Gaming Confession: I've never played a FromSoft/Souls-like game

[Dyne]

It's weird. I'm a diehard oldgen Monster Hunter fan. The slow methodical combat pre-World is like a drug to me. Friends point to that and say I'd love Fromsoft stuff because it's also hard, grindy, and has deliberately clunky controls. I've tried Dark Souls 3, Sekiro and Elden Ring. Bounced off all of them. I just can't enjoy these games. They aren't fun to me and I don't know why. But I suppose you don't always need a concrete reason to dislike something.

To be fair, the ones you played are not the slow methodical ones.
Dark Souls 1 or 2 might be more your style, the combat is slower than later games.

 

[moonbits]

To be fair, the ones you played are not the slow methodical ones.
Dark Souls 1 or 2 might be more your style, the combat is slower than later games.

Kings Field should be like heaven to him, they are fucking clunky.

 

[throughdarkness]

The Souls series is just the natural evolution of From Softwares previous dungeon crawling games. I'd recommend anyone just jumping in to go straight to Elden Ring.

Also I wouldn't call it slow and clunky. Better way to describe it is intentional.

 

[therabidfrog]

The first time I beat Demon Souls I felt it. I mean I really felt it. It was one of those rare games where I genuinely felt like I had accomplished something incredible.

That being said I burnt out on them years ago so I generally avoid soulslikes. It's such a singular experience that I really gotta be in a certain mood to try a new one.

Not sure what I'd recommend as an entry into the genre. Sekiro maybe because you don't have to worry about builds and it's a more succinct and focuses experience in my opinion.

But I'm one of those weirdos that still goes catatonic with joy when I think of how miserable it was playing Pathologic 2.

Post automatically merged: Oct 15, 2025

The Souls series is just the natural evolution of From Softwares previous dungeon crawling games. I'd recommend anyone just jumping in to go straight to Elden Ring.

Also I wouldn't call it slow and clunky. Better way to describe it is intentional.

I agree. They are far from slow, clunky, or unbalanced. I think it's a thing people who aren't inclined to enjoy that kind of demanding experience say, but I don't agree with the sentiment at all.

 

[Sunnyside]

To be fair, the ones you played are not the slow methodical ones.
Dark Souls 1 or 2 might be more your style, the combat is slower than later games.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm not currently looking to revisit the series but I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Also I wouldn't call it slow and clunky. Better way to describe it is intentional.

Yes! That's a much better word to use. I need to start describing old MonHunt games like that too. Clunky implies there's a design issue. But they're supposed to be that way. You need to think before you swing your giant sword around.

 

[King Torro]

I only have one complaint about souls games, one that actually made me not play them: Not having a pause menu. Yes, I want to pause my stupid game whenever I have to attend something at home mid-game, not have to find a stupid "safe" corner and pray I don't get attacked while I'm away.

I will snatch the thread and ask for games on the genre that have a pause menu, if you don't mind, lol

While it's not really a "souls game", Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice, the ninja-character action game by From Software has the capacity to pause the game like a normal videogame. And it's really fun and engaging action game! I enjoyed it so much I Platinumed the game (got all the trophies)

I think in Souls games, the lack of a pause button was because of the online invasion mechanic, that Sekiro doesn't have so there was little reason to not have a pause function.

 

[petran79]

I tried Dark Souls Remastered with a completed save game where you begin from the start.
Equipped full armor with max stats and weapons and character moved slowly like a turtle, yet would climb the well fast.
Then Asylum Demon appeared and killed the character in 2 hits despite being fully equipped.

First time I see such crap in an rpg....

 

[MajesticSiN]

Honestly if you aren't into the game/style then there is no reason to play any souls like game.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Played Dark Souls few times to beat it but it bores me always somewhere in the middle of the game which i never beat it .

Its not suited for my taste and everything that plays like a Souls game is not worth to put my time in .
But what i started hating is that almost every game that has close-range combat adapt the Souls-combat or some elements of it like a stamina bar or slow combat pace . I can understand that some games take the same combat-system and tries to experiment with it while even copy it entirely but not almost every game should be like that .

 

[petran79]

Honestly if you aren't into the game/style then there is no reason to play any souls like game.

What baffles me is how this became popular. It seems a very influential minority took over the internet back in the 2010s...

 

[Turbo Kid]

Someone telling me they've never played a Souls-like would actually get my respect. It would tell you're not a typical, run of mill, boring gamer who plays what everybody else plays. It's gamers like that I want to hang out with

 

[Isegrim]

I play a lot of Monster Hunter as well and I can't get into From's offerings either. I'm pretty sure I can handle it since I play a number of difficult games.

I think it's because...

A. My nephews play Fromsoft's Soulsborne games night and day, with repeat playthroughs from time to time as well as Lies of P and other soul clones. Maybe seeing them play and talk about it so much has kept my interest low and spoilers spoiled.
B. No musical motivation. The music never seemed catchy or eternally appealing to me like Castlevania and Actraiser did. Monster Hunter also has amazing music. As for From soft games, there doesn't seem to be much while wandering and killing the generic enemies. There are from bosses but none of the tunes could get into my head and I've watched a lot from my nephews' repeated playthroughs.
C. The story and the ambiance. I really prefer a positive hero than a negative one or anti-hero. I loved the concept of a lone holy vampire hunter going into Dracula's castle. I liked the story of a deity from the heavens coming down to earth in answer to his people's prayers and chastising the demons on earth. Or a noble monster hunter protecting the people from ferocious monsters, that was also great. But from From, it's usually an undead...thing going around killing monstrous things for...uhhh...what? ...some strange nonsensical reason I can't fathom: (At least I have great fun annoying my nephews talking about these things while they play...). I can't get my head around it which means I have less motivation to play.

 

[FrootyLoopsSamurai]

I feel like Demons Souls or Dark Souls 1 are good starting points for people who want to try souls games out. Despite what people were saying about them back when they were new, they are on the low end of the scale difficulty-wise. Look up some advice if you get stuck. I would avoid Dark Souls 2 and 3 unless you're really hungry for more. Bloodborne and Sekiro were really good imo, but I don't think they're very good for first-timers. I can't reccomend any non-From games mostly because I haven't played them. I guess Elden Ring was the onboarding experience for many, but it feels too unfocused for me to fully recommend.

It's a surreal experience seeing people hipster post about souls games saying they're too cool for them. Back when Demons Souls came out, it was the complete opposite of mainstream: poorly reviewed and broadly criticized for being too difficult. Similar to roguelikes, most people just didn't get it. It felt like a cool thing that cool people liked. The game had a cult following at best for most of its relevant console generation. Elden Ring's insane success has really changed the narrative on souls games.

Imo the games are appealing mostly for the aesthetics. From's art direction is great. Demons Souls was my first taste of it, and I still really like it. The slower gameplay of the earlier games lets you really soak in the atmosphere. The danger of exploration also makes it more enticing. I can understand not necessarily vibing with it. The lack of ambient music is definitely a polarizing stylistic choice.

I generally don't like the boss music that much in any of the souls games. It feels like it just gets more generic as it goes. One boss track from Demons Souls really stuck out to me, so I'll post it here. It's the music for the Armor Spider boss. They could have used it in a Berserk anime, and it would have been great.

 

[Blamhammer]

I’ve only played a few hours of Dark Souls 1 and Sekiro, but there are peeps in my household who have finished all of them FS games. They feel that DS1, Bloodborne, and Sekiro are the ones to seriously consider. The latter two are pretty difficult, but they urge you to go on the offensive.
Actually that’s the main gripe with the early souls games - the feeling that you need to be on the defensive, yet you still get wasted anyway. Ditch the shield, smack em up good instead.

 

[Tonberry]

With how popular the souls-like subgenre has gotten I feel a little left out in some discussions never having played any. I like character action games, but when it comes down to choosing one the ol'hack and slashes just look so much more appealing to me. When I hear souls-like all I think is "we made it slow and clunky, on purpose".
That said, I've never really given any of them a fair chance, that's just my impression based on watching gameplay. What’s a good Souls-like that could change my mind and really sell me on the formula?

Can’t go wrong with Dark Souls 1, imo.

 

[Graw]

The only ones I've played that I actually liked were the first Dark Souls and Bloodborne and even Bloodborne I never finished it. I got distracted by trolling people and invading their game in a particularly difficult section and then just never completed the actual game. I liked the world design in Dark Souls more than the combat stuff most soulslikes seem to go for. I like 2d games that are inspired by Dark Souls more than actual soulslikes like Salt and Sanctuary and Blasphemous and games like that.

I have to say too though, the multiplayer system in Dark Souls 1 is probably one of the coolest I've played in a video game and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite not really being an online gamer. The way it was just baked into the game. The messages, invasions and summoning for help and the way the guilds or whatever they were, i can't remember were, part of the actual gameplay mechanics. That whole guild devoted to invading hidden behind an obscure counterintuitive story path was just cool as fuck.

 

[Kamako]

I think all of the Souls games are phenomenal, and amongst the best games for each system they've released on. I'm giddy for anybody who's still to experience them for the first time.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Since I have the PS3 set-up I might just throw Demon Souls and Dark Souls on there to give them a try. Will I be missing out on much by not playing online? From what I can tell Demon Souls has a fan server and Dark Souls' server is still up (I think) but I doubt either are that active.

 

[Kamako]

Since I have the PS3 set-up I might just throw Demon Souls and Dark Souls on there to give them a try. Will I be missing out on much by not playing online? From what I can tell Demon Souls has a fan server and Dark Souls' server is still up (I think) but I doubt either are that active.

If you can play online, then great, but if you can't, don't worry. It's a great bonus if you can play online, but the offline single player campaigns are brilliant without any of the extra online stuff.

Also, out of all of the games, Demon's Souls on PS3 has the fewest extra perks for playing online.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

Since I have the PS3 set-up I might just throw Demon Souls and Dark Souls on there to give them a try. Will I be missing out on much by not playing online? From what I can tell Demon Souls has a fan server and Dark Souls' server is still up (I think) but I doubt either are that active.

Demon Souls I wouldn't bother doing online for unless you really want to step into PvP.
Dark Souls you could also skip online however the covenant system (Essentially like in-game guilds) in that game provides benefits from items you gain from them, most easily gained through multiplayer. There are ways to get said items offline, however these methods are a little more time consuming but can be done (Even then; you should only go for them if you're a real completionist or want those sweet trophies/achievements lol).
Tbh I don't think console DS1 has that active of a player base anymore anyway so it probably would end up being easier for you to just go offline.

 

[Anoobis]

I've tried a few Soulsborne games, and bounced off them pretty fast. The farthest I've gotten in any is up to Blood-Starved Beast in Bloodborne. I have beaten Black Myth: Wukong, though.

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Out of the trilogy only DS1 is actually good IMHO, the rest are absolutely imbalanced in one scale or the other. And yeah, I feel like Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring are more suited for newbies who don't like the slow methodical approach of Soulslike as they don't force you to build a specific thing just to adapt, you can just plug and play to eventually beat the bosses.

 

[Questless Knight]

gaming confession I not played/beaten a single GTA game sense GTA II because it´s the most boring game series I ever played sure I tried san andreas I down own GTA 5 because I was gifted it but still not played it nor plan to.

another gaming confession I not played a single Bioshock game because I don´t care at all about the series what so ever.

Honestly if the souls games is not for they are not for you. No need to play them if they are not game you would enjoy. Focus on games you enjoy. Games are all about entertainment which people seam so damn stupid to remember or understand. Instead they turn games in to meta playing or optimizing or just use it to be ANGRY all the damn time.

 

[_-_AceDragon_-_]

Don't worry about what anyone else says or thinks. I prefer old school games. For me Final fantasy 7 and ocarina of time are the best games ever made. I play symphony of the night and other old 2d metroidvanias each year or so. But I still love some of the FS games. If you wrote this post, the chances are you have an itch to see what the fuss is about

In my personal experience the ones to play are Sekiro, Bloodborne, DS3 and Elden Ring.

You say that you find FS games clunky, then stick to Sekiro and Bloodborne. These are must play games, not just for gameplay but unrivalled atmosphere, world design and enemy design + ai.

Yes, they're challenging, especially Sekiro where you cannot level up. However they're also two of the most visually stunning games I've played, with phenomenal, lovingly crafted environments. Bloodborne is hands down the best Gothic architecture/world design I've ever seen in a game or possibly any movie or film. Iconic.

Story wise Sekiro is a bit more of a conventional story with lore to discover. Bloodborne is almost entirely lore with snippets of very brief story/ npc interactions. Both are masterfully done. I didn't care much for the story itself, but the world building and lore is cool.

Sekiro is the best of the bunch for me. Fast paced, visceral and beautiful environments to behold.

If you like gothic stuff, Victorian horror and Lovecraft stuff, you MUST play Bloodborne. It's like the ultimate rendition of what nightmare creatures wanted to be, if you remember that old game...