Sure, that's why I alluded to the souls essence instead of mentioning that it replicates its formula, as it could be argued that souls-like games are also characterised by their atmosphere, lore, world design, world traversal, npcs, items, costumes/armour sets, etc. Right? It depends on the player's preferences of course but I'd say it's at least worth a look.

dont think so
souls like is just there are enemies which do combat in a pattern, you die while finding it out what their pattern looks like then use dodge dodge hit multiple times to defeat them
oh and if you die you lose your bag , and revived without your bag while enemies are revived too , thats basically

In an ideal world, where people would be using the "soulslike" label to describe the best of Dark Souls and not the worst. ;) I would totally bookmark this thread for recommendations, instead I'm using it to determine which games to stay away from. ;P

That being said, I think Blade of Darkness and Gothic also fit more for their atmosphere (and the clunky combat), not for what Dark Souls is infamous for. At least in those games you can save anywhere, IIRC.

I think there were a few platformers with Souls-like gameplay, maybe Salt and Sanctuary and Blasphemous?

there's also dead cells - which I really enjoyed (frustrating as it could be at times .. because of my inability to dodge a crucial move )

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

It has a DS feeling in the fortress and dungeons, the world design. Numerous people have compared the two in that regard.

I can't deny that.

Newly released Chronos: Before the Ashes has been likened to Legend of Zelda Series and Dark Souls II. Less punitive than DS, and slower, and with puzzle solving.

This hasn't been sold on GOG since before I signed up. :D

That was my reason for reading this thread as well. 'Soulslike', just like 'Roguelike' is a clear sign for me to avoid a game.

I didn't realize that it was de-listed. It's in my library though.

Enclave gets called that but apparently it's a good game (as in, it's a game to pick if you liked Dark Souls and the combat/exploration etc, some say it has deeper RPG mechanics).

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/before-the-souls-games-there-was-enclave.1075463/

Personally, I don't really see much similarity to Dark Souls there. Well, okay, fantasy setting and at times frustrating difficulty, I guess, but that's all. I thought it was a fun game though. A bit more enjoyable if played as shooter, with ranged weapons rather than melee, and on Easy diffculty, which means you can restart from a mid-level checkpoint if you die afterwards and don't have to play the whole level from scratch. There are some cheap shots, a certain type of opponent instakilling with long ranged magic attacks before you can even see them, but that's just one section in one level.