The Soulslikes of gamescom 2023 Show the Genre Has Grown Up

ign.com:

In 2014, three years after FromSoftware caused an industrial quake with Dark Souls, Lords of the Fallen was released. Created by Deck13 and CI Games, it was a middling attempt at recreating the punishing magic of FromSoft’s masterpiece. In the years since it has fallen into obscurity; a largely forgotten B-tier relic from the dawn of the eighth console generation. But while Lords of the Fallen isn’t notable for its quality, it will always be an important part of gaming history. It was the first significant ‘soulslike’. An entire genre of FromSoftware copycats began here.

Almost ten years later, gamescom 2023 was the stage for a trio of important soulslike games. Spearheading the show was Black Myth: Wukong, the incredibly slick reinvention of China’s classic Journey to the West story that – based on the hugely excited audience reaction – may be the most important soulslike so far. Alongside it was Lies of P, the big hitter from last year’s gamescom, which once again proved itself as an elegant interpretation of FromSoft’s best designs. And then there was Lords of the Fallen, CI Games’ and new developer Hexworks’ follow-up to the original mainstream Dark Souls clone.

Between the three of them, it’s never been clearer as to how much the formula has evolved and flourished. No longer just an attempt to cash in on FromSoftware’s brutal-but-intricate RPG design, the soulslike is a fully-fledged genre in its own right, and a fascinating space for diverse challenges.

The new version of Lords of the Fallen is both the most traditional and most radical example of this genre growth. Across visual style, map design, enemy placement, and combat heft, it’s obvious that developer Hexworks considers Dark Souls a religious text. But