Best Mobile Games For Soulslike Fans, Ranked

The incredibly popular Dark Souls series has spawned its own sub-genre in the gaming space. A soulslike describes a game that shares features with FromSoftware’s Soulsborne games. These titles have punishing difficulty, deep storytelling (usually through world items), few checkpoints, and an emphasis on parrying or dodging mechanics.

In recent times, with the further improvement of mobile gaming, more and more complex titles are appearing on Android and iOS. Some are Soulslike games, offering a challenge for fans of the genre on the go. While there aren’t a plethora, there are some major standouts.

8 Ire: Blood Memory

Optimized For Battle

• Platform: Android
• Developer & Publisher: TENBIRDS
• Genre: Action-Adventure
• Release date: May 14, 2015

Ire: Blood Memory is an action RPG mobile game inspired by the Dark Souls series. It is free to play and challenging, with an intricate combat system that requires a bit of tinkering and a lot of dying.

The game is imperfect and can get a bit repetitive while playing, but it makes up for it with engaging battles and clean visuals. This is particularly impressive as the developers did not have a lot of funds to work with when creating the game.

7 Blade Of God

A Hack And Slash Adventure For The Ages

• Platform: Android
• Developer: PGSOUL Games
• Publisher: PG Soul Games
• Genre: Action-adventure game
• Release date: May 21, 2020

Blade Of God melds the tonal elements of Dark Souls, the style of Devil May Cry, and the presentation and story themes of God Of War into a perfect brew. The game follows Chaos as he slays his way around after his rebirth.

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The game starts out free, but requires players to pay to keep going. This can be a little annoying for a fan, but with such fun combat and a pretty decent story, Blade Of God is a fun option for the Souls fan looking for a more fast-paced experience.

6 Animus: Harbinger

A Brooding Soulslike Game For Hardcore Fans

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, iOS
• Developer: Troooze, Inc.
• Publishers: TENBIRDS, Troooze, Inc.
• Genres: Action, RPG, Fighting
• Initial release date: November 7, 2019

The Animus series has a couple of titles that share many of the same aesthetics and gameplay elements. Harbinger doesn’t do much differently, but it does lean into the Dark Souls formula quite a bit. The world is dreary, the enemies difficult, and the battles frustrating.

Harbinger, unfortunately, does not feature a world to explore. The combat can be maddening, and not in a cute, charming way. But, for the player who lives for the thrill of the fight and thrives in the chaos of difficulty, Animus: Harbinger will certainly scratch that itch.

5 Infinity Blade 2

Bigger, Harder, And Better

• Platform: iOS
• Developers: Chair Entertainment, Epic Games
• Genre: Action role-playing game
• Initial release date: December 1, 2011

The first Infinity Blade game was an incredible feat of technology by Chair Entertainment back in 2010. A year later, in 2011, they returned with Infinity Blade 2, which fixed a lot of the issues with the first game. This game is even more of a soulslike than the first one, as it has an exploration element that is missing from both the first and third games.

The combat of Infinity Blade 2 also got some polish. The game features more unpredictable enemies, and more weapon variety to diversify the player’s entertainment. The story is also more intriguing, as the player takes control of a person seeking the maker of the titular Infinity Blade.

4 Bleak Sword

A Pixelated Hellscape

Bleak Sword features an interesting design reminiscent of Undertale. While the graphics are not the most refined, its tough combat system keeps players engaged.

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Players are tasked with lifting the curse of the bleak sword while fighting through a hellish landscape with various enemies. Players will die quite a bit, and will have to take on the challenge again without their experience points and so on. The game presents itself as a charming descent into a dark world with little to be cheery about, and it will appeal to fans of the morose climate of the Dark Souls series.

3 Grimvalor

Fast-Paced Action That Gets Better As Players Progress

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
• Developer & Publisher: Direlight
• Genres: Platform game, Role-playing Video Game, Fighting game
• Initial release date: October 10, 2018

GrimValor has a pretty simple premise: a bunch of monsters are somewhere they shouldn’t be, and it’s the player’s job to vanquish them and send them back to where they came from. The only problem with this is that it’s a hard thing to do.

GrimValor might have a lot of Dark Souls features, but it also borrows from other games like Castlevania and Metroid. It is a difficult game, but it does feel rewarding when the player defeats opponents and gets that coveted ‘Victory’ screen.

2 Dead Cells

A Thrill-A-Minute Romp That’ll Leave Players Breathless

Dead Cells is a 2018 game made by Motion Twin and Evil Empire. The game feels more like a Metroidvania game with the side-scrolling, speed, and hack-and-slash elements present in the game.

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However, it also has some soulslike elements like high difficulty, permadeath, and a soulslike currency. The player takes control of ‘The Prisoner,’ who is looking to escape a diseased island and kill the king. With Dead Cells‘ speedy and fun gameplay, it will keep players hooked for hours on end. The transition to mobile is also seamless, and it is great on any platform it is played on.

1 Pascal’s Wager

A Soulslike Game Through And Through

• Platforms: Android, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Microsoft Windows
• Developers: TipsWorks, Tipsworks Studio
• Publishers: Giant Global, Giant Network Group, Giant Games, Yooreka Studio
• Genres: Action game, Role-playing Video Game, Fighting game
• Initial release date: January 16, 2020

Pascal’s Wager is the most soulslike mobile game on the market. The game was developed by TipWorks, and the developers have freely admitted that they were inspired by the Dark Souls franchise.

Pascal’s Wager tells the story of Terrence, who is looking for his wife in a world enveloped by darkness thanks to the Sun falling towards the sea. The game is difficult, has a focus on boss battles, and requires the player to pay attention to the precise timing of attacks. The game has a Windows port, and is also available on the Nintendo Switch as of 2022.

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