It's not just Elden Ring – here are 5 soulslike we're prepared to die over at Summer Game Fest
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The journey thatFromSoftwarestarted us on with the release of Demon’s Souls 15 years ago has really come to a head. For years, the soulslike was a genre dominated by a single studio, with only a few would-be competitors treading nervously in the wake of Miyazaki and co. But in the past couple of years, that’s all changed - since the launch of Elden Ring, a veritable spate of soulslikes have helped expand the genre. And that expansion shows no sign of slowing down.
6. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Exactly what that will look like remains to be seen. With speculation still rife as to what awaits us, my money’s on a new trailer of some kind - perhaps one that vindicates the Messmer fans out there. I’m also quietly hoping that we get word from some FromSoftware developers, since there’s barely anyone better positioned to explain the ways that the world ofElden Ringis changing than the developers themselves. Thankfully, even if neither FromSoft nor Shadow of the Erdtree show up, we won’t have too long to wait until we get to dive in, but I’ll still take anything I can get.
Perhaps a little less nails-hard than, say, Shadow of the Erdtree, Black Myth: Wukong remains one to watch, not least because, ahead of its release date in August, it’sbecome the most-wishlisted game on Steamin the past few weeks. (Monkey’s) fingers crossed for a new trailer.
Far more Anor Londo than Blighttown, the sun-soaked scenes of this promising soulslike inspired by Italian folklore might seem a little friendlier than what we’re used to elsewhere in the genre, but it still promises some formidable foes. With a touch of last year’s excellent Lies of P in its role-altering masks, there’s a huge amount of variety on show inEnotria: The Last Song’s complex perks system, but it remains easy to switch between different loadouts for different fights.
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If the idea of Black Myth: Wukong’s Chinese inspiration excited you, then you’d better reservesome of that for Phantom Blade: Zero. Its blend of a Steampunk-inspired aesthetic and Chinese martial arts, all with some blisteringly fast combat and what looks like a razor-sharp katana all amounts to an experience reminiscent of some of the wildest moments of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
That is, until earlier this month, when the game’sTwitter account emergedwith a couple of posts highlighting the Flamberge modification. That could just be a celebration of a powerful weapon, but there’s definitely an air of the teaser trailer about this whole thing, if you ask me. The timing also seems auspicious - with some major conferences coming up, what better time for one of last year’s breakout games to reveal its anticipated DLC?
Yes, I know it’s not really a soulslike, but in the same way that games like Salt and Sanctuary took the genre’s format and turned it 2D, you can’t deny that the gothic nature of Hollow Knight has at least something in common with the Dark Souls series. This summer’s gotta be the one, right? Right??
I’m GamesRadar’s news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I’ve run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam’s latest indie hit.
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