The Soulslike genre is among the most popular in gaming and encapsulates all the games made in a similar fashion to those byFromSoftware. PC, PlayStation, and Xbox have the most abundant variety, with the entireDark Souls trilogy,Bloodborne,Demon’s Souls, andElden Ring. However, the Nintendo Switch still contains Soulslike gems of its own.
The Switch can still provide you with many immersive fantasy lands to get lost in, stories that tie in beautifully with the core action RPG mechanics, and some stunning art direction. It may not have all the above greats like Elden Ring and the rest, but there is still plenty of punishment to go around.
Updated on June 27, 2025, by Dennis Moiseyev:Since this article was last written, the Nintendo Switch library has been flooded by a slew of Soulslike games that deliver on the key aesthetics of a FromSoftware title. All of these have now been added in the update, along with others equally thrilling in their Soulslike experiences.
12The Last Faith
The Last Faith isthe latest indie Metroidvania Soulslike offeringand a perfect option on the Switch if you’ve been yearning for Bloodborne andLies of P, as this will certainly scratch that itch. The game’s entire atmosphere is pretty much a Gothic horror mix ofResident Evil Villagewith the gameplay elements of Bloodborne orMoonscars.
Another surprise with this game you don’t normally see with other Soulslikes of this design is its storytelling style. While your protagonist, Eryk, may have the trope of amnesia, he’s certainly not silent. The Last Faith features plenty of voice-acting, cutscenes, and a visual novel-style dialogue system.
Sifupairs the satisfying beat ‘em up combat of theYakuzaseries with the difficulty scale of a Soulslike game. You even have a posture meter system similar toSekiro: Shadows Die Twicefor enemies and bosses, and the combat here sticks to traditional fluid Kung Fu animations.
Sifu clearly wears its inspirations from Hollywood martial arts action films on its sleeves, especially noted during a side-scrolling hallway fight section that feels straight out of Daredevil, Old Boy, or The Raid. It’s definitely one of the more fun, badass, and least punishing Soulslike you can play, with an excellent story as well.
10Blasphemous 2
Another terrific 2D-pixel art Soulslike platformer to consider isBlasphemous 2, the sequel to The Game Kitchen’s mysterious and tough-as-nails game gorily centered around religious themes. You’re once more thrust into the role of the Penitent One, clad in his metal mask and pointed capirote-style hat.
There are side quests and some extremely tough boss battles ahead for you, as usual, but now you also have equipable Altarpieces and Prayers in addition to Rosary Beads and plenty of new weapon options and movement abilities. The rich Gothic atmosphere and distinct character designs remain as intriguing as ever.
9Ashen
Ashen is a rare Soulslike title within theaward-winning library from Annapurna Interactive.
The art style is one of its most unique features, and the exploration will feel familiar to other FromSoftware games. It also allows you to take on the punishment with a friend in co-op. And much like Elden Ring, the story and world-building were done byfantasy novelist Mark Lawrence.
This game puts you into a bleakly stylish medieval open world that has many different types of enemies and locations to engage with, putting you in the shoes of a nameless and faceless protagonist at the center of it all. The creature, sound, UI, and combat design all work phenomenally in building a Soulslike atmosphere.
8Salt And Sanctuary
Salt and Sanctuary is a 2D sidescroller Soulslike adventure featuring a Metroidvania-style game design. Set in a nightmarish fog-filled Gothic island, the enemies in this game are grotesquely Lovecraftian, and the atmosphere feels reminiscent of Bloodborne.
Even though it’s more platformer-basedthan your typical Dark Souls world, the bosses are just as challenging.
In this game, salt is the strange main ingredient to making upgrades and leveling up your stats. The island is home to a host of Saltborn and Lightborn inhabitants, which means they have tons of salt to drop once they’re felled.
You alsohave eight classes available, and all the traditional mechanics of a Dark Souls game are present.
7Salt And Sacrifice
And when you finish Salt and Sanctuary, a great follow-up to that experience would only rightfully be its sequel,Salt and Sacrifice, which is now on the Switch! Salt and Sacrifice sees the return of the unique art style, enemy and boss designs, and atmosphere of the first game, but with an online co-op twist.
That’s right, Salt and Sanctuary’s sequel is all about its new multiplayer features,which also entail faction PVPand quickplay co-op if you need a friend to drop in for just a single boss battle. The story is largely the same conflict between Marked Inquisitors and Mages,with the environments looking much more vibrantand a little less dreary.
Perhaps trying to be the most identical to a Dark Souls game in design and concept isMortal Shell. You have very similar environments and progression, enemies and ruthless giant bosses ready to bring a horrible end to you around every corner, and pretty much the same traversal and combat mechanics.
The new innovative spin to the formula in this game is how it turns different classes of enemies into a gameplay mechanic. You appear as a pale Foundling with a bony exoskeleton, almost like an Engineer from Prometheus, and must possess the shells of deceased armored knights you find scattered throughout the land.
You’ll also be able to jump around and occupy multiple shellsfor unbeknownst reasons.
5Vampyr
In this Soulslike horror RPG from the branching narrative minds of Don’t Nod, you are Dr. Jonathan Reid, stationed out of Pembroke Hospital in1918 during the height of the Influenza Pandemicpost-WWI, with a much direr affliction. Reid has recently been turned into the titular being by a mysterious supernatural force, and he now struggles with craving blood.
The world design of Vampyr may not be to the caliber of the Dark Souls and Elden Ring expansiveness, but it well makes up for it with its branching story and characters.
As Jonathan Reid, you can unlock and upgradesome exciting vampiric abilities, such as the blood spear, tied to your thirst for blood. And you’ll have opportunities to spare or drain the blood of certain characters.
4Grime
Speaking of faceless and nameless characters, you also play as one in Grime. The main character is an enigmatic being formed of rock whose head is nothing but a black sphere representing a black hole. This one is yet another Soulslike Metroidvania side-scroller but with a more sci-fi twist in a desolate cavernous desert world populated with other alien rocklike creatures.
Theparry mechanic is among the most originaland is incorporated into the character design, the black vortex of a head expanding as it blocks an incoming attack and absorbs some of the material precisely like a vacuum. The bosses and weapons feel organic to their environments, with the weapons even being alive to undergo mutations.
The Switch seems to have no shortage of excellent 2D side-scroller Soulslike titles, and another one you’ll come across isTails of Iron. Tails of Iron is an RPG presenting a perfect combination of the fantasy bug realm aesthetic of Hollow Knight and the more bloody violence and grittiness of Salt and Sanctuary.
Having a hand-drawn art style of medieval environments, it’s a far more whimsical fairytale-like premise than your standard dark and ominous Soulslike atmosphere, but it still carries that sense of dreariness. It tells the tale of a kingdom at war with a Frog Clan, andyou’re a rat and future king named Redgiwho must expel the invaders.
