Elden Ring is the biggest and most popular soulslike game of all time, and many would argue it stands unrivaled as the genre's crowning achievement. While few projects match the scope, depth, and addictiveness of FromSoftware's masterpiece, exceptions not only exist, but some are even better than Elden Ring in certain ways. They might offer superior combat, bosses, atmosphere, or world structure.

The Lands Between is a special place that continues to serve as home for countless players, and that won't change anytime soon. However, those same folks might want to take a trip to another soulslike realm that could very well become their favorite place away from home, and not all of these games are from FromSoftware.

Click on the game with the higher OpenCritic rating.

Bloodborne Is Still A Gothic Masterpiece

Atmosphere And Flavor For Days

Details:

  • Unreal world-building and environments
  • Gritty and fast combat that holds up today

Bloodborne is now over a decade old, but aside from FPS lock, the game hasn't aged a day. From the moment players step into the world, it is very clear they are in for something special, as everything from the towering structures to the eerie skybox creates a sense of darkness and intrigue that never goes away until the end credits finally roll.

While previous games had their own parry mechanics, here guns become the player's tool for deflection, setting up some incredibly visceral sequences in which they quickly dispatch and destroy anything and anyone that dares to take a swing at them. The standout, though, will always be the world and the stories within it, both taking heavy influence from Lovecraftian fiction to deliver a horrific yet enticing experience that will have players begging on their knees for more.

Nioh 2 Is All About That Team Ninja Combat

Endless Action That Never Lets Up

Details:

  • Fast-paced combat that layers mechanics on top of each other
  • Extremely long mission-based campaign that blends fantasy and history

Team Ninja certainly took a liking to the soulslike format, essentially spending the last decade exploring the genre. While the FromSoftware inspiration is plain for all to see, Team Ninja quickly established its own niche that combines soulslike exploration with more aggressive-than-usual combat akin to the developer's earlier Ninja Gaiden games. Nioh 3 comes arguably the closest to being an Elden Ring proxy due to its open-world design, and it is fantastic; however, Nioh 2 remains the franchise's high point.

If I had to pick one way to describe Nioh 2, it would be "a lot." Like Elden Ring, the game gives you all the tools and systems you could possibly need to take on the many challenges that await over the 50-hour campaign, and that goes beyond the variety of melee and ranged weapon types that greatly influence your playstyle.

Players can switch between three stances at any given time, all of which are viable and useful. They need to master the Burst Counter, a counter that utilizes the player's Yokai power to interrupt enemies. Then there are dozens of Soul Cores, which summon Yokai for a single attack. So much to learn, and it's so much fun.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Might Be FromSoftware's Best

Perhaps The Best There Is

Details:

  • Perfect parry mechanics
  • Smaller yet more refined roster of bosses

It is pretty fair to say that when Sekiro exploded onto the scene, the entire soulslike genre was shaken down to its very core. Gone were the days of slow, methodical exploration, and in their place was fast, unforgiving combat that relied solely on reaction speed and muscle memory in a way no other game in the space had even come close to.

Mechanically, it remains at the top of the genre, demonstrating a level of precision and satisfaction that many have tried to replicate, but very few have succeeded. Then there are the boss fights, each posing a different kind of challenge to the player, and all requiring a huge amount of knowledge and patience in order to take them down. Elden Ring might have the scale, but Sekiro checks every other box, with the most important being the gameplay and the actual mechanics that players will come to learn and master over time.

Hollow Knight Is A Whole Different Type Of Masterpiece

On A Completely Different Plane

Details:

  • Considered the king of the metroidvanias
  • Detailed and dynamic world

Hollow Knight doesn't look like the traditional third-person soulslike many people associate the genre with, yet the gameplay and the design of the game quickly reveal that it more than fits the criteria. The way the game unfolds feels so organic and natural, something that Elden Ring definitely excels at, but here, the environments are far more claustrophobic and intimate, making the player feel one with the world throughout their long and perilous journey.

The goodness doesn't stop there, as players will find themselves tested to their absolute mechanical limits, with their platforming mechanics and their combat prowess being pushed far further than they may have expected. By the time players have scoured the map for caterpillars and conquered just about every foe in sight, they may think the adventure is coming to an end, but that's exactly when the game throws a curveball and introduces a brand-new cavern of secrets for them to explore and fall in love with all over again.

Lies Of P Helped Usher In A New Era For Soulslikes

A New Name Enters The Conversation

Details:

  • Refines lessons learned from many other soulslikes
  • Beautiful new setting with plenty of surprises

Lies of P showed the world that a non-FromSoftware soulslike could, in fact, compete with the big dogs. Set in a twisted fairy tale world full of mechanical monstrosities and mutated lifeforms, players are thrown right into the thick of it, having to parry and deflect their way through the world to uncover the much darker truth that lies beneath the surface.

Rather than doing one specific mechanic or aspect perfectly, the game manages to hit all the criteria on the head without missing a beat, having so much gameplay polish and narrative goodness that it becomes pretty hard to put it down, even after a multi-hour-long session. However, perhaps the game's biggest achievement is how it has now paved the way for so many other new soulslikes to enter the space, showing that with a good enough concept and a compelling enough world, the poll positions can actually be claimed.

Dark Souls 3 Perfects The Souls Formula

Sounding Off The Trilogy With A Bang

Details:

  • Incredible boss battles from start to finish
  • Tasteful fan service

Dark Souls 3 feels like a distant memory in the context of the soulslike world, yet somehow, it has retained its place among the best ever since it released. Learning from the mistakes and triumphs of their previous games, FromSoftware decided to close out their trilogy with a heroic finale, thrusting players into giant castles and fiery caverns, all full to the brim with action, lore, and plenty of enemies to take down.

When it comes to the boss roster, it is fair to say the game has one of the best in the entire industry, with even its lowest points being higher than its rivals and its peaks setting a new high that has barely been cleared in the last decade. Without the series, the genre simply wouldn't exist today, and this third installment's role in catapulting soulslikes into the mainstream came solely from the unforgettable experience players are treated to within it.

Black Myth: Wukong Nails Combat

Legends Made Real

Details

  • Fast ability combos and attack chains
  • A diverse cast of characters and enemies

Black Myth: Wukong takes a legendary story from the eastern world and brings it to life with just about as much beauty and glory as physically possible. The very first scene of the game sets the tone in a big way, presenting players with a cinematic encounter that kick-starts a long line of others that all seem to get increasingly more extravagant the further they progress into the story.

Where the game really contends with Elden Ring is in the combat, as rather than players using a weapon with a few tricks, they instead get to unleash a flurry of combos, transform mid-fight, and keep hammering away at the boss, without the spectacle ever fading away. That level of cinematic greatness remains present in virtually every fight, and because of that, it is pretty hard to tell cutscenes from real-time moments, making the whole game feel like one drawn-out epic with the player at the center of all the action.