Soulslike

A soulslike (or souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing games (or action-adventure games) known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling (typically in a dark fantasy setting). It had its origin in the Souls series of video games developed by FromSoftware and designed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the themes and mechanics of which directly inspired numerous other, similar games. Soulslike games developed by FromSoftware themselves are more specifically referred to as Soulsborne games, a portmanteau of Souls and Bloodborne.[1][2][3]

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The "soulslike" label has been adopted by a number of critics and developers. However, the soulslike label has also received some criticism from several critics and developers who question whether it is a true genre or a collection of shared mechanics, and whether it is too loosely used to describe games with only vague similarities.

Concepts

Gameplay

Soulslike games typically have a high level of difficulty where repeated player-character death is expected and incorporated as part of the gameplay, losing all progress if certain checkpoints have not been reached. Soulslike games also usually have means to permanently improve the player-character's abilities as to be able to progress further, often by a type of currency that can be earned and spent, but may be lost or abandoned between deaths if not appropriately managed, similar to the souls in the Souls series.[4][5][6] This mechanic provides a means to avoid an outright failure state, where the player must restart the game completely and lose all progress, while still providing a risk-and-reward system to make the game challenging to the player.[7] The need for repeated playthroughs can be viewed as a type of self-improvement for the player, either through gradual improvement of their character, or improving their own skills and strategies within the game.[8] Salt and Sanctuary developer James Silva said soulslike games provided "deliberate and meaningful exploration" of the entire game, including the game world, character improvement, and combat, through learning by repeated failures.[9] Combat in soulslike games may also be methodical, requiring the player to monitor stamina to avoid overexertion of their character,[5] and often is based on "animation priority" actions that prevent the player from cancelling movement until the animation has been played out, leaving them vulnerable to enemy attacks.[8]

Setting and plot

Soulslike games are commonly defined by their dark fantasy setting and lack of overt storytelling, as well as their deep worldbuilding, with a captivating world being cited as key to spark players' desire to explore.[10] Players are meant to discover bits and pieces of the game's lore over time via environmental storytelling, item descriptions and cryptic dialogue, piecing it together themselves to increase the game's sense of mystery. Despite their dark themes, the settings of soulslikes also sometimes feature elements of comic relief, such as unexpected interactions (e.g. petting a cat), humorous reactions from NPCs, peculiar outfits and weapons, and unusual, often slapstick means of death, such as being eaten by a Mimic.[11]

History

The soulslike genre had its genesis in the 2009 video game Demon's Souls, developed by FromSoftware and designed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. It introduced the core tenets that would be followed by later Souls games, and, by extension, soulslikes as well. The subgenre was later popularized by the second Souls game, Dark Souls, in 2011.

Games considered to be soulslikes include the FromSoftware and Miyazaki titles Bloodborne (2015), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019),[12][13] and Elden Ring (2022),[14] in addition to Lords of the Fallen (2014),[15] Salt and Sanctuary (2016),[16] the Nioh series,[17] The Surge series,[18] Ashen (2018), Darksiders III (2018),[19] Remnant: From the Ashes (2019),[20] Code Vein (2019),[21] Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019),[19][22] Chronos: Before the Ashes (2019)[23] and Mortal Shell (2020).[24] Dead Cells (2018) has been officially described as a "souls-lite" game, combining soulslike elements with roguelike and Metroidvania elements,[9] while Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (2022) combines soulslike gameplay with the job system from the Final Fantasy series.[25]

Other games outside of the genre cited to have been influenced by the Souls series include The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011),[26] Destiny (2014),[27] Shovel Knight (2014),[28][29] Titan Souls (2015),[28] Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018),[30] and God of War (2018).[31] Similar death mechanics are used in Nier: Automata (2017)[32] and Hollow Knight (2017).[19]

Reception

Interviews with developers of soulslike games revealed that they all thought of being classified as part of the genre as a positive thing that functioned as a useful description for players. However, some believed that it could be misleading, causing players to expect certain things and be disappointed when a game does not have them. An example of this was players being disappointed that Remnant: From the Ashes was primarily a shooter, despite being characterized as a soulslike.[11]

Austin Wood of PC Gamer criticized the soulslike label, saying that treating Souls games as a template "misleads" players into believing that various games classified as such are similar to Souls when they are really different. He called the soulslike label, along with the Metroidvania and roguelike labels, "jargon" that "ignores what makes [the games] unique".[10] Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit also decried the soulslike label as overly restrictive, forcing games to fall into a certain template and preventing their design from advancing. In responding to this argument, Bruno Dias of Vice disagreed, saying that Brown's comparison of soulslikes with roguelikes was not apt because roguelikes were a hobbyist pursuit for a long time. He also said that soulslikes did not need to advance yet as they did not have a marketability problem.[33]

See also

References
  1. Wildgoose, David (7 March 2022). "Painfully Difficult: From Software's 30+ Year Journey From PS1 to Elden Ring". IGN. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  2. Giusao, Jason (February 25, 2022). "Elden Ring Is My First Soulsborne Game, And I'm Obsessed With It". Game Informer. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  3. Bitner, Jon (March 25, 2022). "What Is A "Soulsborne" Game?". How-To Geek. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  4. Prescott, Shaun (April 11, 2019). "The best Souls-like games on PC". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 14, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  5. IGN Staff, February 11, 2021. "The Best Soulslike Games". IGN. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  6. Stuart, Keith (October 11, 2021). "Dungeon crawler or looter shooter? Nine video game genres explained". The Guardian. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  7. Cameron, Phill (April 9, 2015). "Cheating Death: Accommodating player failure and recovery". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 28, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  8. Kunzelman, Cameron (2020). "Chapter 10: How we deal with dark souls". In de Souza e Silva, Adriana; Glover-Rijkse, Ragan (eds.). Hybrid Play: Crossing Boundaries in Game Design, Players Identities and Play Spaces. Taylor & Francis. p. 58. ISBN 9781000042351.
  9. Wood, Austin (22 February 2022). "What the hell is a Souls-like? Game devs break down FromSoftware's accidental genre". GamesRadar. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  10. Wood, Austin (2017-08-19). "The 'Souls-like' label needs to die". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  11. O'Donoghue, Niall (2020-11-16). "Finding the Soul of Soulslikes - the devs riffing on the genre". VG247. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  12. Yu, Jeffrey (18 June 2021). "5 Soulslike Games That Are More Like Bloodborne Than Dark Souls". Game Rant. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  13. McKeand, Kirk (10 June 2018). "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a new Soulslike developed by FromSoftware". VG247. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  14. "Elden Ring is out now: Everything to know about Miyazaki's new souls-like". The Indian Express. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  15. Purchase, Robert (September 23, 2014). "ideo: Playing a new boss battle in Lords of the Fallen". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  16. Klepek, Patrick. "Salt And Sanctuary Is An Excellent 2D Dark Souls". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  17. Espileni, Matt (January 21, 2017). "Nioh Is A Brutal Return To Form For Ninja Gaiden Developer". IGN. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  18. Donnelley, Joe (May 16, 2017). "The Surge has 'Souls-like' combat but is best approached 'from a Bloodborne state of mind'". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  19. "The Best Soulslike Games: The soulslikes that we like". IGN India. IGN. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  20. Grayson, Nathan. "Remnant: From The Ashes, As Told By Steam Reviews". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  21. Saed, Sharif (May 2, 2017). "The first trailer for Code Vein proves this is the Vampire Souls we thought we're getting". VG247. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  22. "'Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order' Director Explains 'Zelda' Influences, Game's Difficulty". The Hollywood Reporter. June 8, 2019. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  23. Thorn, Ed (7 December 2020). "Chronos: Before The Ashes review". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  24. Nunneley, Stephany (March 4, 2021). "Souls-like Mortal Shell has sold over 500,000 units since release last summer". VG247. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  25. Carvalho, Jared (14 March 2022). "Stanger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin's Job System Could Redefine the Soulslike Character Build Formula". Game Rant. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  26. "CD Projekt wants The Witcher 2 to be polished and mature". 3 April 2011.
  27. Slabaugh, Brett (December 18, 2013). "Destiny Inspired by Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, Bungie Says". The Escapist. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  28. Breault, Chris (February 24, 2014). "How Do You Make An RPG After Dark Souls?". Kill Screen. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  29. Williams, Mike (May 24, 2014), Game Dev Recipes: Shovel Knight, USgamer, archived from the original on May 25, 2014, retrieved May 26, 2014
  30. "How Assassin's Creed Odyssey Is Switching Up Combat". CINEMABLEND. August 6, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  31. ""It Has to Be Personal" Says 'God of War' Creative Director Cory Barlog". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 1, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  32. "Nier: Automata's Androids are like Dark Souls bloodstains, next livestream on Feb 23". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on February 22, 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  33. Dias, Bruno (2017-07-12). "Making Souls-Like A Genre Might Actually End Up Hurting it". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
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