Soulslike Games Like Elden Ring on PS5 & PS4

Why it's here: The one pick built from Elden Ring's actual world, rebuilt into a roguelike: a trio drops onto a shifting map with roughly forty minutes to scavenge, level, and fell a Nightlord before a ring of night swallows the ground. What keeps me coming back is how much tension that timer adds to ground I thought I already knew, since a ruin I'd have picked clean at my own pace becomes a gamble. The honest trade is that compressing FromSoftware's slow exploration into timed co-op sprints loses the wandering entirely. Play it for the runs, not the world.

Why it's here: The FromSoftware game Elden Ring grew out of, and the closest thing to it on this list: same director, same bonfire-to-bonfire rhythm of cautious reads and hard-won boss kills, routed through a tight linear path instead of an open field. What that focus buys is pacing, since there is no stretch of empty ground between you and the next cathedral. The honest trade is scale, and players coming straight from the Lands Between consistently flag how much smaller it feels. Start here if you want the formula distilled to its combat and its level design.

Why it's here: FromSoftware's answer to shields and cautious spacing is to remove them, and Yharnam's beast-hunt is the studio's most aggression-forward combat as a result: a rally system reclaims lost health by counterattacking, and trick weapons reshape mid-combo. The Gothic dread is why I would still send an Elden Ring player here first, since nothing else on this list commits to a mood this hard. The recurring complaint is unavoidable, though, since it remains locked at 30fps with no remaster. Go in knowing that, and the atmosphere earns it.

Why it's here: The game that laid the Souls blueprint Elden Ring later perfected, rebuilt by Bluepoint as a PS5 launch showpiece with a rerecorded orchestral score. Five self-contained realms branch off a central hub rather than opening into one world, which makes it the most structured pick here. Players consistently praise how spotless it looks and just as consistently note that 2009 design bones still show through the polish. If you want to trace the formula back to its source without playing something that looks its age, this is the one.

Why it's here: FromSoftware's strictest experiment, and it strips away everything Elden Ring hands you: no builds, no leveling past a wall, no co-op summons, just one shinobi and a single skill, deflecting a katana at the exact frame to break an enemy's posture. It is the pick I would hand to someone who wants a skill to master rather than a character to build. The recurring complaint is that anyone who leaned on stats hits a wall and stays there. Come for the purest test of timing on this list, and expect no way around it.

Why it's here: A Belle Epoque retelling of Pinocchio in which you are the puppet, built on Bloodborne-grade deflection and weapons assembled from mismatched blades and handles. It is the closest any studio outside FromSoftware has come, and the story is the reason, since the fairytale reinterpretation carries the campaign instead of leaving the work to lore dumps. Players consistently flag that a handful of bosses don't stick in memory the way the world does. If you finished Bloodborne and want the nearest thing to it, start here.

Why it's here: The deepest combat system on this list by a distance: three stances per weapon, a ki-pulse timing window, yokai Burst counters, and a Diablo-style torrent of loot Elden Ring never bothers with. It swaps the open world for tight mission-based structure, so it is the pick for systems mastery rather than wandering. Players consistently praise that depth and just as consistently flag the steep difficulty curve and repetitive level assets. Online co-op for three softens the climb. Come to master a system for a hundred hours, not to finish a story.

Why it's here: The biggest-budget spectacle on this list, a Chinese epic starring the Monkey King whose staff shifts stance mid-swing between bosses drawn from Journey to the West. It treats those fights as the actual narrative beats rather than padding between them, which is why the structure works as well as it does. Players consistently flag the invisible walls and corridor chapters as the real letdown, since the setting promises more wandering than the level design allows. Come for the boss fights, not the exploration.

Why it's here: The newest and most punishing pick here, set 800 years into the Dungeon & Fighter universe: a cel-shaded revenge quest built entirely on deflection timing and stamina discipline. There is no open world to wander, only mission-stage boss gauntlets, which makes it the most concentrated combat on this list. The honest caveat is that the relentless focus reads as grind to anyone who wanted Elden Ring's downtime between fights. If pure combat is the draw and you have already cleared Sekiro, this is the next wall.

Why it's here: The best structural idea in the genre: a lantern peels back a second, deathly realm laid over the living one, so a single map is really two, Axiom and Umbral, doubled and interlocked. For Elden Ring players chasing that sense of one vast connected world, this is the closest anyone outside FromSoftware has come. Players consistently point at bugs and underdeveloped questlines rather than the core traversal, which is the part that genuinely works. Come for the dual-world design and know the edges are still rough.

Why it's here: The soulslike that trades the sword for a rifle: checkpoint-and-punish bosses fought at range, a class-build system, and worlds procedurally rebuilt so no two campaigns share a map. It is the best co-op pick here, built from the ground up for three people rather than bolting summons onto a solo game. Players are polarized on the story itself, and the recurring complaint is a thin main plot next to genuinely strong world design. If Elden Ring's summons felt like a thin substitute for real co-op, bring friends and treat the campaign as the excuse.

Why it's here: The most approachable soulslike here, and the companion system is why: an AI partner fights alongside you, shares the aggro, and can revive you, while a Blood Code system swaps an entire class build between bosses. Anime-styled and story-forward, it courts the Elden Ring player who wants the tension without the isolation. Players consistently flag inconsistent hitboxes and one infamous confusing stretch through the Cathedral. Bring the companion and treat this as the gentler way into the genre.

Why it's here: My pick for anyone who loved Elden Ring's unguided wandering more than its bosses: a fantasy open world that refuses to smooth the way, hoarding fast travel and treating giant monsters as terrain to climb and cling to mid-fight. Its Pawns, AI companions recruited from other players' games, carry more personality than the genre usually allows. The recurring complaint is that the friction tips into frustration, and the travel is where players feel it most. If the Lands Between was the part you missed, this is the closest open world on the list.

Why it's here: The strangest pick here and the most generous: a soulslike starring a hermit crab who scavenges trash for shells, each a different weapon, across an ocean whose pollution and repossessed-shell economy hide a pointed satire. Its assist menu reaches as far as an optional one-shot gun, which makes it the obvious choice for anyone Elden Ring bounced off. The honest question players raise is whether that generosity softens the genre's core tension. If the difficulty is what stopped you, start here and ignore the purists.