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u/Antipodeansam

r/soulslikes r/TheLordsOfTheFallen r/LordsoftheFallen
▲ 0 r/soulslikes

Death of the Soulslike…..

Is the soulslike potentially dead? Hear me out (or don’t😂).

I will preface this with I’m an olde gamer who played all of the souls games on release, including Demon Souls which I’m happy to admit I had a love/hate relationship with. I’m a passionate but average souls player. PvE and PvP.

Like many of you I’m sure, I purchased Mortal Shell 2 and did a few run throughs before the inevitable patches dropped. I loved it if I’m honest and rated it highly amongst my soulslike experiences, good soul without taking itself as seriously as FS. Perhaps a little easy once you get a build with decent synergy going.

Now in the space of two weeks we have seen:
\- Boss nerfs
\- Mob nerfs
\- Extra beacons added
\- All shells/builds made able to maximise on one run
\- Weapons can have all materials and costs fully refunded for less than half the gloom cost
\- States of Marika added
\- Gloom rates increased
\- Gold rates increased
\- Riposte damage increased
\- Tarstones can all be upgraded in one run

Without debating which of these were valid and not the game has become much much less challenging in the space of two weeks. I started a new game on metal shell and also purchased Blood of the Dawnwalker as a huge Witcher fan. Jokes and exaggeration aside the hard difficulty in a narrative driven rpg was more challenging than what remains of of mortal shell 2 day mode.

The backlash on reddit and discord already felt disproportional to many souls fans who played Mortal shell 2 but it scares me that this could be the death of soulslikes as many of us knew them.

Lords of the fallen 2023 worked hard to improve the game from release but essentially nerfed the game into the ground as part of those changes and obviously saved the IP. Wuchang studio dissolved. Khazan studio closed. Elden ring was amazing but for me not a souls game and was the beginning of many concessions to engage more RPG players and make the genre more accessible.

CI games and Cold Symmetry have set their stool out as being very reactive to immediate player feedback on social media (which is more often than not people complaining). I still love both mortal shell and lords games personally, I understand why they have done what they have done. Wuchang may return but under a new team with their brief to be more commercially successful. Khazan is dead and added easy mode to try save it. From soft are focused on the PvP/Co-Op world for now. Is the blueprint now about making souslikes high on QOL and low on challenge, whilst reacting to the whims of online feedback from the masses to remove as much friction as possible?

I fear the death of the soulslike. Instead welcome the action RPG with souls mechanics that are acceptable to the masses? I may be old and pessimistic but keen to hear souls fans thoughts (particularly those engaged pre Elden ring like myself). Is Lies of P (which also added an easy mode) one of the last bastions of soulslike principles?

u/Antipodeansam — 1 month ago
▲ 11 r/TheLordsOfTheFallen+1 crossposts

Duelling….

Good old fashioned duel, in this case I always try not to take the first posture break as the invaders starts so low.

u/Antipodeansam — 2 months ago
▲ 12 r/TheLordsOfTheFallen+1 crossposts

Death from Above Pt6….

You keep supplying the lightning from the heavens and I’ll be your falling angel 😇

u/Antipodeansam — 3 months ago