I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty tired of hearing the term “Souls-like” get thrown around each time a game gets announced and shows off a protagonist fighting what appears to be a very large and formidable boss. Yes, tough bosses are part of what make the Souls games stand out, but no, that’s not the only aspect that makes these games special.
In order to filter out games that are actually Souls-like, and games that just happen to be mildly similar to what we’ve seen in Dark Souls, I’ve created a checklist of requirements that games have to meet in order to be considered Souls-like. They are:
- No auto checkpoints
- No map
- Lose ‘Souls’ upon death
- Has a stamina bar, rolling, and blocking mechanics
- Exploration and shortcuts
- Tough bosses that require learning of patterns
Of course, we can’t possibly expect every single Souls-like game to meet all of these requirements. A game might deviate from a couple of these requirements, but still retain enough elements that fans would consider it Souls-like. In order for a game to be regarded as a Souls-like title on this list, the game has to meet at least three out of the six listed requirements. Without further ado, let’s take a look at a few games that actually fulfill these conditions.
