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?
I think Elden Ring would be a good place to start since it's the one that lets you customize your difficulty the most. You can use spirit summons (both other players and NPCs) and vary up the order in which you do things, so if you get stuck on something, you can go do something else and then come back with more experience and better equipment
Seconding Elden Ring. It's also going to be more active since people are hyped for the new content - which means you're more likely to get help if you need it.
It has a handful of QoL features too that'll make the learning curve more manageable
Agree. Elden Ring is the only one I've liked personally. And a big reason is being able to fuck off and go do something else if you find a boss battle or section of the game too difficult. There's so much to do and explore and check out that it didn't feel like I was "grinding" ever.
You could try "Another Crab's treasure". It even has accessibility options to make it easier if it's too intimidating.
Darksouls 1 makes the most sense, it’s where most fans started.
Dark Souls 1. It's not impossible and it has some of the best level design in the genre.
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
Demon's Souls isn't available on PC, but it is the original Soulslike game. Your best bet is to start with Dark Souls 1. They're not necessarily easy, but it is the origin to an entire genre, so I feel like those may be a better intro to Soulslike. Also, Elden Ring is too demanding - unless you have a good rig, in that case, you can pick that first. For a gothic vibe, you can go with Bloodbourne.
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.
From the posts out there, it looks like the game runs somewhere in the 30-40fps range, so the game is playable, but definitely not in the 60fps range. You may or may not like the frame-rate inconsistency, and it requires some sort of tweaking here and there.
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.
Probably Elden Ring. The nost important thing to remember when you are struggling is that the game gives you a ton of options to tackle many problems: do it in a way that makes sense to you. If that's magic, go for it. If it's carrying a bow and arrow to lure enemies, thats also good. Summoning friends? Even more fun!
You could try Animus: Stand Alone, the android version isn't available anymore but the PC, Xbox, Switch and iOS versions seem to still be available. It had a sequel called Animus: Harbinger but it seems like only the Switch and iOS versions are the only ones still available. There was also a third Animus game but Revenant is quite different from the first two.
Another game I can recommend is Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. It was only ever available for the PS2 and Xbox but it's gameplay, especially during bosses, is similar to dark souls.
There's a game called Heart & Slash which is very charming and has a soulslike streak to it. It's quite hard to beat in totality but it's enough fun that you don't mind clawing your way to the end.
Blasphemous is not too hard and has a great story. Just don’t go to the mountains first.
Elden Ring for sure. Lots of tools to help with difficulty, and you can leave and go somewhere else.
