زاکاری گرێف نووسەری لیستە لە کۆمپانیای DualShockers کە لە ساڵی ٢٠٢١ەوە بە شێوەیەکی پیشەیی یارییەکان ڕووماڵ دەکات، یاریزانێکی تەمەن درێژە و نووسەری پێشووی کەناڵی GameRant و Fix Gaming بووە، زاکاری لە سەرانسەری هەواڵ، ڕێنمایی، چاوپێکەوتن، پێشبینی، پێداچوونەوە، تایبەتمەندی، و لیستەکاندا نووسیویەتی، کە پاشخانێکی فراوانی لە ڕۆژنامەگەری یاریکردندا هێناوەتە کارەکانی.
No matter who you are, we humans love a good bit of organization. We love fitting things into nice little boxes with labels on them, and we also love creating things that break those labels at the same time. There are plenty of video game genres that have been broken into small subgroups over the years. JRPGs are an infamous example, but we really need a roundtable on what defines a Soulslike.
If you've been around gaming spaces online, you're probably aware that a new challenging or dark fantasy game gets called a Soulslike every other week. It's all posturing and posing, because there's a lot more that goes into a Soulslike than getting skill checked at the first legitimate boss of the game.
Typically, a Soulslike game is open-world and they usually allow players to explore freely. If they run into enemies stronger than them, there's usually a way to succeed and beat them through trial and error, strategy, and careful character building. The combat thrives on the concept of dodging and waiting for openings to strike down enemies. Most lore in Soulslike games is introduced piecemeal, and prominent games like Elden Ring leave lots of room for personal interpretation.
Now that we've set the stage for a general idea of a Soulslike, let's take a look at some games that aren't Soulslikes, but may as well be in spirit.
Hang on. Demon's Souls was made in 2009. Why am I talking about a Dreamcast game from 2000? Well, because it ticks a lot of Soulslike boxes way before Dark Souls was even a thought in FromSoftware's head. Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm takes place in a fantasy realm, you mainly fight with a sword and a shield, and fighting enemies takes careful observation and attack timing. (Even if Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm was classified as a hack-and-slash RPG back in the day.)
Looking at Draconus now, after Soulslikes had become such a phenomenon in the video game industry, the resemblance feels a bit uncanny. At the same time, it's clear as day as to why this Dreamcast game fell into obscurity over the years. It's incredibly simplistic, both in design and difficulty. The camera is also so glued to your back that playing Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm actively makes me nauseous. Even with its issues, it's surprising that another game could have dominated the Soulslike conversation years ahead of its time.
Out of the games on this list, Blasphemous is one of the few games on here that wears Dark Souls inspiration on its sleeves. It certainly deserves to be called a Soulslike, but at the end of the day, Blasphemous is a Metroidvania. It's way more "-vania" than it is Metroid, unlike another game we'll get into later. And the "-vania" goes hand-in-hand with the gritty aesthetic that Blasphemous is known for and Soulslikes feel right at home in.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.dualshockers.com/games-that-are-almost-soulslikes/
