I’ve never played a soulslike games because they are a bit intimidating to me. Amy recommendations for soulslikes games to start on or for beginners to the genre?
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Of the ones I’ve played, Elden Ring. The biggest aid for new players being that if something’s too tough, you just go somewhere easier and come back later. The opening area has a boss roaming a field designed to teach you exactly that lesson.
I’ve also heard the magic in Elden ring makes it easier than the others. Any thoughts on that?
The magic is similar to Dark Souls 3. I don’t know that it’s any more overtuned or anything, but there’s a lot of fun in finding broken builds, and there are tons of them.
I hate other souls like games but managed my way through Elden Ring because of this and what /u/ampersandrew said about going away and coming back after exploring and leveling a bit more.
Cool. How’d you like it?
I had a great time with it (mostly) but I don’t want to play it again… If that makes any sense? Ha ha.
It’s too big. Simple as that.
You could try “Another Crab’s treasure”. It even has accessibility options to make it easier if it’s too intimidating.
Elden Ring is the best one for beginners, because if you get stuck at a boss you can just leave that area and go somewhere else. You are very rarely ever “stuck”. That is not the case with any of the other Soulsborne games.
In addition, it has spirit summons which make the game significantly easier.
And since it’s the newest one AND has a DLC coming out soon, it’s also the most played one right now. So finding other players for co-op is easy.
I also consider the bosses, on the whole, to be the easiest of all of the FROM Software games.
I second this, one of my good friends only started gaming over covid. We were all hardcore souls players and helped her get through bloodborne and ds3 but she was basically just letting us handle most of the fighting. But when ER came out she got really into it and has played through solo several times. From Software took a lot of the pain points out of the format while keeping it challenging and fresh. Elden ring also has great online, I wasn’t a huge fan of the game (I prefer Bloodborne, Sekiro and AC 6) just I spent hundreds of hours just running around the Lands Between with my friends during covid.
Yeah you’re right. I forgot to mention that with Elden Ring, FROM smoothed away a lot of the rough edges of the older games. And because of that it is much easier to get into for newer players. I’m glad your friend enjoyed it.
I’d avoid non-DS1/3/ER souls-likes to start with, because they tend not to have multiplayer.
There’s nothing wrong with summoning a friend or stranger to help you get through a difficult bit.
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I primarily game on the steam deck and I think Elden ring is one of the top played games so I’m sure it works well on that.
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If you have a PS4/5, Bloodborne has the most simplified mechanics of the From Software Souls style games.
Lies of P is fairly easy in comparison to the FromSoftware souls games but it’s still a lot of fun. Great worldbuilding and some interesting mechanics too
I found Lies of P much more challenging than any of the FromSoft games I’ve played. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for an easier introduction to the gameplay.
It’s got a huge focus on parrying, but it’s very forgiving on timing so it can be easy if you get that down. (But I’d still probably suggest starting with Elden Ring or Dark Souls 1).
I think it’s actually less forgiving on timing, just in terms of parry window number of frames. If I remember correctly, your timing just has to come towards the end of the attack animation (as opposed to FromSoft parrying which is generally closer to the beginning) I think, or I may have those reversed. On top of that though, something like dark souls 1 is much slower paced and the combat feels more give-and-take where Lies of P to me felt like parry, dodge roll for an opening and punish.
elden ring probably. like you i found souls-style games scary. i think i installed dark souls 3 and quit before getting anywhere but i managed to beat elden ring even though I did initially refund it :D
Start with the one you want to play most. That’s the one that will get you hooked. There’s so many now if you figure you don’t like it you can play another one. The feeling everyone is telling you to chase with starting at demon souls or dark souls 1 isn’t as it was back then. I play through them every other year and its fun but the grand reveal on reality has been had and is done. My favorite souls like I have played recently is Hellpoint, it can be janky and doesn’t hold your hand at all but I love it.
I say just dive into the real souls games. Like everyone else, I recommend Elden Ring or DS3 (don’t worry about skipping the first 2 games, you won’t get the story anyway, most people don’t lol).
If you insist on trying something to ease you in, I actually recommend Tales of Iron. It’s a 2D game but the combat is very souls like in the sense that it’s challenging and you have to learn enemy timing and attack patterns.
Dark Souls 1. It’s not impossible and it has some of the best level design in the genre.
How I did it may not be the best. But damn, did I feel accomplished afterwards.
I went into DS1 without any background. I only looked up things when I was 100 % stuck (I played with the broken short sword for far too long). I definitely used some summons (mainly the NPC ones), but you could also choose not to.
Beating O&S the first time after a week or so of trying was one of the best feelings ever (don’t want to spoil anything hence the vagueness).
Elden Ring is definitely more beginner-friendly, but the sheer mechanics you can learn in DS1 will help in all soulsbourne games (maybe not Sekiro).
I have not played Demon souls, so maybe that’s a better jumping off point?
I had the same experience: I played DS1 almost completely blind (I’d seen my old roommates playing it years ago so I knew some of the tricks, in a half-remembered sort of way). It was hard, and I got stuck in a few places for a really long time but wow it was extremely rewarding. Anyways I’m not that good at videogames, if you’re persistent pretty much anyone can beat dark souls 1 I think
Agreed.
No one here has mentioned Hellpoint. If you like sci-fi and/or horror elements, this may be one you want to check out. It has a big map, plenty of secrets and shortcuts, creepy lore, cool weapons and armor sets
Or even either of The Surge games. You can target individual limbs and depending on how you kill the enemy you’ll gain more experience or more resources to upgrade your gear.
Blasphemous is not too hard and has a great story. Just don’t go to the mountains first.
Elden Ring! I think they really refined the formula, made it a bit more user friendly (I started with Dark Souls and it wasn’t easy to know what to do), and is generally fun to play. Also the open world format means you can just go somewhere else if you’re stuck, not just have to bang your head against the same boss over and over. Then you just come back when you’re stronger.
Sekiro is not a bad option too, it’s a bit more like a regular game than the others. You can pause! Imagine.
I haven’t played DS2 or Demon Souls though
