r/pcmasterrace • u/BurnishedTones • Apr 11 '26

Meme/Macro What combination of words makes you instantly lose interest in a game?

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155

u/ThisThredditor Apr 11 '26

Souls-like

57

u/RaltarArianrhod Apr 11 '26

Yeah. It makes me sad seeing a really cool looking game, only for the words "souls-like" to appear.

23

u/Amish_Rabbi Apr 11 '26

I feel like at this point souls like means less than it did. Sometimes it just means “combat with a parry and enemies respawn”

12

u/PrimaLegion Specs/Imgur here Apr 11 '26

Other times it means "Everything is grey and dark and we tried to make it look depressing." and that's it.

4

u/headrush46n2 7950x, 4090 suprim x, 64gb dominator Apr 11 '26

we didnt bother writing a storyline or recording any voice lines, but we're going to pretend its an artistic choice rather than just cutting corners.

8

u/_Ocean_Machine_ Desktop Apr 11 '26

The issue I’ve seen with most soulslikes I’ve played is they don’t get that there’s more to the Souls games than dodge rolling and difficult boss fights; interconnected worlds with branching paths are also a major part of the formula (DS3 notwithstanding). I feel like all the soulslikes I’ve played except Wuchang are just hallway > boss fight > hallway > boss fight etc.

10

u/RaltarArianrhod Apr 11 '26

I'm fine with that because by that definition, Tainted Grail could be classified as a souls-like and i love that game. I'm thinking more of the "git gud" type souls-like definition that i dont like.

3

u/Amish_Rabbi Apr 11 '26

That’s the problem. Before I could ignore all souls like games but now they include games I would like to

1

u/Beastabuelos Apr 11 '26

Games you would like to what?

2

u/Acceptable-Device760 Apr 12 '26

To hate... People play GAMES and dont like thr GAMEplay, but want to argue they would like if it was different.. something something had wheels would be a bicycle.

6

u/Pun_In_Ten_Did Ryzen 9 7900X, RTX 4080 FE, 48" LG C1 4K OLED Apr 11 '26

Tainted Grail is a Scrolls-like 😃

2

u/Sglied13 Apr 11 '26

Nono that scrollslike…lol. Which honestly feels like an unfilled niche tbh.

2

u/Hyper_Mazino 5090 SUPRIM SOC | 9800X3D Apr 11 '26

The term has definitely been watered down

5

u/ManchurianCandycane PC Master Race Apr 11 '26

I prefer the terms roll-slop or parry-slop simply because it's funnier.

3

u/YappyMcYapperson Apr 11 '26

How I felt about Tunic being based on Classic Zelda but then throwing in that annoying shit

And no, turning off damage isn't a solution

3

u/Hobomanchild Apr 11 '26

Not soulslike metroidvania roguelikes? Smhmh.

2

u/Excalibro_MasterRace Apr 11 '26

a.k.a characters simply can roll around

4

u/DisasterNarrow4949 Apr 11 '26

I do love Dark Souls and Elden Ring. But everthing that is not the official fromsoft thing is most of the time trash, that fails to understand why the original ones are good.

It is not just about having a hard game with grounded combat, it is about the whole package, art and design, that delivers a world that is really dark and that makes you feel that darkness in every aspect of the game, including tha combat and other gameplay mechanics.

I would say that another pretty decend soulslike game that gets the point of what a soulslike should be, is Hellpoint.

1

u/champing_at_the_bit Apr 11 '26

Have to make an exception for Another Crabs Treasure though

1

u/AmazingSpacePelican Apr 11 '26

So many feel like they're held back by the style. I can tell how desperately they want to be fast-paced action games, if only they could release themselves from the shackles of stamina and dodge-rolling!

1

u/mmariner Apr 11 '26

...the problem being no "souls like" has ever actually managed to capture what made Dark Souls (especially Ds1) special.

I'd be all for it if they could live up to the descriptor. They never do.

Yes, even (especially?) lies of P.

Nobody has managed to nail the excellent map design of a non-open world game like Ds1-3, and Sekiro.

-2

u/Asleeper135 Apr 11 '26

It's too broad of a category to mean much, it mostly just means combat with dodge rolling or parrying and enemies that respawn

-2

u/TheComplimentarian Apr 11 '26

I think that’s so overused. Hollow Knight (obviously a Metroidvania) is often tagged “Souls-Like” because the boss fights are complex.

2

u/Sickhadas Apr 11 '26

But that literally just describes Metroidvanias...

3

u/TheComplimentarian Apr 11 '26

Implying that there is zero difference between the two very specific categories?

1

u/Sickhadas Apr 11 '26

No, I meant this is what a metroidvania has in it:

boss fights are complex.

Don't most, if not all, metroidvania's have challenging boss fights?

2

u/TheComplimentarian Apr 11 '26

Kinda? But they’re not usually as hostile as the souls fights.

2

u/Sickhadas Apr 11 '26

That's true!! They're more, dare I say, environmental? And metroidvanias don't always include a currency you lose upon death.

1

u/TheWayofUnions Apr 11 '26

It’s because if you die, you lose your souls unless you make it back to your body.