Soulslike retro games?

[zavbaz]

3D Monster Maze (1981) and 3-Demon (1983). Both very retro and hard and they also do not forgive the mistakes of the player. :)

 

[nobitakun]

Did anyone said King's Field?

Maybe what you're looking for is Bloodborne:

 

[moonbits]

if it predates soulslike then how is it a soulslike

 

[beefbowl]

 

[Tonberry]

Shovel Knight has the "you lose currency when you die but can pick it up where you died" thing which I always felt was a pretty definitive Souls mechanic, if not the most definitive, to me.

Post automatically merged: Tuesday at 6:02 PM

if it predates soulslike then how is it a soulslike

I mean you can see similarities in older stuff even if you started with something newer. Good way to broaden your horizons of older stuff in general I think

 

[Don Patch]

Well, the "FROMSOFT gameplay loop" has been around for decades (in various iterations and states of functionality).
If you can deal with OG jank and slowness you'll probably find what you're after in an old FROM joint.

Try out the Shadow Tower series:

They're pretty bitchin'. They've got the vibes an on-brand "Souls" game has, to boot!
Just do yourself a favor and find/use a map from online because... well, fuckin'-A, you'll find out, lol.

 

[petran79]

Moonstone, since it is hard too, you control a knight and have to fight even huge dragons.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/2702/moonstone-a-hard-days-knight/

 

[Eju27]

For some reason i feel like Holy Diver needs a mention here.

 

[Tbest25]

Dark Souls employs a tonne of systems which have been refined from a whole host of different games over the years. Is there a specific gameplay system you're looking for more examples of?

Hmm if i gonna pick something from the games, I would pick the action oriented gameplay and exploration of a dark fantasy world. People commented above some interesting examples like Shadow Tower and king's Field

Post automatically merged: Tuesday at 7:05 PM

Shadow Tower for the PlayStation comes to mind, as I view it as a prototype to Demon/Dark Souls.

I've saw that this game have two versions, one from ps1 and othe for ps2. I liked the mix of 3d and pixel art in the ps1 version, i think it complement well the dark atmosphere

 

[Bakuma1997]

*Resisting the urge to not say Ninja Gaiden, Contra III or Megaman and Bass*

 

[DAME NINGEN]

If you squint hard enough, Vagrant Story is basically a Dark Souls game with Parasite Eve combat system.

 

[Scum Of Orion]

Seconding Blade of Darkness, Nightmare Creatures and Kings Field + Shadow Tower, very similar vibes and obvious future inspirations.

Your best bet I think for good retro difficult ARPGs is in the PS2 hack and slash boom

Dvil May Cry the whole series has high octane combat and music, except 2

Castlevania Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness carry those same vibes

Even the classic God Of Wars are great , though obviously not super close to souls's vibe.

Also the ps2 Ghost Rider game which is weirdly fantastic.

If you want more rpgs with a dark esoteric vibe than just difficult combat and bosses then there are very good JRPGs like Shadow Hearts or Kodelka

And a platformer that fits is the MediEvil Series

Darkstone, The Summoner, Gothic, Deathtrap Dungeon, Stonekeep, and perhaps few dozen other crpgs on GOG also fit the bill.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

Planescape torment, similar sense of dread and dark fantasy themes.

 

[ShadowsofCreationAga]

Here

oof. 2007 called, it wants its joke back.

Also, dick move.

Also also, google is fucking awful now thanks to AI and burying search results on purpose so you stay on the site longer and see more ads.

 

[garuando]

it not retro but salt and santuary is a pretty good 2D soulslike

Must play if you have a PS Vita. Also soul sacrifice (dark lore), risk of rain (bosses and dificult), nidhogg (good parry mechanics and great for pvp) and muramasa (many swords, more like sekiro 2D). But Salt and sanctuary is the best option in ps vita if you like souls.
For PSP, Rengoku, Way of samurai and Tenchu are soul-sekiro-like.
I enjoy God eater, Toukiden and monster hunter, but are more monster hunter clones (Soul sacrifice is also a monster clone, and freedon wars) (in psp and ps vita)
In 2D, SNES's Alien 3 and Hagane. In 3D, the FromSoft's PSX and PS2 games. And Nightmare Creatures, also baroque.

 

[Scum Of Orion]

Must play if you have a PS Vita. Also soul sacrifice (dark lore), risk of rain (bosses and dificult), nidhogg (good parry mechanics and great for pvp) and muramasa (many swords, more like sekiro 2D). But Salt and sanctuary is the best option in ps vita if you like souls.
For PSP, Rengoku, Way of samurai and Tenchu are soul-sekiro-like.
I enjoy God eater, Toukiden and monster hunter, but are more monster hunter clones (Soul sacrifice is also a monster clone, and freedon wars) (in psp and ps vita)
In 2D, SNES's Alien 3 and Hagane. In 3D, the FromSoft's PSX and PS2 games. And Nightmare Creatures, also baroque.

Baroque is a fantastic one, ps1 version fits a King's Field vibe and the Ps2 Remake fits the 3rd Person arpg mould.

Do you prefer the Original or the Remake?

 

[garuando]

Baroque is a fantastic one, ps1 version fits a Kimg's Field vibe and the Ps2 Remake fits the 3rd Person arpg mould.
Do you prefer the Original or the Remake?

Never play the remake. There are more pre-souls-like in PS2 for sure, like Shadow of Colosus and Ico. But only play ps2 in retroarch, and if play in PC, I prefer souls and elden ring xd

 

[Scum Of Orion]

Never play the remake. There are more pre-souls-like in PS2 for sure, like Shadow of Colosus and Ico. But only play ps2 in retroarch, and if play in PC, I prefer souls and elden ring xd

I somehow forgot about Shadow of the Colossus, that's like THE dark fantasy game of the PS2.
Although that does remind me that the OG Monster Hunter games are also good proto-souls-likes

 

[Boscobilly]

Yeah, it was King's Field. These games reminds me a lot of the dark souls games, because of the medieval setting, dark atmosphere and so on

This is what you want. Play them.

 

[-無明-]

Baroque is a fantastic one, ps1 version fits a King's Field vibe and the Ps2 Remake fits the 3rd Person arpg mould.

Seconding the Baroque recommendation. It fits some of the Soulslike tropes just as much if not more than some of FromSoft's PSX games. The later remakes of the game unfortunately lose sight of some of what makes the original version so interesting.

If you're looking to emulate the Saturn version tends to chug on Retroarch but the PSX version is very smooth.

 

[hazys]

Miyazaki says he was inspired by Ico (PS2) and in fact it got him into game dev. The first level of Demon's Souls feels very Ico. Obviously the gameplay is totally different.

Aesthetically the "desaturated fantasy" look of the PS2/PS3 era seems very influential. Check out NieR, Drakengard, The Last Story, Lost Odyssey, Valkyrie Profile 2, and of course From's own King's Field/Shadow Tower/Eternal Ring. There are also indie games like Felvidek and 0_abyssalsomewhere that have strong Souls-like imagery. If you can stomach the gameplay, you should look into dungeon crawlers like Baroque and The Dark Spire, or even roguelikes such as The Nightmare of Druaga.

Brightis (PS1) looks very similar to the Souls games. Sadly JP-only. Hungry Ghosts (PS2) is a first-person adventure game similar to King's Field/Shadow Tower. It's also JP-only, but there's a translation in the works.

Third-person action games with "heavy" combat, like Dragon's Dogma and early Monster Hunter, also remind me of Souls. There's also Fromsoft's own Evergrace and Forever Kingdom.

If you're just looking for a dark fantasy JRPG, I recommend Vagrant Story or Xanadu Next for the vibes. The Japanese Wizardry games are also very dark fantasy.

Personally I think Souls is strongly influenced by retro ARPGs like Hydlide, Sorcerian, Faxanadu, and The Maze of Gallious, but those may be too retro for some. Zelda II feels very Soulslike to me.

Finally there are Souls clones like Lords of the Fallen, Code Vein, AI Limit, etc. Your mileage may vary. If you're looking for modern ARPGs with good co-op combat, I recommend Granblue Fantasy Relink and (of course) the newer Monster Hunters.

 

[DrunkGecko]

 

[happymasksalesman happymasksalesman]

*jumps out of the window and runs away*

Get back here!!
*stop running*
Ah it's hard to run when you have a collection of mask on your back!

I don't know gpd hand but I like ds series for an sepecefic mechanisms,denfend ,level up,armory and others. One of reasons I played whole ds2 was getting sir alone set and katana!

 

[freakinrad]

It's maybe not a 1-to-1, but the first thing that came to mind for me is Comix Zone. That's a game where the combat is clearly defined, somewhat deep, and the key to progressing further is refining your skill and remembering enemy placement. There are a couple of decent boss fights in there as well that take a couple of minutes to figure out the "trick" to beating them.

The setting and RPG elements aren't there, but the spirit is.