Best Indie Soulslike Games

Highlights

• Blasphemous: A pixel-art RPG with unforgiving combat, exploration, and tough boss fights.
• White Lavender: A cute and colorful Soulslike with solid combat, inventive bosses, and a fun world to explore.
• Salt & Sanctuary: A grimy 2D Soulslike with methodical combat, dark world, and solid RPG mechanics.

Dark Souls may have started as a niche game with a cult following, but it soon grew in popularity with bigger, higher-budget entries, eventually spawning an entire sub-genre with its high difficulty curve, intuitive and strategic slow-burning combat, focus on exploration, and RPG mechanics.

While not every game that dubs itself a “Soulslike” includes everything that Dark Souls did so well, these games are reminiscent of Dark Souls in more ways than one, often taking inspiration from the game’s boss battles, hauntingly beautiful world, and (most often) its combat system.

7 Blasphemous – A Dark, Pixel-Art RPG

Steam User Rating: 90%

This side-scrolling Metroidvania may feature plenty of classic platforming action, but its unforgiving hack-and-slash combat, dark themes, focus on exploration, and tough boss fights make it a great game for fans of Dark Souls and Metroidvanias alike.

The game’s detailed pixel art makes for some fantastic visuals, and each animation is detailed enough to provide ample telegraphing and make combat feel weighty. Exploration in Blasphemous can be a little frustrating at times, with some backtracking required, but the game’s atmosphere and great boss fights make it worth playing.

6 White Lavender – A Minimalist Soulslike

Steam User Rating: 91%

This action RPG from developers Sokpop Collective, the burgeoning indie team behind games such as Stacklands, is a wonderfully cute and colorful Soulslike with warbling 3D visuals that make it a joy to look at.

White Lavender is a fairly short experience when compared to other games on this list, and it may have some balancing issues, but the game’s combat is solid, the bosses are inventive and fun to fight, and most importantly, the world is fun to explore. For fans of Soulslikes who are looking for a more lighthearted narrative, theme, and visual style, White Lavender is worth a shot.

Steam User Rating: 89%

This grimy 2D Soulslike features a uniquely dark style that won’t be for everyone, but its methodical combat, dark world, and solid RPG mechanics make it one of the best 2D Soulslike games on Steam.

Salt & Sanctuary leans hard into its Dark Souls influences, and like Dark Souls, the game can be quite challenging at times. Salt & Sanctuary’s greatest strength is arguably its solid RPG framework, allowing for a multitude of different builds and dramatically boosting the game’s replay value.

4 Thymesia – A Unique Take On The Soulslike Formula

Steam User Rating: 85%

This 3D indie Soulslike game is unique for its distinct aesthetic and thematic hook. Players take control of a plague-doctor-themed character as they attempt to recover their memories and save the Kingdom.

Thymesia also features unique combat mechanics; when players deal damage to enemies, it is dealt as “wounds,” health that can be recovered unless removed permanently through different kinds of attacks. Furthermore, players can acquire different “plague weapons” by drawing them from enemies, temporarily gaining unique abilities. Thymesia is relatively short and light on exploration, but its great atmosphere and unique combat make it a distinctive Soulslike title.

3 Titan Souls – A Short-But-Sweet Boss-Rush

Steam User Rating: 83%

This hyper-simplistic Soulslike takes the bare bones of Dark Souls combat and distills it into a fine-tuned, streamlined boss-rush game with simple and intuitive combat. Every boss in Titan Souls is large, unique, and fun to fight, which is good because fighting bosses is essentially all players will be doing.

Unlike most Soulslike games, Titan Souls doesn’t have much in between its boss fights other than some small environments visualized through great pixel art. However, for fans of Soulslike games whose favorite part of the genre is fighting bosses, Titan Souls is a short but sweet experience made just for them.

2 En Garde! – A Swashbuckling Adventure

Steam User Rating: 94%

This swashbuckling action-adventure game features a bright and colorful visual style, wonderfully realized 3D environments, and a rock-solid, intuitive combat system that revolves around parrying and making use of the environment.

En Garde! is jam-packed with fast-paced fights; the game isn’t afraid to throw multiple enemies at the player, and does so often, forcing them to get creative and use the environment to their advantage. While the game’s combat and overall feel are certainly reminiscent of games like Dark Souls, En Garde! is light on the exploration and RPG elements that are so often a part of this genre. However, for those who are looking for Soulslike combat in an action-adventure setting, En Garde! is the perfect choice.

1 Hollow Knight – A Metroidvania Soulslike All About Bugs

Steam User Rating: 97%

This 2D, bug-themed Metroidvania has players exploring an underground world populated by an ancient and decaying community of bugs and insects. Hollow Knight borrows ideas and themes from the narrative of Dark Souls and combines them with its charming bug-theme to create a haunting, contemplative atmosphere.

Hollow Knight’s world is a joy to explore, in part thanks to its Metroidvania structure, but fans of Dark Souls will get similar feelings when unlocking shortcuts and gaining access to exciting new areas. Hollow Knight also features stand-out NPCs with strong personalities, and spotting a familiar face throughout the journey is a consistent reward for exploring. Hollow Knight’s combat is somewhat simplistic when compared to other, more RPG-focused Soulslike games, but for those who haven’t given it a go already, Hollow Knight is an experience that shouldn’t be missed.

MORE: The Best Soulslike Games On Nintendo Switch