Games like Elden Ring
After Elden Ring, the three strongest picks are Lies of P (the best non-FromSoft soulslike to date), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoft's own sharpest combat) and Dragon's Dogma 2 (the open-world-that-ignores-you half). Below, ten games ranked by which of Elden Ring's two pillars they carry: the fights or the horizon.
Elden Ring is two games in one body: a merciless boss gauntlet, and an open world that trusts you to find everything yourself — no quest markers, no map pins begging for attention. Sequels to the first half exist in numbers; sequels to the second are rare and precious.
Each entry below says which half it continues. All are finished, well-reviewed games. One is a skip — the game most often recommended to Elden Ring players that most of them should not start with.
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How we picked these
- Combat where positioning and patience beat button speed.
- Death that costs something, so tension never fully leaves.
- Exploration that rewards curiosity instead of following icons.
- Bosses designed to be learned, not out-levelled.
- Very Positive or better on Steam — with one argued exception, Dragon's Dogma 2 — and no eternal early access.
The list
01 Lies of P
The fights, perfected outside FromSoft. A Pinocchio soulslike that sounds like a joke and plays like a thesis — deliberate parry timing, superb boss design, and a lie system that quietly branches the story. Linear where Elden Ring is open, which after 150 hours of Lands Between can be a feature.
02 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoft's own best combat. No builds, no summons, no levelling past the wall — just you learning to deflect until the hardest bosses in the catalogue become rhythm exercises. The purest 'get good' experience on this list, and the most rewarding.
03 Dragon's Dogma 2
The horizon. The only modern open world as indifferent to your convenience as Elden Ring's — night is genuinely dangerous, fast travel is scarce, and the game never explains half of what it simulates. Combat is looser than FromSoft's; the sense of expedition is stronger. Its 62% Steam rating is mostly launch-performance anger — flagged here so you walk in knowing.
04 Dark Souls III
The direct ancestor. Faster than Dark Souls, tighter than Elden Ring, with a boss lineup that still tops most rankings of the genre. If you skipped it on the way in, it plays better after Elden Ring than before — you will recognise where every idea came from.
05 Nine Sols
Sekiro's deflect combat flattened into a hand-drawn 2D metroidvania. The 'Taopunk' setting is gorgeous, the final bosses are brutal, and it proves the FromSoft feel survives losing a dimension.
06 Black Myth: Wukong
The boss-gauntlet half of Elden Ring turned up to eleven — a spectacle-heavy action RPG that is essentially eighty boss fights with connective tissue between them. Lighter on builds and open-world freedom, heavier on choreography; if the duels were your favourite part of the Lands Between, this is their purest continuation on PC.
07 Hollow Knight
The exploration pillar at indie scale: a map that unfolds only as far as your curiosity pushes, secrets behind secrets, bosses that gate progress until you improve. The closest any 2D game comes to Elden Ring's 'what is that in the distance' pull.
08 Elden Ring Nightreign
The spin-off, ranked honestly: Elden Ring's combat compressed into 40-minute three-player runs with a shrinking map. Superb with a regular squad, hollow solo. It continues the fights, not the horizon.
SKIP09 Nioh 2
Skip if Elden Ring's open world and readable difficulty were your hook — Nioh 2 is a mission-select loot game with stance systems and gear menus that bury the elegance. Deep and beloved, but wrong as a first step. Pick Lies of P first; come back to Nioh 2 if you finish it wanting more systems, not fewer.
10 Tunic
The secret-keeping half of Elden Ring in a fox-sized package. You piece the rules together from a game manual you find page by page, in a language you cannot read. Combat is serviceable soulslite; the discovery is world-class. Best played blind, worst played with a wiki.
Similar but different
Outer Wilds
No combat at all — but the purest version of Elden Ring's real engine: curiosity. Knowledge is the only progression, and one revelation there outweighs any boss kill.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Boss mastery as a whole game. Every hunt is an Elden Ring boss fight you prepare for, learn, and eventually dominate — with none of the walking in between.
Sable
The other way to trust a player with a horizon: no combat at all, just a glider, a hoverbike and a desert where the landmarks are the quest design. It is Elden Ring's exploration pillar with every ounce of danger removed — and it proves the pillar stands on its own.
FAQ
What is the closest game to Elden Ring that is not made by FromSoftware?
Lies of P, and it is not particularly close competition. It nails the parry-and-punish combat and boss design; what it does not attempt is the open world.
I loved exploring but hated the hardest bosses. What should I play?
Dragon's Dogma 2 for open-world expedition with more forgiving combat, or Outer Wilds if you are willing to drop combat entirely for pure discovery.
Is Sekiro harder than Elden Ring?
Yes, in a specific way: Elden Ring lets you out-level, summon, or cheese your way past a wall. Sekiro removes every one of those doors — you improve or you stop. That is exactly why its victories land harder.
Should I play the older Dark Souls games first?
No order is required. Dark Souls III is the one that holds up best mechanically today; the original Dark Souls is worth it later for the level design that started everything.
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