hope you're all well! I don't normally do pinned comments about sponsors, but this feels special. Lost in Cult asked me to talk about their upcoming book Outer Wilds: Design Works, which is the most on brand sponsorship I have ever gotten in my life. If you love Outer Wilds, this book is an incredible way to celebrate it, so you should definitely give it a look: bit.ly/RazbutenOW (and if you use RAZBUTEN at checkout, you get 5% off)
I’m so glad this video exists because it discribes what I’ve been searching for around my favourite games. The progression of terraria the world of rain world the feelings those games gave me. Thank you.
I can dodge roll, i have stamina, my life refuses to feel fair and random people can pop up to help or hinder me...difficulties are everywhere but success is usually up to my actions. Is my life a souls-like?
Strangely, I played Hollow Knight on release and did not think much of it. I played DS1 last year and had an absolute blast, then proceeded to replay Hollow Knight and damn this game is great why did it not feel that way the first time ??
@@meuhtalgear Maybe your head was in a different place where you could not get as invested in the game and apreciate the details and what it made you feel (projecting)
@@testerfox6998 Both Mantis fights are really fun. For me the fights that made me feel like I was overcoming something almost impossible are : Watcher Knights, Lost Kin and Nightmare King Grimm. I also got that feeling when grinding radiant bosses in the Hall of Gods
I think you nailed it in this video. The thing that really connects the likes of Dark Souls & Rain World (and all the others mentioned) is that these games have such a strong vision for what they want to be that they don't compromise any aspect of their gameplay or design to be simpler or easier to understand. These games are happy to lose a large chunk of potential fans in the pursuit of their full potential, they happily let even the people who beat the game miss out on content, like with Tunic (there is so so much hidden behind secrets that 70%+ people probably won't see) and dark souls with illusory walls and Rain World with lore hidden in pearls etc. Obviously I think this feeling is largely just our brains trying to find links between the things we like, but I do think there is something there worth talking about. And I hope we get more games that are unapologetically true to their vision rather than trying to chase whatever the current trend is or trying to water down the experience for wider appeal.
Its very much this artful commitment to the creation process that makes these games so special couldn't agree more. In large part, games and films are very similar in that this single vision is often ignored for short-sighted efficiency, Remember when shadow of the colossus was at the forefront of the "games are art" discussion? Because shadow of the colossus is very unique and centered in its purpose, same as dark souls is.
This is the exact same reason I love Noita. Brutally difficult, stylistically unique, and it keeps the vast majority of its own content outside of the “intended” path for players to take. The experience of getting better through countless failures hits really hard in that game and pays off like crazy with great runs
I don't think making a game simple to complete and making a game that is true to the vision are mutually exclusive. Portal 2 is a great example of this. Edith Finch, Celeste, Metal Gear. I want games that are visionary and also won't make me frustrated, "reminding me of Dark Souls" shouldn't be a requirement.
I love how easy it is to hear the smile on your face when you mention Outer Wilds, that game truly is special. Not often that a game can make you feel like you've been changed in some fundamental way from the experience. I had to jump into Tunic in desperation after finishing Outer Wilds, then The Obra Dinn etc. We need more of these games, they are so important.
The youtuber Tin Sensei made a video on this kind of game, the "metroidbrainia" which i didnt finish cuz i saw a game in it (Fez) that looked cool and didnt want any spoilers. I even thought it was a new game only too look back in the middle of playing it and seeing it was over a decade old lmaoo.
I think you should call this kind of games "You-against-the-World". Because while all games present a world with some enemies or obstacles you have to overcome, in these types of games (which I would say started with Super Metroid), you feel alone against a universe that operates with it's own rules. It is not like a platformer with disconnected levels and challenges based on random enemies or spikes someone put there to give you a problem to solve. In these indifferent worlds, even the enemies seem to have created their own ecosystems and you are but a newcomer that needs to adapt to create your own space/domain and, little by little, expand it.
I'd argue in metroid you feel even more isolated/uncertain. But sm is valid. The scale of exploration gives you that pit in your stomach, that feeling where you're just a bit overwhelmed (even more in hollow knight's scale) while wanting to keep going - whereas the isolation and confusion of metroid is down to a lack of empowerment (map) and lots of identical looking rooms. When the world design reaches a point where it makes just enough sense while still feeling foreign, you're playing a great metroidvania.
This video is nuts. You just went through basically my entire top 10 games list and explained why I love them so much. I never put together the connection between these games and DS1 but it makes tons of sense.
It's insane to think that the entire dark souls series, Bloodborne & Elden Ring have released since Skyrim & Bethesda cannot get their shit together enough to even promise anything on ESVI.
I like how this is less about the physical mechanical comparison of these games to DS but instead more of the concepts of design behind it.very cool! If you are interested in something about the former I hard recommend @drewsunn video talking about what soulslikes as a genre even means. Incredible vid!
I can tell you one design philosophy thats common in most of these games: it's "design by subtraction". From Dark Souls to Shadow of the Colossus to Breath of the Wild to Rain World, it is this philosophy which I feel resonates strongly
It’s artistic cohesion, in other words. Everything in the game exists for a reason. “Design by subtraction” really is just knowing what actually matters in your game and focusing all your efforts on that.
@@thatdanjamesguy.330 But. By that logic, every great game qualifies as a souls-like. Isn't that just a generally good rhetoric for designing games? Adding meaningless stuff hurts not just the quality but the budget of any project. Age of empires 2, Devil May Cry 1 and DOOM 1&2 for example, are considered masterpieces with barely a single sliver of fat on them. There's not much more you could 'subtract' without compromising their quality.
As a german I have to say: Gothic Gothic was (propably) my first game that gave me exactly this Dark Souls feeling you're talking about and I still love it so much
I'm on the other side of the pond, and I'd agree with you. It's also one of those games I decided to play several times over, just to be with each faction and see how things went from their pov... I have high hopes for the remake that's in the works...
@@levi22es I'm sharing cuz its just a genuine fun fact, its because his hitbox is a pill and not a square, so only spot centered below him is actually stable anything off of that will slide.
The Rain World intro music coming in around 25:00 hit me different. I don't play many games, but I definitely get what you mean by giving a unique experience and a "feeling" hard to define.
For me, the Fear and Hunger games also give the dark-souls vibe, because it is predicated on cryptic lore, a world that doesn't care about you, difficult systems designed to make you consider the cost of each action, and a sense that the narrative of the game goes beyond what is shown on screen. If you haven't already given it a try, it would probably be right up your alley.
Another game i’ve experienced the same feelings is celeste. Realizing the path to finally clear a room without any help has the same cathartic feeling and after mastering all the game has to offer doing a victory lap has nether felt better. Reason why i’ve played hundreds of hours of mods to feel the same things
Interesting you mentioned Shadow of Colossus, it was made by the same creator as Ico, the game that inspired Miyazaki to drop his regular job to become a game developer
There is an interview with Miyazaki stating there would be no dark souls without Ico, made by the same team as shadow of the colossus. With an intertwined castle and simple exploration. I definitely recommend a play though.
A game that fits this for me (on top of what is in the video) is Metroid Prime. I didn’t play it until last year but the desolate and mysterious world mixed with the game’s amazing soundtrack had me fully immersed in the game. It felt like I was right back in Dark Souls being completely alone in this hostile world. Getting lost and trying to piece together what to do next was magical. Now I kind of see Metroid Prime as one of Dark Souls’ biggest inspirations, mainly in world design and storytelling, but both were incredible games that blew me away.
The way you string words together and connect them to your personal experiences and how games evoke your emotions is mesmerizing. You're an excellent creator
For me it boils down to the fact that learning through discovery is really really fun! When a game lets me explore it and figure it out I highly value it. Every game you mention here is one of my favorites because of it. I recently played a more recent major studio release and there was a tutorial telling me obvious things and NPCs announcing how mechanics work in the game even dozens of hours into it. It was grating.
I’m so glad Tunic was mentioned here, it is such a gem and absolutely worth 100%ing for all the endings and collectables. For me it’s definitely one of the most beautifully designed worlds in gaming from both a sound and visual perspective. Solid gameplay and super cool progression/exploration mechanics.
Noita was this idea with roguelikes for me That feeling of going throuhh blighttown comes up every time im going through a new area with a build thats almost complete, and every time i look in any direction with more scrutiny i find more secrets to uncover Ive been trying to play through everything without wiki help, making it an incredibly rewarding experience to find anything
This is a really interesting video to me, because I've actually played ALL of these games before coming to dark souls, and it's only THEN that it clicked that there's some sort of common vein in games that I like to play for an unclear reason. These aren't games I play in order to play with friends, theyre not there for quick and easy fun, and theyre not easy to explain or market to my friends lol. My introduction into the souls-like series was Hollow Knight, and I think that game gave me the "click" moment that then spurred me to play the dark souls games. These are all games I deeply care about, but not in a way I can rationalize as "because it's fun" like other games.
This video somehow perfectly summed up how I felt the first time I played Dark Souls. I went into the game fully expecting to not like it and drop it after maybe a few hours. I spent about an hour bashing my head against the graveyard because I just thought oh Dark Souls is supposed to be hard. Luckily a friend then pointed me in the right direction and I started making progress. Now that I was on the right track I felt Dark Souls for what made it great. Beating the enemies was fun and all but that feeling of always wondering if I am close to a new bonfire or if I should run back and spend my souls for risk of losing them will forever be my favorite part. Then the shock of finding a shortcut and realizing I was back some place I had been before. The map design was just perfect for me. No other Souls game has made me feel as strongly in this way. Maybe part of it is like what Razbuten said about other FromSoft games feeling more like an extension and that I already have the tools. I hope to find a feeling similar to how Dark Souls made me feel one day. Sometimes I feel like I am chasing that feeling. But maybe I have just been looking in the wrong places and I have to look at something I feel like I might not like but still give it a try. That is how I found Dark Souls after all.
Myst, and particularly Riven, give me the feeling he is talking about. Agreed that they helped set the template, alongside the original Zelda and Super Metroid.
I’ve been looking for a video like this ever since playing Dark Souls. I thought people didn’t feel the same way about it and only thought about the difficulty in the most basic way instead of the feeling that getting lost gives.
This is the Dark Souls of videos about games that feel like Dark Souls (but aren't like Dark Souls). I really liked the section where you talked about difficulty, for a minute there I was thinking "Doesn't this kind of contradict the 'Difficulty is Weird' video?" but then you started to clarify more that difficulty is a side effect to games with consequence and my brain instead turned to "WOAH RAZ IS COOKIN' LET'S GO!" Great video as always dawg.
Something big about the games you talked about is how much they decide to not hold your hand. They give agency to the player to get stumped, and allows them to figure out things on their own terms. So many games are too scared to do that, always giving a marker, always guiding you if you didn't think of something, in fear that you will simply drop the game for something easier. And yet every single of those games you mentioned just... let you get stuck. They embrace when the player is in a state of the unknown. They're like a parent, encouraging their kid to try again, even if it feels hopeless. I love that. I want more and more games to do that. And I'm glad more games have been doing that more ever since Dark Souls.
My dark souls is Dragon's Dogma. Both games try to give their experience meaning through friction too, just a different kind. They're not terribly hard games, instead everything needs preparation, fast travel is very limited, healing is limited, travelling during night time is more dangerous because of new threats appearing and because everything is pitch black. This results in games where every moment can be meaningful, travelling to places creates fun experiences. I have many great memories of these two games while travelling to quests. I'll never forget that time in the first one, hearing giant wings while being completely lost in the middle of the night, trying to run away from whatever it was until a dragon landed on me, the struggle finally ending long after the night was gone.
I finished Dragons Dogma 1 just last week it really is a unique game. I've just started the second game but so far I dont feel like the game has the same soul as the first idk how to explain exactly
@@meuhtalgearThe second one sadly failed to capture the same vibes that made the first one so interesting imo. Still, DDDA remains one of my favorite RPGs.
I played Getting Over It shortly after it came out in 2017, but just for a couple hours. It was when I came back to it over Christmas in 2018, over a year later, that I actually spent time with it and was able to beat it. I think it's a combination of that experience and the music and Foddy's interstitial proverbs, Getting Over It just feels so filled with joyful nostalgia for me. It's like a warm fire and spiced hot cocoa after spending a day in the snow. It's like a warm meal shared with family. It's like giving gifts and coming together to help those who need help. honestly no other game is as comforting for me.
I think a lot of what makes all these games special is them sharing old school game philosophy. Any time I’m trying to sell a friend on playing dark souls for the first time I describe it as “giving you that feeling of being a kid trying to figure out a game on your own again.” The instruction manual in Tunic being one of my favorite examples of this. The game I think back on that gave me the feeling of being helpless against learning a game world and it’s mechanics, is Morrowind. I was 12 when it released on Xbox and I had never felt so confused yet so immersed and addicted to learning a game. I’ll never forget that. And it holds a special place in my heart because of it.
For me, the similarities in the games you listed aren't the difficulty, but the exploration. The sense of discovering something new, and something unexpected. The biggest clue that difficulty, genre, or tone aren't the most important thing, is that none of the games you mentioned were similar to anything that you played previously. It seems that being a unique experience is a prerequisite to end up on your list of games with this feeling. To me, metroidvanias is really the common genre core between many of those games. Games that focus on exploration and discovery, rather than clear stories or mechanics. Games that incorporate their puzzles into the world itself, rather than having a room for puzzles and a room for bosses. It's funny you mention the early zelda games, since there's a ton of similarities between the first zelda game and the first metroid game, before we had such clearly defined genres. Hollow Knight ended up affecting me just as deeply as Dark Souls. Maybe more. There was just something so powerful about the world design, and the expectation that I was buying a cheap $15 indie game, and expecting a few hours of enjoyment, rather than the almost 40 hours I ended up getting. There's just something special about the size of the world, and the way you slowly unlock its mysteries. Although I didn't completely 100% Hollow Knight, I did beat radiance, which is pretty unusual for me. I'll drop games if I'm not enjoying them. I never actually beat Dark Souls. After finishing Anor Londo and getting half way to the end, I basically gave up. Maybe I just got burned out after finishing the bed of chaos, but I didn't find it enjoyable to bash my head into a wall to actually get to the end credits. I got the authentic Dark Souls experience. When most people talk about Dark Souls, they're usually talking about the first half. Almost no one ever mentions their feelings when they "beat" the game. The most fun part is the struggle. Tunic, though, I finished nearly 100%. I didn't finish the giant ARG at the end, but I did unlock the golden door completely by myself, which I consider to be one of my bigger gaming accomplishments. I've still got the MS Paint files with my notes and scribbles. It's rare for a game to provide enough of an incentive, hook, or reason for me to go into completionist mode. Maybe it's something about the atmosphere. The amazing OST from Lifeformed, and the feeling of sitting at the top of a snow covered mountain peak when you finally know exactly what you need to do to finish the last puzzle. When I intentionally go back to an area just to hear the music, I know that game is different. Tunic is one of those few games have given me those intense moments of confusion, but also those moments of peaceful reflection. I think that's an important part of this puzzle. Some games ask you to rush through, not ever having the time to sit back and reflect on your thoughts. The games that give you a moment to rest, relax, and contemplate are the ones that really leave a lasting impression. So many games are afraid to let you think for even a moment, because they're afraid you'll turn off the game to binge tiktok or something. That's nonsense. If your game is worth playing, it's worth thinking about. I find that if a game rushes me to get back to playing, I end up playing longer, sure, but once I turn it off I usually never go back. The games that give me time to sit and reflect between levels are usually the ones I find myself being excited to play the next day. I'm not exactly sure what the point of my rambling was, but it was nice to relive some of the best games I've played in a long long time. I'll have to discuss Outer Wilds and Nier: Automata some other time. Nier has a very similar feeling, where it's difficult to describe the genre, and it takes you through a whirlwind of emotions when you play. Plus, it's got one of the best soundtracks in gaming.
You got it 100% for me. My first playthrough of DS1 (in november 2024, when I hadn't played a soulslike before) changed how I viewed games completely and got me addicted to the genre. Thanks for making this video. Also, love how I've played like every other game you listed. I love Getting over it, Rain World, LISA, outer wilds etc. AND DISCO ELYSIUM ONE OF MY FAVS. Ok going further and ofc you mention Shadow of the Colossus. What an amazing game.
A game I had a "Dark Souls" feeling about as well was Fear and Hunger its one of the games I will remember for the rest of my life sadly while the sequel is a better game its just not the same similar to dark souls sequels
For me, a true souls-experiance is mainly one of an intimate, lonely journey through a world stacked against you. One with a strong vision and message, which refuses to ever bend or compromise in your favor, and which is internally consistent and thereby immersive - an uncaring but fair world for you to master. It doesn't have to have to have combat or a melancholic atmosphere (like a lot of soulslikes seem to focus on). Some additions I'd add to your list of wonderful masterpieces: - Fear and Hunger. It's the epitome of a hopeless, cruel "you against the world" design philosophy. - Prey, at least the early game. The feeling of being lost in a hostile, lonely, foreign spaceship, which operates under a weird but consistent set of rules, forces you to overanalyze your surroundings due to the constant danger of Mimmicks, to use ambush tactics against basically all other enemies and to constantly plan, improvize and adapt to your surroundings is amazing. When every can of soup is potentially deadly, it's a good game. - Naissance. It's not a very good game, but it's made to capture the vibes, hostile architecture and lonely journey of the manga Blame, which itself is probably the closest "souls-vibed" piece of literature I know of.
11:00 - this unlocked a memory for me. When I first got Ratchet and Clank, I had just recently lost my PS2 save cartridges. Either at a sleepover or just in the kid with divorced parents shuffle, they had disappeared. So if I wanted to play that game until the end, I had to run through it from the start, again and again, making more and more progress each time. I had the game almost a month before I had the allowance money to buy a new memory card, but I had gotten to the point where I was getting close to a 3-4 hour playthrough. I was basically learning to speed run.
been a rough day, but we'll get through it with a great video, passionately talking about things they love, for people who love the things you're talking about, thank you
i find it really interesting that every single one of my favorite games were on this list (Outer Wilds, Rain World, and Tunic) and i can really see the connection between them even though gameplay wise they're pretty different. Animal Well is also on this list for me even though im only a couple hours into it cause every time i beat a puzzle it makes me the most relieved ive ever felt
I haven’t even watched the video yet, but judging by the thumbnail I have to say I love how my favorite slugcat has been popping in all of my favorite video-essayists videos lately. Rain world is truly such a unique game that while it might not be for everyone, I think the world would be a worse place without it.
Once I caught on what was meant by "Souls-Like" I started chanting "The Long Dark" to myself "Please talk about The Long Dark". Then you mentioned the broken / destroyed setting and... yep :3 I'm not a big gamer, I haven't played Dark Souls or... I don't think I've finished any of the games you mentioned. This video really spoke to me and gave me a lot to think about. Thank you for making it.
I never understood why BlightTown is the most hated zone on DS1, just cuz of the 3D platforming scaffolding?! At least you can SEE IT from afar and can plan ahead, also my general tridimensional awareness helped me. Or was it because the frame-drop? Fortunately I did not get this in Remastered, my playstyle being more towards thorough clear than running past. The bane of MY existence was Tomb of Giants, damn pitch-black of doom.
Oh wow, thanks for making this video and putting all my thoughts in a understandable way, I always caught myself classifying some games I love as souls like and never understand why, I thought it was just my "good game" category but I had almost all the games you talked about in that category, like outter wilds, tunic and hollow knight, where there's not much in common and could not tell why they reminded me of souls, the only thing in common is how they really made me invested and created memories, you really helped me understand why
Your description of playing these titles for the first time felt so visceral and nostalgic that I can't help but agree. Experiences I'll cherish for life. ❤
I love how you mentioned some of my favorite games from this! I see the same sort of similarity in many of my favorite games as well. A game I might recommend as well, if you haven't played it before, is The Witness. It's an incredible game that I hold dear to my heart!
Slay the Spire... definitely has this vibe for me. "Embracing the failure" is huge in Slay the Spire in order to make progression. The game is difficult and unforgiving, some luck is also involved and not everything is explained. Every move you make requires consideration because literally anything could be around the corner and the unknown challenge could mean the end of your run. Super engaging and gives that sense of wonder. Love it 💕
your story about Blight Town really got me. I had it with Dark Souls 1 but also with Hollow Knight. when I was exploring Deep Nest, it was so stressful and scary, I also felt like I was going to be trapped there forever. I was so so so desperate for a bench or Stagway that when I found the house with the false bench, I didn't even hesitate to sit down and immediately get jumped by the bugs lol
I had the same experience of reflecting on nostalgic games through the lens of Souls once I was finally hooked on the series! A big one for me was Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. It checks a lot of your boxes for a 'kiddy' FF game: apocalyptic world, punishing combat, systems that are sparsely explained, secrets to find, travelling far from home and not knowing when you'll get back.. I really appreciate your take on what makes Souls special!
Oh man, the first Monster Hunter was a blast to explore! The areas, to some extent, but most of the exploration and discovery came from the game's systems. I had to grid out a massive sheet of paper to methodically try combining items 20 at a time. And so many walls to overcome! I was running around like a headless Gypceros in just the first quest against five Velociprey. And then the Yian Kut-Ku stomped me into the dirt; my first wyvern, a true rush when it finally went down! Then Rathalos, the walliest wall of them all. At first I just died; then, I could survive the fight but not defeat it in the time limit. By the time I upgraded my weapons, tools, and tactics and managed to take it down, that was it. I was prepared to hunt anything. I was a solo offline Hunter until well after I could take down the Troublesome Pair on my own. I played MH2, 3, and World after that. I'm keeping an eye on Wilds, but to be honest I'm getting tired of beating up giant damage-sponge monsters and kinda feel like I'm turning into an ecological research NPC. The crafting recipes and scoutflies remove friction, but at the cost of also removing some elements of true discovery. But it also gives the game wider appeal, which has obviously led to great success for the series.
Man I am going to have to give Rainworld another try. I bought it because you've mentioned it many times in videos and the rest of your gaming tastes have matched to mine, maybe I wasnt in the right mindset when i tried it.
I feel the same. Not for the whole list, but most of them yeah: they do have those core ideas that don't appear often but bring that feeling that I too keep chasing. In this list I'd have included The Witness, as it's also asking a lot of the player, almost fighting them at times, but each step you do manage to take feels greater as a result.
For me when I was young Metroid Prime 2 was like that (I didn't play MP1). I struggled so hard in that game for months. And the interconnection blew me away too. DS remaster gave that feeling once again but differently.
YES, THIS! You captured in this video my own experience with games like Dark souls, Minecraft and many more, those games are important pillars in who I'm today. Time and time again those games have helped me through tough and happy times, now days they feel like home. Thank you for capturing this, it is beautiful and I bet it will be very useful to help more people understand and articulate the essence of what makes this games so important and remarcable.
Dark Souls 1 is my favorite game of all time. It changed not only how I think about and engage with games, but also books. It made me willing to try books with a reputation of being difficult and confusing but rewarding like Book of the New Sun, and now Gene Wolfe is my favorite author. And it changed how I think about and deal with adversity in real life. Outer Wilds has been the only game since then that had a similar sized impact. 8 years between the release of both games. It's been 5 years since Outer Wilds. I hope I get another life changing game within the next three years.
Always a good day when Raz uploads a new video. Even better day when he mentions Outer Wilds in said video. BEST day when he's sponsored by a crazy cool OW book?!?!? Truly thriving rn
banger video and very nice game roster. I adore many of these too and cherish the memories of dark souls 1 in a similar way, great watch and thank you!
Going into Dragons Dogmas Bitterblack isle (before having experienced Dark Souls) early definitely emulated a similar kind of struggle and relief. Running into giant monsters you're not ready for, mobbed by goblins or seeing Death instakill your entire party when walking into the wrong room is like nothing else. Because of the overwhelming amount of player and party options you have, from climbing, skills, items, throwing, etc, it makes every encounter feel different and as such, your victory feeling a lot more unique from somebody elses.
your videos are amazing and its unbelivable how well convey emotion though your words. Although I haven't yet played disco elysm, rain world, lisa, or shadows of Collosis, I completely agree with what your saying. also the Lost in Cult thing looks really cool I will try to check that out.
The game that did something similar to me as the feeling you’re describing in this video is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I owned the game back when I was a child, and never got the chance to finish it. I don’t quite know how to describe the weird void feeling I have whenever I think of the game because of how important it was to me as a child despite my inability to beat it. It’s a version of nostalgia I can’t quite put into words. The somber atmosphere adds a lot to it. The game itself almost feels like someone I’ve lost but can’t quite remember properly.
For me personally A From Software developed Souls game has an atmosphere and a feel to it that most Soulslike just fail to capture. It's not just about the combat or the difficulty. There are times when it feels actually daunting for me to go and boot up DS 1 or Bloodborne. Bloodborne is my second favourite game of all time and I haven't played it in like three years. There's a stifling, foreboding atmosphere that From Soft captures with it's games that I feel that the copycats just can't replicate. That being said, I think it's time I booted up Bloodborne once again.
Honestly as soon as you started describing how you felt about dark souls my first thought was "he should really play rain world" (not seeing it was in the thumbnail lmao) and then almost the next thing you brought up was rain world. Its really one of my favorite games of all time, second only to outer wilds, which honestly is like trying to compare your best friend to your spouse: It just isnt something you can fairly rank.
Tunic honestly might be my favorite experience with a game since the first dark souls. Went into it knowing nothing, and absolutely fell in love with that little fox. And the music is perfect.
Discovery is a hell of a feeling in a communication-satured world. I love game where you discover stuff because discovering something is not something common, and often time feels unique
Feel and Hunger definitely belongs here! It absolutely falls into the category of having an environment shrouded in mystery, a want and need for exploration, and very difficult enemies, all the while you feel yourself evolving as your knowledge grows.
My favorite outer wilds moment was when I noticed the secret of the probe firing when you die or when you start the game. It was one of those aha moments that linked together all of the scattered information I had all at once
I remember when I first heard and saw disco Elysium for the first time, I had no idea what it was. Your skills talk to you? It’s mostly reading? How does it work? Then I played it and it changed how I looked at RPGs. Learning how it works and handles fail states was so satisfying. Now it seems like so many games want to draw comparisons to it.
I can't help but think that the experience you describe here is something man experienced a lot, interacting with the real world, before all of our modern conveniences made it so a device or the effort of another person or what have you is doing the work for us. Yes, civilization allows a lot of things we could never accomplish doing everything ourselves...but we lose a lot, too
I think "the word" or "that feeling" you are looking is fun. All games you have mentioned in this video are mostly about being a namless someone being droped into new world and exploring it and it is that feeling of wonder and unknown that i feel like gives weight to all these games you mentioned, simple human desire to explore the unexplored makes for a thrilling experience.
I played Dark Souls for the first time back in November 2023, and it gave me the same feelings I had playing Super Mario 64 DS for the first time when I was a kid. The obscurity and difficulty, the sense of exploration, the kind of but not really open world nature of it, it was amazing. (I know SM64 isnt anywhere near as difficult as Dark Souls, but playing it as an 8 year old, it felt about as hard as DS did as a 21 year old)
16:20 - I would like to once again mention that Breath of the Wild gives me my absolute favorite power fantasy: the idea that you can become a powerful, formidable person by exploring, collecting, problem solving, and helping people. If my stamina could increase every time I went to an escape room, or if I could make my clothes better by catching grasshoppers, that would be the dream. Sure, you can master combat and go fight Calamity Ganon with a stick and some junk you grab on the way, but you can also wander your way around a big beautiful world, taking in the sights, solving little sudokus, and making buddies and when you get to challenging the great big evil, it will be easy because you've grown from every part of the experience.
1:49 it’s funny that’s exactly how I felt when I first played Dark Souls and alot of games at that point in my life. If its too hard id just stop playing, but when i did my first complete run of the game I felt the sense of accomplishment which spurred me on to want to play more and beat the next boss. This was only maybe 1-2 years after it came out (and before 2 released) and since then i seek out a challenge more often.
I think you'd really like the game Phoenotopia: Awakening. It has really great worldbuilding, and it's HARD but in a rewarding way. It also has excellent music and a lot of exploration to do!
The feeling I and my 3 friends had so many years ago dying for 4 hours just to beat the Taurus Demon will never leave me... I could navigate the burg blindfolded and with my toes now... it really is crazy how much the souls game changed us all. I wish I could go back to that sense of wonder/frustration lol. It was the best of times.
hope you're all well! I don't normally do pinned comments about sponsors, but this feels special. Lost in Cult asked me to talk about their upcoming book Outer Wilds: Design Works, which is the most on brand sponsorship I have ever gotten in my life. If you love Outer Wilds, this book is an incredible way to celebrate it, so you should definitely give it a look: bit.ly/RazbutenOW (and if you use RAZBUTEN at checkout, you get 5% off)
Already ordered it - but yeah it looks great
Spectacular - I would never have come across this otherwise, and missing out on it would have been awful. Thanks for the coupon!
If there's one time to pin a comment about sponsors, it's this one. I had not heard about the book and will out in an order!
@@razbuten Goddamn I wish I was rich!
I’m so glad this video exists because it discribes what I’ve been searching for around my favourite games. The progression of terraria the world of rain world the feelings those games gave me. Thank you.
I can dodge roll, i have stamina, my life refuses to feel fair and random people can pop up to help or hinder me...difficulties are everywhere but success is usually up to my actions. Is my life a souls-like?
Yes
Yeah, that's why their worlds and challenges are so relatable and compelling.
yes.
Playing on permadeath tho
Permadeath+randomiser
i just know he tried to fit in outer wilds in his wedding photo
I got married before Outer Wilds came out...it is in both of my kids' newborn photos though.
You can hear him smiling when he brought it up hahahahaha
@@razbuten BOTH!? I remember when you mentioned the first one, but no clue you had a second kid already.
@razbuten new mission, trying to squeeze outer wilds in my wedding photot
By this logic my toyota corolla is a souls-like
Explain?
Razbuten already did
3 Toyota Corollas!
that’s right
By this logic, so am I in relationships
13:23 You can just HEAR how happy he is to mention Outer Wilds
His smile is contagious and we can’t even see it
1:11 Gaming essay content creation while never mentioning Dark Souls is the Dark Souls of gaming essay content creation.
lmao
that, and outer wilds
I played Hollow Knight before playing any Fromsoft game. It's pretty cool that the way you feel about Dark Souls is exactly how I feel about HK
Strangely, I played Hollow Knight on release and did not think much of it.
I played DS1 last year and had an absolute blast, then proceeded to replay Hollow Knight and damn this game is great why did it not feel that way the first time ??
I feel the exact same way
especially when fighting against the Mantis lord sisters
@@meuhtalgear Maybe your head was in a different place where you could not get as invested in the game and apreciate the details and what it made you feel (projecting)
@@testerfox6998 Both Mantis fights are really fun. For me the fights that made me feel like I was overcoming something almost impossible are : Watcher Knights, Lost Kin and Nightmare King Grimm. I also got that feeling when grinding radiant bosses in the Hall of Gods
It turns out the real Souls-like was the friends we made along the way
Making friends is kind of like Dark Souls too tbh
Next video: Games that feel like Dark Souls (that ARE Dark Souls):
#1: Dark Souls
There is also a game Called Dark Souls 2 that I think it might fit this category, too! 😅
theres this niche game that not many people know about that exactly fits into this category! i think its name was “dark souls 3”?
Dark souls remastered
theres also this very niche indie game called dark souls 3 that might fit @@IvoryMadness.
Dark Souls 2 and 3 ARE Dark Souls, but they arguably don’t FEEL like Dark Souls.
I think you nailed it in this video. The thing that really connects the likes of Dark Souls & Rain World (and all the others mentioned) is that these games have such a strong vision for what they want to be that they don't compromise any aspect of their gameplay or design to be simpler or easier to understand. These games are happy to lose a large chunk of potential fans in the pursuit of their full potential, they happily let even the people who beat the game miss out on content, like with Tunic (there is so so much hidden behind secrets that 70%+ people probably won't see) and dark souls with illusory walls and Rain World with lore hidden in pearls etc.
Obviously I think this feeling is largely just our brains trying to find links between the things we like, but I do think there is something there worth talking about. And I hope we get more games that are unapologetically true to their vision rather than trying to chase whatever the current trend is or trying to water down the experience for wider appeal.
Its very much this artful commitment to the creation process that makes these games so special couldn't agree more.
In large part, games and films are very similar in that this single vision is often ignored for short-sighted efficiency,
Remember when shadow of the colossus was at the forefront of the "games are art" discussion? Because shadow of the colossus is very unique and centered in its purpose, same as dark souls is.
Shit, it's the guy from the video!
This is the exact same reason I love Noita. Brutally difficult, stylistically unique, and it keeps the vast majority of its own content outside of the “intended” path for players to take. The experience of getting better through countless failures hits really hard in that game and pays off like crazy with great runs
I don't think making a game simple to complete and making a game that is true to the vision are mutually exclusive. Portal 2 is a great example of this. Edith Finch, Celeste, Metal Gear. I want games that are visionary and also won't make me frustrated, "reminding me of Dark Souls" shouldn't be a requirement.
8:38 “ In it, you aren’t shit, but with enough time, you might be.”
I assure you, I most definitely am shit.
Eventually, you become *the* shit
I love how easy it is to hear the smile on your face when you mention Outer Wilds, that game truly is special.
Not often that a game can make you feel like you've been changed in some fundamental way from the experience.
I had to jump into Tunic in desperation after finishing Outer Wilds, then The Obra Dinn etc. We need more of these games, they are so important.
The youtuber Tin Sensei made a video on this kind of game, the "metroidbrainia" which i didnt finish cuz i saw a game in it (Fez) that looked cool and didnt want any spoilers. I even thought it was a new game only too look back in the middle of playing it and seeing it was over a decade old lmaoo.
I think you should call this kind of games "You-against-the-World". Because while all games present a world with some enemies or obstacles you have to overcome, in these types of games (which I would say started with Super Metroid), you feel alone against a universe that operates with it's own rules. It is not like a platformer with disconnected levels and challenges based on random enemies or spikes someone put there to give you a problem to solve. In these indifferent worlds, even the enemies seem to have created their own ecosystems and you are but a newcomer that needs to adapt to create your own space/domain and, little by little, expand it.
Super Metroid is definitely the key progenitor here that should be shouted out. Good call.
I'd argue in metroid you feel even more isolated/uncertain. But sm is valid. The scale of exploration gives you that pit in your stomach, that feeling where you're just a bit overwhelmed (even more in hollow knight's scale) while wanting to keep going - whereas the isolation and confusion of metroid is down to a lack of empowerment (map) and lots of identical looking rooms. When the world design reaches a point where it makes just enough sense while still feeling foreign, you're playing a great metroidvania.
This video is nuts. You just went through basically my entire top 10 games list and explained why I love them so much. I never put together the connection between these games and DS1 but it makes tons of sense.
It's insane to think that the entire dark souls series, Bloodborne & Elden Ring have released since Skyrim & Bethesda cannot get their shit together enough to even promise anything on ESVI.
Ah yes the 2 constants of video game discussion, dark souls and skyrim.
The good thing about them not releasing TES6 is we already know it will not be worth playing 😅
I like how this is less about the physical mechanical comparison of these games to DS but instead more of the concepts of design behind it.very cool!
If you are interested in something about the former I hard recommend @drewsunn video talking about what soulslikes as a genre even means. Incredible vid!
Woah, that's me! 😎 Thanks for the shout-out!
new raz video the day is saved
Omg i love ur content! Hope ur doin well
You're videos are so well made and thought out. I hardly notice the 30 minutes go by because I'm so drawn in to what you have to say. Good stuff dude
Waiting for Razbuten's next video is the dark souls of infrequent uploaders.
I'm sorry. I'm trying!
It's okay, just keep working at your own pace, and make the best video you are satisfied with posting! We can wait, and we love your content!
@@razbuten Don't worry Raz I know you are!
You've seen nothing yet, try Internet Historian or Michael Reeves that's where the true challenge is
@@razbutenskill issue. Git gud.
I can tell you one design philosophy thats common in most of these games: it's "design by subtraction". From Dark Souls to Shadow of the Colossus to Breath of the Wild to Rain World, it is this philosophy which I feel resonates strongly
It’s artistic cohesion, in other words. Everything in the game exists for a reason. “Design by subtraction” really is just knowing what actually matters in your game and focusing all your efforts on that.
@@thatdanjamesguy.330 But. By that logic, every great game qualifies as a souls-like. Isn't that just a generally good rhetoric for designing games? Adding meaningless stuff hurts not just the quality but the budget of any project.
Age of empires 2, Devil May Cry 1 and DOOM 1&2 for example, are considered masterpieces with barely a single sliver of fat on them. There's not much more you could 'subtract' without compromising their quality.
As a german I have to say: Gothic
Gothic was (propably) my first game that gave me exactly this Dark Souls feeling you're talking about and I still love it so much
I'm on the other side of the pond, and I'd agree with you. It's also one of those games I decided to play several times over, just to be with each faction and see how things went from their pov...
I have high hopes for the remake that's in the works...
The real difficulty is when the games aren't listed in the description.
Remember when we all laughed at the guy who said Crash Bandicoot was the Dark Souls of platformers?
Dude I’m playing it now, and it’s so fucking hard. Like my god, why is it this difficult?
@@levi22es I'm sharing cuz its just a genuine fun fact, its because his hitbox is a pill and not a square, so only spot centered below him is actually stable anything off of that will slide.
The Rain World intro music coming in around 25:00 hit me different. I don't play many games, but I definitely get what you mean by giving a unique experience and a "feeling" hard to define.
For me, the Fear and Hunger games also give the dark-souls vibe, because it is predicated on cryptic lore, a world that doesn't care about you, difficult systems designed to make you consider the cost of each action, and a sense that the narrative of the game goes beyond what is shown on screen. If you haven't already given it a try, it would probably be right up your alley.
Another game i’ve experienced the same feelings is celeste. Realizing the path to finally clear a room without any help has the same cathartic feeling and after mastering all the game has to offer doing a victory lap has nether felt better. Reason why i’ve played hundreds of hours of mods to feel the same things
Interesting you mentioned Shadow of Colossus, it was made by the same creator as Ico, the game that inspired Miyazaki to drop his regular job to become a game developer
Miyamoto?
@@theyxaj Fumito Ueda
There is an interview with Miyazaki stating there would be no dark souls without Ico, made by the same team as shadow of the colossus. With an intertwined castle and simple exploration. I definitely recommend a play though.
A game that fits this for me (on top of what is in the video) is Metroid Prime. I didn’t play it until last year but the desolate and mysterious world mixed with the game’s amazing soundtrack had me fully immersed in the game. It felt like I was right back in Dark Souls being completely alone in this hostile world. Getting lost and trying to piece together what to do next was magical. Now I kind of see Metroid Prime as one of Dark Souls’ biggest inspirations, mainly in world design and storytelling, but both were incredible games that blew me away.
Agreed. Love Metroid Prime
The way you string words together and connect them to your personal experiences and how games evoke your emotions is mesmerizing. You're an excellent creator
I really liked this video. You really expressed the individual vibes these games give, even if I haven’t played it. I loved this format
For me it boils down to the fact that learning through discovery is really really fun! When a game lets me explore it and figure it out I highly value it. Every game you mention here is one of my favorites because of it. I recently played a more recent major studio release and there was a tutorial telling me obvious things and NPCs announcing how mechanics work in the game even dozens of hours into it. It was grating.
One thing that’s tough about loving this genre is so many games are only the genre on the first play through
I’m so glad Tunic was mentioned here, it is such a gem and absolutely worth 100%ing for all the endings and collectables. For me it’s definitely one of the most beautifully designed worlds in gaming from both a sound and visual perspective. Solid gameplay and super cool progression/exploration mechanics.
Noita was this idea with roguelikes for me
That feeling of going throuhh blighttown comes up every time im going through a new area with a build thats almost complete, and every time i look in any direction with more scrutiny i find more secrets to uncover
Ive been trying to play through everything without wiki help, making it an incredibly rewarding experience to find anything
This is a really interesting video to me, because I've actually played ALL of these games before coming to dark souls, and it's only THEN that it clicked that there's some sort of common vein in games that I like to play for an unclear reason. These aren't games I play in order to play with friends, theyre not there for quick and easy fun, and theyre not easy to explain or market to my friends lol. My introduction into the souls-like series was Hollow Knight, and I think that game gave me the "click" moment that then spurred me to play the dark souls games. These are all games I deeply care about, but not in a way I can rationalize as "because it's fun" like other games.
This video somehow perfectly summed up how I felt the first time I played Dark Souls. I went into the game fully expecting to not like it and drop it after maybe a few hours. I spent about an hour bashing my head against the graveyard because I just thought oh Dark Souls is supposed to be hard. Luckily a friend then pointed me in the right direction and I started making progress.
Now that I was on the right track I felt Dark Souls for what made it great. Beating the enemies was fun and all but that feeling of always wondering if I am close to a new bonfire or if I should run back and spend my souls for risk of losing them will forever be my favorite part. Then the shock of finding a shortcut and realizing I was back some place I had been before. The map design was just perfect for me. No other Souls game has made me feel as strongly in this way. Maybe part of it is like what Razbuten said about other FromSoft games feeling more like an extension and that I already have the tools.
I hope to find a feeling similar to how Dark Souls made me feel one day. Sometimes I feel like I am chasing that feeling. But maybe I have just been looking in the wrong places and I have to look at something I feel like I might not like but still give it a try. That is how I found Dark Souls after all.
There are so many games before Dark Souls that work like that. These games feel more like Myst and its kin than Dark Souls, tbh.
Myst, and particularly Riven, give me the feeling he is talking about. Agreed that they helped set the template, alongside the original Zelda and Super Metroid.
I’ve been looking for a video like this ever since playing Dark Souls. I thought people didn’t feel the same way about it and only thought about the difficulty in the most basic way instead of the feeling that getting lost gives.
Nothing is Dark Souls, but everything is Dark Souls
This is the Dark Souls of videos about games that feel like Dark Souls (but aren't like Dark Souls).
I really liked the section where you talked about difficulty, for a minute there I was thinking "Doesn't this kind of contradict the 'Difficulty is Weird' video?" but then you started to clarify more that difficulty is a side effect to games with consequence and my brain instead turned to "WOAH RAZ IS COOKIN' LET'S GO!"
Great video as always dawg.
Blasphemous was my Dark Souls. Hardly understood the story, but the game still wowed me. Oh, and Fallen Order too.
2nd one is good too
Something big about the games you talked about is how much they decide to not hold your hand.
They give agency to the player to get stumped, and allows them to figure out things on their own terms. So many games are too scared to do that, always giving a marker, always guiding you if you didn't think of something, in fear that you will simply drop the game for something easier.
And yet every single of those games you mentioned just... let you get stuck. They embrace when the player is in a state of the unknown. They're like a parent, encouraging their kid to try again, even if it feels hopeless. I love that. I want more and more games to do that. And I'm glad more games have been doing that more ever since Dark Souls.
My dark souls is Dragon's Dogma. Both games try to give their experience meaning through friction too, just a different kind. They're not terribly hard games, instead everything needs preparation, fast travel is very limited, healing is limited, travelling during night time is more dangerous because of new threats appearing and because everything is pitch black. This results in games where every moment can be meaningful, travelling to places creates fun experiences.
I have many great memories of these two games while travelling to quests. I'll never forget that time in the first one, hearing giant wings while being completely lost in the middle of the night, trying to run away from whatever it was until a dragon landed on me, the struggle finally ending long after the night was gone.
I finished Dragons Dogma 1 just last week it really is a unique game.
I've just started the second game but so far I dont feel like the game has the same soul as the first idk how to explain exactly
@@meuhtalgearThe second one sadly failed to capture the same vibes that made the first one so interesting imo.
Still, DDDA remains one of my favorite RPGs.
YES SAME!!
I played Getting Over It shortly after it came out in 2017, but just for a couple hours. It was when I came back to it over Christmas in 2018, over a year later, that I actually spent time with it and was able to beat it.
I think it's a combination of that experience and the music and Foddy's interstitial proverbs, Getting Over It just feels so filled with joyful nostalgia for me. It's like a warm fire and spiced hot cocoa after spending a day in the snow. It's like a warm meal shared with family. It's like giving gifts and coming together to help those who need help.
honestly no other game is as comforting for me.
I think a lot of what makes all these games special is them sharing old school game philosophy. Any time I’m trying to sell a friend on playing dark souls for the first time I describe it as “giving you that feeling of being a kid trying to figure out a game on your own again.” The instruction manual in Tunic being one of my favorite examples of this.
The game I think back on that gave me the feeling of being helpless against learning a game world and it’s mechanics, is Morrowind. I was 12 when it released on Xbox and I had never felt so confused yet so immersed and addicted to learning a game. I’ll never forget that. And it holds a special place in my heart because of it.
Rainworld mentioned!!! :0
■
ʕ●.●ʔ
For me, the similarities in the games you listed aren't the difficulty, but the exploration. The sense of discovering something new, and something unexpected. The biggest clue that difficulty, genre, or tone aren't the most important thing, is that none of the games you mentioned were similar to anything that you played previously. It seems that being a unique experience is a prerequisite to end up on your list of games with this feeling.
To me, metroidvanias is really the common genre core between many of those games. Games that focus on exploration and discovery, rather than clear stories or mechanics. Games that incorporate their puzzles into the world itself, rather than having a room for puzzles and a room for bosses. It's funny you mention the early zelda games, since there's a ton of similarities between the first zelda game and the first metroid game, before we had such clearly defined genres.
Hollow Knight ended up affecting me just as deeply as Dark Souls. Maybe more. There was just something so powerful about the world design, and the expectation that I was buying a cheap $15 indie game, and expecting a few hours of enjoyment, rather than the almost 40 hours I ended up getting. There's just something special about the size of the world, and the way you slowly unlock its mysteries. Although I didn't completely 100% Hollow Knight, I did beat radiance, which is pretty unusual for me.
I'll drop games if I'm not enjoying them. I never actually beat Dark Souls. After finishing Anor Londo and getting half way to the end, I basically gave up. Maybe I just got burned out after finishing the bed of chaos, but I didn't find it enjoyable to bash my head into a wall to actually get to the end credits. I got the authentic Dark Souls experience. When most people talk about Dark Souls, they're usually talking about the first half. Almost no one ever mentions their feelings when they "beat" the game. The most fun part is the struggle.
Tunic, though, I finished nearly 100%. I didn't finish the giant ARG at the end, but I did unlock the golden door completely by myself, which I consider to be one of my bigger gaming accomplishments. I've still got the MS Paint files with my notes and scribbles. It's rare for a game to provide enough of an incentive, hook, or reason for me to go into completionist mode. Maybe it's something about the atmosphere. The amazing OST from Lifeformed, and the feeling of sitting at the top of a snow covered mountain peak when you finally know exactly what you need to do to finish the last puzzle. When I intentionally go back to an area just to hear the music, I know that game is different.
Tunic is one of those few games have given me those intense moments of confusion, but also those moments of peaceful reflection. I think that's an important part of this puzzle. Some games ask you to rush through, not ever having the time to sit back and reflect on your thoughts. The games that give you a moment to rest, relax, and contemplate are the ones that really leave a lasting impression. So many games are afraid to let you think for even a moment, because they're afraid you'll turn off the game to binge tiktok or something. That's nonsense. If your game is worth playing, it's worth thinking about. I find that if a game rushes me to get back to playing, I end up playing longer, sure, but once I turn it off I usually never go back. The games that give me time to sit and reflect between levels are usually the ones I find myself being excited to play the next day.
I'm not exactly sure what the point of my rambling was, but it was nice to relive some of the best games I've played in a long long time. I'll have to discuss Outer Wilds and Nier: Automata some other time. Nier has a very similar feeling, where it's difficult to describe the genre, and it takes you through a whirlwind of emotions when you play. Plus, it's got one of the best soundtracks in gaming.
You got it 100% for me. My first playthrough of DS1 (in november 2024, when I hadn't played a soulslike before) changed how I viewed games completely and got me addicted to the genre. Thanks for making this video.
Also, love how I've played like every other game you listed. I love Getting over it, Rain World, LISA, outer wilds etc.
AND DISCO ELYSIUM ONE OF MY FAVS.
Ok going further and ofc you mention Shadow of the Colossus. What an amazing game.
A game I had a "Dark Souls" feeling about as well was Fear and Hunger its one of the games I will remember for the rest of my life sadly while the sequel is a better game its just not the same similar to dark souls sequels
For me, a true souls-experiance is mainly one of an intimate, lonely journey through a world stacked against you. One with a strong vision and message, which refuses to ever bend or compromise in your favor, and which is internally consistent and thereby immersive - an uncaring but fair world for you to master. It doesn't have to have to have combat or a melancholic atmosphere (like a lot of soulslikes seem to focus on). Some additions I'd add to your list of wonderful masterpieces:
- Fear and Hunger. It's the epitome of a hopeless, cruel "you against the world" design philosophy.
- Prey, at least the early game. The feeling of being lost in a hostile, lonely, foreign spaceship, which operates under a weird but consistent set of rules, forces you to overanalyze your surroundings due to the constant danger of Mimmicks, to use ambush tactics against basically all other enemies and to constantly plan, improvize and adapt to your surroundings is amazing. When every can of soup is potentially deadly, it's a good game.
- Naissance. It's not a very good game, but it's made to capture the vibes, hostile architecture and lonely journey of the manga Blame, which itself is probably the closest "souls-vibed" piece of literature I know of.
11:00 - this unlocked a memory for me. When I first got Ratchet and Clank, I had just recently lost my PS2 save cartridges. Either at a sleepover or just in the kid with divorced parents shuffle, they had disappeared. So if I wanted to play that game until the end, I had to run through it from the start, again and again, making more and more progress each time. I had the game almost a month before I had the allowance money to buy a new memory card, but I had gotten to the point where I was getting close to a 3-4 hour playthrough. I was basically learning to speed run.
been a rough day, but we'll get through it with a great video, passionately talking about things they love, for people who love the things you're talking about, thank you
My yellow crocs are the dark souls of shoes
i find it really interesting that every single one of my favorite games were on this list (Outer Wilds, Rain World, and Tunic) and i can really see the connection between them even though gameplay wise they're pretty different. Animal Well is also on this list for me even though im only a couple hours into it cause every time i beat a puzzle it makes me the most relieved ive ever felt
I haven’t even watched the video yet, but judging by the thumbnail I have to say I love how my favorite slugcat has been popping in all of my favorite video-essayists videos lately. Rain world is truly such a unique game that while it might not be for everyone, I think the world would be a worse place without it.
Once I caught on what was meant by "Souls-Like" I started chanting "The Long Dark" to myself "Please talk about The Long Dark". Then you mentioned the broken / destroyed setting and... yep :3
I'm not a big gamer, I haven't played Dark Souls or... I don't think I've finished any of the games you mentioned.
This video really spoke to me and gave me a lot to think about. Thank you for making it.
I never understood why BlightTown is the most hated zone on DS1, just cuz of the 3D platforming scaffolding?! At least you can SEE IT from afar and can plan ahead, also my general tridimensional awareness helped me. Or was it because the frame-drop? Fortunately I did not get this in Remastered, my playstyle being more towards thorough clear than running past.
The bane of MY existence was Tomb of Giants, damn pitch-black of doom.
I really had a bad time with every playthrough of ds1 but every time blighttown is one of my favorite areas.
Oh wow, thanks for making this video and putting all my thoughts in a understandable way, I always caught myself classifying some games I love as souls like and never understand why, I thought it was just my "good game" category but I had almost all the games you talked about in that category, like outter wilds, tunic and hollow knight, where there's not much in common and could not tell why they reminded me of souls, the only thing in common is how they really made me invested and created memories, you really helped me understand why
13:26 - I'm here for the consistent Outer Wilds references 🎉 please keep it up ❤
Your description of playing these titles for the first time felt so visceral and nostalgic that I can't help but agree. Experiences I'll cherish for life. ❤
I love how you mentioned some of my favorite games from this! I see the same sort of similarity in many of my favorite games as well. A game I might recommend as well, if you haven't played it before, is The Witness. It's an incredible game that I hold dear to my heart!
Slay the Spire... definitely has this vibe for me. "Embracing the failure" is huge in Slay the Spire in order to make progression. The game is difficult and unforgiving, some luck is also involved and not everything is explained. Every move you make requires consideration because literally anything could be around the corner and the unknown challenge could mean the end of your run. Super engaging and gives that sense of wonder. Love it 💕
your story about Blight Town really got me. I had it with Dark Souls 1 but also with Hollow Knight. when I was exploring Deep Nest, it was so stressful and scary, I also felt like I was going to be trapped there forever. I was so so so desperate for a bench or Stagway that when I found the house with the false bench, I didn't even hesitate to sit down and immediately get jumped by the bugs lol
I had the same experience of reflecting on nostalgic games through the lens of Souls once I was finally hooked on the series! A big one for me was Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. It checks a lot of your boxes for a 'kiddy' FF game: apocalyptic world, punishing combat, systems that are sparsely explained, secrets to find, travelling far from home and not knowing when you'll get back.. I really appreciate your take on what makes Souls special!
Hearing two seconds of timber hearth makes me want to cry. Pretty sure if my house and Riebeck were both hanging off a cliff I wouldn't hesitate.
Love seeing a slugcat and an outer wilds character sitting together in the art
Where Dark Souls was one person's struggle, Monster Hunter back in the day was my counterpart to this.
Oh man, the first Monster Hunter was a blast to explore! The areas, to some extent, but most of the exploration and discovery came from the game's systems.
I had to grid out a massive sheet of paper to methodically try combining items 20 at a time. And so many walls to overcome! I was running around like a headless Gypceros in just the first quest against five Velociprey. And then the Yian Kut-Ku stomped me into the dirt; my first wyvern, a true rush when it finally went down! Then Rathalos, the walliest wall of them all. At first I just died; then, I could survive the fight but not defeat it in the time limit. By the time I upgraded my weapons, tools, and tactics and managed to take it down, that was it. I was prepared to hunt anything. I was a solo offline Hunter until well after I could take down the Troublesome Pair on my own.
I played MH2, 3, and World after that. I'm keeping an eye on Wilds, but to be honest I'm getting tired of beating up giant damage-sponge monsters and kinda feel like I'm turning into an ecological research NPC.
The crafting recipes and scoutflies remove friction, but at the cost of also removing some elements of true discovery. But it also gives the game wider appeal, which has obviously led to great success for the series.
Man I am going to have to give Rainworld another try. I bought it because you've mentioned it many times in videos and the rest of your gaming tastes have matched to mine, maybe I wasnt in the right mindset when i tried it.
I feel the same. Not for the whole list, but most of them yeah: they do have those core ideas that don't appear often but bring that feeling that I too keep chasing.
In this list I'd have included The Witness, as it's also asking a lot of the player, almost fighting them at times, but each step you do manage to take feels greater as a result.
For me when I was young Metroid Prime 2 was like that (I didn't play MP1). I struggled so hard in that game for months. And the interconnection blew me away too. DS remaster gave that feeling once again but differently.
YES, THIS! You captured in this video my own experience with games like Dark souls, Minecraft and many more, those games are important pillars in who I'm today. Time and time again those games have helped me through tough and happy times, now days they feel like home.
Thank you for capturing this, it is beautiful and I bet it will be very useful to help more people understand and articulate the essence of what makes this games so important and remarcable.
Dark Souls 1 is my favorite game of all time. It changed not only how I think about and engage with games, but also books. It made me willing to try books with a reputation of being difficult and confusing but rewarding like Book of the New Sun, and now Gene Wolfe is my favorite author. And it changed how I think about and deal with adversity in real life.
Outer Wilds has been the only game since then that had a similar sized impact. 8 years between the release of both games. It's been 5 years since Outer Wilds. I hope I get another life changing game within the next three years.
Always a good day when Raz uploads a new video.
Even better day when he mentions Outer Wilds in said video.
BEST day when he's sponsored by a crazy cool OW book?!?!?
Truly thriving rn
banger video and very nice game roster. I adore many of these too and cherish the memories of dark souls 1 in a similar way, great watch and thank you!
The way you cracked up when bringing up Outer Wilds REALLY made this video for me. That was very fun.
19:04 reading is my dark souls
Going into Dragons Dogmas Bitterblack isle (before having experienced Dark Souls) early definitely emulated a similar kind of struggle and relief. Running into giant monsters you're not ready for, mobbed by goblins or seeing Death instakill your entire party when walking into the wrong room is like nothing else.
Because of the overwhelming amount of player and party options you have, from climbing, skills, items, throwing, etc, it makes every encounter feel different and as such, your victory feeling a lot more unique from somebody elses.
Great video as always Raz! I am always excited when you post a video
your videos are amazing and its unbelivable how well convey emotion though your words. Although I haven't yet played disco elysm, rain world, lisa, or shadows of Collosis, I completely agree with what your saying. also the Lost in Cult thing looks really cool I will try to check that out.
Darkwood. Pathologic. Fear and hunger
Throw Exanima in there if Early Access counts
Funger
The game that did something similar to me as the feeling you’re describing in this video is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I owned the game back when I was a child, and never got the chance to finish it. I don’t quite know how to describe the weird void feeling I have whenever I think of the game because of how important it was to me as a child despite my inability to beat it. It’s a version of nostalgia I can’t quite put into words. The somber atmosphere adds a lot to it. The game itself almost feels like someone I’ve lost but can’t quite remember properly.
For me personally A From Software developed Souls game has an atmosphere and a feel to it that most Soulslike just fail to capture. It's not just about the combat or the difficulty. There are times when it feels actually daunting for me to go and boot up DS 1 or Bloodborne. Bloodborne is my second favourite game of all time and I haven't played it in like three years.
There's a stifling, foreboding atmosphere that From Soft captures with it's games that I feel that the copycats just can't replicate.
That being said, I think it's time I booted up Bloodborne once again.
Honestly as soon as you started describing how you felt about dark souls my first thought was "he should really play rain world" (not seeing it was in the thumbnail lmao) and then almost the next thing you brought up was rain world. Its really one of my favorite games of all time, second only to outer wilds, which honestly is like trying to compare your best friend to your spouse: It just isnt something you can fairly rank.
Tunic honestly might be my favorite experience with a game since the first dark souls. Went into it knowing nothing, and absolutely fell in love with that little fox. And the music is perfect.
I do think that Minecraft in Hardcore mode is really close to how you feel in Dark Souls. Infact at times it is even scarier than Dark Souls.
Discovery is a hell of a feeling in a communication-satured world. I love game where you discover stuff because discovering something is not something common, and often time feels unique
Feel and Hunger definitely belongs here! It absolutely falls into the category of having an environment shrouded in mystery, a want and need for exploration, and very difficult enemies, all the while you feel yourself evolving as your knowledge grows.
My favorite outer wilds moment was when I noticed the secret of the probe firing when you die or when you start the game. It was one of those aha moments that linked together all of the scattered information I had all at once
I remember when I first heard and saw disco Elysium for the first time, I had no idea what it was. Your skills talk to you? It’s mostly reading? How does it work?
Then I played it and it changed how I looked at RPGs. Learning how it works and handles fail states was so satisfying. Now it seems like so many games want to draw comparisons to it.
I can't help but think that the experience you describe here is something man experienced a lot, interacting with the real world, before all of our modern conveniences made it so a device or the effort of another person or what have you is doing the work for us. Yes, civilization allows a lot of things we could never accomplish doing everything ourselves...but we lose a lot, too
Razbuten "Don't bring up Outer Wilds" Challenge - IMPOSSIBLE!
Dark Souls 3 was my very first souls game and I can honestly say that it did give me this magical journey which you’ve described here for dark souls 1
I think "the word" or "that feeling" you are looking is fun.
All games you have mentioned in this video are mostly about being a namless someone being droped into new world and exploring it and it is that feeling of wonder and unknown that i feel like gives weight to all these games you mentioned, simple human desire to explore the unexplored makes for a thrilling experience.
I played Dark Souls for the first time back in November 2023, and it gave me the same feelings I had playing Super Mario 64 DS for the first time when I was a kid. The obscurity and difficulty, the sense of exploration, the kind of but not really open world nature of it, it was amazing. (I know SM64 isnt anywhere near as difficult as Dark Souls, but playing it as an 8 year old, it felt about as hard as DS did as a 21 year old)
16:20 - I would like to once again mention that Breath of the Wild gives me my absolute favorite power fantasy: the idea that you can become a powerful, formidable person by exploring, collecting, problem solving, and helping people. If my stamina could increase every time I went to an escape room, or if I could make my clothes better by catching grasshoppers, that would be the dream.
Sure, you can master combat and go fight Calamity Ganon with a stick and some junk you grab on the way, but you can also wander your way around a big beautiful world, taking in the sights, solving little sudokus, and making buddies and when you get to challenging the great big evil, it will be easy because you've grown from every part of the experience.
1:49 it’s funny that’s exactly how I felt when I first played Dark Souls and alot of games at that point in my life. If its too hard id just stop playing, but when i did my first complete run of the game I felt the sense of accomplishment which spurred me on to want to play more and beat the next boss. This was only maybe 1-2 years after it came out (and before 2 released) and since then i seek out a challenge more often.
I think you'd really like the game Phoenotopia: Awakening. It has really great worldbuilding, and it's HARD but in a rewarding way. It also has excellent music and a lot of exploration to do!
Nice! A fellow Phoenotopia fan. Do you think he should check out the original as well?
@@Zandofle I haven't played the original, so I wouldn't know, myself! All I know is that I think Awakening is fantastic
This is probably why I love Dark Souls 2 so much. It was my first Souls game, and it's the game I did my learning process in.
The feeling I and my 3 friends had so many years ago dying for 4 hours just to beat the Taurus Demon will never leave me... I could navigate the burg blindfolded and with my toes now... it really is crazy how much the souls game changed us all. I wish I could go back to that sense of wonder/frustration lol. It was the best of times.