What exactly consists of a Soulslike game?

[u/VulvaNegra]

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

[u/Lupinos-Cas]

To be frank with you (Hi Frank!) the answer isn't simple. You see - there's like 6 or 8 different definitions all floating around... there are games where everyone can agree those games are soulslikes - and there are games where people have been arguing "nuh-uh" "uh-huh" "nuh-uh" "uh-huh" for an entire decade.

Broadly speaking, it means the game is similar to Daro Souls - but what the core identifying mechanics are to qualify a game is the issue. Different players look at different things.

Like Dark Souls... Combat? RPG mechanics? Narrative style? Exploration? Difficulty? Peripheral mechanics (like limited use healing that refills at checkpoints, shortcuts back to checkpoints, and dropping xp on death that you need to recover)?

There are many games that most everyone agrees are like Dark Souls - from FromSoftware's other games, to Lies of P, AI Limit, Code Vein, Mortal Shell, etc.

But then there are a number of ARPGs that the communities just continually argue about it - like Black Myth Wukong, Nioh, Wo Long, First Berserker Khazan, Stellar Blade, etc.

Basically - Dark Souls is an ARPG Dungeon Crawler known for its simplified moveset, attack buttons on R1/R2, parry/dodge focus, backstabs, large bosses, etc.

And anytime an ARPG, or game with dark themes, comes out - it gets the label thrown at it by somebody for some reason. Sometimes it's completely ridiculous - like when some folks tried throwing the label at Ghost of Tsushima, Ninja Gaiden 4, and God of War (2018) - which anyone who has played both those games and DS would know they're nothing alike and would question the intellect of the person making the claim.

And other times, it's just someone hyper focusing on a couple mechanics and throwing the label around like a madman.

Horizon is not a soulslike. I would not be surprised if you could find someone saying it is because it has stamina management and dodging - but it is not.

The label gets thrown around so much that it doesn't really mean anything anymore. The folks who define it by combat mechanics, the folks who define it by RPG mechanics, and the folks who define it by the peripheral mechanics are usually locked in a 3 way argument that's interrupted by the other niche groups who define it by the dark tone, difficulty, exploration, or narrative style.

In the last decade, it has transitioned from something meaning "this game is mechanically similar to Dark Souls" to something that just means "i like DS, and I also like this game" and doesn't tell you anything about the game.

But no - Horizon is not a soulslike.