Poll: Favourite Soulslike not from From Software from?

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Hello you adorable warmongering homosapiens currently sowing your own imminent demise of all the sweet colours, sizes, orientations and planes of existence...archives must be updated, and the current folder is;

All those Dark Souls clones/homages/inspired games that are not made by the company yet to be bested...which has been your favourite sooo far? Has it surpassed FromSoft's efforts in your objective opinion?

I shall provide tantalising screenshots to refresh your warmongering minds and focus your libidos away from the desires of the succulent flesh...

Spoiler: 1. Salt and Sanctuary

Spoiler: 2. Nioh

Spoiler: 3. Hollow Knight

Spoiler: 4. Dead Cells

Spoiler: Why am I even numbering these? You can all count to 8, surely? ...Lords of the Fallen

Spoiler: The Surge

Spoiler: Hyper Light Drifter

Spoiler: Other: Specify and whatnot

This came up on Google when I typed that in...sooo here it is.

There are probably others I missed and couldn't fit in. But if you mention them, I'll attempt to update them here. A brief search, however accurate, says;

DarkMaus:

Titan Souls:

Shrouded in Sanity

Bound by Flame[small] (Really?)[/small]:

Dragon's Dogma:

Secondly, I cannot add two poll questions in the same format, but would also be very interested in asking what people's favourite FromSoft game from FromSoftware which results shall be hastily tallied and edited into the below pit of inescapable decay;

Demon Souls: 1

Dark Souls: 1

Dark Souls 2 (SoFS):

Bloodborne: 3

Dark Souls 3: 1

That mech series that is called Mech-something-or-other-death-warrior-thereabouts:


Lastly, which of all these did you least like/enjoy and for what reasons?

And that's about it. Although one thing I noticed from Deck13 - developers of the surge and LotF - is they make their soulslikes so hypermasculine. The other homages and originals are mostly sexless. Maybe that's part symptomatic of their misunderstanding for what the genre's many appeals are other than great combat and high difficulty. The surge was a disappointing waste of opportunity, technically too janky and cluttered to rely on your skill and knowledge to survive. Better luck next time with that sci-fi souls, eh?

 

[stroopwafel]

Well, Dark Souls and Bloodborne can't really be beat for having that almighty Miyazaki's touch but I think both Nioh and Salt are terrific games that did enough innovative things with the formula to make them stand apart. Nioh's spin on Souls combat is pretty much just as good and satisfying(even if the loot grind wasn't entirely to my taste) and Salt is like From Software itself made a slightly offbeat 2D Dark Souls that's how good it is. Hyperlight Drifter was pretty good as well but that's more in Zelda territory in my opinion. The other games I either didn't play or found pretty meh.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

I did like Salt and Sanctuary's style and vibe.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Out of all the ones listened, I have only played Salt and Lords.

Of those two, Salt beats Lords hands down. However, neither comes close to touching anything in the Souls series. While both had gameplay issues (Lords more than Salt), both of them trip and fall flat on their faces in one crucial area for me: the story.
Both of these games seemed to miss that part of the Souls games' stories that makes them so memorable and loved. The fact that the story is hidden, told in small little pieces of armor, and in the way the level is laid out. Little details that someone just playing the game will completely miss--entire endings that are not even hinted at unless you know where to look or dare to venture down a different path than normal--but stuff that, once you know it's there, the world becomes so much more, so much bigger, and the pieces fall into place.
Both Salt and Lords seemed to think that completely omitting story points, or hinting at something without ever giving any other clue as to what it is and thus that makes it mysterious and cool (because ha ha, we'll tell you in the sequel, or crap, we have no idea it just sounded cool), is what makes a good Dark Souls-style story.
It does not. It makes your game frustrating.

I hear Hollow Knight is pretty freaking epic though, and they seem to do it right.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

"Souls like" is such a weird term because it could mean a game where currency = xp, a game where when you die you can retrieve your currency/xp at your deathspot, a game that has stamina meter based combat, a game that has looping level design, or just a game that is hard. Just goes to show you how monumentally influential the series was that it influenced so many games in different ways

I chose "other" because the only new game that I've played recently is the new Zelda and I'm fairly sure there's some Souls influence there

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Demon's Souls was the best. It was the most experimental and charming.

Dragon's Dogma isn't Souls-like at all.

Hey, I only work with what they gave me, and you seriously don't want to see the other suggestions. I only picked DD and the others because they have been mentioned multiple times before in reference to Dark Souls. Never played Bound by Flame though.

"Souls like" is such a weird term because it could mean a game where currency = xp, a game where when you die you can retrieve your currency/xp at your deathspot, a game that has stamina meter based combat, a game that has looping level design, or just a game that is hard. Just goes to show you how monumentally influential the series was that it influenced so many games in different ways

I chose "other" because the only new game that I've played recently is the new Zelda and I'm fairly sure there's some Souls influence there

Eh, yeah I agree that presently the term has been overused for all sorts of slight similarities. But in this context I was aiming more for titles that wore their inspiration on their sleeves.

Out of all the ones listened, I have only played Salt and Lords.

Of those two, Salt beats Lords hands down. However, neither comes close to touching anything in the Souls series. While both had gameplay issues (Lords more than Salt), both of them trip and fall flat on their faces in one crucial area for me: the story.
Both of these games seemed to miss that part of the Souls games' stories that makes them so memorable and loved. The fact that the story is hidden, told in small little pieces of armor, and in the way the level is laid out. Little details that someone just playing the game will completely miss--entire endings that are not even hinted at unless you know where to look or dare to venture down a different path than normal--but stuff that, once you know it's there, the world becomes so much more, so much bigger, and the pieces fall into place.
Both Salt and Lords seemed to think that completely omitting story points, or hinting at something without ever giving any other clue as to what it is and thus that makes it mysterious and cool (because ha ha, we'll tell you in the sequel, or crap, we have no idea it just sounded cool), is what makes a good Dark Souls-style story.
It does not. It makes your game frustrating.

I hear Hollow Knight is pretty freaking epic though, and they seem to do it right.

Salt and Sanctuary can be forgiven, for their intention was a straight up homage to Dark Souls in their own quirky simplified style. Lords of the Fallen however was trying to be its' own thing and it just so happened to be pretty damn generic fantasy warhammer manbeards fighting in castles, roaring about crap I couldn't care less about.

 

[gsilver]

First, how is Hyper Light Drifter a souls-like? It's good and all, but aside from having a dodge roll, it really doesn't feel like a souls game at all.


Though I have to say Salt & Sanctuary. Great level design and variety, and comes closest to giving me a Souls experience.


I didn't really care for Hollow Knight (though this is much less souls-y) or Nioh.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I guess Demon's Souls because it's the only one I've played.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Salt and Sanctuary, since of the Souls-like games it at least tried to capture as much of the essence of a Souls game as possible, sharing the same atmosphere, tight gameplay and piece-meal lore. It was unbalanced and could often be cheap given the rag-doll nature of the physics meaning a knockback would line you up perfectly for a juggling, but the changes to the combat given the wounding/fatigue system were interesting, and despite the unbalanced gameplay (*cough* Greatscissors *cough*) you weren't really punished for experimenting with gear/weaponry. Magic was disappointing though, but hey, it did take a lot of ques from Dark Souls 1, so... it fits.

Nioh was ok, though it felt less souls-y and more like it's own thing with souls-y combat. The world felt differently, the characters were different, even the Co-op and invasions are different. A solid game, to be sure, but one I don't really feel is a 'soulslike' since it felt so different to any of the souls games.

(and for your second poll, Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne are my favourite Souls games. Fuck Poise, we Dodge Roll Like Men!)

 

[Jonbodhi]

Well, after playing Bloodborne in May, and spending the last two days trying to kill a watery blob of a boss, I'm going to have to vote Nioh, which shares the difficulty and level-up system of Bloodborne, but seriously lacks the level design. Still, the influence is undeniable. You could do worse if you're looking for a Souls replacement.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Spoiler: This image

ironically reminds me what personally first made Souls games refreshing to play:

They didnt tell you what to do. You instead just went about the world and figured things out for yourself. No icons or "Over here, stupid!" signs flashing with arrows and whatnot, just you the player exploring a wonderfully detailed and mysterious world.

Part of a big frustration with games is that they too often end up feeling like more chore than fun by insisting on ordering the player around for whatever.