Ever since its release in 2011, Night Souls has been viewed as a benchmark in gaming difficulty spawning a trilogy held by many to be 1 of gaming's finest. Like many successful franchises, the game likewise inspired a bunch of other games from different developers, originating the Souls-Similar genre.

Nowadays, Souls-like is the term used for games that take a slower approach to exploration and a stamina bar to continue the players oftentimes managing their resources. The difficulty is also one of the big staples of the genre. Some games are significantly more difficult than others, though.

Updated on September 7, 2021, past Thomas Heath: The Souls-similar genre continues to be i of the most popular in modern gaming, spanning across a variety of franchises and gameplay styles. This updated listing adds five more than bright games to the fold, all of which bring the roughshod difficulty and souls-like gameplay beloved by fans of the Dark Souls serial.

fourteen Code Vein

Code Vain - characters stare at the camera

Lawmaking Vein is not every bit hard every bit your average Souls-like game. Although it might be harder than your typical action-adventure blockbuster, information technology will not be every bit painful and slow to get into as other games might be. Well, at least until you accomplish a boss boxing. This game has some very unforgiving and punishing bosses.

Lawmaking Vein can be played cooperatively, and this mechanic might be the best way to go through some bosses. Unfortunately, playing cooperatively out of boss battles might completely trivialize some challenges. It is a fun game even so, and a neat entry-point to the genre.

13 Nioh

Nioh - Noah William

A Souls-like with several twists, Nioh is considered past many the spiritual successor of Onimusha. The game has your typical slower approach and a Ki bar that works like the Stamina in your standard souls-like game. Nevertheless, information technology does accept unique mechanics that accompany it.

At that place are different postures that the main character can use to change the way he attacks. Besides, timing your strikes, posture defenses, and other commands might make you instantly recover part of the ki spent. This makes the combat engaging and fun just can also get in easier when the mechanic is mastered. If you're looking for a challenge, they can look for the hardest twilight missions.

12 Lords of the Fallen

Lords of the fallen - Cleric Harkyn

The first Souls-Like in the PS4 era, Lords of the Fallen was developed past Deck13 Interactive and CI Games. Unlike Dark Souls and Demon'southward Souls, it had a protagonist with a proper name and backstory.

Many gamers did not enjoy this game, though, and at that place is some reason for that. The game had some questioning design, considered by many to be too edgy. The gameplay was also non considered equally fun, engaging, or as well idea out as that of Dark Souls.

11 Mortal Beat out

Mortal Shell Virtuous Cycle - via Steam

Mortal Beat is a really skilful-looking game and takes a lot of inspiration from Nighttime Souls - although information technology isn't afraid to refresh the formula. Information technology fifty-fifty has a roguelike fashion. The biggest improver though is the hardening mechanic, which acts as a way to forbid any damage from being taken and can be used in some actually unique ways.

Shells are also a unique feature and act equally the game's classes. In-game they're the remains of defeated warriors and let you to learn new skills and combat techniques. Mortal Shell doesn't offer the brutal difficulty of the harder Night Souls games, but information technology's a great culling and 1 of the newer entries on this list.

10 The Surge two

Surge 2 running

The futuristic setting and the dismemberment mechanics of The Surge indeed made the game unique and fun. The dodge was actually strong, making the main character jump far to the side. Some weapons were unique, and the game had a strong identity.

The game had its issues, just The Surge 2 improved on virtually every unmarried aspect of the game. Those changes did make the game easier than the predecessor, but because that the first game had some strange difficulty spikes, it was all for the all-time.

nine Remnant: From The Ashes

Remnant from the Ashes promo poster

The elevator pitch for Remnant: From the Ashes is pretty simple, it'southward Nighttime Souls with guns. Mechanically, Remnant borrows the bonfires, dodging mechanic, stamina, and classes, also as offering some pretty tricky boss fights for you to die to over again and again.

It is less of a souls game than most games on this listing, just it is a lot of fun, offering great co-op activeness, and takes enough inspiration from the serial that fans of the Night Souls games will probably have a lot of fun hither.

8 Table salt and Sanctuary

Salt and Sanctuary Knight fighting

Common salt and Sanctuary is a tough 2D platformer that combines fluid combat with some great exploration to produce an unforgettable experience. I of the highlights of the game is its weapon organization, with over 600 weapons and spells to find, craft, and upgrade, meaning you lot tin can accept downwardly enemies and bosses however yous choose.

Information technology wears its Dark Souls influence on its sleeve, taking all of the best elements from the series, and projecting them into two dimensions. The temper is bleak, the enemy designs are grotesque, and the difficulty is loftier. You'll die a lot, merely isn't that why y'all play souls-likes?

7 Demon's Souls

Demon's Souls - In front of a foggy wall

The original Souls game. Demon'south Souls was the original punishing game with methodical exploration that was fabricated by FromSoftware. It remains 1 of the most critically acclaimed games out there and is still considered 1 of the best Action RPGs ever made. Thanks to the remake, players can enjoy this classic with new generation graphics, only there are some other things that are different from the original.

Demon's Souls is hard, and it was one of its selling points. Information technology was the start game of its era that unified your money and experience in a single currency and would take everything away from the player after any death. This eternalized the "yous died", originating a series of memes.

6 Nighttime Souls iii

Dark Souls 3

Thankfully, FromSoftware did not end later on Demon's Souls. In fact, we got several great games after. The spiritual successor of their prior success was called Dark Souls, and it was also one of the most critically acclaimed Activity RPGs ever made.

Nighttime Souls was so famous due to its game design philosophy and genius map structure that information technology acquired the existence of two more games within the same franchise. Nighttime Souls 3 might not be the hardest of the Dark Souls, only it is hard, rewarding, and amazingly well designed.

5 The Surge

The Surge - Warren is ready

The first futuristic souls-similar, The Surge was a welcomed new accept on this genre that was once idea to exist exclusively about medieval settings. This is the game that implemented dismemberment and localized damage as an important office of its gainsay organization.

Knowing what part of an enemy to striking was well-nigh every bit of import as dodging or parrying. Although the gameplay was fun and the setting very unique, the game suffered from sudden difficulty spikes that were not entirely fun to deal with.

4 Hollow Knight

The Vessel riding the last stag

Hollow Knight is arguably the all-time Metroidvania to have come out in the concluding decade and includes many souls-similar staples such equally a high difficulty level, lots of boss fights, and a mechanic very like to the bonfire system in Dark Souls for saving.

Information technology has amazing combat and a move set development that evolves from beingness rudimentary to eventually allowing y'all to slash, nuance, and bounce your way to victory. The story is heavily influenced by the Dark Souls games too, with your journeying taking y'all through a once-great kingdom that has fallen into busted.

three Dark Souls

Dark Souls - The chosen undead stares at the path ahead

Always fun and ever fair. Or at least that'south what fans of Night Souls take to say about the game. This game is considered by many to be nigh flawless. It has extremely well-constructed combat, map, enemies, and atmosphere. Night Souls makes you rage when y'all die, merely provides an amazing sensation of achievement when they overcome each claiming.

The night fantasy setting compliments the difficulty of the game, and the death and respawn points are not merely a game mechanic but as well explained past the lore. Although it is hard, well-nigh every single challenge is fair and can exist beaten if you're adamant enough.

two Bloodborne

Bloodborne - The Hunter looks at Yharnam

At some point, someone had an amazing idea of mixing Nighttime Souls, Gothic architecture, the Victorian era, and Lovecraftian horror. The baby of this weird salad is ane of the best games e'er made. Bloodborne is the horror Action RPG nobody knew that they wanted. The game fifty-fifty has an optional dungeon crawl with very challenging sections.

Post-obit the same design suggestion that Dark Souls had, only with faster gameplay, Bloodborne is 1 of the near memorable games on the PS4. It has a great twist, though. The just shield in the game is quite useless. The game forces players to play aggressively and dodge like no other souls game always has, and perhaps ever will.

one Night Souls 2: Scholar Of The First Sin

Dark Souls 2 - Bearer of the curse tries to find his path

The least favorite Dark Souls of most fans, many players would say that Dark Souls ii was the easiest in the series. That is until FromSoftware decided to change the game with patches and Downloadable Content. Past the fourth dimension they launched the Scholar of the First Sin version, this was a new game already.

Dark Souls 2's latest version was harder, unforgiving, and had a plethora of enemies. Whether or not the game is fun now is very debatable - Information technology is certainly the least favorite game for most fans, but it is indeed a quite hard ane. Especially considering the number of bosses that have creatures to assistance them in battle and the amazing DLC bosses.

NEXT: How Long Does It Take To Beat Dark Souls 2?

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