Top 10 Games Like Elden Ring: Challenging Alternatives to Play Right Now

Hundreds of thousands of players still hop on Elden Ring daily, despite almost two years since its release. Whether you’re a veteran of the Lands Between or someone looking for other great games, here are the Top 10 games like Elden Ring you can play right now.

10. Dead Cells

The main thing connecting Dead Cells and Elden Ring is their narratives. Both take place in a decrepit world nearing collapse, whose leaders are either dead, missing, or corrupted. Both also have a heavy emphasis on weapon variety and character customization, though they go about it in different ways.

Elden Ring is an Action RPG, whereas Dead Cells is an action Roguelite, and the customization and weapon systems cater to those particular genres. But between the aesthetic and depth of both games, there’s a lot to like.

9. Armored Core 6

On the opposite end of the spectrum, both Elden Ring and Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon are tough-as-nails titles with a heavy emphasis on build variety and gameplay experimentation. The similarities don’t necessarily end there, either.

FromSoftware’s trademark narrative design plays a major role in both games, yet the two titles are much freer with their stories than previous Souls games. Oh, and I should mention: with the right setups, you can trivialize every single fight in both Elden Ring and AC6, so long as you know what you’re doing.

8. Thymesia

I reviewed Thymesia when it came out in 2022, and seeing a small independent studio put out such a quality Souls and Sekiro-like was a real treat. As with Dead Cells — and most games that take the Souls series as inspiration — Thymesia‘s main link to Elden Ring is in its narrative and aesthetic. However, Thymesia is significantly less positive about its world than Elden Ring is. It also lacks many of the customization choices of a traditional Souls-like, focusing more on action than RPG elements, but it’s a challenging alternative, nonetheless.

7. Sekiro

Prior to Elden Ring, and depending on the day, I’m of the mind that Sekiro is FromSoftware’s best game ever. So it’s no surprise at all that it makes a list of not only games like Elden Ring, but also other challenging titles to play similar to Elden Ring.

The lessons FromSoftware learned here, particularly about narrative and boss design, are central to what made both Elden Ring and Armored Core 6 the games they are. More importantly, the scale and sense of life in Sekiro’s world of Ashina mirrors that of the Lands Between.

In my first playthrough, I kept asking, “Where does it end?” The level of mastery it takes to conquer Sekiro’s bosses is also unmatched in any other From title. But without it, I doubt the world would have even seen the likes of Malenia, Blade of Miquella.

6. Lords of the Fallen (the new one)

Lord of the Fallen is imperfect, too dark for its own good, and lacks a lot of the charm present in the other games on this list, but as a medical action Souls-like, it mostly succeeds. Its vast world might not be the size of the Lands Between, but there’s still plenty of complexity here to enjoy. Looking past a lot of the jank shows a game genuinely approaching greatness.

5. Remnant 2

Even the developers of Remnant 2 know their series is basically “Souls, but with guns,” and its primary connection to Elden Ring, like Dead Cells and AC6, is in its customization options and narrative. Remnant has one more thing up its sleeve, however: badass and boss fights that sometimes feel more bulls@%! than challenging.

However, if you’re a stubborn sod like me and hit your head against the game’s toughest challenges with an eye and ear toward learning, you can master even fights that seem cheesy as all hell. That Remnant 2‘s story is all about cycles helps, as well.

4. Nioh 2

That Nioh 2 is a melee-based looter game with an incredibly deep combat system that also has the occasional Souls-like element isn’t lost on me. However, if you boil Elden Ring down to its most essential, it’s also just running from Boss A to Boss Z with the occasional interruption with farming trash mobs or engaging with NPC storylines.

That Elden Ring‘s world is better connected, more cohesive, and more interesting is noteworthy, but I know for a fact people have dumped thousands of hours into Nioh 2 for the same reason they have Elden Ring: satisfying PvE combat.

3. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor

I know I’m both cheating and not cheating here. The Star Wars: Jedi games from Respawn Entertainment are unapologetic Souls-likes, but they’re also much more focused on more traditional narrative storytelling and action gameplay.

And while Jedi Survivor‘s worlds aren’t connected like Elden Ring‘s (they’re separate planets, you know), each zone is big and complex enough to stand on its own. Please forgive the Star Wars tradition of framing things in Light and Dark and not the endless grey of Souls games. Turn up the difficulty, and this, too, can be quite the challenging experience.

2. Lies of P

Lies of P is a game that looked at the Soulsborne games — Dark Souls, Bloodborne — and Sekiro and said, “Yeah, I can do that.” And boy, can it. There are few games out there that are as faithful, to the point of imitation, to a game’s formula and yet succeed at recreating a sense of equal parts wonder and dread.

Add in the game’s fantastic combat system that pulls from every From game in existence and still manages to surprise and delight, and Lies of P is a true gem.

1. Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight has a lot in common with Elden Ring. Amazing bosses. A fantastic soundtrack. Easy-to-learn, hard-to-master combat, but the one thing both it and From’s latest masterpiece share is the sense of scale. Both games just keep going, becoming more and more wondrous and sorrow-filled the deeper one looks.

Finding the bottom of things isn’t even the end, as there are mysteries hidden in Hollow Knight and Elden Ring that take multiple playthroughs and some serious detective skills to uncover, leaving new players speechless and veterans nodding in appreciation.

That’s my list of 10 games you should play right now if you like Elden Ring or are looking for a new challenge. For more lists like this one, check out the 10 RPGs to watch in 2024, the 10 best RPGs of 2023, and more right here on GameSkinny.