Soulslike Games Worth Playing Just For Their Exploration

The original Dark Souls trilogy presented an ominous dark fantasy world rich with secrets and menace. As more and more developers have taken inspiration from these iconic games, players have had more grim, monster-infested worlds to explore.

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While soulslikes are mostly known for their imposing boss fights, their worlds and settings have much to offer as well. These games often have excellent environmental storytelling, as well as secret dungeons and bosses that reward an inquisitive traveller. Here are ten of the best exploration experiences a player can have in the soulslike genre.

10 Lords of the Fallen

Between Two Worlds

Lords of the Fallen, like its predecessor, is a very committed soulslike that takes heavy inspiration from the original Dark Souls trilogy. The 2023 title has a unique twist, however, in that it takes place in two worlds simultaneously. In order to defeat the dark god Adyr, the protagonist must travel between the realms of the living and the dead.

Accessing alternate worlds during one's journey opens up some new avenues for exploration. Like any good soulslike, Lords of the Fallen takes advantage of this with several optional areas and bosses. While crossing between worlds, it pays to be observant.

9 Lies of P

Prowling The Streets Of Krat

The bizarre premise of Lies of P has given way to a surprisingly excellent soulslike with a rich setting and lore. The fallen city of Krat has many surprises in store for the intrepid puppet.

The game's Bloodborne influence is readily apparent to anyone familiar with From Software's iconic gothic adventure. Much of the player's time will be spent in the dark, ruined streets of Krat. In true soulslike fashion, Pinocchio will be able to find plenty of secrets and twists by carefully patrolling the robot-infested roads and buildings of this decaying city.

8 Dark Souls 2

A Surreal Sojourn

The Dark Souls trilogy has always had a strange relationship with space and time. Even in the first game, time was falling apart, bringing warriors who lived hundreds of years apart together. Dark Souls 2 takes this a step further with the surreal kingdom of Drangleic.

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The locations in Dark Souls 2 don't make logical sense. The player can take an elevator up from the top of a tower and arrive at the ground floor of a castle surrounded by lava, for instance. This makes exploration a much more unpredictable endeavor. Players can never be fully sure what they'll find around any given corner, lending a strange, dreamlike quality to the world and a thoroughly surprising nature to the player's adventures.

7 Blasphemous 2

Taking On The Miracle

Blasphemous 2 takes a distinctive approach to the metroidvania formula by tying most of the main traversal systems to the player's arsenal of weapons. Unlocking a new sword not only opens up opportunities in combat but allows the Penitent One to access new areas and unlock secrets.

And the world of Blasphemous 2 is certainly full of secrets. Diligent exploration will yield hidden cherubs, secret nun-like creatures, and powerful new spells and altarpieces to enhance the Penitent One's combat abilities. If players hope to unlock the game's true ending, they'll have to look closely at the world around them.

6 Dark Souls 3

Plumbing The Ruins

Even by the standards of the series, the world of Dark Souls 3 is bleak. This entry covers the absolute dissolution of the Age of Fire, and the collapse of the eternal cycle that has kept the trilogy together all these years. Ruins and palaces from across the trilogy are colliding and shattering in a grand and tragic display.

The dying world of Dark Souls 3 is full of secrets and sorrows for the player to uncover. If fans take their time to explore every nook and cranny they can find some truly shocking things, like the ancient demon ruins from the first game, now buried and choked with burnt out demon corpses. Dark Souls 3 is the perfect sendoff to this iconic series, and it's rich with references and treasures.

5 Hollow Knight

Harvesting Hallownest

Hollow Knight is famous for blending the tropes of the soulslike genre with the metroidvania formula. Fittingly enough for such a combination, much of the game's lore revolves around exploration. The game takes place in a world of insects, where a mysterious and mystical set of ruins lies buried under a small town, attracting explorers and excavators looking for ancient treasures.

While the player character has their own reasons for visiting the ruins of Hallownest, exploration is still a major part of the game. Secret upgrades and collectibles are hidden behind false walls and tricky platforming challenges throughout Hollow Knight. Considering the extreme difficulty of the game's bosses, players will need to dig for every advantage they can get.

4 Bloodborne

The Secrets of Yharnam

The bloodsoaked streets of Yharnam serve as an appropriately gothic backdrop for Bloodborne, From Software's iconic cosmic horror soulslike. Like in many other soulslike games, Yharnam is deeply interconnected, with tricks and shortcuts linking areas back to the heart of the city. Clever navigation will ensure players are never lost.

As the night progresses, the situation in Yharnam gets worse and worse, and the onus is entirely on the player to discover the source of this madness. Diligent exploration will help the good hunter uncover the truth behind Yharnam's destruction and arm themselves to confront the unknown.

3 Dark Souls

Linking Anor Londo

The iconic Dark Souls brought players to the kingdom of Lordran, a once proud kingdom slowly being consumed by the undead curse. Dark Souls became an instant classic for a number of reasons, but one of the things that impressed players the most was the map design. Lordran is a fully interconnected world that players can completely map from one end to the other.

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Exploring each region in the game will discover shortcuts and alternate paths that can give players full access to the world and its map. Players don't unlock the ability to fast travel until about halfway through the game, and they can only warp to specific bonfires, so intimate knowledge of the game's interconncted world is necessary in figuring out where to go.

2 Ashen

Searching For Home

Ashen is an unconventional soulslike. It presents a simplified cel-shaded art style, in contrast to the grand, detail-rich palaces and temples of the original Dark Souls trilogy. This makes the game no less fun to explore, however. Ashen's rich open world is still full of secrets and discoveries that the player must uncover in their search for a home.

The world's passive multiplayer system means that any expedition could bring players face to face with each other, triggering new emergent encounters based entirely on mutual player choice. This dynamic multiplayer system bolsters a world already rich with dungeons and caves begging for adventure.

1 Elden Ring

Charting the Lands Between

When it comes to sheer quantity of things to discover, few games can match Elden Ring. The Lands Between is a massive realm and there are things to find across the map. The game is famous for its immense Legacy Dungeons, but caves, catacombs, and ruined settlements throughout the realm offer just as much adventure and just as many secret treasures.

The vast scope of the Lands Between is just one part of Elden Ring's immense size. An expansive network of underground cities is lurking deep below ground with even more secrets waiting to be brought to light. And, of course, the recent DLC introduced another massive region for players to explore. One could sink hundreds of hours into this massive soulslike and still not see everything there is to see.

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