It's no secret Fire Ring is a special game, and when it comes to the world of soulslikes, it's pretty hard for other titles to even come close, let alone compete with it. The game represents a decade of refinement and perfection, all fused into a single experience, so it's easy to see why it's so highly rated and considered a near-unbeatable titan in a genre filled to the brim with excellence.
The 7 best soulslike games on Xbox Game Pass, ranked
Game Pass doesn't have Dark Souls or Elden Ring, but it does have some great Soulslike games that can keep you busy for a long time.
But the soul-like space is stacked these days, and there are still few other games out there that can contend with the grandeur found in The Lands Between. Some were born from FromSoftware's own arms, while others came from brand new studios, but in both cases the level on display is truly incredible and a true testament to how difficult it is to create something so close to perfection.
What kind of weapon is that?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Start
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Might Be FromSoftware's Best
Maybe the best there is
Details:
-
Perfect parry mechanics
-
Smaller but more refined list of bosses
It is quite fair to say that when Sekiro exploded onto the soulful scene, the entire genre was shaken to its core. Gone were the days of slow, methodical exploration, and in its place were fast, unforgiving combat that relied solely on reaction speed and muscle memory in a way that no other game in 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 boss fights, each of which presents a different kind of challenge to the player, and all of which require a huge amount of skill and patience to take down. Fire Ring maybe have the scale, but Sekiro checks every other box, where the most important thing is the gameplay and the actual mechanics that players will learn and master over time.
Bloodborne remains a gothic masterpiece
Atmosphere And Taste For Days
Details:
-
Unreal world building and environments
-
Sleek and fast combat that holds up today
Blood borne is now over a decade old, but FPS locks aside, the game hasn't aged a day. From the moment players step into the world, it's very clear they're in for something special, as everything from the towering structures to the eerie skybox creates a sense of darkness and intrigue that never dissipates until the end credits finally roll.
5 soulslike games with as good or better knowledge than Elden Ring
Dive into the rich history of 5 soul-like games, each offering unique stories and worlds that rival the depth and mystery of Elden Ring.
While previous games had their own parry mechanics, here, weapons become the player's tool of distraction, making for some incredibly visceral sequences where they quickly dispatch and destroy anything and anyone who dares take a swing at them. What stands out, however, will always be the world and the stories within it, both taking heavy influence from Lovecraftian fiction to deliver a terrifying yet enticing experience that will leave players on their knees begging for more.
Hollow Knight is a completely different kind of masterpiece
On a completely different level
Details:
-
Considered the king of metroidvanias
-
Detailed and dynamic world
Hollow Knight doesn't look like the traditional third-person shooter that many associate the genre with, yet the gameplay and design of the game quickly reveal that it more than meets the criteria. The way the game plays out feels so organic and natural, something like Fire Ring definitely stands out, but here the environments are much more claustrophobic and intimate, making the player feel at one with the world during their long and dangerous 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 pushed far beyond what they might have expected. Once players have scoured the map for caterpillars and conquered nearly every enemy in sight, they may think the adventure is about to end, but that's when the game throws a curveball and introduces a whole new cave 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:
-
Refining lessons learned from many other soul-likes
-
Beautiful new environment with lots of surprises
Lies by P showed the world that a soul-like non-FromSoftware could actually compete with the big dogs. Set in a twisted fairy tale world full of mechanical monstrosities and mutated life forms, players are thrown right into it, having to parry and deflect their way through the world to uncover the much darker truth that lies beneath the surface.
5 Soulslike Games With Better Combat Than Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Wait, is that even possible? These soul-like action titles can prove that it really is.
Instead of perfecting a specific mechanic or aspect, the game manages to hit all the criteria on the head without missing a beat, and has so much gameplay brilliance and narrative goodness that it becomes quite difficult to put it down, even after a multi-hour session. But perhaps the game's greatest 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, you can actually claim the voting positions.
Dark Souls 3 perfects The Souls Formula
Kicks 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 soul-like world, but somehow it has maintained its place among the best ever since its release. Learning from the mistakes and triumphs of its previous games, FromSoftware decided to end its trilogy with a heroic finale, plunging players into giant castles and burning caverns, all packed to the brim with action, lore, and tons of enemies to take down.
When it comes to the boss list, it's fair to say that the game has one of the best in the entire industry, with even its lowest score higher than its rivals and its highs setting a new high that has barely been broken in the last decade. Without the series, the genre simply wouldn't exist today, and this third installment's role in throwing soulslikes into the mainstream came solely from the unforgettable experience offered to players within it.
Black Myth: Wukong Nails Combat
Legends Made Real
Details
-
Quick ability combos and attack chains
-
A variety of characters and enemies
Black Myth: Wukong takes a legendary story from the East and brings it to life with about as much beauty and glory as is physically possible. The very first scene in the game sets the tone in a big way, introducing players to a cinematic encounter that kickstarts a long line of others that all seem to get more and more extravagant the further into the story they go.
Where the game really struggles with Fire Ring is in the fray, as rather than players wielding 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 going away. That level of cinematic grandeur remains present in virtually every fight, and because of that, it's pretty hard to separate cutscenes from real-time moments, making the entire game feel like one drawn-out epic with the player at the center of all the action.
8 Best Soul-like Games With Simple But Great Combat, Ranked
The combat systems in these soul-like games prove that sometimes simplicity is best.
