5 Action RPGs To Play If You Like Dark Souls

1 - Bloodborne

Bloodborne is easily one of the greatest games that FromSoftware has ever developed. The Gothic architecture and Lovecraftian influences turn the game into a hauntingly beautiful nightmare of sorts, which engrossed players from the first few minutes itself.

FromSoftware’s first experimentation with advanced dodging mechanics, as opposed to blocking, was done in this title, which has some of the most nerve-wracking combat one can enjoy in a video game. Every perfect dodge feels like a massive accomplishment, surpassed only by the joy of stunning an enemy with a perfectly timed countershot and following it up with a powerful visceral attack.

2 - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

It would be impossible to talk about games similar to Dark Souls without mentioning the other games released by this company. FromSoftware has been on a roll ever since this legendary 2011 release and has constantly diversified the IPs it has handled over time.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is one of the latest games under FromSoftware’s belt, and it’s as great as one might expect. While Dark Souls might be slower and more meticulous when it comes to everything from its pacing to its combat, Sekiro throws this philosophy out of the window with some of the most fast-paced and adrenaline-inducing combat ever featured in a video game.

3 - Mortal Shell

A recent souls-like to come on the market is also considered to be an absolute gem of a title that, while sporting a somewhat short runtime, still managed to capture fans’ attention with its deep lore and intricate gameplay mechanics.

Mortal Shell might not be as challenging as any of FromSoftware’s games — or any of the other souls-likes on this list for that matter — but there’s no denying that the game is an absolute blast to play through.

4 - Nioh 2

Nioh 2 decided to delve completely into the spirit of Soulsborne games, featuring a custom-made character, a lesser focus on an in-your-face story, and some of the most challenging combat that the gaming industry has seen.

Any fan of Dark Souls will find themselves right at home with the combat system of Nioh 2, which is brutal yet fair in its execution.

5 - The Surge 2

For the most part, Deck13 was considered to be nothing more than the poor man’s FromSoftware… but that was before the release of The Surge 2.

The first Surge game wasn’t anything to write home about — in fact, some might argue that the title was painfully mediocre in comparison to some of the other great souls-likes out at that time. However, The Surge 2 completely blew its predecessor out of the water, featuring better combat, visuals, and a story that was actually quite coherent.

Video games: Why doors are the hardest thing to make

Video games: Why doors are the hardest thing to make


What do you think the hardest thing to make in a video game is? You’d be surprised…

A group of video game developers (the people who make video games) started a discussion on social media to talk about the things they find tricky to make in games.

One of the things they all agreed on was: doors - yep the things we open and close to leave or enter a room!

“Doors are complicated to have in games and have all sorts of possible bugs.” said indie game developer Stephan Hövelbrinks.

Whether they worked for a big AAA game studio, or a small Indie games studio, many developers said that making doors in video games was tricky and time-consuming - but why is this?

How do doors work in video games, and why are they tricky?

Non-player characters (or NPCs) in video games move on something called a ‘navigation mesh’ or 'navmesh’ for short - which is used to tell a character where it’s allowed to walk around in a space.

Each room or area in a game has a navmesh, but the trouble with a door is that it creates a blocker or a split between two of these meshes.

As a character opens a door and moves from one navigation mesh to another, they are at risk of getting 'lost’ if they don’t connect to the next navigation mesh.

This can cause all sorts of bugs in the game, like the character might end up running on the spot, or flying up and down because they are not attached to a navigation mesh which tells them where they can walk.

Many games do not add doors for this reason, as they can take a long time to make, and fix the bugs that they can create.

They can also cause other issues such as lining up the character’s hands with the door to open it, and how it closes, as well as how the door sounds when it opens and closes.

So, whenever you open a door in a video game, spare a thought for the developers who helped to make it happen!