Are there any games that are like fromsoftware's spiritually?

[Maledict]

I've never seen a so called souls-like which in any way resembles fromsoftware's games in the atmosphere, inspiration, eroticism and the like. They just copy some mechanics without understanding how they work in a cohesive whole which are fromsoft's games. The closest experience I've had was ******* Bonds. The music, the locations, the lore (you can play as a rapist) had a similar impression on me.

Does anyone know of such a game?

Full disclosure: I feel like DS3 somewhat departs from it, so I'm mostly speaking of DS1, DS2 etc.

[Maledict]

I meant esotericism and mindlessly autocorrected me (pardon me, the anaesthesia is still coming off), but considering my third choice of image...

[Solaire]

Hollow Knight and Silksong

[The_Mask]

I'll be honest with you, I don't think there will be anything like Dark Souls ever again.

It takes a lot of love and passion to make something like Dark Souls. Like... there is a reason for pretty much everything in that game. Every pixel is there for a reason.

(other than some aspects of Lost Izalith, of course)

I spent about 1 000h in that game and after that I helped people on the Steam forums to get through the game. Things that you would never expect to make sense, make sense to someone. There is a reason for the Lightning Spear in Sen's Fortress, for example. I've seen people effectively use the Leo Ring. I've seen people analyzing the Latin in Rhea's lines.

And, back in the day, you could buy it on sale for $20...






But yeah, Todd Howard wants $100 for his latest bowel movement. Aren't you excited?

[rusty_shackleford]

(you can play as a rapist)

?

[maidenhaver]

I've never quite had the feeling of waking up in someone else's dream, like Dark Souls and Elden Ring gave me.

[rusty_shackleford]

Hollow Knight and Silksong

I've read this before, along with the developer never having played the souls games at all. Ironic because none of the soulslikes are actually like dork souls

[jdcp]

(you can play as a rapist)

??????

I've never seen a so called souls-like which in any way resembles fromsoftware's games in the atmosphere, inspiration, eroticism and the like. They just copy some mechanics without understanding how they work in a cohesive whole which are fromsoft's games. The closest experience I've had was ******* Bonds. The music, the locations, the lore (you can play as a rapist) had a similar impression on me.

To be expected, they're copying what's popular about the games not what made them good. Notice how most soulslikes barely have any content besides some extras and primarily stupidly unfair bosses with questionable game design choices.

None of them have tons of armors and distinct flavors of weaponry to select, no trace of a well developed multiplayer interaction, definitely not a mildly interesting story, good level design and sometimes not even enjoyable boss fights. And if someone tells you these things don't make a Dark Souls then they're very wrong lol.

Most soulslikes, if not all, are just action RPGs with a lot of unfair ******** to justify the label.

Eh I'd recommend looking for new experiences that aren't Dark Souls, you won't find anything like it anyway. Fromsoftware makes their own thing with an scope that's simply not achievable to someone who needs to copy a game to begin with.

Just my thoughts on it, I've tried to find something like it too for years to no avail.

Full disclosure: I feel like DS3 somewhat departs from it, so I'm mostly speaking of DS1, DS2 etc.

It doesn't really, it's a massive rehash of the past games.

[jdcp]

Hollow Knight and Silksong

I disagree, Hollow Knight is overrated crap from my experience (haven't played Silk Song, won't anyway).

Also they're in 2d, that **** boring.

Don't wanna come off as disrespectful, just what I felt playing that game. But it is nothing like Dark Souls.

I find it funny the developers never played Dark Souls because A. who tf hasn't played Dark Souls and B. They're known exactly because of this.

[Vaako]

(you can play as a rapist)

?

Maybe he is referring to the grab animation of the dark hand? Its the same animation the dark wraiths in new londo ruins make when they suck one humanity out of you if you get grabbed by them. Only works on human size enemies tho.

[Stack of Turtles]

(you can play as a rapist)

?

Maybe he is referring to the grab animation of the dark hand? Its the same animation the dark wraiths in new londo ruins make when they suck one humanity out of you if you get grabbed by them. Only works on human size enemies tho.

He's referring to ******* Bonds, a game by a gay developer where you play as a prison ***** and, apparently, get to choose what your crime was

[rusty_shackleford]

if I can't kill the npcs then it's just a sparkling action rpg, not a soulslike

[Maledict]

MFW I learn multiple users here can't read with comprehension.

[Solaire]

Hollow Knight and Silksong

I disagree, Hollow Knight is overrated crap from my experience (haven't played Silk Song, won't anyway).

Also they're in 2d, that **** boring.

Don't wanna come off as disrespectful, just what I felt playing that game. But it is nothing like Dark Souls.

I find it funny the developers never played Dark Souls because A. who tf hasn't played Dark Souls and B. They're known exactly because of this.

Out of all the souls-likes I've tried, these come the closest to capturing the fromsoft spirit. HK is essentially a children's version of DS, in terms of themes and art. But primary gameplay loop, atmosphere, exploration, NPC interactions, and difficulty curve are substantially similar between the two. It's a shame that Silksong is associated with ******, it's an excellent game

[Nemesis]

There are side-scrolling Souls-like games like Tails of Iron and Salt and Sanctuary.

[J1M]

This wanking over dark souls reminds me of people claiming the old clunky resident evil controls were actually a calculated and brilliant design decision to increase tension in a horror setting.

For your own sake, don't try to prove this wrong by meeting your heroes. If you learn japanese and dig deep enough into their public statements and social media accounts I'm sure you will find that they were not as intentional or brilliant as you currently feel them to be.

TLDR: You don't need to justify your time investment in a game by retroactively attributing other reasons to your enjoyment. Also, Japan is an exotic and mysterious land where few dare to improve input responsiveness.

[jdcp]

Out of all the souls-likes I've tried, these come the closest to capturing the fromsoft spirit. HK is essentially a children's version of DS, in terms of themes and art. But primary gameplay loop, atmosphere, exploration, NPC interactions, and difficulty curve are substantially similar between the two. It's a shame that Silksong is associated with ******, it's an excellent game

Fair enough, glad you enjoyed it. I personally couldn't get past the first hours back when HK came out.

I can't speak much but I just got bored to death, I do know a lot of people like you who did love it.

And about Silksong... meh, I'm never gonna try that crap, but hey enjoy your **** even if the likes of me clown all over it.

For your own sake, don't try to prove this wrong by meeting your heroes. If you learn japanese and dig deep enough into their public statements and social media accounts I'm sure you will find that they were not as intentional or brilliant as you currently feel them to be.

There's a reason the kusoge word exists, good japanese games are a rare sight.

Also, Japan is an exotic and mysterious land where few dare to improve input responsiveness.

Gotta admit they make very good fighting games.

[rusty_shackleford]

This wanking over dark souls reminds me of people claiming the old clunky resident evil controls were actually a calculated and brilliant design decision to increase tension in a horror setting.

For your own sake, don't try to prove this wrong by meeting your heroes. If you learn japanese and dig deep enough into their public statements and social media accounts I'm sure you will find that they were not as intentional or brilliant as you currently feel them to be.

TLDR: You don't need to justify your time investment in a game by retroactively attributing other reasons to your enjoyment. Also, Japan is an exotic and mysterious land where few dare to improve input responsiveness.

I remember playing about 10 minutes of dork souls 3 and uninstalling because the input delay was so high, I've played games on dialup with better responsiveness.

[J1M]

Out of all the souls-likes I've tried, these come the closest to capturing the fromsoft spirit. HK is essentially a children's version of DS, in terms of themes and art. But primary gameplay loop, atmosphere, exploration, NPC interactions, and difficulty curve are substantially similar between the two. It's a shame that Silksong is associated with ******, it's an excellent game

Fair enough, glad you enjoyed it. I personally couldn't get past the first hours back when HK came out.

I can't speak much but I just got bored to death, I do know a lot of people like you who did love it.

And about Silksong... meh, I'm never gonna try that crap, but hey enjoy your **** even if the likes of me clown all over it.

For your own sake, don't try to prove this wrong by meeting your heroes. If you learn japanese and dig deep enough into their public statements and social media accounts I'm sure you will find that they were not as intentional or brilliant as you currently feel them to be.

There's a reason the kusoge word exists, good japanese games are a rare sight.

Also, Japan is an exotic and mysterious land where few dare to improve input responsiveness.

Gotta admit they make very good fighting games.

Are the fighting games that Japan makes today better than the Japan of decades ago? Fairly easy to take first place in a genre that nobody else is making.

[jdcp]

Are the fighting games that Japan makes today better than the Japan of decades ago? Fairly easy to take first place in a genre that nobody else is making.

Good point and I wanted to add that part lol. Fighting games have become VERY stale in the later years, it happens in Japan too so it's not just a western thing.

I'd say they are better nowadays in regards to responsiveness, but it depends. It's a bit controversial lol they have improved some things but they also have ****** up some others. Gameplay remains mostly the same though, with a few QoL features and the like.

The genre is pretty much unchanged from what it was 30 years ago, it's not exactly a genre to improve and experiment on anymore because of the high risk developing a fighting game these days.

Eh I guess your point stands.

[NezahualDoomer]

I am sick and tired of choreography-like slop garbage,there are TONS of them, the market is saturated of this ****.

[J1M]

Are the fighting games that Japan makes today better than the Japan of decades ago? Fairly easy to take first place in a genre that nobody else is making.

Good point and I wanted to add that part lol. Fighting games have become VERY stale in the later years, it happens in Japan too so it's not just a western thing.

I'd say they are better nowadays in regards to responsiveness, but it depends. It's a bit controversial lol they have improved some things but they also have ****** up some others. Gameplay remains mostly the same though, with a few QoL features and the like.

The genre is pretty much unchanged from what it was 30 years ago, it's not exactly a genre to improve and experiment on anymore because of the high risk developing a fighting game these days.

Eh I guess your point stands.

Well, I disagree. I can easily read Street Fighter 2 with regards to distance and spacing. I can't follow the new games in the same way due to the excessive character designs and animations.

[jdcp]

Well, I disagree. I can easily read Street Fighter 2 with regards to distance and spacing. I can't follow the new games in the same way due to the excessive character designs and animations.

I think you're partially right, but only visually, how deep are you into fighting games? I'll assume enough but will still elaborate: It's larguely the same system throughout all games. Basically frames

Because frame data is exhaustively analized by fighting game players, people that base themselves loosely in design and animations underperform compared to more experienced players that study it.

Not a game developer but I know well it boils down to more than just that. I do get your point and I agree to some extent.

I'm not an expert lol I'm at best a Tekken player but even there it's the same system, my main critique to modern fighting games is the overuse of what I just refer to as gimmicks (unnecesary features and mechanics that shouldn't be there) I don't need autoparry, easy combos or whatever crap they want to sell us, just let me beat my friends.

I also don't like the style they usually go for nowadays, but it's entirely subjective, some people would argue that the use of 3d improves the game.

[J1M]

Yeah, my post about visuals is about visuals.

[Lich]

I've never seen a so called souls-like which in any way resembles fromsoftware's games in the atmosphere, inspiration, eroticism and the like. They just copy some mechanics without understanding how they work in a cohesive whole which are fromsoft's games. The closest experience I've had was ******* Bonds. The music, the locations, the lore (you can play as a rapist) had a similar impression on me.

Does anyone know of such a game?

Full disclosure: I feel like DS3 somewhat departs from it, so I'm mostly speaking of DS1, DS2 etc.

[Lich]

Black Souls 2 is the only non-From game that felt like a Souls game, and it's awful. Bonfire & estus might be more pernicious than roll spam for making games interesting. There's no real risk, attrition, planning. Even a ****** could play these games over and over again and win eventually.

[Element]

I can only offer another From game - Shadow Tower Abyss.
It was a ps2, Japan only release, although the fan translation that I played was good. It is, spiritually, for lack of a better word, a direct precursor to Demon Souls. In a way, if you 'get' Shadow Tower Abyss, then you will get the appeal of early Souls - levels that are set up like 'stages' with greatly varying environments with the game going out of its way to frame a lot of the shots, enemies that are out of a Bosch painting, slow movement and very deliberate action (which is what Souls eventually shed and what sets DeS and DS1/2 apart from the rest). Souls as this unforgiving challenge game for ****** is a meme that only sprung up as the fans themselves demanded From ratchet up the difficulty - Abyss was quite easy. One funny thing about it - it's a first person view game with both melee weapons and firearms. You will be getting a grenade launcher late in the game.

[Element]

Some screenshots I captured from the playthrough.