4 Games That Feel Like Dark Souls Without Being Dark Souls

Dark Souls profoundly changed the landscape of modern video games. While many games have since tried to copy its style, its impact extends beyond just similar titles. Game developers have embraced its unique combination of difficulty, immersive environments, and detailed world design. What truly set Dark Souls apart was its emphasis on rewarding players for being patient, exploring thoroughly, and mastering its systems. It made learning from mistakes a core experience, offering a deep sense of accomplishment to those who persevered. Since its release, numerous developers have been inspired by its approach, creating games that capture the same feelings of mystery, tension, and ultimately, victory.

While many games try to copy Dark Souls exactly, others simply capture its feeling—the sense of atmosphere, challenge, and emotional weight—and apply it to different types of gameplay. These games don’t necessarily focus on difficult combat, but still manage to feel like a spiritual successor to FromSoftware’s classic. Here are four examples that prove a ‘soulslike’ experience doesn’t have to stick to a single formula.

4) Death Howl

Death Howl is a unique take on the soulslike genre. Rather than a typical action RPG, it’s a roguelike deckbuilder that captures the challenging difficulty and precise combat of games like those made by FromSoftware. The game is set in a dark, savage world where humans and beasts are constantly at war. Its art style is raw and unsettling, creating a sense of fear without relying on jump scares or typical horror tropes. Death Howl creates a world that feels truly alive, dangerous, and uncaring.

What really sets Death Howl apart is how it handles exploration. Discovering the game’s dark and dangerous world directly builds tension and controls the pace. The sound design also plays a huge role – everything from monster sounds to the environment itself creates a feeling that you’ve entered a place where you don’t belong.

With its intense and atmospheric style, Death Howl is shaping up to be one of the most promising soulslike games coming soon. While it’s not about quick reflexes and flashy moves, it demands careful planning and preparation. Developed by The Outer Zone, Death Howl is scheduled for release in 2026, and soulslike fans should definitely keep it on their radar.

3) Darkest Dungeon

While Dark Souls focuses on skillful gameplay, Darkest Dungeon pushes players to their emotional and psychological limits. Red Hook Studios’ brilliant game takes the challenging spirit of Dark Souls and reimagines it as a turn-based strategy game, replacing quick reflexes with careful planning and managing a team. Each adventure isn’t just dangerous—it’s deeply discouraging.

From the very beginning, it’s clear that Darkest Dungeon takes inspiration from games like Dark Souls. Making progress is incredibly difficult, and any gains can be easily lost. What sets this game apart is that death is permanent, and even if your heroes survive, they’ll be deeply affected by their experiences, suffering from stress, fear, and mental breakdowns. Every choice you make – whether to continue deeper or retreat – feels significant. There are no easy wins; the reward is simply making it through another day in this harsh world.

Similar to Dark Souls, Darkest Dungeon uses its gameplay to tell a story about continuing to fight even when everything seems hopeless. The game’s dark visuals, unsettling narration, and Lovecraftian atmosphere create a strong feeling of unavoidable doom. Instead of directly telling a story, it encourages you to uncover it yourself by strategically managing your team’s survival and mental well-being.

2) Tunic

Tunic initially appears to be a delightful and colorful adventure game. However, beyond its adorable fox protagonist and pretty world lies a surprisingly complex and difficult experience. It takes inspiration from the mysterious exploration and challenging gameplay of games like Dark Souls, but combines it with accessible and fun combat. Tunic demonstrates that the challenging ‘soulslike’ style of game can work well even in a bright and cheerful setting, proving that a game can be both charming and demanding.

What I really love about this game is how little it tells you. There aren’t a bunch of long explanations or tutorials; instead, the world itself does the talking, mostly through cool symbols and just…silence. The in-game manual is written in this weird language, and it slowly makes sense as you explore and figure things out. It reminds me a bit of Dark Souls in how it tells its story through the environment, but with a really unique puzzle-solving element. It feels like you’re uncovering a huge mystery, bit by bit.

Although it looks simple, the combat in Tunic requires the same careful timing and strategy as games like Dark Souls. Enemies are powerful, supplies are scarce, and you learn from every fight. What really sets Tunic apart, though, is its beautiful and slightly sad atmosphere. Discovering secrets and hidden areas feels truly rewarding because the game doesn’t hold your hand – it lets you figure things out for yourself.

1) Hollow Knight

While many games try to be like Dark Souls, Hollow Knight truly captures its essence without simply copying it. This indie game from Team Cherry shares the core ideas of Dark Souls: challenging, skillful combat, a story told through hints and secrets, and a haunting, mysterious world. What’s remarkable is that it achieves this as a 2D Metroidvania, showing that the feeling of Dark Souls isn’t tied to any specific game style.

Hollow Knight takes place in the eerie, subterranean world of Hallownest. Instead of relying on conversations, the game reveals its story through its environments – the designs of buildings, ancient ruins, and faint echoes of a lost civilization. Each pathway suggests a past sorrow, and every battle with a boss feels like a conflict between the shattered pieces of a once-powerful kingdom. This method of storytelling, which focuses on the game’s surroundings, is both understated and impactful, reminiscent of the atmosphere found in Dark Souls.

The battles in the game share that same careful, measured feel. Attacks are quick, but you need to time them perfectly and manage your resources well. Similar to games like Dark Souls, Hollow Knight is challenging but always fair – each time you die, you learn something new about being patient, finding the right timing, and not giving up. The world is all connected and encourages you to explore, with shortcuts and secret areas that constantly change how you see the map. Even years after it came out, and despite the anticipation for Silksong, Hollow Knight is still one of the best games that combines the soulslike and Metroidvania genres.

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2025-11-15 17:15

4) Death Howl

3) Darkest Dungeon

2) Tunic

1) Hollow Knight

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