Quick verdict: I got my souls journey wrong twice before it clicked. I started with the wrong game, quit, came back, quit again, and only found the genre's actual magic once I understood the ladder. In 2026 the answer is clearer than ever: start with Elden Ring if you want the gentlest on-ramp, Lies of P if you want a straight line, and work through the classics from there. This guide is the exact order I'd replay the genre in, built from the question everyone asks on day one.
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What Actually Makes a Game a Soulslike
Before the ladder, the definition, because half the confusion is people calling different things the same thing. A soulslike generally shares three bones:
- A stamina economy. Attacks, dodges, and blocks draw from one bar. You manage it or you die
- Checkpoint-and-recovery progression. Bonfires, Sites of Grace, whatever they're called, you lose your currency on death and get one chance to reclaim it
- Telegraph-heavy combat. Every enemy follows readable patterns. Death is a lesson with a loading screen
Everything else, the gothic castles, the cryptic lore, the mimic chests, is flavor. The three bones are the genre. Games that share them are soulslikes; games that share the atmosphere but not the mechanics are something else.
One more thing, the hardest fact for newcomers to believe: the difficulty reputation is real but overrated. These games are demanding, and they are also fair. Every death was caused by a readable mistake. That's the contract.
Tier 1: The Entry Points, Where You Should Actually Start
Three games sit at the bottom of the ladder, and they're there for different reasons:
| Game | Why it works as a first | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Elden Ring | Open world means you can always outlevel the problem. The freedom is the difficulty slider | Vast enough to be directionless. Follow the graces |
| Lies of P | Linear, story-forward, forgiving parry windows, gorgeous | Parry-focused combat demands a specific skill early |
| Jedi: Fallen Order / Survivor | Star Wars budget, difficulty settings that go real low, no currency loss on death | Lighter on the genre bones. More action-adventure |
Elden Ring is my default answer. It's the most beginner-friendly game FromSoftware has made, because the open world converts "too hard" into "go somewhere else and come back stronger." The Switch 2 Tarnished Edition (base game plus Shadow of the Erdtree, summer 2026) made it the most accessible it's ever been, and it's the biggest gateway the genre has ever had. If you can only buy one game, this is it, and our beginner's guide covers the first ten hours.
Lies of P is the pick for people who want a story and a straight path. No open world to wander, no ambiguous direction, just a Beatrix Potter horror with a parade of bosses. The catch is its parry timing, which is precise even by genre standards, and which you'll feel in the first hour.
The Jedi games are the honest answer for people who don't want a soulslike at all but want the feel. They have difficulty sliders, no death penalties to speak of, and a Star Wars skin. Purists will argue they don't count. For a first experience, that's almost the point.
Tier 2: The Classics, Where the Genre Lives
Once one of the tier 1 games clicks, the classics are the meat of the genre:
- Dark Souls 1 first, because it's the grammar book. Every genre convention, bonfires, the currency recovery, the interconnected world, originates here, and it's still the best at world design. It's dated, the combat is slower than the genre's modern pace, and that's exactly why it teaches well
- Dark Souls 3 second, because it's the same language spoken fluently. Faster combat, better bosses, linear enough to stay on rails. If DS1's age puts you off, DS3 is the acceptable skip, though you lose the reference points that make the genre make sense
- Elden Ring can fill this rung too. If you started with it, its pacing, the bosses, the freedom, is close to DS3's DNA with the volume turned up. Playing DS3 after Elden Ring feels familiar in the best way
The trap here is skipping straight to the hardest games because you finished one title. I did exactly that with Sekiro. Let me spare you.
Tier 3: The Specialists, What They Demand From You
These are the games that take one genre idea and build a whole game around it. They are not harder than the classics, they're narrower, and they punish the wrong mindset:
- Bloodborne demands aggression. There's no shield, healing is limited, and the correct response to danger is usually to press forward. If you learned to wait and block in DS1, this rewires you
- Sekiro demands rhythm. There are no builds, no stats, no weapon variety. One sword, one moveset, and a parry rhythm the whole game is built around. It's the purest action game FromSoftware has made, and the least forgiving of wrong habits
- Nioh 3 (out February 6, 2026) sits here too, on the loot side. Team Ninja's game is souls combat with Diablo loot and a stance system. It's incredible, and it's a terrible first game, because it assumes you already know the baseline
The rule for this tier: come here after you've beaten at least one classic. The specialists don't teach you the genre, they challenge your relationship with it.
Tier 4: The 2026 Newcomers, Fresh Blood
The genre's biggest release year in recent memory is already half gone:
| Game | Release | Platform | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Code Vein 2 | January 30, 2026 | PC, PS5, Xbox | Anime soulslike with companions, time-travel story |
| Nioh 3 | February 6, 2026 | PC, PS5 | Loot-driven action, stances, historical fantasy |
| Mortal Shell 2 | August 20, 2026 | PC, PS5, Xbox | The cult original's sequel, out this week |
| The Duskbloods | 2026, unconfirmed | Switch 2 only | FromSoftware's Switch 2 exclusive, blood multiplayer |
| Valor Mortis | 2026, unconfirmed | TBA | The one to watch for fall |
The 2026 wave is mostly for people already in the genre. The Duskbloods is the interesting exception for Switch 2 owners, because it's FromSoftware's first exclusive for the platform and it's PvPvE, a different mode entirely. If it's your first FromSoft game, know that it's not representative. The classics are.
The Decision Tree, Which One Is Yours
Answer these in order and the ladder picks itself:
- Do you want to wander a world or fight a sequence of bosses? Wander: Elden Ring. Sequence: Lies of P
- Do you want a story you can follow? Lies of P or Code Vein 2, both wear their narratives openly
- Do you play on Switch 2? Elden Ring Tarnished Edition, or wait for The Duskbloods if you want the new thing
- Do you want co-op from day one? Elden Ring, then Elden Ring Nightreign, the co-op roguelike spin-off
- Do you want the genre's history? Dark Souls 1, no debate
- Do you want to prove something? Sekiro. It will take that personally
Every Major Soulslike, Ranked by Entry Difficulty
The whole landscape on one table, from most forgiving to least:
| Game | Entry difficulty | Builds | Story clarity | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jedi: Fallen Order | Very low | Light | High | The curious |
| Elden Ring | Low | Deep | Low | Most people |
| Lies of P | Low-medium | Medium | High | Linear players |
| Code Vein 2 | Medium | Medium | High | Anime fans |
| Dark Souls 3 | Medium | Deep | Low | Genre students |
| Dark Souls 1 | Medium | Deep | Low | The pure experience |
| Nioh 3 | High | Very deep | Medium | Loot addicts |
| Bloodborne | High | Light | Low | Aggressive players |
| Sekiro | Very high | None | Medium | Rhythm masters |
Difficulty here is entry difficulty, the cost of the first ten hours, not the ceiling. Sekiro's ceiling is higher than most, sure. But the ranking that matters for a first game is the left column, and the left column is why Elden Ring stays the default.
Five Rules for Surviving Your First Soulslike
The genre's community wisdom, compressed to what actually saves beginners:
- Level the health stat first. Damage comes from weapon upgrades, not stat points. Health is what converts deaths into lessons
- Upgrade one weapon. Splitting materials across three weapons makes you weak with all of them
- Run away without shame. If a boss kills you in two hits, you're in the wrong place, or early. Come back stronger. That's not cheating, that's the design
- Read the room before the enemy. Every arena is staged. Look first, fight second
- Take the death tax off the table. Currency recovery means one careful retrieval negates most losses. Panic-rushing your souls back is the real death cause
None of this requires reflexes. It requires patience, and patience is trainable.
FAQ
Is Elden Ring the right first soulslike?
For most people, yes. The open world is a built-in difficulty dial, the tools, spirit summons, co-op, mounted retreat, are all available from the first hours, and the Tarnished Edition for Switch 2 lowered the hardware barrier in 2026. The only reason to skip it: you want a linear story, in which case Lies of P.
What's the hardest soulslike?
Among the major ones, Sekiro is the consensus answer, because it removes every crutch, no grinding, no builds, no summons, and demands rhythm. Bloodborne is the hardest for defensive players specifically. Nioh's high-end content, the depths of its endgame, rivals both, but that's a completionist problem, not a first-game one.
Do I need a controller?
Strongly recommended. Mouse and keyboard works on PC, and some players swear by it, but these games were designed around a controller, and the lock-on, dodging, and camera control map to one naturally. A good controller is the cheapest upgrade to your souls experience, and our controller guide covers the field.
How long does each game take?
Elden Ring runs about 50 hours for a main path and 100 plus for completion. Dark Souls 1 and 3 are each in the 30 to 50 hour band. Lies of P is roughly 30 to 40. Sekiro and Bloodborne land around 30 to 40 too. Every one of them is a month of evenings, minimum.
Can I play The Duskbloods as my first FromSoftware game?
You can, and you shouldn't. It's a multiplayer PvPvE game from FromSoftware, which means it shares the combat feel and none of the structure. Play a single-player classic first, Elden Ring or Dark Souls 3, and treat The Duskbloods as the weird cousin afterward.
I bounced off Dark Souls 1. Now what?
That's normal, it's the oldest and most patient of the classics. Try Elden Ring for the freedom, or Lies of P for the story. Both are dramatically easier to fall into in 2026, and both will teach you the same language at your own pace. The genre isn't one game, and the ladder has multiple rungs.
Related Reading
- Elden Ring Beginner's Guide (2026): 10 Things I Wish I Knew. The first ten hours, solved
- Elden Ring Nightreign: Beginner Guide & Best Builds. The co-op roguelike spin-off
- Best Games Like Elden Ring (2026): Ranked by Difficulty. The full landscape beyond the ladder
- Hollow Knight: Silksong Beginner's Guide. Souls-adjacent difficulty in 2D
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