Hardest Soulslike RPGs, Ranked By Difficulty

Fans of FromSoftware’s Dark Souls know the franchise has made an unforgettable mark in the gaming industry. Dark Souls jump-started the popularity of brutally unforgiving yet extremely rewarding game mechanics. Thanks to Dark Souls, more games have begun upping the ante in terms of dynamic gameplay options for their action RPG offerings.

Players nowadays have a wealth of options when it comes to games that say they’re “like Dark Souls“, but not all Soulslikes on the market can offer the same compelling experience as Dark Souls. In fact, only a few RPGs manage to capture Dark Souls‘ signature rewarding gameplay and mechanics.

Updated January 19, 2025, by Hamza Haq: The Soulslike genre has evolved massively over the past decade or so, with dozens of game studios, large and small, throwing their hat in the ring set by FromSoftware. Sifting through the trash to find the true gems is a painstaking task and one that not every player has the time to do in their free time. Being the ‘hardest’ doesn’t necessarily mean being the best when talking about a game, but it is a huge factor for Soulslikes in particular because being hard is part of the genre’s identity and what makes overcoming and achieving success in these games so satisfying.

21

Code Vein

Stylish Action with a Soulful Edge

The idea of an anime Soulslike sounds pretty interesting, and Code Vein makes for a really unique experience in this regard. The surprisingly decent story coupled with great combat makes for a great time indeed.

That being said, Code Vein does suffer from unbalanced bosses and gameplay at times, along with some truly horrid art and level design. Playing this title in co-op makes most boss fights trivial, while other enemies are so powerful that most players would need to get through these unfair difficulty spikes.

20

Remnant: From The Ashes

Modern Firepower, Classic Souls Tactics

Fans of Dark Souls would get quite a modern take on its theme with Remnant: From the Ashes. In this game, players fight the tree-like Root, who has begun invading the Earth. As such, players need to rely on a variety of modern weapons and special abilities to take the fight back to the Root. Unfortunately, players quickly find themselves outnumbered as the Root come in various shapes and sizes. Moreover, the technical nature of the game makes enemies extremely unforgiving for careless players.

Similar to Dark Souls, Remnant places a heavy focus on strategic battles. As such, players are expected to master not just aiming, but also proper dodging. Enemies can easily eliminate players with a few strikes, which demands players to be more careful with their approach to any battle.

Having lots of guns to choose from allows gamers to customize their loadout to suit their preferences. Since the damage the player can do is much greater, due to a gun’s range over melee weapons, the developers of Remnant: From the Ashes have made it so that one is constantly being assailed by a multitude of enemies. Thankfully, they have balanced these waves of adversaries so that it feels like just enough to be hectic and dangerous, yet not enough to feel ridiculous and unplayable.

19

Dead Cells

Roguelite Action with Soulslike Depth

It’s a shame that the majority of Dead Cells‘ coverage in the media came from the plagiarism controversy surrounding it. That being said, some people would argue that this controversy is what brought more eyes towards this title in the first place, and Dead Cells is definitely a game that deserves a ton of fame for its innovative combination of the roguelite and Soulslike genre.

Each run through Dead Cells feels fresh and engaging, with players slowly understanding the gameplay mechanics and brutal combat of this title. The sense of progression in this game is quite rewarding indeed, and blasting through enemies that posed a major problem at one point never ceases to be entertaining.

18

Mortal Shell

Dark Soulslike with a Distinctive Twist

In Mortal Shell, players get an experience that is recognizably inspired by Dark Souls but offers a darker take on esthetics. In the game, players need to find Shells that will help them in their journey throughout the game’s vast open world. These Shells, which act like classes, provide players with different abilities and skill sets.

Mortal Shell‘s slower take on combat makes it incredibly unique compared to other titles. In fact, this rather “slowed” pace serves as the main highlight of the Mortal Shell experience. This caveat can be incredibly frustrating for players, but also welcoming to those looking for new challenges.

The slower gameplay makes it feel much more like the first Dark Souls game as opposed to later FromSoftware titles like the much speedier Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne. There is a definite rhythm to the gameplay that feels right for the setting, though this slower pace does not make things easy, as enemies can be unpredictable and deal massive damage.

17

Nioh

Samurai Soulslike with High-Octane Action

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Released

February 7, 2017

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Nioh wears its Dark Souls influences on its sleeve and isn’t afraid of being accused of copying FromSoftware’s homework because it’s comfortable being put under the microscope. Why? Because where most Soulslikes are content to put a different coat of paint on the tried-and-true and call it a day, Nioh takes risks and diverges its direction in a way that feels like a natural evolution of the genre.

Nioh’s combat mixes the slower, deliberate pace and stamina management of Soulslikes with over-the-top action, combo meters, and dynamic fighting styles that change a weapon’s entire moveset with a press of a button. Where Dark Souls strips away the frills of powerups and skills for pure skill expression, Nioh brings it back in a way that doesn’t trivialize the experience.

16

Blasphemous

A Grim Soulslike with Metroidvania Flair

Soulslikes and Metroidvanias are two genres of gaming that have combined quite successfully, allowing players to experience some truly unique and excellent games. Blasphemous is one such title that deserves the limelight for being a great 2D Soulslike.

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Blasphemous’ art style and bleak atmosphere are the first things that players will notice while trying out this excellent title. The combat is pretty vicious, with the player being punished for being greedy or making too many mistakes — a common trait across most Soulsborne games.

15

Blasphemous 2

A Smoother, More Satisfying Sequel

The art style of the first Blasphemous game was truly sublime, and this is ramped up even more in the sequel, Blasphemous 2. The world is as messed up as ever, taking inspiration from religious imagery and ramping up the brutality to the max.

Most people consider the second game to be easier than the first, especially with some of the jank from the first game being fixed quite a bit. Platforming isn’t too tedious anymore and the combat is as solid as ever, with players quickly becoming adept with this system in no time at all.

14

The Surge 2

Sci-Fi Soulslike with Refined Mechanics

The Surge was an admirable attempt at trying to create a great sci-fi Soulslike. However, floaty combat and uninspired level design bogged down the entire experience considerably.

This isn’t a problem that players will experience with The Surge 2, which is a marked improvement over its predecessor. While its boss fights might not be the greatest, the amazing level design and enemies present in this game make it a must-play for any Soulsborne fan.

13

Ashen

Survival and Exploration in a Harsh Land

Albeit open-world and co-op, Ashen provides a gritty and brutal take on action RPGs. As such, players venture into the open and should work their way to survive the game’s roster of challenging bosses. Thankfully, the game does offer a multitude of weapons and the item equivalents of Estus Flasks and Souls – making Ashen both recognizably inspired by Dark Souls but still unique in its own right.

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Ashen also demands the same technical prowess as other Soulslike games. However, Ashen does so with a gorgeous backdrop and an environment that just waits to be explored.

Exploration is a huge part of this game, with the most adventurous players usually finding the best loot and weapons. There are multiple kinds of armaments as well, including those for long and short-range combat which allows players to do battle as they see fit. One thing that separates it from Dark Souls games is that the character progression is based more on equipment than stats, making it possible to swap builds a lot easier with little punishment for doing so.

12

Salt And Sanctuary

2D Dark Souls with Deep Customization

Despite its 2D appearance, Salt and Sanctuary offers extremely challenging gameplay perfect for Dark Souls fans. Save for basic mechanics, the game leaves players to their own devices pretty early on. As such, players soon learn they can expand their skills beyond the game’s starting classes and make the best build depending on their gameplay preference.

Salt and Sanctuary rewards players who take their time tinkering with the game’s features and expanding their combat options. The game offers an intuitive skill system that heavily encourages deep customization and trial and error. These features, on top of challenging bosses, will definitely be rewarding to players.

The weapons, spells, and items that can be used also make it feel very much like a Dark Souls game. The boss weapons are especially satisfying as they pack quite a punch, yet do not make the game too easy. Spacing is also a vital component in this game’s combat as melee is usually the most useful for closed-ranged encounters, despite mage builds being totally viable and pretty fun.

11

Remnant 2

A Modern Masterpiece of Procedural Adventure

Remnant: From the Ashes was a pretty great game in its own right, and the sequel is an improvement in almost every department. The game’s procedurally-generated aspects have been improved considerably, affecting more facets of the title than ever before.

This, coupled with tight combat and some co-op goodness leads to Remnant 2 being a worthy successor to the first game. The title can be just as challenging if not more, and players need to be careful around enemies to not suffer a cheap, avoidable death.

10

The Surge

Melee Madness in a Futuristic Setting

The premise of The Surge is simple: Soulslike combat in a Sci-Fi setting. It sounds a bit counterintuitive at first because the very first thought that the concept of science fantasy invokes is futuristic weaponry like pulse rifles and Gauss cannons. One would think a story set in the future would move farther along in technology, not fall back to the era of swords and shields, which is what Soulslike combat always revolves around.

The Surge solves this problem by using an in-game narrative and an alternate branching of technology to explain away the reliance on melee weapons quite convincingly. Combat follows the Dark Souls 1 formula faithfully and to great success. It is slow and methodical, with respawning enemies upon death, interconnected areas, and incredible weapon variety.

Leveling up allows putting points into attributes, which in turn make the character stronger, more nimble, or more enduring. All standard Soulslike concepts are executed in such a masterful way that the player can’t help but want more.

9

Nioh 2

Myth and Legend Collide in Feudal Japan

Fans of Dark Souls will appreciate the flashier look of the Nioh series. Nioh 2, in particular, serves as a great love letter to the Souls franchise thanks to its wealth of gameplay features and nuances. Players can finally create their own characters to explore the series’ wonderful take on Feudal Japan with a supernatural motif.

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In Nioh 2, players can now access Yokai Skills that enable them to “steal” abilities from various enemies. This element, when paired with Nioh 2‘s various weapons and intricate movement, can make for an extremely compelling experience.

The unrelenting bosses, as well as certain types of common foes, will give players plenty of reason to experiment with the different weapons and abilities — all of which are novel and have a definite purpose, which makes many different builds viable. The armor set bonuses are also a nice feature that adds a reason to farm certain enemies or explore the world more thoroughly in a way that extends the amount of time that one can enjoy Nioh 2.

8

Elden Ring

FromSoftware’s Masterpiece in Open-World Form

Elden Ring was a massive, runaway success for FromSoftware, who combined their amazing combat and Dark Souls formula with an open world that featured their own impressive brand of level design with lessons learned from games like Breath of the Wild. This makes the Lands Between one of the most fascinating locations to explore in any video game.

The end result is a game that earned its success, with Elden Ring being more approachable and easy to get into than most of FromSoftware’s action RPGs, while simultaneously providing some of the stiffest challenges the developer has ever designed. The best part about this game’s difficulty is that players can always explore different corners of the world and invest the Runes they earn to strengthen the Tarnished One and help them conquer the threats that have been giving them a hard time.

7

Nine Sols

Eastern Fantasy Meets Fast-Paced Combat

Nine Sols is a 2D platformer Soulslike that takes heavy inspiration from Sekiro’s parry-based combat system and combines it with Hollow Knight’s level design and enemy variety to create a winning formula. Combat is hectic and fast-paced, the visuals are slick, and the world setting is a unique mish-mash of eastern fantasy and steampunk elements that converge into something quite interesting.

While Nine Sols is a Metroidvania with backtracking after certain abilities are obtained, which unlock previously inaccessible areas, combat is very much the main focus of this game. Parrying enemy attacks builds up a gauge (Qi) that can be used to power special abilities. The game encourages perfect rotations and learning enemy movesets to breeze through. Parry windows are tight, which means any mistake is promptly punished and can quickly snowball into death if not handled properly. Movement feels fluid and fast, with abilities like dashing, wall jumping, and double jumping allowing the protagonist to zip around the arena, dodging attacks he can’t deflect.

6

Hollow Knight

A Tiny Hero in a Vast, Mysterious Land

Of course, it would be impossible to talk about excellent Metroidvania Soulslikes without mentioning the phenomenon that was Hollow Knight. The game was truly incredible, allowing players to explore an amazing world full to the brim with cute creatures and amazing boss fights.

There’s a reason why Hollow Knight is one of the biggest and most popular indie titles of all time. Any fan of amazing Metroidvania titles owes it to themselves to try out this amazing game and experience the magic of playing Hollow Knight for the first time — something that players would pay good money for!

5

Bloodborne

FromSoftware’s Darkest Vision Yet

Fans of Dark Souls who want a Soulslike game with a similar theme but more dynamic combat would appreciate Bloodborne. As with FromSoftware’s Dark Souls, Bloodborne players play from a third-person perspective while using various gameplay mechanics. Players can wield a firearm alongside an extra item, as well as unique melee weapons (Trick Weapons) that have multiple states.

Perhaps the most notable approach of Bloodborne would be its fast-paced combat. The game’s Rally system encourages players to play a game of risk-versus-reward as they can retrieve lost health by attacking opponents within a small window.

In addition to all the awesome mechanics that players have come to love from games by FromSoftware, there is even deeper lore than in the Dark Souls franchise that draws from Lovecraftian stories as well as other types of horror, dark fantasy, and even some science fiction media that can chill one to the bone and make their blood run cold.

4

Lies Of P

Pinocchio Reimagined in a Gruesome World

There was a reason why Lies of P made such a splash when it was announced, going on to become one of the best-selling Soulslikes of all time. The amazing art style and world made it the perfect game for players who’d been clamoring for a sequel to one of FromSoftware’s best video games, Bloodborne.

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Lies of P can be a bit too exhausting when it comes to the boss fights, which can be too self-indulgent for their own good. Thankfully, the difficulty of this title rarely feels artificial, and players will have to make it a point to strengthen their character wisely so that combat encounters don’t end up being too frustrating to deal with.

3

Lords of the Fallen (2023)

A Dark Adventure Through Life and Death

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Released

October 13, 2023

Developer(s)

HEXWORKS

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OpenCritic Rating

Fair

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Lords of the Fallen offers players a unique twist on the Dark Souls formula while still retaining all the hallmarks of a traditional soulslike like a grimdark world, methodical combat, a souls system, bonfires, and respawning enemies but manages to create a different gameplay loop through the use of the Axiom and Umbral realms, two worlds that exist on top of each other.

In this game, when the player dies, instead of returning to a Vestige (bonfire), they enter the Umbral Realm, the land of the dead that exists in parallel to the land of the living, Axiom. Here, they face off against undead monsters and entities unique to this realm until they either find a checkpoint to return to Axiom or die and respawn at a Vestige. This makes Lords of the Fallen one of the more forgiving games in this genre, as players essentially always have two lives instead of one and can use that to their advantage.

A lantern can be used to peek into Umbral from Axiom without dying to gain limited access to this realm. Many area puzzles in this game require the player to voluntarily enter Umbral in order to progress, which nearly doubles the amount of content there is in the game.

2

Thymesia

A Plague-Ridden World of Peril

There’s no denying that Thymesia has its fair share of problems that stop it from becoming a truly iconic Soulslike. As long as players don’t mind a shorter experience than what they’re used to in the genre, Thymesia will be a fun title to spend some time on.

The game’s combat is easily its biggest strength, with the aggression required to get through most combat encounters being reminiscent of titles like Bloodborne. Staying on the back foot is not an option, and a single mistake can have dire consequences for the player.