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Borne to Run Gaiden: Kindred Souls

Welcome to the Gaiden series: homages for all the new Giant Bomb shows that have been gracing the website over the past few weeks. Each one takes the general theme of the video series they're linked to and looks for an alternative route to take the idea, since it would be too easy to just imitate them wholesale.

Borne to Run, which has NoClip's Danny O'Dwyer and GameSpot's Tamoor Hussain explore the FromSoftware Souls games one "Endurance Run" LP at a time, is perhaps setting itself up to be more than meets the eye: Danny's well aware that the Souls series has a prominent place in Giant Bomb history and looks to be leveraging that legacy towards some meta commentary on the renowned RPG series (or Giant Bomb itself). My "Gaiden" alternative idea is to look at the many games that were, if not inspired directly by Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, very much in the same mindset in terms of their presentation and mechanics. For each, I'll be making the case for how they hew close to the Souls formula, but also provide one key difference in their approach (same basis as this list of explormers, with which we'll see some overlap).

Each game has a "Soulmate Score" that is based on how many of the following traits it shares with the Souls series:

  1. A desolate, if not entirely empty, setting long past its prime or on the precipice of total destruction.
  2. A generally saturnine atmosphere and tone, germane to the above.
  3. A contextual-heavy approach to narrative, where the player must pay attention to their surroundings, cryptic NPC encounters, and item descriptions to learn as much of the full story as there is to be gleaned.
  4. A "corpse run" mechanic wherein the player has an opportunity to recover what they've lost by reaching the point where they last died.
  5. Healing items tend to be both finite and replenishable, the idea being that you can't brute force bosses with a heap of curatives but nor do you have to waste time farming them after every failed attempt.
  6. A single playable character, with a development system versatile enough for a plethora of highly specific builds.
  7. A real-time combat system that prioritizes stamina gauges, careful maneuvering, parries, and seizing opportunities to attack over relentless aggression.
  8. Lots of traps designed to keep you on your toes (except for pitfalls, obviously).
  9. The NPCs you meet have their own individual motivations and routes that occasionally intersect with your own, and some may even assist with boss fights if you allow them.
  10. A generally high level of difficulty that can nonetheless be conquered by sheer perseverance or further character development (i.e. grinding and/or backtracking for upgrades).

(NB: These inspirations have really picked up in the last few years so there's many I've yet to check out. I'll include a list of those I have my eye on in the comments below.)

List items

  • 2001-02-19

    Soulmate Score = 4 (1, 7, 8, 10.)

    A rare "pre-Souls" that isn't one of From's proto-Souls games like Shadow Tower, Severance pre-empted the tactical action-RPG combat, the grim tone, and taking every level very slowly in case of sudden ambushes or spikes flying out of nowhere. Every enemy is capable of ruining your day, so it's important to take each encounter seriously and use what few healing consumables there are judiciously. There's also four different characters with very different approaches for some added longevity, though each has an automatic development path.

    Distinct Feature: Beyond presaging much of the Souls formula by eight years, Severance uses fighting game inputs to perform special attacks. They're powerful tools if you can pull them off with any regularity.

  • 2015-04-14

    Soulmate Score = 5 (1, 2, 3, 7, 10.)

    Inspired as much by Shadow of the Colossus as Dark Souls (the title is an allusion to both), Titan Souls is a top-down boss rush game in which the player character and bosses alike can only take one hit to defeat; however, there's usually a lot of groundwork to do to make boss's weakpoint appear. The Souls influence is mostly only tonal here, though you could make the case that it emphasizes the pivotal nature of the boss encounters of Souls.

    Distinct Feature: The player's only weapon is a bow and a single arrow. Fights come down to firing it at the exact right moment, though the player can instantly recall it in case of a miss.

  • 2016-03-04

    Soulmate Score = 8 (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10.)

    A side-scroller, Momodora's fourth outing uses replenishing health consumable and corpse run features similar to Souls and also imitates its gloomy atmosphere. Bosses even have the same naming structure ("[proper noun], [title]").

    Distinct Feature: Perhaps the earliest game to attach the Souls formula to a 2D platformer, at least by a few weeks. Also, using a leaf as a weapon, something games wouldn't do again until Breath of the Wild.

  • 2016-03-15

    Soulmate Score = 10 (1-10.)

    Ska Studios always made their games with a stark, monochromatic edginess to them so adapting that aesthetic to a Soulslike platformer wasn't a huge departure. As well as the usual comparisons, Salt & Sanctuary put a lot of focus on the second of its two titular items: you could change each save point/rest area to suit a specific purpose, such as specific vendors, from a finite selection available.

    Distinct Feature: Unlike most Soulslikes, Salt & Sanctuary has a massive skill tree to work through. Each node even had its own little piece of lore about the game's wider world to peruse.

  • 2017-02-07

    Soulmate Score = 8 (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.)

    The first Soulslike to approach the same budgetary level as its inspiration, Koei Tecmo's Nioh franchise plays very similarly to Souls but chooses to demarcate its content into discrete levels with an overworld map interface to move between them. It's closer to Demon's Souls's archstones in practice, but allows for even more granular stages for smaller "sub-mission" zones, some only constituting a wide enough space for a boss duel. There's also a huge emphasis on weapon types, each with its own individual skill tree.

    Distinct Feature: Among many other innovations, the triple stance system is one that takes a while to master but offers a great deal of combat variety. Weapons can change their behavior completely in different stances, meaning every weapon type has a stance suited for fighting every enemy type.

  • 2017-02-24

    Soulmate Score = 9 (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.)

    Another platformer, Hollow Knight hits the Souls tone perfectly with a subterranean kingdom of infected bugs and the few survivors making the best of a tragic situation. Hollow Knight streamlines a lot of the RPG aspects, even reducing the HP count to single figures, but the combat is no less tactical or riveting because of it.

    Distinct Feature: A selection of equippable charms conferring passive skills that collectively allow for a great deal of customization potential.

  • 2017-05-16

    Soulmate Score = 8 (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10.)

    A sci-fi variant of the formula, The Surge has the player adapting their build based on the mechanical scraps and cybernetic implants they've found and also features a grisly dismemberment system as the fastest way to earn specific materials. Players can also use drones as a way of keeping pressure on an enemy, working in tandem to bring foes down.

    Distinct Feature: Like Hollow Knight, the game has a loose character customization system based on acquired upgrades in lieu of a traditional skill-based level progression. It allows for a serious amount of min-maxing potential and tactical prioritization - say, switching out exploration-friendly upgrades like secret detectors for the sake of more healing abilities when it's time for a boss. Corpse runs are also timed, which adds an extra degree of suspense (though enemy kills will boost the timer).

  • 2018-08-14

    Soulmate Score = 10 (1-10.)

    A by-the-books 2D Soulslike that has the player perform the role of Death's servant, defeating a cabal of immortal beings that have cheated the Grim Reaper for far too long. The game has all the Souls flourishes but is much more compact, leading to what feels like a very boss-fight-heavy imbalance. Skill trees are based on the player's initial class choice, so it's integral to choose wisely.

    Distinct Feature: Death's Gambit is a little nicer than most Soulslikes - as well as having a less severe death penalty (you'll temporarily lose one of your replenishing curatives) it'll let you keep a percentage of the boss reward based on how far you got their health down, which can sometimes mean an extra level to tip the scales. It's also the only other Soulslike I've found to borrow Bloodborne's "rally" mechanic of immediately attacking after getting hit to recover some of the lost health.

  • 2019-09-10

    Soulmate Score = 10 (1-10.)

    A 2D platformer inspired by the more esoteric apocrypha of Catholicism, Blasphemous has a certain weight to its jumping and platforming that requires a more cautious approach to navigate. This stoicism plays a role in the strongly defensive and parry-based combat as well. It's also one of the more grisly games on this list, with several macabre boss and NPC encounters that look as creepy as anything in Bloodborne.

    Distinct Feature: Like Death's Gambit, Blasphemous has a less severe spin on the corpse run mechanic where, instead of losing your currency, you lose a small chunk of your mana gauge. This less punitive system means you never have to worry about being underlevelled, but it's often worth the effort to recover what you left behind.

  • 2019-09-24

    Soulmate Score = 9 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10.)

    Retains all the innovations of the original The Surge (albeit less innovative now) and adds plenty of its own, tweaking its versatile implant system to let you switch it out on the field. Drones have been heavily reworked too, offering limited range abilities as well as a few traversal- and multiplayer-based modes like a scavenger hunt for remotely-placed holograms (you get a huge reward if no-one finds it within a time limit). Overall challenge level is a little lower, though, and the new setting of Jericho City feels a little less connected than the sprawling campus of CREO Corp.

    Distinct Feature: Healing's another element that has been reconfigured since the first game. You build battery by damaging enemies and can spend it on either a heal or other buffs once you have a full bar charged up. You can also "bank" healing charges for later - they work like Estus Flasks in that state.

  • 2019-12-13

    Soulmate Score = 10 (1-10.)

    Another side-scrolling explormer Soulslike, 3000th Duel doesn't have a whole lot of complexity to it but it does have a considerable length to its campaign and a fair degree of challenge. Gameplay-wise it's perhaps closest to an IGAvania, especially with how its weapon types offer different coverage in addition to speed and damage output. Visually it's a bit on the cheap side, but it makes up for that in the competency of its gameplay.

    Distinctive Feature: Sadly, the game's biggest detriment is that it doesn't really do anything new or different to help it stand out. The time loop lore stuff is kinda cool, but it's been done before and better by other explormers (namely Timespinner and Vision Soft Reset).

  • 2019-11-11

    Soulmate Score = 4 (2, 4, 5, 7.)

    Though the Souls influence is palpable, Fallen Order is an amalgamation of Souls, explormers, Uncharted, and previous Star Wars action games like Jedi Knight. It's also much more story-focused than Souls games, putting its narrative front and center rather than as a mostly passive background participant. A potent mixture, though overall a bit rough with its execution.

    Distinctive Feature: Dipping between planets is something you don't often do in a Souls game, though I suppose Demon's Souls archstones aren't dissimilar. I'd have to go with the hybrid status as the game's most distinctive contribution to the Souls formula - while many have adopted explormer tactics, few then went on to add Uncharted climbing and traversal with lightsaber duels.

  • 2020-03-12

    Soulmate Score = 8 (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.)

    Nioh 2 improved what was already an excellent game by adding more of everything and giving you a protagonist that was half-yokai and could command some of their same powers. Its narrative hewed closer to Koei Tecmo's wheelhouse of the final days of the Sengoku conflict, featuring many major Nobunaga no Yabou characters who weave in and out of the story.

    Distinct Feature: The game is littered with "dark realms," where the power of the yokai is most potent. The protagonist suffers a mix of bonuses and maluses when inside, being of mixed-species, but enemies are uniformly stronger until the realm is collapsed with the death of a certain "linchpin yokai" (who has a telltale aura). As well as being sinister and intimidating, these dark realms rely a little more on being tactical about how you choose to proceed: it's best to take out the linchpin while engaging as few of the other powered-up foes as possible.

  • 2020-08-18

    Soulmate Score = 6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10.)

    Mortal Shell presents Souls in a microcosm: the worldbuilding, tone, parry-based combat, and progression are all highly reminiscent of Souls, but on a much smaller scale. It has a few distinct ideas of its own too: rather than your own character built from scratch, you can choose between several pre-generated build at any given moment and can only upgrade their abilities not their stats. It's also the only Soulslike I've seen to incorporate the "one more chance" mechanic from Sekiro; useful, as there's limited opportunities to heal while in combat.

  • 2020-08-27

    Soulmate Score = 1 (1.)

    While easily having the biggest structural/gameplay divergence from any other game on this list, as a puzzle-adventure game with a cute aesthetic, The Last Campfire nonetheless features a number of stylistic similarities not least of which is the idea of surviving spirits trapped in a desolate world huddling around campfires to stave off going "forlorn": losing their will, vitality, and sanity in the face of a hopeless situation. It's the player's task to bring them back from the precipice of despair. In a sense, it isolates that specific aspect of the worldbuilding of the Souls universe and recontextualizes it to fit themes of compassion and encouragement to fellow travellers, as well as one's acceptance of their eventual end.

    Distinct Feature: Much of the format is already different enough, but the game is one that is designed for all comers of any skill level - the player can choose to move on without completing every puzzle, or can even turn the puzzles off all together. Souls and Soulslikes haven't yet embraced this level of accessibility, though there have certainly been calls for it in recent times.

  • 2021-01-21

    Soulmate Score = 8 (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10.)

    Another Indie explormer with a very Soulsian attitude, Ender Lilies is considerably more streamlined as an RPG and platformer alike, eliminating the corpse run mechanic in lieu of a system where you lose nothing upon death besides the time it takes to get back to where you were from the checkpoint. It can certainly be challenging, especially with boss fights, but the ease of traversal is meant to keep the challenge aspect focused almost solely on the combat.

    Distinct Feature: Not distinct to explormers in general, perhaps, but a feature most Soulslikes don't use (ironically, given their name) is that the protagonist can equip the spirits of specific fallen bosses and NPCs as her weapons and skills. Popularized by Castlevania games like Aria of Sorrow.

  • 2021-07-20

    Soulmate Score = 7 (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10.)

    A top-down action game created by the same developers behind Titan Souls, above, Death's Door feels a little more distanced from the Souls formula but nonetheless has many of the same strengths as its predecessor.

    Distinct Feature: As well as an appealing aesthetic partially inspired by Ghibli movies, its biggest strength is in how it's built to let you mix up melee and ranged combat on the fly. Many battles involve a balance of repelling projectiles, dodge rolling away from attacks, and carving out space to fire your bow.

  • 2021-07-29

    Soulmate Score = 7 (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10.)

    A top-down boss rush action game in a similar vein as Titan Souls and Death's Door. There's very little exploration, no regular enemies, and no RPG mechanics beyond a single skill point earned after every boss. It's just a series of tough boss battles with patterns to memorize and brief calm periods in-between.

    Distinct Feature: Adapting perhaps from Bloodborne's rallying mechanic, in Eldest Souls the only way to regain health is with the stronger charged attacks. Such attacks can be inaccurate as well as take a second to prepare, which leaves you vulnerable. Death tends to arrive in one or two boss hits, though, so you always need to stay on top of your healing.

  • 2021-08-02

    Soulmate Score = 10 (1-10.)

    A 2D explormer Soulslike that presents a dying world of rock monsters and a protagonist that is treated with some mix of fear or reverence by the few sane denizens still around. It's up to the player to figure out what their role in all this is, while trying to survive the many hostile creatures that roam around.

    Distinct Feature: A parry system that is also the most reliable way of recovering health.

  • 2022-03-18

    Soulmate Score = 7 (1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.)

    Team Ninja took their Nioh model of a discrete stage-based structure and a whole bunch of colored loot gear and transported it to the world of Final Fantasy I, setting up a very meta deconstruction of that NES game's time-looping story. For some reason, they also gave it a very edgy shounen vibe too.

    Distinct Feature: Its take on the Job system of prior FF games is absolutely nuts and changes the game from the usual painstaking Soulslike struggle to a massive power trip. With the right Jobs the game becomes trivial, and they're all so easy to boost up.
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