I’ve never played a soulslike games because they are a bit intimidating to me. Amy recommendations for soulslikes games to start on or for beginners to the genre?
You could try “Another Crab’s treasure”. It even has accessibility options to make it easier if it’s too intimidating.
Ah yes.
The game that just straight up gives you a giant handgun if you simply ask.
lol that’s hilarious
I do not enjoy Soulslikes, but I really liked Tunic. Some things it has going for it:
- It is extremely nonverbal, but what it does give you is invested in helping you figure out a path to success. By intention, that’s not always obvious. You may need to work out for yourself when to dodge or to block.
- The atmosphere is bright and cheery, though it has its spooky and atmospheric bits.
- The camera is top down, so you don’t need to manage the camera while playing.
- Dying is not very punishing. You lose a bit of currency, which you can retain at the same spot; and that currency isn’t often critical to progress
Of the ones I’ve played, Elden Ring. The biggest aid for new players being that if something’s too tough, you just go somewhere easier and come back later. The opening area has a boss roaming a field designed to teach you exactly that lesson.
I’ve also heard the magic in Elden ring makes it easier than the others. Any thoughts on that?
It is the most wizarding friendly game FromSoftware has made.
Through their other games the pattern was for wizards: the level getting to the boss was tough managing your spell uses, but then the boss was easy if you reserved enough.
In Elden Ring there are less ‘levels’ and almost none of the classic ‘runback’ to a boss if you die. So you almost always can full power a boss.
Which feels easier in comparison. Though the Elden Ring bosses were designed around that more.
Imminent DLC will shake things up too.
Elden Ring for sure. Lots of tools to help with difficulty, and you can leave and go somewhere else.
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I primarily game on the steam deck and I think Elden ring is one of the top played games so I’m sure it works well on that.
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Personally, I’d say Sekiro. You need to be good with timing but the experience is much more streamlined. There’s no equipment system so you don’t have to worry about finding what’s good for you, let alone slogging it through the first however many hours to get whatever items get recommended in Top X lists. Also, I find the movement system is much more to my liking. It feels immediate instead of trying to sprint through a field of porridge. However, if porridge is what you’re looking for, Sekiro is a poor pick for you.
Lies of P is also a good pick for having tighter movement and QoL upgrades over Souls games though I dare say a lot of fans will want to drag me across the coals for saying that.
I very much enjoyed Sekiro and it led me to Elden Ring that I then, in turn, did not enjoy at all. haha Sekiro feels much more approachable but it doesn’t have the replayability of other Souls games.
As the point of soulslikes is to overcome challenge, looking for something beginner friendly or easy is, in my opinion, not the right approach.
Play the fromsoft games in chronological order and skip the numbers entries if you are not interested in the stories.
So: Deamon’s souls -> dark souls -> bloodborne -> sekiro -> elden ring
Dark souls 2 wasn’t that great and has a lot of issues but it tried new stuff which I respect. Still wouldn’t recommend it.
Dark souls 3 was darks souls best of which made it a disappointment for me. You kinda know what will happen next and there wasn’t that much mystery because of that.
What’s hard for some is easy for others, and vice versa. There’s definitely an appropriate level of intended challenge to any Soulslike game that makes it satisfying as you gradually overcome difficulties and adversity. Fall below that, for instance by spending 10 hours on the tutorial boss, OR breach that difficulty by never falling below 50% HP, and the experience loses luster.
No matter how much equipment is in it, Dark Souls is still on a pretty set level of difficulty, and it’s too high for a lot of people. Heck, there are other casual games out there that were “ultra hard” for some infrequent gamers I know.
Lies of P is fairly easy in comparison to the FromSoftware souls games but it’s still a lot of fun. Great worldbuilding and some interesting mechanics too
I found Lies of P much more challenging than any of the FromSoft games I’ve played. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for an easier introduction to the gameplay.
Blasphemous is not too hard and has a great story. Just don’t go to the mountains first.
Dark Souls 1, but play it almost like you’re studying for a test. Research and plan your build in advance. Go to the wiki early, often, and with wanton disregard for spoilers. Use every cheese and glitch to your advantage. If all that makes it too easy, then you can still go blind into anything else in the genre.
Although all soulslikes are a bit difficult Grime would be my suggestion, a 2D platformer. It felt easy enough to me but I mainly enjoyed the aesthetics of it.
I didn’t see it recommended here yet, but my suggestion is Dead Cells. It’s a 2D game not made by FromSoft but it has a very similar feel.
I mean dead cells is a great game and so on… But a soulslike?