Five Games Throw Down
Over the past two or three years, fans of Soulslikes and hardcore ARPGs have faced two challenges: time and money. There are so many great games that no one can afford to buy everything, and time is an even rarer commodity. So you have to choose wisely. That’s where we come in. Using our patented rating system, we’ve compared five recent Soulslikes to determine which one is most worthy of your wallet and attention. With this week’s release of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, it’s more important than ever to be informed. Of course, ratings are subjective. But we’re right. So enjoy our first-ever Soulslike Showdown!
The Rating System
We’ve rated each game – Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Nightreign, Lies of P, WoLong Fallen Dynasty, and The First Berserker: Khazan — in six categories, each worth five points. Difficulty refers to the game played on “standard” difficulty, without the aid of summons or other players. Accessibility is how welcoming the game is to newcomers to the genre. Game Play includes combat, upgrade systems, movement, and traversal — all the stuff players actually do in the game. Presentation includes graphics, art direction, music, and audio. Story is, well, the story, the narrative, and the characters. Finally, Longevity refers to how much content there is beyond a single playthrough. A perfect game like Elden Ring would score 30 points.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
Ratings: Difficulty-4 Accessibility-2 Game Play-3Â Presentation-4 Story-3Â Longevity-4Â TOTAL SCORE: 20
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is an impressive debut from Chinese developer Leenzee. It’s visually striking, and the game’s combat and exploration can be extremely engaging. At least at launch, there are some balance issues and a few unfair mechanics that need tweaking. For Souls veterans, Wuchang is a good challenge, with imaginative boss fights. It’s not a great game for newcomers. There is no difficulty slider, and there are a lot of systems to understand. One great thing about Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is that it’s impossible to see and do everything in one playthrough. In fact, New Game+ is maybe easier and less frustrating than the first run, so it scores some points for longevity. Check out our review.
Elden Ring Nightreign
Ratings: Difficulty-4 Accessibility-2 Game Play-4 Presentation-3 Story-2 Longevity-5 TOTAL SCORE: 21
One might argue that Nightreign is not really a Soulslike, but come on. It’s a spinoff from Elden Ring, and 90% of its mechanics are carried over from the base game. Nightreign was a bit contentious at launch, but there is a large and enthusiastic community of players. Nightreign offers a unique Soulslike experience that feels both familiar and fresh. If the developers keep updating and supporting it, Nightreign has the potential for a very long life. Almost all the enemies and a great many locations are carried over from Elden Ring and other FromSoft games, but Nightreign’s bosses are new and probably the best part about it. Difficulty is hard to pin down. Played with a competent and cooperative trio, the game is well-balanced. Played solo, it can be pretty frustrating, though lots of players do it. The recycling of Elden Ring assets without any significant graphical upgrade knocks the presentation down a notch. Check out our review.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Ratings: Difficulty-4 Accessibility-3 Game Play-4 Presentation-5 Story-4 Longevity-4 TOTAL SCORE: 24
Based on the classic Chinese novel The Journey to the West, Wo Long looks fantastic and has finely-tuned action that eschews a wide range of weapons in favor of precise dodging and other powerful special moves and stances. Its bosses are tough but usually fair to fight. It’s a very linear game, however, generally without the open world or alternate paths so common to other Soulslikes.
There’s no difficulty slider, but players can adjust the challenge somewhat by summoning allies. Several DLCs have added engaging new content since their release. The casual gamer might mistake its similar setting for Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (or vice versa), and there are similarities. In the end, Wo Long looks sharper and has fewer undercooked systems. Check out our review.
Lies of P
Ratings: Difficulty-4 Accessibility-4 Game Play-4 Presentation-5 Story-5 Longevity-4 TOTAL SCORE: 26
Lies of P stands out in a number of ways. Based loosely on the Pinocchio character and set in a vaguely steampunk version of 19th-century Europe, it’s a refreshing change from the usual Soulslike dark fantasy world. Aside from the memorable characters, Lies of P looks great and has an incredibly evocative musical score. Lies of P’s baseline difficulty is plenty challenging, but it’s friendly to newcomers, too. The game includes both summonable allies and an “easy” mode. Combat is heavily focused on perfect parries, and there is a unique modular weapon system that allows for great customization. Both Lies of P and The First Berserker: Khazan allow players to reclaim their XP before each run at the boss. Recent DLC helped extend the game’s longevity. The biggest gripe about Lies of P might be some annoying bosses. We’re looking at you, Green Monster of the Swamp. Check out our review.
The First Berserker: Khazan
Ratings: Difficulty-4 Accessibility-5 Game Play-5 Presentation-4 Story-4 Longevity-4 TOTAL SCORE: 26
The First Berserker: Khazan is based on the universe of Dungeon Fighter Online, though you certainly don’t need familiarity with the MMORPG to enjoy Khazan. The First Berserker: Khazan has a unique, anime-meets-dark-fantasy art style that helps it stand out. But that’s just window dressing. The heart of Khazan is its brutal Soulslike combat.
It doesn’t stray too far from the FromSoft model, but it feels great, the game’s bosses are uniformly challenging, and the narrative is pretty good, too. The default difficulty is brutal at times, but since launch, the developers have expanded difficulty options to include an almost trivially-easy story mode. Like Lies of P, players can summon an ally that is overall pretty decent at surviving and taking some heat away from the player. Check out our review.
Honorable Mention: Lords of the Fallen (remake)
Lords of the Fallen was kind of a hot mess at launch. Tech issues and balance problems headed the list. But the developer listened to the community and made dozens of improvements and changes — including adding a new and easier difficulty option — so that the game is now remarkably better. Lords of the Fallen has a unique mechanic of letting the player dip in and out of a parallel supernatural world. Probably the game’s biggest weakness is that some of its bosses are underwhelming. The art direction, character creator, music, and world are all excellent. Fans of Soulslikes should definitely check it out. Check out our review.
Do you agree with our scores? What games did we leave out? Let us know!