The first time I beat Ornstein and Smough, I sat on my couch in silence for a good minute, controller in my lap, heart still going. That fight is the moment Dark Souls stops being a game you are playing and becomes a game that is happening to you. If you have hit the credits and felt that strange post-Souls emptiness, you know the feeling.
The good news is that the genre FromSoftware accidentally founded has grown into a whole shelf of worthy successors. The tricky news is that they are not all the same, and picking the wrong one next can sour the whole experience. A lapsed-Souls friend of mine bounced off three games in a row because nobody told him which one actually fit what he loved.
So here are seven I keep recommending, ranked roughly from the gentlest on-ramp to the most punishing. I will tell you who each one is for, and just as importantly, who it is not.
1. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
If you want the rhythm of a Soulslike without the wall of difficulty, start here. The combat borrows the parry-and-punish loop and the rest-point-respawns-enemies structure, but it dials the punishment down and hands you a lightsaber, which never stops being satisfying.
The traversal is the real surprise. Wall-running and grappling between bonfire-equivalents (called meditation points) make the world feel like a playground rather than a gauntlet. It is the closest thing on this list to a relaxed evening.
Players who liked the structure of Dark Souls more than the brick-wall bosses, and anyone who wants a story they can actually follow.
Who it is not for: purists chasing that crushing difficulty. On normal, this is a generous game, and it wears its blockbuster budget proudly.
2. Lies of P
This one shocked everyone, me included. A Soulslike based on Pinocchio sounds like a fever dream, yet it nails the FromSoftware feel better than almost any imitator. The Belle Epoque city of Krat is gorgeous and grim, full of shortcuts that loop back on themselves in that satisfying way.
The hook is a perfect-guard system that rewards aggression, plus a weapon assembly mechanic that lets you bolt any blade onto any handle. I spent an embarrassing amount of time min-maxing builds, and honestly, thoughtful loadout planning is half the fun here.
Difficulty sits comfortably in the middle. Tough, fair, and never cruel. If you only play one game on this list, this is my pick.
3. Nioh 2
Now we ramp up. Nioh 2 takes the Souls skeleton and grafts on a loot system so dense it makes Diablo blush, plus a stance-switching combat engine that has more depth than most fighting games.
The pace is faster and twitchier than Dark Souls. You are juggling stances, managing a ki (stamina) pulse mechanic, and parsing rarity colors on a constant stream of gear. It is a lot, and that is the point.
If endless loot makes your eyes glaze over, Nioh 2 will overwhelm you. If it makes your eyes light up, you will lose entire weekends.
Who it is for: people who loved Dark Souls combat but wished there were forty more things to fiddle with. Who it is not for: anyone who plays Souls games for the slow, lonely atmosphere. Nioh 2 is loud and mechanical by comparison.
4. Elden Ring
Yes, this is FromSoftware again, and yes, it is the obvious answer. But it earns the slot because it is genuinely a different experience from Dark Souls, not just a sequel in spirit.
The open world changes everything. Stuck on a boss? Ride off and come back stronger. That single design choice removes the hardest part of recommending Dark Souls to new players, the feeling of being permanently stuck with nowhere to go.
It is still hard, make no mistake. But the freedom acts as a pressure valve. If you bounced off Dark Souls because of one impossible wall, Elden Ring quietly solves that problem while keeping everything that made the originals great.
Elden Ring runs surprisingly well on handheld. If you are wondering whether the hardware fits your collection, it is worth checking how the Steam Deck handles your existing library before you commit.
5. Remnant 2
Here is the wildcard. Remnant 2 is a Soulslike with guns, built around co-op, with procedurally generated levels that reshuffle on each playthrough. It scratches the Souls itch from an angle nobody else on this list attempts.
The dodge-roll DNA is unmistakable, but the third-person shooting and the class-based builds pull it toward looter-shooter territory. Boss fights are tense set pieces, and the randomized worlds give it real replay value.
Who it is for: friends who want to suffer together. Solo is viable, but this game truly sings with two or three players shouting at each other over voice chat. Who it is not for: anyone who treats Souls games as a solitary, meditative ritual.
6. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
People argue about whether Sekiro is even a Soulslike. It is from the same studio, but it strips out the RPG stats, the loot, and the build variety, leaving a pure rhythm-game duel of sword-on-sword deflection.
This is the skill-check game. You cannot grind your way past a wall here. You either learn the parry timing of a boss until it becomes muscle memory, or you do not progress. When it clicks, it is the most exhilarating combat in the genre.
Sekiro does not let you respec, swap builds, or summon help in the traditional sense. If your comfort blanket in Dark Souls was switching strategies, Sekiro will take that blanket and set it on fire. Approach with patience.
Who it is for: players who want to master one thing perfectly. Who it is not for: anyone who needs an easier path when a boss feels impossible. There isn't one.
7. Bloodborne
I am putting Bloodborne last not because it is the hardest in raw terms, but because its philosophy is the biggest leap from Dark Souls. It punishes turtling. Hide behind a shield and you will die slowly, starved of the aggressive trades the game wants from you.
The rally system, where you regain lost health by immediately striking back, retrains your entire Souls brain. It took me hours to stop backing away and start charging in. Once it clicked, going back to a shield felt like wearing oven mitts.
The catch is real, though: it is locked to one console and has never been ported. So while it is one of the best in the genre, it is also the hardest to actually get to. Consider this both a recommendation and a warning.
Quick comparison: difficulty and style
If you skimmed all that (no judgment), here is the shape of the whole list at a glance. Difficulty is relative to Dark Souls itself, which I am treating as the baseline.
| Game | Difficulty vs Dark Souls | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | Easier | Story and traversal |
| Lies of P | Similar | The all-rounder pick |
| Nioh 2 | Harder | Loot and deep combat |
| Elden Ring | Similar (more flexible) | Open-world freedom |
| Remnant 2 | Similar | Co-op with guns |
| Sekiro | Harder | Pure skill mastery |
| Bloodborne | Similar (aggressive) | Fast, fearless play |
A common mistake I see is treating difficulty as the only axis that matters. It isn't. The genre splits along style too, the same way the debate over whether story-driven or sandbox RPGs win out is really about taste. Match the vibe to your mood, not just the challenge to your ego.
Start with Lies of P if you want the truest Souls feel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor if you want a gentler ride, and Sekiro if you want to be humbled. Everything else is about matching style to taste.
Which of these is the easiest place to start after Dark Souls?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on normal difficulty. It keeps the Soulslike structure but softens the punishment, and the lightsaber combat is forgiving enough to ease you back in without the genre's usual brick walls.
Is Elden Ring a good first Soulslike, or should I finish Dark Souls first?
Elden Ring works fine as a first step because its open world lets you walk away from any boss and return stronger. That said, finishing Dark Souls first gives you the combat fundamentals that make Elden Ring click faster.
I loved the lonely atmosphere of Dark Souls. Which game keeps that feeling?
Lies of P and Bloodborne hold onto that quiet, isolated dread best. Skip Remnant 2 and Nioh 2 if mood matters most to you, since both lean loud, busy, and mechanical by design.
Whatever you pick next, give it the same patience you gave Dark Souls in those first frustrating hours. Every game on this list asks you to relearn something, and the joy is always in that moment when a wall you thought was impassable suddenly isn't. Go find your next Ornstein and Smough. I'll be jealous you get to meet them for the first time.
