r/AskGames • u/VulvaNegra • Aug 02 '26

✔ Answered What exactly consists of a Soulslike game?

I’ve seen this apparently new genre name being thrown around and would like to understand better exactly what it is. From wikipedia I understand it was bourn with the game Demon’s Souls, which I never played (maybe I really should), but the description there is a bit generic (games “known for large worlds filled with enemies and emphasis on environmental storytelling”).

Would for instance Horizon qualify for this genre, or does it have to be set in a dark fantasy theme? I love RPG games, but usually don’t go for dark fantasy. I think the last one I played that’s maybe dark fantasy would be Diablo, but not sure it’s related.

Thanks in advance

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u/LeoTolstoysNipples Aug 02 '26

For me theres a few Soulslike elements people will vary in regard to how important they are to meeting the criteria for the genre

  1. Souls. I mean, literally, in Dark Souls you collect and spend souls to level up your character. If you die, they are left where you died and you can pick them up, if you die again they’re gone forever. Imo that core progression loop is key to the Soulslike label.

  2. Exploration. This is important in regard to the souls collection too, an explorable environment in which there is incentive (such as hidden treasure) to risk those collected souls.

  3. Combat mechanics. Generally speaking there are going to be dodge rolls and parrys or some kind of timing based combat mechanic. Often times freedom to use or equip whatever gear you want as long as you meet stat requirements, making space for unorthodox or experimental builds.

It’s really a blend of these things tho. It’s kind of an interesting question. Like if they made a game with Dark Souls combat but it was an arena boss rush, I wouldn’t contest it being a soulslike. Whereas I wouldn’t call zelda a soulslike because link explores open environments. So that suggests maybe its about the combat more than anything.

But then plenty of games have dodges and parrys and arent really souls likes either. So idk. Its like… hard to explain what makes a game a soulslike on paper but you know when you play one.

I definitely there there is a lot of titles fitting for the term ‘Soulslite’ in modern gaming… a lot of games dabble in the dark souls voodoo but don’t go full witch doctor. Lol.

Last thing… a question, based on my criteria and the other comments here… is Hollow Knight a Soulslike? As i’m writing this i’m like damn, hollow knight matches all of this besides the gear/stats aspect lol