Soulslike

Video games
Platforms Arcade video game Game console Home console Handheld console Electronic game Audio game Electronic handheld Online game Browser game Social-network game Mobile game PC game Linux Mac Virtual reality game
Genres Action Shooter Action-adventure Adventure Casual Puzzle Role-playing Simulation Sports Racing Strategy
Lists Arcade games highest-grossing Best-selling games franchises Most-played mobile games Games considered the best Game of the Year soundtracks Negative reception Cancelled games
Development Producer Developer Designer Artist Programmer Design Level design Programming Engine AI Graphics Music Testing
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Part of a series on
Role-playing video games
Subgenres
Action RPG Looter shooter Soulslike Dungeon crawl Monster-taming MUD MMORPG Roguelike Tactical RPG Turn‑based RPG
Topics
Social interaction in MMORPGs Character creation Dialogue tree GNS theory History of Eastern RPGs History of MMORPGs History of Western RPGs Non-player character Player character Quest RPG terms Statistics Threefold model
Lists
Free MMOs MMORPGs MUDs Roguelikes RPGs TRPGs
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A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing games known for high difficulty level, large worlds filled with enemies and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. Japanese developer and publisher FromSoftware and director Hidetaka Miyazaki are largely considered to have created and established the genre, pioneering it with Demon's Souls (2009) and further popularizing with similar subsequent games, including the popular Dark Souls trilogy (2011-2016).

Games influenced by FromSoftware's works led to the adoption of the "Soulslike" name by a number of critics and developers; Soulslike games developed by FromSoftware themselves are referred to as Soulsborne, a portmanteau of their Souls-titled games and Bloodborne (2015). While the description is typically applied to action role-playing games, the core concepts of high difficulty, repeated character death driving player knowledge and mastery of the game world and pattern recognition, sparsity of save points, and giving information to the player through indirect, environmental storytelling are sometimes seen in games of very different genres, the mechanics of which are sometimes described as Soulslike.