The Best Soulslike of 2023

It’s rare that a whole new genre emerges. It’s even rarer when a new genre breaks out of its niche and becomes a significant part of the medium as a whole. But that’s exactly what has happened with Soulslikes. There’s a whole movement of games inspired by Dark Souls, and with the likes of Lords of the Fallen, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, and Lies of P arriving over the past 12 months, 2023 was the ultimate proof of that. No longer just clones riding the coattails of FromSoftware, these games have built on the Souls ruleset and bloomed into a scene all of their own. Hence, there seemed no better time than now to give Soulslike its own category for this year’s IGN awards.

For this new category we wanted to celebrate the growth and evolution of the genre but also stay true to its roots. That means an action RPG with strong character building options, challenging combat, and intricate, interconnected level design. There have been several games with really good Soulslike elements – hello, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – but the shortlist for the category was narrowed down to the games that build on the FromSoftware formula rather than blending them with other genres. Lords of the Fallen, for example, quite literally brought an imaginative new dimension to the template with its Umbral Lantern, which allows you to teleport to a parallel world. Hopping dimensions weaves not just new combat challenges but interesting environmental puzzles into the classic exploration and extermination loop.

But which Soulslike won our hearts in 2023? Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, there was one clear winner, claiming almost every vote that was cast. But not every vote. And so our runner-up is…

Runner-Up: Remnant 2

We typically think of Soulslikes as being very precise, especially in terms of level design. Every corner, staircase, and corridor has authored purpose, twisting back on itself to unlock shortcuts and winding forth into boss arenas. And so Remnant 2 is unusual in that it is procedurally generated – you can never be sure as to what world layout you’ll get. But it’s not just the levels that are random. No, the entire campaign is procedurally generated. This means you won’t even know what dimension you’ll start in – an alien forest? An opulent castle? A cavernous sci-fi planet? Only the RNG gods can know.

Within those worlds are some of the genre’s coolest boss fights, many of which demand not just skill but smarts to overcome. In fact, Remnant 2 is really into its smarts, with cryptic puzzles posed by incredibly strange NPCs hidden all over its world. One minute you’ll be blasting apart foes with its satisfying guns, and the next you’ll be solving a checkmate puzzle guarded by a stoic chess grandmaster.

Remnant 2’s predecessor, From The Ashes, was frequently nicknamed ‘Dark Souls with guns’ thanks to its blend of FromSoft sensibilities and looter-shooter combat. But Remnant 2 turns that first draft into a challenging, satisfying co-op shooter that has its own unique sense of mystery and discovery. In terms of showing the Soulslike genre’s range, this is undoubtedly the year’s best example.

Winner: Lies of P

No other Soulslike outside of FromSoftware’s own games has experienced excitement quite like Lies of P. It was one of the most anticipated games of the year and absolutely delivered on all its promises. With razor-sharp combat, fantastic level design, an innovative weapon crafting system, and absolutely stellar art direction, Lies of P is an outstanding effort from Korean developer Neowiz.

Much of the excitement for Lies of P originated in its Bloodborne-like aesthetic, but to call it an unofficial Bloodborne sequel is to do it an injustice. Yes, the Victorian vibes of the city has echoes of Yarnham and its design had the same sense of precision engineering, but the streets of Krat are home to a Soulslike that has plenty of its own personality.

Chief among its personal triumphs are the puppet enemies, which revel gleefully in the nightmare fuel designs of turn-of-the-century marionettes and ventriloquist dummies. Their unsettling movements keep the horror of traditional Souls games alive without resorting to hell pit monstrosities (although there are a few grotesque creatures to be found). There’s a strong range of regular enemies that each provide their own challenges, but it’s in Lies of P’s boss fights that you’ll find the most stunning designs – provided you can survive through the double health bars that the game’s toughest foes frequently benefit from.

Those fights are a thrill to master largely thanks to a honed combat system that rewards perfect parries and dodges. It’s also wonderfully flexible thanks to a weapon crafting system that allows you to piece together different handles and blades to create tools suited to the beast you’re fighting. On top of that, elemental grindstones coat weapons with flames, electricity, acid, and more to exploit enemy weaknesses. And then there’s the Legion – a mechanical arm that can be outfitted with a grappling hook, a flamethrower, a shield, and even a missile launcher. All this allows for a very flexible protagonist who can be tweaked and recalibrated to suit any situation the city throws at you.

That protagonist brings us to the fairy tale at the heart of the game – P is the human-aspiring puppet attempting to survive his way through a deliciously dark retelling of Pinnochio. Perhaps against all odds, this has formed a great basis for a story that is cryptic in all the right Soulslike ways. New renditions of the Blue Fairy and Gepetto drop mysterious hints to the wider tale as you push your way through the story, which spirals into darker and darker places the closer you draw to the finale. And, true to the original story, you’ll need to grapple with your own morality. Your approach to the truth will adjust the course of the story and lead to one of three very different endings. Only through careful consideration of the cost of lying can you reach your goal of becoming a real boy.

The combination of precise combat, stunning level design, cryptic storytelling, and fantastic RPG buildcraft makes Lies of P a Soulslike that can hold a candle to FromSoftware’s own legendary games. If that doesn’t make it the best Soulslike of 2023, then we don’t know what does.

Honorable Mentions

• Lords of the Fallen
• Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty