Summary
Every now and then, a game comes around with gameplay mechanics so unique and engaging that it spawns an entire subgenre of gaming full of titles emulating that experience with degrees of variation. 2011’sDark Soulsbirthed the Soulslike subgenre, known for punishing difficulty, stamina-based combat, and Metroidvania-style, non-linear exploration.
Although Nintendo Switch players can’t play the entireDark Soulstrilogy and its open-world successor,Elden Ring,on their devices, they do have access to a vast library of immersive, difficult games that are heavily inspired by FromSoftware’sSoulsformula. It’s hard to believe that there are so manySoulslike Switch games, especially since these platforms were praised for promoting ingenuity and accessibility over everything else.
Updated August 01, 2025, by Hamza Haq:The Soulslike genre has spread its influence far and wide in the gaming industry, ranging from big-budget AAA third-person action RPGs to 2D Metroidvanias that take aspects of the genre and merge them into something greater. While the Nintendo Switch doesn’t have the hardware capability to run AAA Soulslikes like Lies of P and Elden Ring, at least not without some miraculous feats of optimization, there is a plethora of options to choose from for players looking to try out alternatives.
Morbid: The Lords of Ireis a third-person action-adventure game that wears its inspiration on its sleeve. It follows the Soulslike formula to a tee while mixing in a couple of additions to separate itself from the pack. Story-wise, this game is a sequel toMorbid: The Seven Acolytes,and there is some story and lore to signal that. But, as with most Soulslikes, combat is the main focus here.
InMorbid: The Lords of Ire, all enemies have two bars above their heads. One is a health bar, and the one below it is the stagger bar. Different attacks target different bars, and players are encouraged to weave in health-targeting attacks with stagger-targeting attacks to take down enemies quickly. This creates a sense of rhythm throughout the game, which carries the entire thing. On Switch, performance is okay, with occasional draw distance woes thanks to pop-ins and no major crashes or stutters.
20Pascal’s Wager: Definitive Edition
Console-Caliber Challenge With A Distinct Art style
Despite its relatively low Metacritic score, players shouldn’t write offPascal’s Wager.The game initially started off as a mobile title that aimed to emulate Soulslike gameplay with impressive results. Unfortunately, some of this charm has been lost in the definitive console releases.
Still,Pascal’s Wagerfeatures a unique art style and fun gameplay that make it worth checking out, although fans shouldn’t expect anything out of the ordinary. It’s a perfectly serviceableSoulslike game on the Switchin its own right that fans will have a great time with, even if it doesn’t butt heads with the best in the genre.
19SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption
Grow Weaker, Fight Harder
While there are many new Soulslike that come out claiming their new take on the genre is unique, few manage to truly deliver.SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemptionthat takes the promise of not being just another Soulslike very seriously and manages to achieve it by virtue of its level-down system. InSINNER, players do not level up but rather level down, becoming less powerful as the game goes on.
The premise is simple. There are eight bosses to defeat, and the main character starts out with maxed-out stats. Before each fight, the player is asked to sacrifice one of their main stats and become weaker in the process before being allowed to take on the boss. This ensures that the boss fights become harder and harder as the game progresses because the protagonist is losing pieces of himself and losing strength along the way. At the end of the journey, the player is basically a level 1 character tasked with taking down an end-game boss.SINNERis quite a short title and playslike a boss-rush gamewith Soulslike mechanics. Despite the first impression it might make, the art style is surprisingly cohesive and stylized, which works quite nicely for these sorts of games. The notorious Soulslike jank is there, though perhaps more due to a lack of polish than because of a deliberate decision on the developers' part.
Initially released as a VR-only experience,Chronos: Before the Ashesdoes not try to hide the fact that it was inspired byFromSoftware’s award-winning formula. From the dark atmosphere and convoluted dungeons all the way to a dodge-heavy combat system, this is a Soulslike, through and through.
Chronosis not the most graphically advanced game, and it shows even on a console with limited hardware capabilities like the Nintendo Switch. What sets it apart from other Souslike titles is its inventive aging mechanic. With each defeat, the protagonist ages by one year, which affects their stats in different ways. For example, magic abilities are improved with time, whereas physical skills might deteriorate when the character turns a certain age.
Salt and Sanctuaryis touted by many to be one of the first games to combine the Soulslike and Metroidvania genres in one neat package. It was a great game with a wonderful sense of exploration that was successful enough for the publisher to greenlight a sequel.
WhileSalt and Sacrificedropped the ball in some places, it’s still a fun game for fans to check out once they look past some of its annoyances. The risks that the developer took in this game should be lauded, even if some of them didn’t pay off.
16Vigil: The Longest Night
Soulslike In An Everlasting Night
Despite having some bugs that can be frustrating to deal with, there’s no denying thatVigil: The Longest Nightisone of the better MetroidvaniaSoulslikes on the Switchthat players can enjoy. The story may not be its biggest selling point, but the excellent exploration and fun combat more than make up for it.
For a game inspired by Soulslike mechanics, some people may argue thatVigil: The Longest Nightis a bit too easy, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Players who love dark, brooding atmospheres and aren’t sure if the difficulty of Soulslikes is something they’d be okay with can useVigilas a starting point before getting into more hardcore titles if this game strikes their fancy.
The fact that this game literally has the word “souls” in its name is a pretty clear giveaway of what other titles it was inspired by. WhileEldest Soulsdoesn’t hide its admiration for theDark Soulstrilogy, it does more than enough to set itself apart from other Soulslikes and even manages to conjure its own, unique personality.
Played from the isometric perspective,Eldest Soulshas the same painfully hard, ebb-and-flow combat known fromDark Souls,but its art direction and pacing couldn’t be more different. There are no mobs in this game, and players progress by going from one boss battle to another as they traverse through gorgeous pixel art environments.
Players who want to go through an atmospheric game with platforming elements will love whatBlasphemoushas to offer. The game has an incredible and striking art style that will stick with players long after they’re finished with this experience. The bosses are nightmarish, the platforming is a decent distraction from the core combat, and the game is captivating from start to end.
It’s easy to see why a sequel to this title is arriving sooner rather than later. The game can be pretty challenging, but players who come to grips with the game’s combat system and understand how enemies function in this title will bemore than pleased with the experience they’re exposing themselves to. Of course, the spike traps are always a pain, but that’s a small price to pay in an otherwise great game.
At a glance, most people will write offCurse of the Dead Godsas another formulaic roguelike that had the unfortunate honor of being compared both favorably and unfavorably toHades. While that title became Supergiant Games' biggest release, the same can’t be said forCurse of the Dead Gods.
Still, players who decide to give this title a shot will love the fun gameplay and surprisingly deep progression. The Soulslike inspiration can be seen in the tough-as-nails combat where dodging and picking the perfect time to strike back is important, but tight controls and tricky bosses become the game’s calling card, rather than just another homage.
The idea of combining the Soulslike genre with third-person shooter elements sounds like a pretty risky idea, and fans were glad to see thatRemnant: From the Ashesdoes a great job of executing this idea with great panache. To make things even better, this game was fully playable in co-op, giving friends the opportunity to experience this tough yet engaging title together.
Remnant: From the Ashesalso allows for heightened replayabilityas areas and bosses are structured in different orders for each playthrough. This is another great decision that makes fresh playthroughs all the more engaging, with players having to adopt different strategies for boss fights based on their strength and layout in each encounter.
