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[DemWalls]

For me, Lies of P together with Lords of the Fallen (which I still have to replay after the hundreds of updates it received, so I may very well like it even more now).

To be honest, though, none of them are the complete package like From's games usually are. LoP nailed the combat and boss/encounter design, but the exploration and level design aren't great; conversely, I really liked exploring in LotF and the level and world design are excellent, while the combat as a whole is just good.

I think I have already said it, but in simple terms if a game had LoP's combat and LotF's... pretty much anything else, for me it would be up there with From's very best.

 

[DragonNCM]

Lies of Phi....sorry...P

 

[thefool]

Symphony of the Night

 

[Mhmmm 2077]

What about The Surge series? Remant? Jedi Fallen order? frickin' Another Crab's Treasure???

 

[Bartski]

I agree the surge was pretty good, especially the sequel

 

[Bartski]

I agree the surge was pretty good, especially the sequel

 

[PauloRoberto]

I really, really liked The Surge... but on a pure 'Souls-like' perspective, Lies of P should be the correct answer. If someone told me this game was done by a B-Team from From Software, I would easily believe.

 

[NeverYouMind]

If you are looking for similarity you cannot go wrong with Lords of the Fallen (2023). Lies of P (which I personally prefer to it) is closer to Bloodborne. Nioh, Nioh 2, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty are structurally and mechanically different to From's souls games. Of the whole lot I am enjoying Wo Long most. It has a dull Yellow Heaven start but really takes off once you get to the DLC and NG+ content. It allows you to do some amazingly choreographed battles with eye catching martial arts abilities. Only issues are that the average trash mob has really poor AI and some levels greatly overstay their welcome. On the plus side, the NG+ builds and nearly endless post game content are awesome.

 

[Griffon]

That's an easy one. Lies of P by a country mile.

 

[Paltheos]

I haven't played many alternatives, but my vote goes to Lies of P. I'm finishing it now for the first time, and it's pretty cleanly more creative and better than Elden Ring, which felt like an endpoint for a studio that didn't want to stray too far from the formula for their main money-maker and so just went bigger and faster, without considering if their core mechanics supported that speed. Lies of P's not perfect, or maybe I'm just bad, but most enemies don't have anime super moves that last 15 seconds that you can't do anything about. The parry addition in Lies of P is smart, the UI is the best of these games, and the game feels satisfying to play - It has that Soulslike pace down to a tee. For better or for worse, the levels are all self-contained, but Lies of P makes good if largely predictable use short of shortcuts to make the most of each level's space. Difficulty ramps up well; the game's attractive. I especially like the tapering off of soul ergo requirements for leveling, so I can still consistently level in NG+. It's clearly a game built off its predecessors, Dark Souls.

A bunch of people have said Hollow Knight. There are definitely Souls elements in the game and it's a good game ofc, but it's closer to a Metroidvania/Soulslike fusion. Not that that disqualifies the answer, but I'm personally considering purer Soulslikes.

 

[poodaddy]

The Surge 1, easily. None of those other games remotely appealed to me unfortunately, and I tried every single one of them, but I couldn't put The Surge down, just an utterly fantastic game that takes the Souls formula and does its own thing pretty effectively with it. Shame it wasn't as successful as it deserved.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Lies of P, NIOH 1 and Black Myth Wukong

 

[Pimpollo818]

P of Lies

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I absolutely hate Lies of P. It's the textbook example of what happens when a developer tries to mimic FromSoftware's magic without actually understanding what makes those games special. It feels like someone studied Bloodborne and Dark Souls frame by frame, then tried to recreate it beat for beat, but stripped of soul, nuance, and identity

Everything about it reeks of imitation. The art direction, the UI, the weight of the combat, the vague storytelling, its all lifted wholesale from FromSoftware's playbook.

The vague storytelling? Lies of P tells a story you can actually understand. Jeez, you can even (imagine that!) find NPCs in the game's world and follow their stories without having to read online forums and animal entrails to get a vague hint at their location and what makes them appear in one place instead of another. Souls storytelling has long become a parody.

And no, the weight of the combat feels way better in LoP than in any recent Souls. Not to mention, the combat feels honest, rather than a string of unpredictable attacks with no downtime in between and cheap moves programmed specifically to counter anything you may want to try to get a hit in (or, heaven forbid, heal) when the game doesn't want you to.

LoP's overall design can't compare to the sprawling areas of From's games, but this simplicity is also one of its refreshing elements compared to the absolute horror vacui of Elden Ring, where they thought recycling the same stuff dozens of times equates to good gameplay and content.

Nobody one can honestly says that a game like LoP dethrones any actual Souls games in any respect. But I see how some people could like it more than recent Souls.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Lies of P's not perfect, or maybe I'm just bad, but most enemies don't have anime super moves that last 15 seconds that you can't do anything about.

Have you fought the second phase of Overture's final boss?

 

[XERXES_89]

They're all garbage.

 

[Techno_Inked]

Nioh 2, Wo Long and Black Myth Wukong for me. Nioh 2 for the stance switching and ki pulsing and Wo Long for the satisfying parry system as well as the fast paced combat. Plus Wo Long is super well made when it comes to enemy patterns. Black Myth Wukong for the art direction and the setting. The combat is also great but the running feels a bit slow, the build variety not as diverse and the hits lack sum oomph. Considering it's Game Science's first AAA action focused game, it's pretty darn good. The areas I mentioned just need to be expanded/improved at for it to be a fantastic.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Lies of P and its not even close, its the only non from game that feels from

 

[Zacfoldor]

3 games have held up. Lords of the Fallen after the new patch. Lies of P + Xpak, and Nioh 2. Each of them bangers. I haven't played Khazan.

 

[GymWolf]

The limb mechanic in that game was great.

Not just that, the energy system for healing and shit was pretty great aswell.

And both games had great level design, first one was just a bit samey looking so it was harder to find your way.

 

[bender]

Nioh 1/2 and Lies of P are the only ones I've enjoyed. The only downside for those games is the level design. The Nioh series is the combat king and Lies of P has some novel ideas (being able to re-earn a flask through good play after all have been exhausted and the hilt/blade combination system) that other games should copy.

 

[BossLackey]

Nioh 2

Lies of P is fantastic, but Nioh and Nioh 2 have several unique mechanics and the combat is top five 3rd person action game combat. When you're firing on all cylinders, you're singing death machine with your own playstyle and cadence.

Lies of P falls woefully short in that regard.

 

[BossLackey]

Nioh 1/2 and Lies of P are the only ones I've enjoyed. The only downside for those games is the level design. The Nioh series is the combat king and Lies of P has some novel ideas (being able to re-earn a flask through good play after all have been exhausted and the hilt/blade combination system) that other games should copy.

From's level design is so utterly unmatched by literally any developer that it feels like they're sacrificing children in black magic occult shit for the advantage.

I don't understand why other teams aren't even close.

 

[El Muerto]

The Surge for me. I found the combat was extremely satisfying. Level design was excellent too. I think I enjoyed it more than Nioh to be honest.

 

[bender]

From's level design is so utterly unmatched by literally any developer that it feels like they're sacrificing children in black magic occult shit for the advantage.

I don't understand why other teams aren't even close.

I think it just goes to show that level design is super fucking difficult.

 

[NeverYouMind]

From's level design is so utterly unmatched by literally any developer that it feels like they're sacrificing children in black magic occult shit for the advantage.

I don't understand why other teams aren't even close.

Much swamp, such wow. Peak sewage!

 

[nkarafo]

Blasphemous is missing from the list.

But for me it's The Surge.

 

[Clear]

Nioh 2, but isn't really a Souls-like. Its got as much in common with Diablo or any other looter RPG as it does with FROM's stuff.

Yes the combat system is stamina-based, but there are so many ways to manipulate that its barely recognizable as the same approach
Same deal with dropping loot and XP where you die; when you autpmatically reacquire it on entering boss arenas and can entirely mitigate it happening elsewhere by stacking affixes on gear its really not the same system at all.

Add in a radically different level-based game construction, actually meaningfully different ng+ cycles, and more systems than in pretty much every FROM title from the last decade combined, you have something that is way more than its alleged inspiration.

 

[night13x]

Why isn't AI limit not on this list?

 

[OverHeat]

Stellar Blade

 

[Arsic]

Mods doing the lords work adding more titles.

You've opened a can of worms lol. Now the metroidvania guys will want hollow knight, blasphemous, etc added too. Just being unaware that lies of p will always be the correct answers.

 

[Rickyiez]

WuChang : Fallen Feathers

 

[Urban]

Maybe not the best but with the 2.0 update Lords of the fallen is very very good !