, Lies of P, and Lords of the Fallen, the style isn’t going wherever anytime quickly. Anticipate each FromSoftware and different builders to proceed iterating upon the bottom mechanics in typical third-person motion RPGs and different genres apart from.
Once you do choose up a brand new soulslike, remember to try our guides, akin to the very best builds in Lords of the Fallen or Elden Ring. And if you’d like extra details about the above video games, learn our opinions – like our Remnant 2 assessment, which discusses our adoration of the Lovecraftian world-building.
