"Souls-like", or souls games, describe a genre that has one or many mechanical parallels to the game series known as Dark Souls. FromSoftware developed Demon Souls in 2009 and went on to make Dark Souls in 2011. Later on, 2 sequels were made alongside spin-off titles such as Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. All of these are considered souls games because of their direct relation to Dark Souls and because of their identical game mechanics.

To qualify as a souls game, there are a few mechanics that must appear in some fashion within gameplay. The first of which is the passive collection of a currency that also functions as experience which is lost on death. Typically, this mechanic is followed by a way to retrieve the currency from the last death, and dying again means losing it forever. This is then paired with a checkpoint system inspired by the bonfires from Dark Souls. Souls games also have similar combat systems that strongly emulate the combat from Dark Souls as opposed to other RPGs like Skyrim. All this being said, here are some souls games that have slipped under the radar.

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Remnant: From the Ashes

This souls game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity must fight to survive an onslaught of eldritch monsters. The player chooses between the 3 starting classes: the Scrapper, Ex-Cultist, and Hunter. From there, they can travel to one of 4 realms to get started fighting for humanity. The best way to describe Remnant: From the Ashes would be to call it a souls-like looter shooter. The combat is grounded in 3rd person shooters, but the dodging mechanics and bonfire checkpoints scream Dark SoulsRecent DLC for Remnant also guarantees the developers' interest in expanding content for the game.

Remnant: From the Ashes is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Blasphemous

team17 the game kitchen free expansion

Blasphemous is a souls game that looks like something straight out of Pope Francis's fever dreams. The game itself is a side-scrolling metroidvania with heavy catholic orthodox overtones. Players cut their way through the game as The Penitent One collecting the souls of the twisted followers of The Miracle, which are used to upgrade The Penitent One's sword and gain access to new moves. Death in Blasphemous takes some cues from Dark Souls 2 where dying without retrieving souls results in a stacking decrease on the player's maximum health. A free DLC for Blasphemous has also released recently which gives players New Game+ and more content.

Blasphemous is available for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Code Vein

code vein combat

This title has a couple of similarities to Remnant: From the Ashes. It's a post-apocalyptic world where people are struggling to survive, except the difference is that the people are actually more like vampires. Code Vein has the player control a Revenant who sacrifices their memory to gain supernatural abilities, and a unique feature of this game is that after the player creates their character they get to choose a companion who will aid in defeating their enemies. Because this is a Bandai Namco game, many of the same features of Dark Souls exist in Code Vein except they've been renamed to things like campfires and haze, instead of bonfires and souls.

Code Vein is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The Surge 2

the surge 2 review

The Surge 2 is a souls game that takes place in a dystopian future where everybody has physically augmented their bodies with technology. Their bodies are integrated into a kind of frame where augmentations and implants can be fitted into their bodies to provide new abilities and weapons, while tech scrap can be used in conjunction with other things found in the world to create these implants and weapons. Most of the enemies in the game will use the same implants and weapons crafted by the player, so its in the player's best interest to try them out to test their strengths and weaknesses.

The Surge 2 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Mortal Shell

mortal shell combat

Probably the most directly inspired by Dark Souls on this list, Mortal Shell is a medieval fantasy game set to release in September for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The combat is incredibly similar to Dark Souls, yet there are a couple of interesting differences. The first of which being that when the player dies, they get a second chance to re-enter their body to continue fighting. These bodies are called shells, and they function as the different classes in the game. Another new mechanic is the ability to harden the shell to defend against attacks while also restricting movement. Most of what is known came from an open beta for Mortal Shell last month, but everything will be known upon its release in September. In other words, Souls fans should keep an eye on this one.

There is no doubt that Dark Souls has become so influential that many games have taken after it, and fans should expect more in the future.

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