A Soulslike is an action game—often an action RPG—where deliberate combat, exploratory world design and consequential failure work together to make learning central to progress. Stamina systems, dropped currency, checkpoints and bosses are familiar features, but none is required on its own; difficulty alone does not make a game a Soulslike.
What makes a game a Soulslike?
“Soulslike” is best treated as a family-resemblance label, not a formal checklist. Games associated with it commonly combine combat that rewards timing and observation, encounters players can learn, exploration built around routes and discoveries, and mistakes that carry consequences. A 2024 scholarly review of the subject describes recurring mechanics while noting that some scholarship treats Souls as an aesthetic category rather than a conventional genre (Springer Nature, “The Soulsification of video games”).
The useful question is not simply whether a game is hard. It is whether the game gives players meaningful ways to observe what happened, adapt their approach and make progress. Hidetaka Miyazaki has described FromSoftware’s goal as encouraging players to study the game, learn its patterns and use mistakes as feedback—not to make difficulty feel like unfair punishment (PlayStation Blog interview with Miyazaki).
How does Soulslike combat work?
Combat rewards deliberate decisions
Soulslike combat often asks players to read an opponent, choose when to attack or defend, and manage a limited resource such as stamina. The resource and exact moves vary by game; the shared emphasis is on committing to an action and paying attention to its timing and consequences. In a developer feature about Steelrising, the team describes studying enemy moves, managing timing, avoiding being surrounded and seeking weaknesses as parts of combat. The game also makes aggressive play build heat, which can temporarily incapacitate the player (PlayStation Blog: “Steelrising combat system explained”).
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Bosses turn attempts into lessons
A difficult enemy or boss often tests whether the player has learned its cues: when to dodge, where to stand, or when an opening is safe. Repeating an attempt without changing anything may not help; the intended loop is to notice a pattern, adjust and try again. Miyazaki describes fair difficulty as a death the player can understand: “When players are killed, and they can understand why they were killed in an instance, and it feels justified – ‘Okay, yeah, that makes sense’ – that’s the game design we’re trying to achieve.” (Game Informer interview, June 24, 2024).
How does exploration fit the genre?
Routes and details invite interpretation
Exploration may involve interconnected areas, shortcuts, hidden paths and clues embedded in places or objects. Rather than explaining every part of a world directly, a game can let players infer its history and rules from what they encounter. Miyazaki has described map and level design as guides that help players collect information and piece together their own understanding of the world (Game Informer interview, June 24, 2024).
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A Soulslike does not have to be open world
Open-world design is one way to give players freedom to explore and return to a challenge later, as Miyazaki discussed in relation to Elden Ring (PlayStation Blog interview with Miyazaki). But exploration can also work through more tightly structured, interconnected spaces. The genre label does not require a particular map shape.
Is every difficult action RPG a Soulslike?
No. High difficulty is a recognizable convention, but it is not a sufficient definition. A game can be demanding without sharing the broader combination of learnable combat, exploration and consequential failure. The distinction is how challenge functions: players should have a chance to understand what went wrong and respond with a different decision, rather than face difficulty for its own sake.
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Nor does assistance automatically disqualify a game. The developers of Steelrising describe its assist mode as a way for more players to engage with the game while keeping combat central (PlayStation Blog: “Steelrising combat system explained”).
Are stamina, checkpoints and dropped currency required?
No single mechanic is a universal requirement. Stamina or another combat resource, death-related penalties such as dropped currency, checkpoints, boss encounters, interconnected levels and environmental storytelling recur across games associated with the label. They are useful reference points, not a contract every game must satisfy. The 2024 scholarly review identifies several of these as recurring features while discussing the difficulty of drawing a strict genre boundary (Springer Nature, “The Soulsification of video games”).
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How to compare games called Soulslikes
When a game is described as a Soulslike, use these questions to see what it actually shares with the family—and where it differs:
- Combat rhythm: How much does the game reward timing, stamina or other resource management, blocking, dodging, parrying or aggression?
- Failure and recovery: What happens when the player dies, and can they work out what to do differently next time?
- World structure: Are areas interconnected, open or divided into discrete regions? How much route-finding and optional discovery does the game encourage?
- Progression and builds: How much do stats, equipment and build choices change the approach to a fight?
- Assistance: Are summons, assist settings, targeting aids or other options available to adjust friction while retaining the game’s combat focus?
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice illustrates why the label does not demand a standard RPG template. Game Informer describes its exploration, skill-based third-person combat and challenging bosses, while noting that it lacks some RPG elements such as custom characters and robust stat upgrades (Game Informer, “The Soul of Soulslike,” July 3, 2026). Another Crab’s Treasure shows another kind of variation, including a lighter tone, as discussed in the same feature.
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Sands of Aura offers a different mix: its developer feature highlights reactive combat, buildcrafting and travel through a sandsea. Its compass is designed to help players stay oriented without replacing discovery with a full minimap (Xbox Wire, February 27, 2026).
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