Action role-playing games have become an exceptionally popular genre in modern video games. And like other genres, it has grown with time and taken inspiration from many titles. That being said, one of the most influential games in action RPGs has been FromSoftware's Demon's Souls.

FromSoftware was no stranger to RPGs before Demon’s Souls, but when the title was first released in 2009, it began a franchise of games that would change not only the genre but the industry as a whole. Helmed by creative director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, the Soulsborne series helped create the Soulslike subgenre which is a formulaic combination of high difficulty and convoluted, environmental storytelling.

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The Origin of Soulslike

demon's souls playstation database

Demon’s Souls is the spiritual predecessor to not just the Dark Souls series and its extended Soulsborne titles, but all Soulslike games. When creating Demon’s Souls, FromSoftware and Miyazaki likely had no idea that the series was going to snowball into such a successful franchise.

The formula for the Souls games is fairly simple. Players are challenged to defeat enemies and bosses while utilizing a plethora of different weapons and items, all while keeping track of limited health resources and managing stamina use. Each game in the Soulsborne series has tweaked this formula slightly, but they all stay close to these basic mechanics.

The goal behind the original title was to create a game that was punishing yet fair and had a simplistic story on the surface, but became more interconnected and interesting the more the player delved into it. Demon’s Souls accomplished these goals by featuring many unique locations all with their own challenging enemies and bosses that are all connected through an overarching story. Players often found themselves exceptionally challenged by the constant flow of increasingly difficult bosses but knew that they could succeed through perseverance and dedication. And once an area was completely cleared, the sense of accomplishment was unmatched.

The Soulsborne games not only made enemies challenging, but created a different kind of challenge when introducing lore. Though players could easily dismiss the story and hack-and-slash their way through the entire game, the amount of detail that has gone into the lore of these games creates a sense of wonder that is unavoidable for players who begin to investigate further into the story.

With most the games featuring very few cutscenes or straightforward explanations, it is up to the player to investigate items and weapons as well as the world and its inhabitants in order to discover as much about the game’s story as possible. Players are never coddled in gameplay or lore and the constant challenge is what has driven players and developers to crave games similar to Demon’s Souls.

How Soulslike Games Play

Hollow Knight v Nioh

Since the Soulsborne franchise has become so popular, many developers have attempted to recreate the same type of experience featured in the series. Though no game could be an exact replica of the iconic titles, many have used the formula as a jumping off point to create successful games.

Titles such as Nioh and Mortal Shell perfectly exemplify how many games have copied the essence of the Souls formula and slightly tweaked it to better fit each individual game. Both games’ combat styles mimicked the Souls games by focusing on stamina management and well-timed attacks and dodges. And though Nioh had a fairly straightforward storyline, both had dark fantasy settings, with Mortal Shell adopting the Soulsborne tradition of convoluted and mysterious storytelling that had to be thoroughly examined in order to be fully understood.

Many modern games have also added additional elements to the formula, such as Remnant: From the Ashes being a third-person shooter or Salt and Sanctuary and Hollow Knight's 2D platforming. Even though the games play differently than the original games or other Soulslikes, the core gameplay loops remain close to the roots of Demon’s Souls.

At the end of the day, no Soulslike title is aiming to perfectly replicate what the original franchise has done. Instead, the subgenre offers a different twist to the original feel of the Soulsborne games all while continuing to provide an enticing world and a satisfying challenge.

Demon’s Souls Remake is currently available on PS5.

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