I know that whatever happens with this list, I’m going to cop a lot of flak, and that’s fine. But as someone who’s played Souls games since day one, certain Soulslike sensibilities have changed over the years. Some haven’t, and I think there are mechanics and ideologies the genre desperately needs to veer away from. This is my call for Soulslike games to please stop.
The Souls/Soulslike/Soulsborne style of games is scarier than it sounds. Losing all your currency, enemies respawning, and tough bosses aren’t new concepts. These are decades-old design choices. Do you know what happens in Castlevania (1986 on the NES) when you die? You restart at your last checkpoint, enemies respawn, and your hearts revert to the default total—sound familiar?
However, Soulslike games are doing certain things I loathe, daresay hate. It’s a strong word, I know. On the other hand, I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, and I have some cogent evidence to sway naysayers.
Biggest Things Soulslike Games Need to Stop Doing
I’ll defend myself before the criticism begins: I have completed every FromSoftware Souls game, the Nioh franchise, Wo Long, Lies of P, The First Berserker: Khazan, and I could go on. I have a wealth of experience in the genre, and I want these games to be soul-crushingly hard.
You’ll probably disagree with many of these views, but at the very least, these are key areas we could streamline to broaden the genre’s inclusivity and mainstream appeal and improve them.
Ambiguous Stats & Descriptions
Strength, HP, and Stamina are easy to understand. You start throwing Dexterity, Faith, Humanity, Arcane, Spirit, and a litany of other unclear-sounding attributes into the mix, and the fog becomes increasingly hazy already. It’s easier to work out for experienced players, but unless you provide full tutorials, newbies will struggle.
‘Soft Caps’ and ‘Hard Caps’ are also foreign unless you see the numbers begin to drop off, and when every Souls game under the sun uses different scaling systems, there’s a lot to remember. Having to consult the internet every five seconds is good for site traffic, but it doesn’t do much to enrich the player experience.
Stats and Items could focus on clear-cut meanings and explanations, and Souls titles must provide a stacked in-game glossary defining every term.
Every Boss is a Tank
I’m going to single out the odd game here and there, and while I think The First Berserker: Khazan will likely end up being my favorite Souls game of 2025, the boss HP meters are egregious. Beating a boss can take an hour or two in actuality, but the fight itself should be two to four minutes?
Some of Khazan’s fights took me well into the five to ten-minute range. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you need to lock in and be perfect, this is a long time. Also, once you’ve seen all the moves, sometimes, it’s a case of going through the motions. Many bosses (in Khazan and other Souls games) have lots of HP for the sake of it. This should be reserved for big bosses, perhaps crucial to the important narrative?
A fast-paced but tricky one-minute fight would be more memorable.
Millions of Useless Gear
This is a ‘Team Ninja’ gripe if ever there was one. What’s the point of enemies and mobs dropping tons of loot if it’s worthless? Yes, it can be repurposed and sold to improve existing gear, but it defeats the feeling of earning the equipment. Borderlands has gazillions of guns, but how many do you end up actually using?
I think this is something Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has gotten spot on. The weapon pool is small, as is the depth and complexity of the options. But it makes your upgrade decisions and Skill Tree dilemmas all the more important. Acquiring new gear genuinely feels satisfying and can give you a new way to attack or increase your defence in a meaningful way.
Multiple Phases Ad Nauseam
We all remember how we felt when we brutally decapitated Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s Guardian Ape for the first time and “Shinobi Execution” popped up on the screen. If you ignored the sneaky fog wall hanging around, chances are you were shocked when the lumbering creature woke up from its brief slumber and challenged you to a game of who’s got the bigger knife.
Unfortunately, once it’s been done, future imitations pale in comparison. Elden Ring’s The Scadutree Avatar cleverly came back for a third helping, which I appreciated, but too many Souls games rely on multiple phases for difficulty—it’s boring, and a slog. Khazan’s original Viper fight is one of the biggest early-game difficulty spikes in recent memory—to the point it was nerfed.
I’d like developers to normalize having one phase, but making it memorable. Sometimes multi-phase fights work, but not always.
Obtuse Storytelling
I’ll confess, I spent half of Black Myth: Wukong not having a clue what was going on. It feels that if Chinese mythology isn’t entrenched in your brain, it’s a struggle. I’ll even go as far as saying that FromSoftware doesn’t always get it right, and later games do a great job of establishing the initial premise, but unless you read every book, exhaust every line of dialogue, and keep up with the untrackable side quests, it can be an exercise in futility I reserve for Google searches and Wikis readings.
I think Lies of P’s world-building and constant hub interactions are perfect. The tale unfolds so naturally and flows so smoothly that I felt informed and understood almost everything happening. Newer Souls games are leaning into the pretentiousness element too much—simple cutscenes and engaging and coherent discourse are all you need sometimes.
Traveling Far For a Boss / Elevators
I’m ending this list with probably my biggest gripe. If you’re a Soulslike developer, you know full well I’m going to die to your incredible creation many times over. I probably need a four-digit clicker to count the efforts I’ve needed for certain bosses. But I stress this vehemently, I enjoy the experience. Learning movesets, studying a boss’ subtle nuances, figuring out the optimal windows to deal damage, etc.
So why are you making me hike to Mordor to face the boss? Honestly, Elden Ring’s Stakes of Marika is one of the biggest quality of life improvements any Souls game has implemented. When you die, you’re frustrated, and you just want to get straight back into the fight, right? You don’t want to have to circumnavigate a labyrinth, go up ten flights of stairs, and roll through 27 waves of mobs to potentially die in 30 seconds.
This is one of the finest examples of outdated Souls principles in 2025. No one wants to ride slow elevators and use the lever to send them back up, etc. Let’s be better.
There we have it, six ways to improve Souls games. Or, six reasons for you to disagree with me. Whether you agree or disagree on anything, please share your feedback with me. I’m intrigued to know what you think of my points, and what you think Souls games need to stop doing. Head to the Insider Gaming forum to leave your thoughts.
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Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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