It's been a while since I played Elden Ring (for the fourth time), but that's the game that got my foot through the door for Soulsborne games. Now, I may have my fair share of complaints about the oversaturation of Souls-like games, but the genre itself began with FromSoftware's template of third-person, melee-based action-adventure titles where you explore dungeons and huge areas, wrestle with cryptic lore, take down difficult and unforgettable bosses, and kill enemies to progress your own character and build.

That said, nobody does it quite like FromSoft. From the PS3 Demon's Souls, to the Dark Souls franchise that launched them into the stratosphere, down to their most successful and popular title, Elden Ring, there have been 8 major Soulsborne games. I have had the rare luxury of finding the time to play all of them, and from where I stand, where Elden Ring was once at the very top, there are other FromSoftware titles that did a lot of things a lot better. Here's where they all stand, from least impressive to downright phenomenal.

Elden Ring Nightreign (2025)

The worst of the lot, all due to a different formula

This one should come as no surprise, but it's also a fantastic measure of excellence that FromSoft's weakest Soulsborne game still sits at a 77 Metacritic score. However, it's the user score average of 6.6 that really rings truer here. It's such a shame what happened with this game, too. When Elden Ring came into my life, it became a three-month-long ritual with a friend who'd been trying to get me into it for years. We'd go over to each other's place to continue playing, and do the rest over Discord streams. Multiplayer, however, was clunky at best, and no matter how much we tried to enjoy taking down bosses together or exploring The Lands Between side-by-side, Elden Ring remained a single-player journey through and through.

As such, when Nightreign promised the dream of Elden Ring, the ultimate open-world Soulsborne game in a co-op friendly package, we were both torn. We still bought it and tried to play, and yet, it just didn't work, and that was the case for thousands of players, which is why the game sits with middling reviews everywhere. The whole shrinking-circle format just doesn't work here, no matter how novel it sounds on paper. Worse still is the fact that after 150 hours in the base game and another 50 in the fantastic expansion, I just can't find anything new to look at, either. After the novelty wears off in the first couple of hours, there is very little reason to return.

Demon's Souls (2009/2020)

The one that started the genre

Demon's Souls may have the weakest bosses in the series, but to call it "the second-weakest Souls game" is still praising it to the moon — that's how high the standard is. Now, I never touched the PS3 version, since the friend whose PlayStation 3 I used to hound never got the game. My experience of Demon's Souls was with the PlayStation 5 remake, and damn, it was stunning. The movement, the level design, and the sense of place were all immaculate. For a moment, it feels like the closest we have right now to a true next-gen Souls game, since even the latest Nightreign title is a cross-gen release.

Demon's Souls also happens to be easier than what follows, and rather deceptively so. This isn't the game to prepare you for the brutality of later entries. Never having finished Demon's Souls, once I rolled into Elden Ring thinking I'd be decently fine, I got my teeth kicked in for about 20 hours. Look, Demon's Souls shines in atmosphere and pacing, but it doesn't quite have the weight of lore or challenge that the rest of the phenomenal titles carry with them in this fantastic lineup.

Dark Souls II (2014)

A sequel that told its own tale

The first sequel in a franchise is where the devs really nail the formula and find their voice. It sets the tone and template for any games to come, but with a level of polish only maturity can bring. That's where Dark Souls II succeeded. It's addictive, it was insanely polished, and it's still home to one of the best DLC trilogies ever made, hands down. It's also a little smaller in scope, and a lot more intimate in terms of its lore — one kingdom, one tragic fate — and that honestly works in its favor.

Majula deserves a shoutout all of its own. That sunny hub with its mournful music and cryptic NPCs here and there... it's one of my favorite spaces in any Soulsborne game. Even if you were to skip Dark Souls entirely and start with Dark Souls II instead, I wouldn't blame you. It's capable of being its own experience from start to finish, even if you'll miss out on a few deeper story beats. It's polished, confident, and stands on its own, despite a more scaled-down lore compared to the other entries and their sprawling mythos.

Dark Souls (2011)

Everything ultimately points to Gwyn

Despite coming earlier and proving to be a bit jankier today upon a revisit, the first Dark Souls game still deserves to be higher up than Dark Souls II. The walk between bosses can sometimes feel like the game's slowest gear, and yet, that downtime is also when Dark Souls' brilliance sneaks in, because what you're looking at and running through is a remarkable interconnected world, all the way from 2011. Dark Souls still has an atmosphere that very few games have matched.

Even though the 2018 remaster does help things along, revisiting Dark Souls is tough. The boss fights that were impressive in 2011 feel clunky and imprecise today, but as a product of its time? Dark Souls is untouchable. A foundation so strong that every Soulslike still owes something to Lordran's labyrinthine streets and its haunting atmosphere.

Elden Ring (2022)

The Souls format, perfected for the open-world

Yes, Elden Ring is one of the greatest games of all time, and there's no doubt that it set a golden blueprint for all open-world games to follow. I played Elden Ring before I touched the Souls trilogy, and it made me a true believer, shooting straight up to my Mount Rushmore. The intricate lore is so intricate and well-done, that there's no doubt on my mind about it being the perfect way to consume video games. You're a vessel for the larger plot, and every single NPC, boss, and hub works perfectly in tandem with the script to write and forge your personal adventure.

Elden Ring's open-world, build and weapon variety makes sure that there's something for absolutely everyone, and it would very well have ranked near the damn top had I not played other Souls games after it. It almost feels criminal now to be ranking it where it is, but the games that came before really did do things better. It doesn't help either that everyone I've ever talked to about the game has had different versions of the story because they missed out on so much of the fragmented lore, or just didn't care. Shadow of the Erdtree remains one of the greatest DLCs of all time, and despite being an expansion, it remains a fantastic Soulsborne game in and of itself.

Elden Ring's bosses, as popular and unforgettable as they are, leave something to be desired. Allow me to explain. Their health bars aren't massive like in the prior Souls games, which means that they might do tons of damage to you, but once you start dancing with them right back, their health bars lose huge chunks once you get a hit in. High-damage glass cannons is the best way to describe them, and if you played the Souls games first, you won't ever be able to truly look past the asset reuse, just with new skins and names. I do hope the next game from FromSoft really changes things up. Atmosphere and great lore can always be a thing without reusing the same dragons, giants, and mini-bosses four times over.

Dark Souls III (2016)

The perfect end with the perfect DLC

After I went to Dark Souls from Elden Ring, it took me a long while to get used to the clunkiness and jank that were a product of their times. Sure, no problem, but it was only once I finally reached Dark Souls III that I finally felt at home again with the quicker movement and faster combat — something I sorely missed in the first two games. It isn't Sekiro levels of fast-paced, no, but it works perfectly with the pacing and more modern responsiveness of the controls.

After two Dark Souls games back to back, Dark Souls III threatened to feel like more of the same to me, but it really surprised me with its level variety and inarguably the best bosses in the entire franchise, hands down. They were better balanced and so much more interesting to engage in than even Elden Ring, and that's what sets Dark Souls III above its successor for me. While I will always remain completely in love with ER's open-world formula, the linear nature of Dark Souls III really did help retain a level of polish and replayability that rivals that of Elden Ring.

This game is the perfect bridge between the old and the new, and I genuinely hope that FromSoft gives us at least one more next-gen linear Soulsborne game with vast sandboxes instead of an open-ended world.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019)

The leanest, most focused Soulsborne experience

I would've put Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice at the very top of the list, but with so much debate about whether or not it is even a Soulsborne game, I decided I'd rather keep it a runner-up. Sekiro is the leanest, most focused Soulsborne experience. There are no builds to experiment with here, nor any magic. It's just you, your katana, a grappling hook, and a relentless demand for tenacity and improvement. It's also the clearest narrative FromSoft has ever told, with each story beat pulling you forward without confusion or half-heard lore dumps.

What Sekiro taught me was a powerful lesson that will stay with me forever — sometimes, you can't blame anything or anyone but yourself, and the only way forward is to shut up and keep trying. It's the boss rush mode that really sells this one, and the ability to simply revisit old bosses to drown all my worries in the clang of parries and sword clashes is something I can't ever get enough of, even six years later.

Plus, Sekiro is by far the most unique and visually striking game among all the Soulsborne titles, with the late 1500s Japanese Sengoku era setting being unlike anything else on this list.

Bloodborne (2015)

I played the PC port, since Sony never gave us a 60fps patch

Here we are — the greatest Soulsborne game to come from FromSoft. In my opinion, the Soulsborne games' best strength is their humanoid bosses and mini-bosses, where the challenge is never the gigantic, spectacular size of the boss, but rather that skill you'll require to take on someone your own size, with abilities you don't even know yet. A PlayStation exclusive, Bloodborne had a brilliant narrative that never lost pace, a fantastic visual setting that is inarguably one of the most unforgettable ones in any RPG ever, and incredible boss fights. It rightly deserves its top spot among all its Soulsborne siblings. After all, it's given the genre half its name.

I never got around to playing Bloodborne on the PS4 or PS5, and it was only after it came to ShadPS4 with a 60fps patch and visual enhancements that I finally got around to playing it. Of course, that doesn't mean I hadn't already watched two full playthroughs of the game already, but for the game to still be as remarkably engaging from start to finish is a feat in itself. The gothic setting, the enemy designs, and the sheer atmospheric mood — Bloodborne is unlike anything FromSoft has done, and I will always be left scratching my head, wondering why it never got a PS5 patch, or even a sequel.

There's nothing like a FromSoft Soulsborne game

Every Soulsborne game has haunted my downtime.

To be completely honest, I myself was surprised at how Elden Ring wasn't automatically the greatest Soulsborne game, but after careful consideration and weighing everything I liked and disliked about each of the eight games that carry this tag, I'm confident in my opinions.

Every single one of these games (except Nightreign) has haunted my downtime, or even my work hours, where the only thing I can possibly think of is going back to the game and making some more progress, earning some more souls. Despite all the rage-quits I had and the 3 AM screaming contests I had with some bosses, there is simply nothing like a FromSoft Soulsborne game, and god, I hope they never, ever stop coming.