Games like Sekiro
The three best games after Sekiro are Lies of P (the closest deflect combat anyone has built since), Nine Sols (Sekiro's parry in hand-drawn 2D, openly inspired) and Black Myth: Wukong (the boss-duel spectacle at blockbuster scale). Ten games ranked below by how much of the posture-break high they recreate — and one famous attempt flagged as the skip.
Sekiro is not really a Souls game — it is a rhythm duel wearing one's clothes. No builds to hide behind, no summons: you learn the song of each boss or you stop. 95% positive across 354,000 Steam reviews, and the specific high of a perfect deflect chain is why 'games like Sekiro' is its own search, separate from 'games like Dark Souls'.
The ten below are ranked by how honestly they chase that high. Some rebuild the deflect itself, some keep the learn-or-die duel structure with different verbs. One is a deliberate skip: the game most often sold as 'Sekiro-like' that misunderstands what you came for.
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How we picked these
- Deflect, parry or perfect-dodge as the core verb — not a side option.
- Bosses designed to be learned across attempts, with readable tells.
- Failure that teaches: dying must feel like information, not tax.
- No stat-grinding your way past a wall the game meant you to climb.
- Steam ratings quoted per entry; anything below 80% is flagged or skipped.
The list
01 Lies of P
Lies of P is the best non-FromSoft answer to Sekiro yet built: a deflect system with real posture logic, duels that demand the full learn-the-song discipline, and a Belle Époque Pinocchio setting that should not work and does. 92% positive across 81,000 Steam reviews. Start here.
02 Nine Sols
Nine Sols is Sekiro flattened to 2D on purpose — the developers say so openly — and the talisman-deflect duels prove the high survives losing a dimension. 94% across 45,000 reviews. The final stretch of bosses is as demanding as anything FromSoft has shipped.
03 Black Myth: Wukong
Black Myth: Wukong delivers the duel-gauntlet half of Sekiro at staggering production scale — dozens of bosses, each a choreography exam. 97% positive across 1.2 million reviews. It is dodge-first rather than deflect-first, so the rhythm is different; the learn-or-die structure is fully intact.
04 Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hollow Knight: Silksong earns its place through boss discipline: Hornet's duels are fast, fair and tell-driven in exactly the Sekiro way. Its 89% rating (against the original's 97%) is largely a difficulty argument — which, for someone arriving from Sekiro, reads as a recommendation.
05 The First Berserker: Khazan
The First Berserker: Khazan is the deflect-action pick almost nobody outside the genre's core has played: brink-guard parries, stamina duels, anime-hard bosses, 85% positive across 31,000 reviews. Less polished than Lies of P, more generous with build options.
06 Dark Souls III
Dark Souls III is the bridge back to the slower school: FromSoft's fastest Souls, close enough to Sekiro's tempo that the reflexes transfer. 94% across 438,000 reviews. You regain builds, co-op and cheese — which is exactly the safety net Sekiro removed, for better and worse.
07 Elden Ring
Elden Ring is here with an honest label: it is the same studio's masterpiece — 93% across 1.1 million reviews — but its freedom works against the Sekiro high. You can always leave a boss, out-level it, summon help. Magnificent game; diluted duel.
08 Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT
Ghost of Tsushima carries the samurai fantasy at a fraction of the difficulty: parries and stand-offs that feel superb without demanding Sekiro's discipline. 94% across 95,000 reviews. This is the 'I want to feel like Sekiro without bleeding for it' pick, and there is no shame in it.
09 Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition
Nioh 2 answers the duel demand with depth instead of purity: ki-pulse rhythm, stances, and a loot system Sekiro players either love or uninstall over. 87% across 50,000 reviews. The ceiling on its combat system is arguably the highest on this list — the floor is a menu.
SKIP10 Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Skip the most-marketed 'Sekiro-like' — Wo Long built its whole combat on a deflect and still sits at 50% on Steam, sunk by a dire PC port and difficulty that collapses mid-game. Every promise it makes, Lies of P or Khazan keeps. If it ever gets a true fix-up, this note changes; it has not.
Similar but different
Cuphead
Cuphead is the same contract as a Sekiro boss — read the tells, learn the pattern, die until the music clicks — drawn as a 1930s cartoon. 96% across 219,000 reviews of pure duel discipline.
Furi
Furi is nothing but the boss rush: ten duels, parry-centred, each a test you cannot leave. 90% positive and criminally under-known — the closest emotional match to a Sekiro boss corridor outside 3D action.
Celeste
Celeste has no combat and belongs here anyway: the learn-through-failure loop, the fairness, the mastery high at the top of the climb. 97% across 145,000 reviews. Sekiro players tend to understand it immediately.
FAQ
What is genuinely the closest game to Sekiro?
Lies of P in 3D, Nine Sols in 2D. Both build their combat on deflection with posture logic, and both demand the same learn-the-boss discipline. Nothing matches Sekiro exactly — these two get closest by admitting they are trying.
Is Elden Ring a good next step after Sekiro?
It is a great game and a looser duel: you can out-level, summon or simply leave. If Sekiro's no-escape purity is what you loved, Lies of P respects it more. If you want FromSoft's world-building at its peak, Elden Ring is the answer anyway.
I loved the deflect but not the difficulty. Anything kinder?
Ghost of Tsushima — its parry combat feels wonderful at a fraction of the demand, and its difficulty options are honest. Khazan and Lies of P also offer more build flexibility than Sekiro ever did.
Why is Wo Long the skip when it has a deflect too?
Because the deflect is where the resemblance ends: a rough PC port and difficulty pacing that gives up mid-game left it at 50% on Steam. The idea is right; the execution is why the alternatives above exist.
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