BEST Soulsborne Games Ranked [According To A 1500+ Hours Veteran]

The boss battles aspect and the variety of weapons is the highlighting or even the selling point of Bloodborne. Also, the cherry on top is the landscape of the environment that the game has.

Personally, having played all FromSoftware video games in the hierarchy, starting with Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3, and then coming to Bloodborne was a profound experience. Since playing Bloodborne, I find myself continuously going back to it every year just because I miss the sheer atmosphere the game provides!

If I have to rank the Good, the Bad, and the average Soulsborne game, then Bloodborne is my top priority when it comes to ranking the best of the best in the league. Despite releasing in 2015, the grind, enemy design, unique weapons with signature changing weapon types, usage of tools, level traversal, and other similar small details all play a message part in making Bloodborne one of the best Soulsborne games.

If you ask me, Sekiro was by far the most brutal soulsborne game the developers have ever released. I had the hardest time settling into Sekiro as compared to all the other Soulslike games. They dropped the character leveling and the coop experience, the two features that gave most soulsborne games an easy mode. 

For better or worse, Sekiro is the best work of FromSoftware developers from the story, combat mechanics, world theme, and impact of having unique gear in the arsenal. Sekiro was released back in 2019, and even if you play it for the first time today or revisit the game again, you will have a hard time adjusting to the combat of the game as it deviates from most FromSoftware video games. 

There is a steady learning curve associated with the playstyle of Sekiro, one that is easy to forget if you keep playing the rest of FromSoftware’s catalog. As mentioned earlier, this is by far one of the top reasons why most hardcore players of this genre think that Sekiro is a great soulsborne game.

This game is not the only brainchild of Hidetaka Miyazaki, but George R. R. Martin also got to plant his seeds in the development of the game’s story, world design, boss names, and much more. It is probably one of the many reasons that Elden Ring feels like a much more detailed and polished take in the Soulsborne genre.

The easy-to-spot feature that makes Elden Ring stand out from the rest of previously released Soulsborne games, exclusive or not, is the open-world design of the game. Just one look at the in-game design of Elden Ring, and you’ll immediately realize how big, interconnected, and full of small side-quests the game’s world is created for the players to engage and play for countless hours.

Like most Soulsborne games, I have played more than 100 hours of Elden Ring as well, and the sheer amount of exploration, replay value, and the feeling to discover it all never ceases. From a player’s perspective, I think FromSoftware ticked all the boxes and knew exactly what players wanted from the next Hidetaka Miyazaki video game the company delivered. As far as world design, graphics, and lore are concerned, Elden Ring might just be the best game ever!

Re-released 11 years later than the first release of the game, Demon’s Souls Remake is basically a revamped version of the original title and applies a whole new layer of graphical enhancement on top of the core gameplay combat mechanics lore, enemy and boss designs, and much more.  

The graphical enhancement of Demon’s Souls Remake is not the only reason to experience this title. Still, the number of bugs, clunkiness in combat, and several other issues are irked out in the remake version of the game.  

So, for many players out there, the original Demon’s Souls is probably the best soulslike game ever, mainly because they get to experience the genre firsthand, have to learn the learning curve of the game, and triumph over the bosses.

However, to me, the Demon’s Souls remake is still one of the massive, dynamic, and intriguing gameplay experiences that simply is much better than the Dark Souls series, and that is why I think this title is the fourth-best title.

It was Demon’s Souls that gave birth to the Soulsborne formula, but I think Dark Souls was the first game that had an influence on the video game industry into making more Soulsborne clones that I see today. Part of the reason was the multi-platform release of the game, which allowed players of Xbox and PC along with PlayStation 3 to experience Hidetaka Miyazaki’s new video game genre. 

Regardless of the multi-platform approach, Dark Souls 1 is still one of the best Dark Souls and Soulsborne games when it comes to world design, dynamic NPCs, unique boss battles and designs, and much more. Sure, there are tons of downsides that the game has due to hardware limitations at the time it was released.

However, the replayability, exploration, and approach to progress the linear story of the game is unmatched when you compare Dark Souls with Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3.

Moreover, players who played Dark Souls 1 would simply term Dark Souls 3 as an elder sibling of the franchise because the game does the same as the first one did, only bigger and better. Dark Souls 3 features a larger gameplay world, expansive weapon choices, boss battles, tons of side missions, dynamic NPCs, both hostile and friendly, and much more.

For me, Dark Souls 3 stands out as the best title in the series for sure. Don’t get me wrong DS1 was amazing, however, DS3 just had that extra bit of lore, challenge, and world size that lured me deeper and deeper into the game.

So, if you’re to highlight the best Dark Souls or Soulsborne video game that shares elements of the first game but still delivers much more than that, then Dark Souls 3 will come first to your mind. Also, the co-op experience of Dark Souls 3 was made much better than the first two games, and I think it increased the replay value of the game as you can always play the game with strangers or friends via jolly cooperation.

First, the change in combat, character movement, and hitbox design were lackluster and underwhelming. Of course, the new additions are always welcomed in video games, but only if they comprehend the existing system of a game engine. This was not the case with Dark Souls 2, and that is where the core problem was. 

Secondly, the graphic design was a tad bit better than Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls, but it was far from its roots, and the game looked and felt very different than the prequel. This reason also contributed further to making Dark Souls 2 an underwhelming or below-average soulsborne game of all time.  

While the expansive lore of the first Dark Souls paved the way for the sequel to pick things off where it ended, Dark Souls 2 deviated from the story continuation idea. Instead, a brand new story and lore were set up for Dark Souls 2, which was slightly interesting, but it could have been much more if FromSoftware had decided to continue or connect the first game’s story with the second one.

Regardless of all the core issues that made Dark Souls 2 a not-so-great Soulsborne game that most players know, this is still a FromSoftware video game and is fun to play. Even if you play for the first time the remastered version of the game containing all story DLC or revisit it again, you will find yourself hooked on the game’s story and exploration.