Dark Souls is one of the most teeth clattering, palm sweating, frustration invoking games in the last ten or so years. It is also the most rewarding, catharsis inducing role playing experience for those with enough grit to overcome any boss, level, and objective. As a result, Dark Souls inspired a new genre of action roleplaying game that has been a major part of this new generation of knuckle clenching intensity and cathartic victories.

These games share and take on several elements from their respective inspiration. A delicate health bar, a set limit of healing items, and a stamina that is micro-managed with every dodge, block, or attack. Even simple enemy types become an exercise of patience, strategy and experience. There is also freedom in character builds, interactions with NPCs, and an open way to explore the world, which can lead to an unexpected trek through nightmares. Many souls-like games, especially those that are 2D platformers also share gameplay mechanics with the Metroidvania genre.

10. A Bug’s Life in Hollow Knight

A Souls-like, Metroidvania experience with a focus on cute artstyle and anthropomorphic insects. Hollow Knight follows the adventure of a mysterious knight traveling through the ancient ruins of Hallownest, filled with hazards and enemies empowered by strange energy. The game is very much a platformer with free roaming in a massive map to navigate. There are blocking mechanics, evasive movements, and a lot of timing based combat. As the protagonist goes through certain areas and gathers key items, more parts of the map become accessible, emulating the playstyle of Metroid and Symphony of the Night.

The Dark Souls elements start popping in when the knight dies. After death, a shroud remains in the area that guards all the experience points dropped by the death. Health is cut in half indicated by a cracked helmet in the UI and certain aspects of the game are altered until the ex is picked up at the place of death. The story follows the tone and atmosphere of Dark Souls and is full of engaging NPCs including Hornet, an ambivalent warrior that serves as a recurring boss/skill block that tests the knight’s strength as well as trying to find the source of an affliction that’s affected all the denizens of Hallowfest.

9. Vampiric Anime in Code Vein 

In a distant future reduced to ruin, survivors of humanity have become vampire-like beings called Revenants, protected by a secret society known as Vein. These revenants need a constant supply of blood found in the broken world or else they lose their human form and mutate into the ravenous beasts known as the Lost. The Lost are undying beasts that are similar in story as the hollow undeads in the original Dark Souls. As one of the many Revenants that are part of the Vein, players must navigate elaborate levels with hazards, the monstrous Lost, and vicious bosses known as the Successors.

This is basically Dark Souls as an anime, from similar mechanics to weapon types and animations. Even the UI is stylized similarly with several better comparisons with God Eater, a monster hunting game made by the same developers. Code Vein has a unique array of enemies that keep the challenge engaging and intense. Healing items are at decent supply and a lot of the fun aspects of the battles are the intensive finishers in combat. The game is ridiculously anime from some of the clothing options, character archetypes, and the customization is near limitless. Though the game feels too much like Dark Souls to have its own unique stamp in the genre.

8. Slaying post-apocalyptic Demons in Remnant 2

Part third person shooter, part beating demons with sharp weapons, Remnant 2 is the sequel to a surprisingly decent twist to the Souls-like genre. An ancient evil known as the Root plummeted the world to apocalyptic chaos, forcing humans to fend for themselves in wards against an encroaching legion of demons. Players control one of these survivors in Ward 13 and work their way up hunting the nightmares of the Root, alone or with a team of three. Much of the story for this game is hidden throughout the game and it’s up to players to navigate through the narrative and piece together all the happenings of this new hellish world.

Remnant 2 has the difficulty and intensity of Dark Souls, the gameplay and item management of Resident Evil, and each level contains procedurally generated sections for good loot and terrifying beasts. The game has an engaging multiplayer system that allows players to team up on the respective boss of the area and there is a robust gear system to help maintain a significant edge against the demons.

7. Navigating The Desolate World Of Salt and Sanctuary

Salt and Sanctuary starts out like many souls-like games, mysterious vistas that hide terrifying threats, a mysterious plot that draws players into the unknown, and several health/stamina systems similar to Dark Souls. Despite the difficulty and similar atmosphere, this game is also well known for being a partial resurgence of the Metroidvania genre with how it plays similar to Symphony of the Night, from unlocking new ways to navigate the environment to discovering key items. Several other inferences to Dark Souls is using salt as the xp and the checkpoint areas known as sanctuaries that help manage the builds of players.

The game takes the 2d action of classic Metroidvanias and mixes it well with the combat flow and dance of Dark Souls and Bloodborne with dodging attacks to strike openings and counters for devastating damage. Enemies generally range from typical hollow-like zombies to monstrous eldritch horrors that are linked to the mysterious circumstances of the island. 

6. Battle The Endless In Death’s Gambit

Death’s Gambit takes place in the land of Aldwin, in the Caer Siorai citadel. Expeditions and sent to this unknown land due to the mysterious power of immortality being discovered. Each expedition finds more folk disappearing or out found dead, leaving more mystery and fear. The main protagonist, Sorun, lost his family to the previous expeditions and joined the most recent one to Caer Siorai when he was slain in battle by a mysterious warrior known as Endless. Later on he was resurrected with amnesia by Death, the mysterious and often snarky overseer of the underworld. Death then sets Sorun on his new path, to find the source of immortality and destroy it to restore balance to the cycle of life and death.

Death’s Gambit shares the open world design and challenge based progress to both Dark Souls and Super Metroid. Similar to Dark Souls, deaths are marked on the map to help recover lost XP and there are multiple classes to select that have different builds to focus on. Combat and resource management is very similar as well, from managing stamina for every dodge and strike to watching for ambushes. NPCs gather in a sanctuary similar to those in the hubs of Fromsoftware games like Bloodborne and The Dark Souls/Demon’s Souls series. Death’s Gambit is very much a pixelated 2D version of Dark Souls down to the grim themes of Death and its importance to a world ironically dying from immortality.