What a Soulslike is
A Soulslike is an action role-playing game that follows the design of FromSoftware's Souls series, particularly Demon's Souls from 2009 and Dark Souls from 2011. These games are known for high difficulty, deliberate and punishing combat, and worlds that reveal their stories quietly through the environment and item descriptions. The name works much like metroidvania or roguelike, describing a genre named after the games that defined it.
Deliberate, punishing combat
Combat in a Soulslike rewards patience and precision over button mashing. Attacks, dodges, and blocks all draw from a stamina meter, so players must manage their energy and choose their moments carefully. Enemies hit hard, and even ordinary foes can be deadly if approached carelessly. Learning an opponent's attack patterns and timing a dodge or parry correctly is central to surviving each encounter.
Death, checkpoints, and lost progress
Dying is expected and built into the design. Players rest at checkpoints, called bonfires in Dark Souls, which restore health but also bring most defeated enemies back to life. Defeat drops the currency used to level up and buy items where you fell, and you get one chance to return and recover it. Dying again on the way means losing it for good, which makes every journey tense.
Bosses and world design
Boss fights are the highlight of many Soulslikes: towering, demanding battles that can take many attempts to learn and overcome. The worlds are usually interconnected, with shortcuts that loop back to earlier areas and reward careful exploration. Stories are rarely told directly, so players piece together the history of the world from scattered clues, encouraging communities to share theories and discoveries.
Beyond FromSoftware
FromSoftware itself continued the formula with Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring, which brought it to a vast audience in an open world. Many other studios have built their own Soulslikes, including Nioh, Lies of P, Hollow Knight, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, applying the formula to new settings and even to two-dimensional games. The genre's influence now reaches across much of modern action game design.
The bottom line
A Soulslike is an action game built around challenging combat, stamina management, checkpoints that reset the world, and the risk of losing hard-won progress. Its difficulty is a feature rather than a flaw, turning each victory into a genuine achievement. Understanding that design explains why these games inspire both frustration and devotion, and why the formula has spread across the industry.
Related on Skillo
See also: What is a metroidvania? Explained, What is a roguelike? Explained.
Sources
Published date reflects the original event date (2026-10-24). This article is original Skillo editorial written from the sources above; facts were verified in September 2026.
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