The Best Souls-Bornes Ranked

I must preface this article with a disclaimer “This is my website and my opinion”. I had to get the latter out of the way for the many sensitive souls-like fans. I made thousands of YT gameplay videos surrounding these particular games and trust me, souls-like fans are super duper sensitive.

My experience with FromSoftware started with Armor Core 2 back in 2000 which was a great Playstation 2 launch title. That game was cool, smooth, had challenging mech combat and was charming. A few years later (2008) I played Ninja Blade on my Xbox 360.

The following year Demon’s Souls would release for the Playstation 3 in 2009 which pretty much hooked me on these FromSoftware Souls-Like video games. And as the saying goes, the rest was history.

What makes a great souls-like game to me is it’s challenge. A sense of accomplishment tied to overcoming odds within whatever world FromSoftware created. I won’t rank in DLCs for these games. Maybe I’ll make a DLC list at a latter date. Anyways, here’s my list of the best mainline Souls-Like FromSoftware video games I have beaten. Lets go!

8. Demon’s Souls Remake

Demon’s Souls Remake is one of the greatest Playstation console launch titles I ever played. My problem was, I already platinum the game years ago. Originality 99% of the time outweighs any and Demon’s Souls Remake was no exception.

Granted, Demon’s Souls Remake looks amazing visually with some gameplay improvements in regards to movement within it’s combat. Being pretty much a 1:1 remake of the original there isn’t much new content, if any to speak of.

I thought Bluepoint played it safe not offering that broken Archstone in the Nexus as new DLC. But yea, a really great launch title and solid as hell remake for one of the original FromSoftware Souls-Like games.

7. Dark Souls 2

I remember fans shitting on Dark Souls 2 because a different game director and team from FromSoftware developed it. Let me be clear. There are no “bad” or “terrible” Souls-Like video games in my opinion. Sure some ran and looked like shit, in this case Dark Souls 2.

Coming off of Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2 had a ton of pressure riding upon it’s shoulders. Dark Souls 2 lacked the map design, NPCs and memorable boss fights that Dark Souls had just prior. What I did like about Dark Souls 2 was the lore of the Giants and Dragons surrounding it’s gameplay.

6. Dark Souls 3

This is probably where the sensitive FromSoftware Souls-Like fans come in. First off, Dark Souls 3 was a great game. This ranking has more to do with me than the game. I didn’t have the proper time that I needed to truly explore Dark Souls 3.

I had to rush through it unfortunately. With that said, Dark Souls 3 had way better visuals, more interesting maps, boss fights, dungeons and memorable coop for me than Dark Souls 2.

Gameplay felt more fair mechanically in Dark Souls 3 compared to 2. Irithyll of the Boreal Valley and Smoldering Lake were really well designed areas that come to mind. Dark Souls 3 was more challenging even with the new special attack weapon movesets added. Story and lore were improved from Dark Souls 2 along with an overall presentation.

5. Dark Souls

I can hear it now “OMG JASON ARE YOU CRAZY WTF!!??” Let just type that Dark Souls is a special game not just in the context of this article but in general. Till this day I remember how I felt after defeating Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough solo.

I’ve beaten Dark Souls four different times including the Remaster. It’s a all time great video game that should be in everyone’s top 100 all time list. With that said as great as Dark Souls was it ranks fifth for Souls-Like games for me. Aren’t video games subjective? Yes they are my friend…yes they are.

4. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Coming in at number four “Face Me Sekiro” Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Unlike past Souls-Like games up till now in Sekiro you play a fixed protagonist Shinobi named Sekiro. Sekiro featured a bionic arm that offered new, yet a fixed gameplay variety.

The reason why Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice ranks fourth are two things mostly. It introduced the sword parrying system. Granted Bloodborne was the first true Souls-Like parry system game but that’s with your left hand gun.

Anyways, Sekiro introduced parrying which depleted enemies stamina breaking them for critical damage. I truly felt like a bad ass once I mastered the parrying in this game. It felt different from the Souls games. It was challenging and fresh.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice story was fixed which made it more coherent and easy to follow compared to the cryptic stories in most Souls-like games. If there was one boss in all these games that gave me the greatest sense of accomplishment it was Sword Saint Isshin.

3. Demon’s Souls 2009

At this point you can see how I’m ranking these games partly by emotion and not always in a logical fashion. I typed the latter because Demon’s Souls 2009 looked and ran like complete dogshit YET! I rank it numero tres just because it’s the one game that got me into the Souls-Like genre.

Granted, I remember Gamepot awarding Demon’s Souls 2009 it’s GOTY. Demon’s Souls was the first game that gave me that sense of challenge and accomplishment. I still can’t believe I platinumed this game years ago. That damn Bladestone!

2. Elden Ring

Miyazaki along with George R.R Martin created one of the greatest video games ever made. If there is one Souls-Like game that encapsulates the past greatness of FromSoftware Souls-Like games it’s Elden Ring.

I akin Elden Ring To Zelda: Breath of the Wild in that, that game encapsulated all past Zelda games into an open world masterpiece. Much like Elden Ring managed to take the best parts of each prior game and make a open world. Elden Ring is a special game and I can’t wait to play it’s Erdtree DLC. I would have rated Elden Ring numero uno if it wasn’t for some other game FromSoftware made.

1. Bloodborne

And numero uno goes to Bloodborne! Bloodborne is my favorite FromSoftware Souls-Like video game. It was love at first sight when I seen the Sawblade switch weapon revealed. The gothic settings. The Lovecraftian world building elements.

The best interconnected map design in any Souls-Like game goes to Bloodborne. The nightmare fuel creatures and boss fights. The armor and weapon designs. The memorable NPCs.

The quickstep, gun parry and aggressive nature gameplay mechanic. Elden Ring maybe the best FromSoftware game created but Bloodborne is my favorite. It’s all subjective. Like art. Thank you for reading – Jason