I thought Lords of the Fallen was awful, the rest I agree though, Nioh is excellent.

NiOH is my favorite by far .But it definitely has its own style and feel . Salt and Sanctuary was really good. Lord of the Fallen was ok some good and some bad, but I do want to play their follow up game The Surge . Heard it was decent it’s sitting in my backlog closet

I thought Lords of the Fallen was mechanically sound but it was a total rip off that did nothing as well as Souls does and didn't have two original ideas to rub together. Ironically considering what a blatant clone it was it had no soul.

Salt and Sanctuary was also strongly inspired by Souls but the gameplay was fantastic and it forged its own path, plenty of its own personality.

Give them all an easy mode.

Lords of the Fallen was okay but nothing special. Wasn't much of a fan with Immortal Unchained but it at least tried to do something different instead of just being a clunkier and slower version of Dark Souls unlike LotF. The rest however are pretty good. The Surge suffered many issues at launch but thankfully they improved the game through patches. Surprised that Ashen isn't here.

Also, does anyone remembers Necropolis? That game just kinda came and went.

NiOh is my favorite and the game is so good. It has its own style, additions and ideas. Also, you can see that Sekiro has some inspiration on Nioh.

If you haven't played NiOh, you are missing on a great gem 💎.

I have a hard time making a top list, because all of the soulslike I have played each have certain strengths and certain weaknesses.

Lords of The Fallen has arguably the both best, and the worst, boss design of any souls-like. Even including, in my opinion, from software titles. Because every boss has a unique mechanic that forces you to adapt your playstyle quite a lot. Most From software bosses usually depend on very intricate visual designs, but very simple combat mechanics.

Lords of The Fallen is also way more visually polished than most soulslike titles, but it's stylistical choices can be hit or miss for many.

The Surge has the best build system of any soulslike. No longer relying on the extremely outdated and simple stat system, where you usually just choose a damage type and put all your points into that stat. Leaving very little variation in builds. Instead it has a much more dynamic system where your build can rely on anything from ability modules to stat enhancing modules, which incorporates different mechanics for doing damage, healing and many other things. A system that encourages exploration of it's levels and encourages for you to experiment with the system. As a system for character building in an action rpg it is far better than anything From Software has brought to the table, and it beats most contemporary attempts in the genre and others.

The Surge also has, in my opinion, a very enjoyable combat system. Featuring much more movement and quite a high pace compared to most from software titles, exception is probably Bloodborne. However, it's boss design is rather weak. Some decent bosses that could have been in any From software games, and some extremely terrible bosses that should have had much more work before they were put into the game.

Salt and Sanctuary's concept of emulating the soulslike experience within a 2d platformer was amazing. At times my favorite soulslike experience, but also my least favorite at times. I think mostly because the bosses and levels became too repetitive without any need for progression after a point. I absolutely adored the first half of the game, but I thoroughly disliked the last third. At that point it felt a lot like I was just going through the motions to finish the game. Still with everything it does I found the game to be extremely successful at what it set out to do and it is, by far, the most original take on the genre. While, at the same time, the one staying the most true to the original formula. Strange I know.

I have not managed to give Nioh a proper go yet. I found the level design of putting and janky. I also wish it did not go the demon route, as I find it too similar to From softwares titles in that way, but rather went more realistic. But I will probably get around to giving it another try.

I have chosen to stay away form Immortal Unchained because it looks too unpolished for me at the moment, might try it at a later date though.

Anyways for me I would rather give out awards.

Best bosses - Lords of the Fallen

Best build system - The Surge

Best Combat - The Surge

Most Original adaption - Salt and Sanctuary

That is my take, at least with the experience I have had.

Dead Cells is great.

THE SURGE ; "As a result, it’s probably the most grounded game on the list, if you ignore the endlessly respawning enemies and homemade mech suits, that is."
Bloodborne also had respawning enemies when you leave the instance and return.
so i don't get the problem. unless you have a problem with FromSoft doing it as well.

I feel like GOW PS4 is a Souls-like game. One with thee best combat system at that.

Am I crazy?