Underrated Soulslike Games That Are Worth Giving a Shot

In 2025, it seems almost impossible to escape the pull of the Soulslike. What initially started as a very niche subset of action RPGs has quickly grown to become one of the most popular genres for new games, with more than 3 high-profile Soulslike games (and even a new title from Souls originator FromSoftware) arriving this year alone. With so many new Soulslike games flooding the market, it can be easy to overlook some of the smaller or more unique games in the genre, leading to a slew of titles that end up being underrated despite offering some great combat, exploration, and other elements players associate with following in Dark Souls‘ footsteps.

• Release Date — August 18, 2022
• Developer — OverBorder Studio
• Publisher — Team17
• Review Aggregate Score — 69% (Mixed or Average)
• Steam User Score — 84% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S

Among Soulslike diehards, Thymesia is a much-loved game that was able to carve out a cult following despite some ever-present jank. But for those that tend to stick to the more mainstream AAA Souslike games from studios like Team Ninja or even FromSoftware, Thymesia seems to have been largely ignored due to its middling critical review scores. Thankfully, Thymesia‘s player reception on Steam is more indicative of the game’s quality, and the regularity at which it goes on sale makes it a safe and easy bet to try out while it’s on a deep discount. Not many games strike a nice balance between both Dark Souls and Bloodborne inspirations quite like Thymesia.

• Release Date — December 20, 2024
• Developer — John Pywell
• Publisher — John Pywell
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 86% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

For a game from a solo developer, Fountains is incredibly impressive. This top-down, 2D action-adventure game dips a toe into several different genres — Soulslike, Zelda-like, Action RPG, hack-and-slash — and manages to make them all fit together into one cohesive experience with some of the best environmental and map design of any game to claim Dark Souls as an inspiration. Combat is challenging, both in terms of how enemies behave in encounters and the limited moveset of the player, and the sense of discovery and interconnectedness among Fountains‘ biomes make its world one that is consistently a joy to explore.

• Release Date — January 16, 2025
• Developer — Team Tyrant
• Publisher — Skystone Games
• Review Aggregate Score — 73% (Mixed or Average)
• Steam User Score — 86% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

One part Soulslike and one part roguelike, Tyrant’s Realm is practically a dream come true for anyone who’s ever played a FromSoftware game and thought, “I really wish this would last forever”. You start with a very traditional warrior-type build and gradually unlock new classes and weapons to try out as you make your way further and further into the game, which only makes each successive run feel more rewarding and varied as you try out new combat styles and figure out which ones mesh best with your playstyle. To top it all off, Tyrant’s Realm has a great-looking PS1-style aesthetic that makes it feel like a hidden gem from the 5th console generation.

• Release Date — September 17, 2021
• Developer — Odd Bug Studio
• Publisher — United Label
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 88% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

2D Soulslikes aren’t all that uncommon as they once were, but Tails of Iron still remains one of the best of the bunch for how well it understands the core elements of the genre. While it might not be as heavy on exploration and discovery as a game like Dark Souls, combat is where Tails of Iron truly shines, with every encounter a sort of mini puzzle to solve as you figure out how to respond to enemy attacks and deal damage in turn. It also doesn’t hurt that Tails of Iron has an appropriately dark and gripping narrative with some impressive narration that pulls you along.

• Release Date — September 16, 2024
• Developer — Jyamma Games
• Publisher — Jyamma Games
• Review Aggregate Score — 69% (Mixed or Average)
• Steam User Score — 68% (Mixed)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Enotria is an atypical Soulslike in a lot of ways, from its sun-drenched painterly setting to its unique approach to classes and builds. But just because it’s different doesn’t mean players should overlook it, nor do its somewhat weaker review scores. Neither players nor critics were really impressed by Enotria upon release, but it’s a much better game than most of those impressions would have you believe, especially once you stumble upon a good build to use against some of the game’s more challenging bosses. It may have some glaring issues on the technical side and some laughably unfair boss encounters that shoehorn you into specific strategies, but it’s still a decent enough attempt at a “bright and whimsical” Soulslike.

• Release Date — March 27, 2025
• Developer — Sense Games
• Publisher — CE-Asia
• Review Aggregate Score — 75% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 93% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5

Sense Games’ AI Limit had the unenviable position of launching on the same day as this year’s The First Berserker: Khazan. I’ve played both and can attest to Khazan undoubtedly being the better of the two, but it would be a mistake to discount AI Limit. In fact, AI Limit does some really interesting things with the Soulslike formula, including completely getting rid of a stamina meter in combat, which make it one of the more exciting genre entries in a while. It also happens to feature a very compelling and dark post-apocalyptic world to explore that folds back in on itself in surprising ways, capturing the feeling of exploring Lordran in the original Dark Souls.

• Release Date — July 30, 2020
• Developer — Cradle Games
• Publisher — tinyBuild
• Review Aggregate Score — 64% (Mixed or Average)
• Steam User Score — 76% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

We don’t get sci-fi tinged Soulslikes all that often, which makes it all the more special when one comes along that also happens to be great. The go-to games that fit that bill are The Surge and its sequel, but Hellpoint is another sci-fi/horror Souslike game that is criminally underrated and deserving of some more attention. It’s very simplistic in terms of its structure and combat design, but Hellpoint offers some very cool-looking enemies and bosses as well as a unique mechanic where enemy behavior changes depending on how close or far away the sun is from the space station you happen to be fighting through.

• Release Date — May 17, 2016
• Developer — Ska Studios
• Publisher — Ska Studios
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 89% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One

Ok, hear me out — Salt and Sanctuary is a well-known game that helped to establish the framework for the 2D Soulslike, but it’s still underrated given how great it is. A lot of players find themselves steering clear of Salt and Sanctuary because of how it looks, and fair enough. Every great Soulslike places its art direction and aesthetics at a premium. But to discredit Salt and Sanctuary simply because of its cartoonish visuals would be doing yourself a disservice, as it’s about as close to a 1:1 homage to Dark Souls as we’ve ever gotten. Nearly 10 years later, it’s still one of the best examples of a “Soulsvania”.

• Release Date — September 23, 2024
• Developer — The Astronauts
• Publisher — The Astronauts
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A (Early Access)
• Steam User Score — 92% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

We don’t often think of Soulslikes as being in first-person despite FromSoftware itself originally dabbling in that perspective with King’s Field, and Witchfire is one of the best Soulslikes out there, whether people recognize it as one or not. While Witchfire is primarily an extraction shooter and a roguelike, the ways that it handles character progression and combat definitively skew more toward the Soulslike spectrum, and it’s a title whose steep challenge makes each victory feel all the more rewarding. If Witchfire ends up being the template for future cracks at a first-person shooter and Soulslike hybrid, all the better.

• Release Date — March 3, 2023
• Developer — Team Ninja, Koei Tecmo
• Publisher — Koei Tecmo
• Review Aggregate Score — 79% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 48% (Mixed)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Team Ninja’s difficulty at handling PC ports notwithstanding, Wo Long is one of the best games from one of the best studios to craft Soulslikes that’s not FromSoftware. It’s level-based like the other Team Ninja Soulslikes (both Nioh games and Stranger of Paradise), but its longer stages place a greater emphasis on exploration and uncovering shortcuts, striking a nice middle-ground between the studio’s other games and a clearer homage to Dark Souls. Plus, when it comes to combat, few games do deflection-heavy encounters quite like Wo Long, which is ultimately Team Ninja’s version of Sekiro.