In recent years, the genre has won a lot of new followers and got lots of praise for its accomplishments. They’re as popular as ever and everyone wants a piece of the cake. New games are released several times a year with varying degrees of quality. In discussing the genre, some people feel overwhelmed by the amount of new games entering the genre and some feel burnt out or fatigued.
I definitely get that thought and could see myself also being annoyed somewhat by the sheer volume of soulslikes released. But I don’t think I’m fatigued per se. If a title interests me, I’ll give it a try - if it doesn’t, I don’t. I don’t feel the pressure of playing everything new and shiny as I did a few years ago.
Where do you stand on this? Do you ever feel pressured to play a game because it’s new and talked about a lot? Or maybe because it’s another entry in the genre and you don’t want to miss out?
I get fatigued if I play too many Soulslikes in a row, for certain. Overcoming a challenge is fun for a bit, but it’s also exhausting and eventually I get tired of dying over and over and feeling like I am the worst gamer on earth. I think something like 1-2 Soulslikes per year is the correct balance for me.
I have bad soulslike fatigue, and incel execs making incel statements so incels buy their games fatigue. Fuck Lords of the Fallen. If you need an obscure soulslike Hellpoint has everything you’re after. If its still tiring go grab something entirely different like Sword of the Sea to cleanse your pallete.
💀 yea, definitely on the same page as you regarding Lords of the Fallen
Thanks for the recommendations!
no but I only really play the ones made by FromSoftware themselves. anything else is just sparkling zelda.
As a genre, I have felt overwhelmed and disinterested by the constant stream of releases for a decade now. Too much of it is middling-to-bad.
As individual games, I’ve been playing DS2, DS3, or Elden Ring at least once a week since 2014.
Any “new” releases that piqued your interest?
For me it depends entirely on my mood coming into gaming. I need to be in the right mindset to bash my head against a boss or level for a few hours to enjoy souls likes. Lately with life stuff I’ve not been in that mood. I still haven’t finished Elden Ring despite really enjoying it and having 2 characters started. So I guess I do have some souls fatigue but it’s more like I’m fatigued and can’t play souls likes rather than I’m fed up of the games.
Definitely no personal fatigue. It’s a genre I dont feel moved by in the slightest. I will say there is a bit of observer fatigue, in the sense that the obsession with the genre is annoying and distracting. Wading through all the discussion is cumbersome and the weird “bro-ness” of it all (for lack of a better phrase) is super silly. It feels incredibly youthful, and I mean that to say inexperienced adult-aged children trying to prove how cool they think they are, is super off putting. But it’s by no means something the genre owns or is responsible for. Just a symptom of the larger issue of insecure people latching onto things. And I dont think there is a solution as long as 20 year olds exist lol but no, I dont feel pressure to play anything regardless of genre or popularity. That only mattered when I was 12.
No, and gameplay wise I find very few games outside the genre/adjacent genres as satisfactory, or well rounded across all my personal enjoyment metrics. it’s kind of a pain.
The current output and wide spread adoption of soulslike mechanics feels like a lot… Yes , but personally I’ve never felt pressured to constantly try new stuff (maybe with NR recently a little) . I’m patient and I need to feel “The Call” TM so to speak.
I’ve been gaming a lot more in recent years and my current binge shows no sign of stopping; but there are games that I’ll still wait a good while before getting into, like Khazan, or the Nioh franchise for example. I’ll get to them, eventually.
I’ve been playing through soulslike games at a rate of about one of them every year or two – last year being an exception due to Silksong’s release where I played both DS3 and Silksong.
The only soulslike games left on my radar that seem like they might be interesting to me are Sekiro (which I have a feeling I will bounce off of), Elden Ring, and maybe Lies of P. I’ve already seen a playthrough of Bloodborne but would try it too – if it ever gets a PC release…
Not exactly fatigue. It’s just that most of the titles I see coming out reek of the same “front page of Steam” scent that I’m not interested in. Too shiny, too samey.
While I love my Fromsouls, there are other genres competing for their place on my most favourite list, and are delivering regularly.
Nightreign looks alright but doesn’t particularly interest me at full price. Duskbloods is an immediate write-off thanks to exclusivity. I’m waiting for Miyazaki and co. to win me back again.
Btw I got Bloodborne on shadPS4 working now, so that’s my “new” soulslike to look forward to.
I’ve been playing Souls games almost exclusively for over a year, and I’m still having fun, so I’m definitely not fatigued yet. And even if I don’t want to (re)play another Soulslike anymore, than I’m simply going to play something else.
New releases generally don’t interest me; I have yet to buy or play a Souls-like game at release. If a new game releases that interests me, Soulslike or not, I’m bookmarking it and remembering it in 2 to 40 months.
No. I still wanna play the genre, I am just bored of the existing material I’ve played thousands of hours of; especially the ones that aren’t as good. I want more Fromsoft and Round8 games. Too many games call themselves soulslikes but barely are like Dark Souls. Just becsuse you have respawning enemies and dodging, doesn’t mean your game is gonna kick ass.
Holy shit a new user profile picture. I barely even recognised you!
Dude, I’m so looking forward to what Round8 is cooking up with the LoP sequel
