General Gaming How Would You Rank The Various Souls-Like Games

[skillzdadirecta]

THAT YOU"VE PLAYED IN DIFFICULTY FROM EASIEST TO HARDEST

 

You don't have to have necessarily beat them but you should have played enough to get a pretty good idea of the difficulty of each game. I own pretty much ALL of them but have only put a significant amount of time into a few and beaten even fewer. Of what I've played so far, Sekiro is definitely the hardest. I'd say Lords of the Fallen was probably the easiest... I don't remember ever really hitting a wall in that game. It was probably one of the first souls like games I've beaten. Actually I beat Demon's Souls first but it was YEARS after I first bought it. Nioh seems pretty tough but I haven't played that in a bit. Bloodborne seems manageable but I have to get back into that one as well. The Surge and Dark Souls 2 seem to be on the easier side. So of the Souls games I've played here's my rankings from easiest to hardest.

 

Lords of the Fallen (Beaten)

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (Beaten)

Dark Souls 2

Bloodborne

The Surge

Demon's Souls (Beaten)

Dark Souls (beaten)

Nioh

Sekiro

 

I own Ashen and Dark Souls 3 but haven't really played them yet. I intend on picking up Code Vein and The Surge 2 at some point as well. Am i missing any? I'm currently playing through Sekiro and it is one of the toughest games I've ever played. It demands A LOT from the player and I was wondering if it's just me and where it ranks in terms of difficulty amongst gamers.

 

 

[Dodger]

Just difficulty? Hmmmm

 

Demons Souls (beaten mostly by cheese, but since it let me cheese it that makes it easy. )

Dark Souls 3 beaten

Dark Souls 2 beaten

Dark Souls beaten

Bloodborne beaten

Sekiro made me rage quit and never go back. 

 

Demons Souls you can toxic mist cheese most bosses and NPC's which I did. I want to replay it without doing that. 

Dark Souls 3 isn't too bad 

Dark Souls 2 SOTFS is only hard in the sense of they throw a million fucking enemies at you all the time

Dark Souls, I'm probably over stating since it was my first true souls experience

Bloodborne I think was just an adjustment in play style. 

[SimpleG]

I would remove Fallen Order, its got a difficulty adjustment so its the odd man out.

 

Lords of the Fallen 

Dark Souls 2

The Surge

Dark Souls 3

Nioh 1,2

Dark Souls 

Bloodborne

Demon's Souls 

 

 

Sekiro

 

Sekiro is by far and away the hardest of the list. It and DS2 has some bad enemy auto tracking.

[Bacon]

I mean, almost every Souls game gets easier for me. The more you play the better you get, so the first one was always the hardest looking back, but that doesn't reflect the actual difficulty. 

 

Anyway:

DeS

DaS

DaS2

Nioh

DaS3

BB

Sekiro

 

At least when it comes to FS titles, they do a good job at making each game harder than the last with the exception of BB and DaS3. DaS3 was easier than BB simply because DaS3 was back to form. Nioh was pretty hard at first, but it eventually became easier than half of the other titles. Also DaS2 can be the easiest game on the list if you just use magic. Shit is OP and busted which is why except for the first playthru, I have only ever used magic. 

 

Oh, also, Dark Souls 2 is fucking shit. Literal trash. I hate it more than I hate any other game I have even beaten.

 

Edit: If I were to replay all of these right now, DaS2 would probably be the hardest cuz of how much I hate and I haven't played it since the year it launched. 

[Paperclyp]

Easy

 

Demon’s Souls 

Dark Souls 3

Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls

Bloodborne

Sekiro 

 

Hard

 

Honestly all but my easiest and hardest I don’t feel particularly strong about it. I did find Dark Souls 3 pretty easy I guess. 

[Xbob42]

1 hour ago, SimpleG said:

I would remove Fallen Order, its got a difficulty adjustment so its the odd man out.

I assume you mean Lords of the Fallen? In any case, almost all of these games have difficulty adjustments, just not menu options. When you pick a sword and shield in Dark Souls, that's a difficulty adjustment. When you farm for 50 healing herbs in Demon's Souls, that's a difficulty adjustment. The more you can change the "norm" in any given fight, the more of a difficulty adjustment it is. Same with upgrading weapons and such. We like to think of these are just inherent game mechanics, but in reality they're there to make the game easier and easier, or, at the very least, keep the difficulty consistent instead of letting it get harder.

 

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

Oh, also, Dark Souls 2 is fucking shit. Literal trash. I hate it more than I hate any other game I have even beaten.

I know some people don't like Dark Souls 2 (and most put it at the bottom of their Souls-game list), but this might be the spiciest take I've seen. I found Dark Souls 2 to be perfectly fine most of the time. A few annoying things here or there, maybe not as refined as the other games, but I was never sitting there getting pissed off at it or thinking it was terrible. I beat it just as many times as I beat any other Dark Souls title.

[Bacon]

1 minute ago, Xbob42 said:

I know some people don't like Dark Souls 2, but this might be the spiciest take I've seen. I found Dark Souls 2 to be perfectly fine most of the time. A few annoying things here or there, maybe not as refined as the other games, but I was never sitting there getting pissed off at it or thinking it was terrible. I beat it just as many times as I beat any other Dark Souls title.

I can't stand the way the game feels. Like butter on ice with sand paper shoes. I can't fucking stand playing it. It just feels bad. It physically repulses me. I borrowed SOTFS, but I couldn't even make it to the first boss, the giant, because I was getting irritated from just moving my character. 

[Xbob42]

Man, I don't remember it controlling poorly at all, but I guess I also haven't played it since... Lemme check Steam here... 2016, I guess! Looks like when I got Scholars of the First Sin I put another 40 hours in an beat it again. Now I'm curious about the movement, maybe I'll reinstall it again.

[Bacon]

11 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Man, I don't remember it controlling poorly at all, but I guess I also haven't played it since... Lemme check Steam here... 2016, I guess! Looks like when I got Scholars of the First Sin I put another 40 hours in an beat it again. Now I'm curious about the movement, maybe I'll reinstall it again.

It isn't just the movement, but also how your character swings their weapons, one handed swords especially. It may not be that bad to the majority of people, but I can't stand it. Like, I have seen people talking about this lately, but you know how there are people who have that gene that makes it so cilantro tastes like soap? Well, I have that but for Dark Souls 2. I don't even like watching people play that game on twitch. 

 

Edit: I am exaggerating a bit as I could easily beat DaS2 for $200, but I wouldn't do it for less. 

Edit 2: I would even play FF7R before I ever touched DaS2 again. 

[Paperclyp]

Something seems off about Dark Souls 2, especially if you play it back to back with 1, but I quickly adjusted to it and never noticed after the adjustment was made. 

 

I fucking love Dark Souls 2. 

[SimpleG]

49 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I assume you mean Lords of the Fallen? In any case, almost all of these games have difficulty adjustments, just not menu options. When you pick a sword and shield in Dark Souls, that's a difficulty adjustment. When you farm for 50 healing herbs in Demon's Souls, that's a difficulty adjustment. The more you can change the "norm" in any given fight, the more of a difficulty adjustment it is. Same with upgrading weapons and such. We like to think of these are just inherent game mechanics, but in reality they're there to make the game easier and easier, or, at the very least, keep the difficulty consistent instead of letting it get harder.

 

Jedi fallen order has a difficulty setting. 

[Xbob42]

People count that game as a Souls-like? Huh.

[Chris-]

DS2 definitely feels...different, compared to the other Souls games. It feels like your character/actions don’t have any weight behind them. Still, I liked it for the music and Majula alone (even though I never beat it). 

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

I assume you mean Lords of the Fallen? In any case, almost all of these games have difficulty adjustments, just not menu options. When you pick a sword and shield in Dark Souls, that's a difficulty adjustment. When you farm for 50 healing herbs in Demon's Souls, that's a difficulty adjustment. The more you can change the "norm" in any given fight, the more of a difficulty adjustment it is. Same with upgrading weapons and such. We like to think of these are just inherent game mechanics, but in reality they're there to make the game easier and easier, or, at the very least, keep the difficulty consistent instead of letting it get harder.

 

Practicing a game is a difficulty adjustment

Playing a game on a full stomach is a difficulty adjustment

Using a continue is a difficulty adjustment

Attacking an enemy is a difficulty adjustment

 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, Chris- said:

DS2 definitely feels...different, compared to the other Souls games. It feels like your character/actions don’t have any weight behind them. Still, I liked it for the music and Majula alone (even though I never beat it). 

 

It definitely feels different. I started playing it shortly after beating Dark Souls and noticed it immediately. It feels like there's frames of animation missing or something? You get over it but it's defintly noticeable. And Jedi Fallen Order is definitely a Souls Like game... maybe Souls-Like-Lite because of the adjustable difficulty but I played it on the next to hardest difficulty level and never changed it so  I count it.

[Xbob42]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Practicing a game is a difficulty adjustment

Playing a game on a full stomach is a difficulty adjustment

Using a continue is a difficulty adjustment

Attacking an enemy is a difficulty adjustment

This so spectacularly misses the point that I'm surprised you wasted your time writing up this response.

Yes, getting upgrades and filling up on items and switching to a build that makes dealing with an enemy easier is a fucking difficulty adjustment. If you don't wear armor, that makes the game harder. Which, as you might know, is a part of difficulty, and it directly changes the game itself. This is user-defined difficulty, and has been talked about at-length, it isn't some shit I just made up. If you put on a shield and go full magic in Dark Souls 1, you're picking easy mode.

Practicing does not change the game, it changes you, so that's a user adjustment, what the kids call gitting gud. This could be considered a difficulty adjustment only if you were trying to be ridiculously pedantic while making a non-point. The attacking an enemy bit doesn't even begin to make sense.

[Keyser_Soze]

If you refuse to push the A button it's a difficulty adjustment

If you refuse to level up your character it's a difficulty adjustment

If you play with no sound it's a difficulty adjustment

if you play blindfolded it's a difficulty adjustment

If you play with a steering wheel instead of a controller it's a difficulty adjustment

[skillzdadirecta]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

If you refuse to push the A button it's a difficulty adjustment

If you refuse to level up your character it's a difficulty adjustment

If you play with no sound it's a difficulty adjustment

if you play blindfolded it's a difficulty adjustment

If you play with a steering wheel instead of a controller it's a difficulty adjustment

When I was in college I used to piss my roommate off when we played Streetfighter. I used to play him with the controller in one hand, laying down on the couch, upside down. Was that a difficulty adjustment? All jokes aside, @Xbob42 has a point... your starting character you chose definitely adjusts difficulty. What's the character called that you pick in the beginning that has no weapons or armor? All he has is a lion cloth? That's for experts and makes the game harder from the outset.

[Xbob42]

3 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

If you refuse to push the A button it's a difficulty adjustment

If you refuse to level up your character it's a difficulty adjustment

If you play with no sound it's a difficulty adjustment

if you play blindfolded it's a difficulty adjustment

If you play with a steering wheel instead of a controller it's a difficulty adjustment

These are all true, though none of them are explicit options in the game like, say, being a little pyromancer.

 

Unless your implication is that the only way to adjust difficulty is when you get a big menu option? Seems kind of arbitrary.

[Keyser_Soze]

3 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

These are all true, though none of them are explicit options in the game like, say, being a little pyromancer.

 

Unless your implication is that the only way to adjust difficulty is when you get a big menu option? Seems kind of arbitrary.

 

No but what you're saying could apply to any game regardless of if a difficulty option is there or not.

 

I think what you are saying makes the game more of a challenge but the difficulty remains the same.

[Bloodporne]

Something like this maybe, these are the ones I've played at least:

 

Easier

 

The Surge

Demon's Souls

Dark Souls

Bloodborne DLC specifically

Dark Souls 3

Sekiro

 

Harder

 

And the outliers and some notes:

 

Nioh - Started tough as fucking nails for me and dropped off sharply. Enemy recycling, same level types and all basically ensured you could do half the shit in your sleep at some point. The only spots that were still really hard were basically when they decided to just throw fifty completely OP enemies into a level not designed for it. No idea how to rate this one overall. 

 

Dark Souls 2 - I never finished it and mainly found it hard because everything tracked like a homing missile and your character moved like garbage compared to DeS and DS1. I also legitimately had never been more pissed off and disappointed at a sequel so I don't have objective thoughts on it. I think I quit somewhere in that Playstation 2 looking spider canyon area. 

 

Dark Souls 3 - I often felt like bosses were semi-Bloodborne levels of aggression while I was a dude in a suit of armor. Something about its bosses and their difficulty was just obnoxious to me. I never finished it either but found it easier to rank so I put it on the list. 

 

The Surge - Also easy to rate hence on the list but a tad weird in that it's easy to get demolished in the very first level but the gear and upgrades available are actually really cool and useful and I didn't find it particularly difficult after leveling up a bit. At least I remember it that way. Also possibly my favorite Souls-like type game that's not From. 

 

Sekiro - I talked about this with skillz in another thread so I won't regurgitate it all but my first playthrough of Sekiro was unpleasant to the point I asked myself several times why I'm playing this game beyond it being the latest From game. I warmed up to it on my second and third runs but I still haven't beaten it. I always make it to the end boss and just give up after a few tries because it just seems silly to me. 

[Bjomesphat]

I haven't played any Souls clones. And I'm hoping Demon's Souls gets a remaster.

 

EASY

 

Dark Souls 3

Bloodborne

Dark Souls

Dark Souls 2

Sekiro

 

HARD

[skillzdadirecta]

So the consensus seems to be that Sekiro is the toughest Souls style game to date? Good to know.

[Slug]

FWIW Sekiro is the only one I walked away from without beating it.  And I love the Souls games.  It was just aggressively tedious to me.  All the other Souls games I enjoyed dying and learning and getting gud and exploring and all of it.  With Sekiro I think I wasn't even halfway through it when I died for the nth time because I misinterpreted this quarter-second flash of a symbol versus that quarter second flash of a symbol and realized that I had not smiled or been excited once since starting the game.  After every death in *Souls I had fun getting back to my soul puddle and trying again.  In Sekiro it just felt like a chore.

[Bjomesphat]

4 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

So the consensus seems to be that Sekiro is the toughest Souls style game to date? Good to know.

 

It's hard because there's really not much you can do except "git gud". At least in a Souls game, you can buff your stats, get better gear, summon someone, or when all else fails figure out builds to tank your way through the game. In Sekiro, you're either good or you're not. Honestly, for me it's on par with any other Souls games. I usually play Souls games armorless anyway and just rely on my skills and timing, so it wasn't a huge departure with Sekiro. But Sekiro did feel more tedious, and I ended up looking for more ways to cheese enemies than I normally would in these games.

 

I actually still haven't beaten it, not because I was stuck, life just got in the way and I had to take a break. Unfortunately that was like 6 months ago, and I don't know if it's possible to get back up to the skill level necessary for where I am in the game.

[skillzdadirecta]

5 minutes ago, Bjomesphat said:

 

It's hard because there's really not much you can do except "git gud". At least in a Souls game, you can buff your stats, get better gear, summon someone, or when all else fails figure out builds to tank your way through the game. In Sekiro, you're either good or you're not. Honestly, for me it's on par with any other Souls games. I usually play Souls games armorless anyway and just rely on my skills and timing, so it wasn't a huge departure with Sekiro. But Sekiro did feel more tedious, and I ended up looking for more ways to cheese enemies than I normally would in these games.

 

I actually still haven't beaten it, not because I was stuck, life just got in the way and I had to take a break. Unfortunately that was like 6 months ago, and I don't know if it's possible to get back up to the skill level necessary for where I am in the game.

Yes that's what i meant when I said the game demands a lot of the player. You have to actually learn how to play the game in order to advance. I know there are ways to cheese a lot of the enemies but i haven't done them to be honest. As far as picking up the game after a long layoff? Yeah i started over when I picked the game back up for this playthrough.

[Bloodporne]

Sekiro is actually the game that irks me the most in terms of me not being able to exactly put my finger on what it is that infuriates me so much about losing compared to Souls/Bloodborne. I would get irritated after a certain while but always still feel addicted to that cycle of trying just one more time. In Sekiro, I just constantly felt angry and demoralized. I eventually just dropped the game at the end boss because I realized I wasn't even sure I had actual fun putting myself through that game and that last fight just seemed like a culmination of everything I hate about it. 

[Greatoneshere]

For me, in order from easiest to hardest. It should be noted I played through with two others for most of these games, which makes them significantly easier.

 

-Dark Souls 3: it wasn't even hard. My two younger brothers and I bulldozed through the whole game just this year, and we never struggled once except for the final optional dragon boss in the DLC The Ringed City, which did prove very formidable. This game was better than Dark Souls 2 but not by much - same warp everywhere, bland level design, lacking the esoteric ambiguity of Hidetaka Miyazaki's works, and like with Dark Souls 2, it shows. Played on PC.

 

-Dark Souls 2: this wasn't hard either, my brothers and I crushed this game pretty easily two or so years ago (Scholar of the First Sin version). While I liked Majula, the entire game was pretty bland and forgettable. I don't even remember much about it, and I played it relatively recently. Played on PC.

 

-Bloodborne: again, my brothers and I pretty much crushed this game, but I will say I think the biggest adjustment is the different playstyle compared to Dark Souls. I did a second playthrough solo recently and I didn't struggle much at all, whereas I did in the first playthrough, but it was easier to deal with because of the co-op.

 

-Demon's Souls: this was my introduction of this genre, and my two younger brothers had only played Dark Souls (I hadn't yet). We all struggled, died lots of times. The level design was excellent and the enemies really felt difficult to succeed against. I really enjoyed this game and would love a remake or remaster.

 

-Dark Souls: I played this right after Demon's Souls after that was such a blast and I played with one other person (my best friend) and it was tough. It got easier as we went along but at first every door and room felt dangerous. It took awhile to progress and I remember dying many times. Once you get good gear and learn to block and parry it gets easier, but it took time. Demon's Souls was good training that helped here at least. Played this many years after it came out, but before the remaster, on PC.

 

-Sekiro: holy shit yeah this game was hard. I struggled and struggled numerous times, but the mood and ambiance and atmosphere of the game made it all very fun and enjoyable to me. I think the split second three different types of Japanese red letter symbol flashes was the only cheap thing about the game, because it was always very hard to anticipate and parry which of the three different types was flashing on the screen in that split second. Otherwise, once you learned to be patient and learn how to block, it becomes more of a fight about breaking their yellow block bar before your own, and it kind of gets easier from there with all the upgrades you get, etc. I love stealth games though and stealth helped a lot in this one. Played this on PC.

 

-Nioh: yep, for me this was the harder game, not Sekiro. I played this one solo. The base game wasn't too bad until near the end when the bosses become OP and side missions just start giving you arenas where you fight two previous OP bosses but at the same time (instead of by themselves, like the first time you fight them). Nioh is also much more of a marathon than Sekiro - I beat Sekiro in 50 hours but (after DLC) it took me 110 hours to 100% Nioh by comparison. The DLC to the game, while having much better level design, became almost stupidly hard (especially some of the side missions) that I ultimately powered through but it was almost maddening at times. The upgrades and magic and ninjutsu attacks helped immensely but this may have been one of the hardest games I've ever played. I will say though, except for some of the side missions late in the main game and in the DLC where they are throwing 2 OP bosses at you at the same time, the game always felt very fair. The combat in Nioh was pretty much buttery smooth perfection, and there are so many different ways to play. I played this on PC, and am similarly waiting for the PC port of Nioh 2 before playing that.

 

I haven't played Jedi: Fallen Order, Lords of the Fallen, or The Surge.

[Paperclyp]

3 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

So the consensus seems to be that Sekiro is the toughest Souls style game to date? Good to know.

There’s a few chances in Sekiro where it either clicks or it doesn’t click, and if it doesn’t I just don’t see how anyone could even come close to beating it. 
 

I cannot beat the final boss though. I probably haven’t given it a genuine enough try, but fuck that guy. 

[SimpleG]

48 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

For me, in order from easiest to hardest. It should be noted I played through with two others for most of these games, which makes them significantly easier.

 

-Dark Souls 3: it wasn't even hard. My two younger brothers and I bulldozed through the whole game just this year, and we never struggled once except for the final optional dragon boss in the DLC The Ringed City, which did prove very formidable. This game was better than Dark Souls 2 but not by much - same warp everywhere, bland level design, lacking the esoteric ambiguity of Hidetaka Miyazaki's works, and like with Dark Souls 2, it shows. Played on PC.

 

-Dark Souls 2: this wasn't hard either, my brothers and I crushed this game pretty easily two or so years ago (Scholar of the First Sin version). While I liked Majula, the entire game was pretty bland and forgettable. I don't even remember much about it, and I played it relatively recently. Played on PC.

 

-Bloodborne: again, my brothers and I pretty much crushed this game, but I will say I think the biggest adjustment is the different playstyle compared to Dark Souls. I did a second playthrough solo recently and I didn't struggle much at all, whereas I did in the first playthrough, but it was easier to deal with because of the co-op.

 

-Demon's Souls: this was my introduction of this genre, and my two younger brothers had only played Dark Souls (I hadn't yet). We all struggled, died lots of times. The level design was excellent and the enemies really felt difficult to succeed against. I really enjoyed this game and would love a remake or remaster.

 

-Dark Souls: I played this right after Demon's Souls after that was such a blast and I played with one other person (my best friend) and it was tough. It got easier as we went along but at first every door and room felt dangerous. It took awhile to progress and I remember dying many times. Once you get good gear and learn to block and parry it gets easier, but it took time. Demon's Souls was good training that helped here at least. Played this many years after it came out, but before the remaster, on PC.

 

-Sekiro: holy shit yeah this game was hard. I struggled and struggled numerous times, but the mood and ambiance and atmosphere of the game made it all very fun and enjoyable to me. I think the split second three different types of Japanese red letter symbol flashes was the only cheap thing about the game, because it was always very hard to anticipate and parry which of the three different types was flashing on the screen in that split second. Otherwise, once you learned to be patient and learn how to block, it becomes more of a fight about breaking their yellow block bar before your own, and it kind of gets easier from there with all the upgrades you get, etc. I love stealth games though and stealth helped a lot in this one. Played this on PC.

 

-Nioh: yep, for me this was the harder game, not Sekiro. I played this one solo. The base game wasn't too bad until near the end when the bosses become OP and side missions just start giving you arenas where you fight two previous OP bosses but at the same time (instead of by themselves, like the first time you fight them). Nioh is also much more of a marathon than Sekiro - I beat Sekiro in 50 hours but (after DLC) it took me 110 hours to 100% Nioh by comparison. The DLC to the game, while having much better level design, became almost stupidly hard (especially some of the side missions) that I ultimately powered through but it was almost maddening at times. The upgrades and magic and ninjutsu attacks helped immensely but this may have been one of the hardest games I've ever played. I will say though, except for some of the side missions late in the main game and in the DLC where they are throwing 2 OP bosses at you at the same time, the game always felt very fair. The combat in Nioh was pretty much buttery smooth perfection, and there are so many different ways to play. I played this on PC, and am similarly waiting for the PC port of Nioh 2 before playing that.

 

I haven't played Jedi: Fallen Order, Lords of the Fallen, or The Surge.

Did you co op these cause that’s a lot of “ we” beat and “we” bulldozed.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, SimpleG said:

Did you co op these cause that’s a lot of “ we” beat and “we” bulldozed.

 

Yeah - I say it right in the post - I played with my two younger brothers on most of these (except Sekiro and Nioh). 

[Bloodporne]

I haven't played DS3 DLCs as I just don't really care but I think Bloodborne's DLC bosses were probably the most legitimately hard-as-fuck and yet enjoyably challenging for me. Ludwig was an insane and amazing boss in all respects. The design, the arena, the difficulty. 

[Bacon]

Bunch a people need to git gud ITT. "Can't beat Sekiro" 

 

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

11 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Yeah - I say it right in the post - I played with my two younger brothers on most of these (except Sekiro and Nioh). 

 

It says "Brothers" before "we" so did you co-op these or not? 🤔

[Greatoneshere]

9 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It says "Brothers" before "we" so did you co-op these or not? 🤔

 

I have no idea what you're talking about, my post is quite clear.