Best Soulslike Games On Nintendo Switch

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's Dark Souls birthed the Soulslike subgenre, known for punishing difficulty, stamina-based combat, and Metroidvania-style, non-linear exploration.

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By  Jordan McEvoy

Although Nintendo Switch players can't play the entire Dark Souls trilogy 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's Souls formula. It's hard to believe that there are so many Soulslike Switch games, especially since these platforms were praised for promoting ingenuity and accessibility over everything else.

Updated February 11, 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.

21 Morbid: The Lords of Ire

Third-Person Soulslike With Some Quirks

Morbid: The Lords of Ire is 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 to Morbid: The Seven Acolytes, and there is some story and lore to signal that. But, as with most Soulslikes, combat is the main focus here.

In Morbid: 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.

20 Pascal's Wager: Definitive Edition

Console-Caliber Challenge With A Distinct Art style

• Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC
• Release Date: March 12, 2021
• Developer: TipsWorks

Despite its relatively low Metacritic score, players shouldn't write off Pascal'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 Wager features 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 serviceable Soulslike game on the Switch in its own right that fans will have a great time with, even if it doesn't butt heads with the best in the genre.

19 SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption

Grow Weaker, Fight Harder

• Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Mac
• Release Date: April 26, 2018
• Developer: DARK STAR

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 Redemption that takes the promise of not being just another Soulslike very seriously and manages to achieve it by virtue of its level-down system. In SINNER, 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. SINNER is quite a short title and plays like a boss-rush game with 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.

18 Chronos: Before The Ashes

Age With Every Defeat

Initially released as a VR-only experience, Chronos: Before the Ashes does not try to hide the fact that it was inspired by FromSoftware'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.

Chronos is 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.

17 Salt And Sacrifice

Survive a forsaken kingdom

Salt and Sanctuary is 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.

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While Salt and Sacrifice dropped 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.

16 Vigil: The Longest Night

Soulslike In An Everlasting Night

• Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC
• Release Date: October 14, 2020
• Developer: Glass Heart Games

Despite having some bugs that can be frustrating to deal with, there's no denying that Vigil: The Longest Night is one of the better Metroidvania Soulslikes on the Switch that 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 that Vigil: The Longest Night is 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 use Vigil as a starting point before getting into more hardcore titles if this game strikes their fancy.

15 Eldest Souls

A Brutal Boss Rush

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. While Eldest Souls doesn't hide its admiration for the Dark Souls trilogy, 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 Souls has the same painfully hard, ebb-and-flow combat known from Dark 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.

14 Blasphemous

A Grotesque Side-Scroller

Players who want to go through an atmospheric game with platforming elements will love what Blasphemous has 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.

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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 be more 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.

13 Curse Of The Dead Gods

Curses, Traps, And Darkness

At a glance, most people will write off Curse of the Dead Gods as another formulaic roguelike that had the unfortunate honor of being compared both favorably and unfavorably to Hades. While that title became Supergiant Games' biggest release, the same can't be said for Curse 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.

12 Remnant: From The Ashes

A Post-Apocalyptic Soulslike Shooter

The idea of combining the Soulslike genre with third-person shooter elements sounds like a pretty risky idea, and fans were glad to see that Remnant: From the Ashes does 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.

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Remnant: From the Ashes also allows for heightened replayability as 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.