Boss pressure
Parry timing
Exploration-first
Pick by the part of Elden Ring or Dark Souls that stayed fun after it started hurting.
If you finished Elden Ring, Dark Souls Remastered, or Dark Souls III, the next choice should not be "the hardest game on the list." That is how you end up buying the wrong kind of punishment.
Start with the thing that broke you. If it was boss retries, play Lies of P. If it was parry timing, play Sekiro. If it was getting lost and slowly learning the shape of a hostile world, play Hollow Knight. If you loved the idea but bounced off the stress, start with Another Crab's Treasure or Code Vein.
Choose by what broke you
This is the point where a lot of soulslike lists go wrong. Harder is not automatically better. A player who loved Elden Ring's map needs a different next game than a player who wants another boss hallway or a stricter parry exam.
Use this table as a friction picker. Choose the kind of pain you still enjoy, then ignore the prestigious picks that solve a different problem.
| What you want next | Play first | Why it fits | Skip if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clean boss pressure | Lies of P | Tight routes, demanding bosses, and a strong guard/parry rhythm. | You mainly want an open world. |
| Pure parry discipline | Sekiro | Posture, deflects, and duels matter more than builds. | You need RPG build freedom. |
| More systems to master | Nioh 2 | Stances, loot, skills, and brutal encounters give you a longer lab. | Menus and gear rolls exhaust you. |
| Exploration anxiety | Hollow Knight | A huge connected 2D world with bosses, shortcuts, and map pressure. | Platforming is a deal-breaker. |
| 2D Dark Souls structure | Salt and Sanctuary | Stamina, builds, grim spaces, and corpse-run tension in side view. | You need modern polish. |
| Easier first step | Another Crab's Treasure | Readable combat and a friendlier tone without dropping the soulslike frame. | You want oppressive atmosphere. |
| Co-op shooter variant | Remnant II | Boss reads and dodge discipline, but with guns and co-op. | You want melee-first combat. |
Boss-first soulslikes
This lane is for players who remember the fog gates more than the map. You want the runback dread, the slow improvement, and the fight that looks impossible for twenty minutes before it clicks.
Lies of P
Recommendation
- Best for
- Dark Souls players who want boss pressure without an open-world sprawl.
- Why it fits
- It keeps the routes tight and makes each major fight ask for real timing, guard choices, and patience. It is the safest first pick if your favorite part was learning a boss instead of finding the boss.
- Skip if
- You need Elden Ring's map freedom, build chaos, and optional detours when a wall gets ugly.
Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition
Recommendation
- Best for
- Players who want a harder systems game after Souls.
- Why it fits
- It gives you brutal bosses, stance switching, loot, skills, weapon mastery, and a lot more character tinkering than Dark Souls.
- Skip if
- You want spare FromSoftware-style clarity. Nioh 2 is powerful, but it is busy.
Remnant II
Recommendation
- Best for
- Boss learning with co-op and guns.
- Why it fits
- The shape is different, but the habit is familiar: read attack patterns, dodge on purpose, improve the build, and stop panic-rolling.
- Skip if
- The fantasy for you is sword weight, shields, and melee stamina management.
Parry-first picks
Pick this lane if blocking at the right instant feels better than out-statting the fight. These games narrow the fantasy and ask you to meet the enemy on time.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition
Recommendation
- Best for
- Players who want the cleanest parry exam.
- Why it fits
- Sekiro strips away most build comfort. You win by deflecting, pressuring posture, and staying in the duel until your hands learn the rhythm.
- Skip if
- You need shields, armor sets, summons, and weapon builds to feel like you are making progress.
Nine Sols
Recommendation
- Best for
- 2D players who want parry timing and boss reads.
- Why it fits
- It turns the soulslike stress into sharp side-scrolling combat where parries, movement, and pattern recognition do the work.
- Skip if
- You want the slower 3D weight of Dark Souls more than a precise action platformer.
Exploration-first picks
This is the Elden Ring and Dark Souls feeling that does not show up in difficulty labels: the fear of taking the wrong elevator, the relief of opening a shortcut, and the pleasure of realizing the map was teaching you for hours.
Hollow Knight
Recommendation
- Best for
- Elden Ring players who liked discovery more than gear math.
- Why it fits
- It trades 3D builds for a dense 2D world full of routes, locks, shortcuts, hard bosses, and quiet dread.
- Skip if
- You dislike platforming or want character builds to carry the long-term progression.
Blasphemous
Recommendation
- Best for
- Players who want religious gloom, punishment, and deliberate 2D combat.
- Why it fits
- It leans into atmosphere and severity. The combat is stiffer than Hollow Knight, but that stiffness is part of the pressure.
- Skip if
- You want fluid movement and flexible exploration more than tone.
2D soulslike alternatives
The 2D lane works when you want the Dark Souls loop but do not need the camera, lock-on, and full 3D spacing. It also cuts the price of entry for a lot of players.
Salt and Sanctuary
Recommendation
- Best for
- The closest 2D Dark Souls structure.
- Why it fits
- It keeps stamina, builds, grim zones, punishing enemies, and that familiar corpse-run tension in side-scrolling form.
- Skip if
- You need clean modern presentation or a less abrasive first hour.
Nine Sols
Recommendation
- Best for
- 2D combat that cares about parry timing.
- Why it fits
- It is better when you want deliberate boss learning than when you want another heavy RPG build sandbox.
- Skip if
- You bounced off Sekiro because the parry demand felt too narrow.
Hollow Knight
Recommendation
- Best for
- 2D exploration with real boss walls.
- Why it fits
- It is less Dark Souls in equipment structure and more Dark Souls in map fear, quiet storytelling, and the stubbornness needed to clear a hard room.
- Skip if
- You want stamina, armor, and weapon builds to be the main event.
Easier entry points
Easier does not mean empty. It means the game gives you more room to read the fight, recover from mistakes, or enjoy the genre shape before it starts taking full payment.
Another Crab's Treasure
Recommendation
- Best for
- A friendlier first soulslike after bouncing off Dark Souls.
- Why it fits
- It keeps dodges, shells, readable enemies, and boss learning, but the tone and readability make the punishment less oppressive.
- Skip if
- You need bleak castles, horror, and the full FromSoftware mood.
Code Vein
Recommendation
- Best for
- Players who want support, builds, and a softer difficulty curve.
- Why it fits
- Party support and flexible builds make it less lonely than Dark Souls, while still keeping stamina, bosses, and build swapping in view.
- Skip if
- Anime melodrama or uneven boss design will bother you more than the help will matter.
Remnant II
Recommendation
- Best for
- Co-op players who want the genre to feel less solitary.
- Why it fits
- Playing with another person changes the emotional temperature. You still learn bosses, but you are not trapped alone with every mistake.
- Skip if
- You are specifically looking for melee duels and gothic isolation.
What not to pick first
If Elden Ring overwhelmed you because of the map, do not jump straight to a systems-heavy game just because it is beloved. Nioh 2 is excellent, but it adds gear pressure, stance discipline, and menus on top of hard fights.
If Dark Souls felt too slow, do not assume every soulslike will fix that. Salt and Sanctuary and Blasphemous are deliberate games. Try Sekiro, Nine Sols, or Hollow Knight first if you want sharper motion.
If you mostly want another Elden Ring-sized world, this list gets harder. Hollow Knight is the best exploration answer here, but it is not a giant 3D RPG. Use the full Games Like Elden Ring page when the open-world side matters more than the soulslike side.
What to play first
The shortest path is to name the friction you want back. Boss pressure, parry timing, exploration dread, 2D structure, and a softer on-ramp are different buyer intents even though search rolls them all into games like Dark Souls.
Lies of P is cleaner. Nioh 2 is deeper and much busier.
Sekiro is the 3D exam. Nine Sols is the 2D precision pick.
The best pick when map memory and discovery mattered more than armor math.
Salt and Sanctuary is closer structurally. Blasphemous is stronger for mood.
Pick the crab if readability matters. Pick Code Vein if party support and builds matter.
Do not pick the most prestigious name. Pick the one that matches the kind of friction you still want.
If you still cannot choose, play Lies of P first for a clean 3D soulslike, Hollow Knight first for exploration, and Another Crab's Treasure first if you want the shape without the full emotional weight.
FAQ: games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring
These answers are for the common split: boss pressure, exploration, easier entry points, and whether Sekiro is the right next step.
What is the best game like Dark Souls to play first?
What should I play after Elden Ring if I liked exploration most?
Hollow Knight is the best exploration-first pick here. It is 2D, but the connected world, shortcuts, hidden routes, and boss walls make it closer to Elden Ring's discovery loop than many 3D imitators.
What soulslike is easier than Dark Souls?
Start with Another Crab's Treasure if you want a friendlier tone and more readable pressure. Try Code Vein if party support and flexible builds sound more useful.
What 2D game is closest to Dark Souls?
Salt and Sanctuary is the closest 2D structural match because it keeps stamina, builds, grim areas, and corpse-run tension. Hollow Knight is better if exploration matters more than RPG equipment.
Should I play Sekiro after Dark Souls?
Yes, if you want a stricter action game built around deflects and posture. No, if what you loved was experimenting with weapons, armor, summons, and builds. Sekiro is brilliant, but it gives you less room to solve problems with RPG choices.
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