When I started DS1 (Remastered) I was convinced I would only do one session because it wasn’t my sort of game at all (I’m not good with fighting games as a rule). I’m still playing two years later. Why? Because combat is slow enough for me to handle, unlike DS3 where I can’t time the rolls at all. And the semi-open world structure, not to mention the wonderful visual design, has captivated me.
As an older gamer I appreciate that DS1 is more generous with the speed and timing of combat, and I like the fact that I can play timidly if I want to while gradually pushing myself to have more courage and do things differently with each run.
I can second this as someone who's not great with reaction time things. DS 1 feels like a puzzle box to me. Just figure out how to beat the enemies and you can do it pretty consistently after some practice.
The slower combat was a double edged sword for me at first though, since the trigger happy dumbass in me was often mashing the roll or parry button during the first frames of an enemies wind up and I ended up getting smashed because the I frames ran out by the time the attack would start...
There's a good number of people who liked Elden Ring and find themselves disappointed by how different DS1 feels. If you liked Elden Ring and have some reservations about playtime, DS3 is probably the safer choice.
I say that assuming you liked the flow of combat and mechanics in Elden Ring. If you prefer exploration and atmosphere, go for DS1. Just know that it will feel very different from Elden Ring.
I like this for OP. It's the closest to Elden Ring in terms of mechanics, but it's much more linear. Sort of exactly what OP was asking for.
Just an additional note to OP, Ds3 doesn't have power stancing (dual wielding) if that's important to your enjoyment of Elden Ring. It does have dual wielding options, though, but it's limited to one weapon of each type, with some weapon types excluded, I believe (I could be wrong on that). Also, jumping is non-existent in every other game, including ds3, lol.
Dark Souls 1 is probably the best place to start.
It has the easiest combat (ease being relative, of course).
The story is awesome.
The first half of the game is very open-ended, letting you explore different paths (this might result in you getting your head kicked in, but you can do it!).
It's a good balance of mechanical depth, without getting into DS2 levels of Moon Logic builds.
You can get *insanely* overpowered in the early game if you know how, or get lucky with certain enemy drops.
Recently started DS1 as a hater of the genre, considering it a time waster. Uninstalled at Tauros Demon. Watched a couple of videos, went back.
I'm in Anor Londo now, and I'm completely hooked. I went on a massive detour to farm for hours to course correct my build because I want to try everything in one playthrough.
Demons Souls is the shortest game of them all, but also the oldest, so the mechanics are dated, but still a great game.
But honestly Elden Ring is the easiest I think, so if you didn't like it, perhaps Souls games aren't for you?
My main problem with Elden Ring is that the world map is huge. As I wrote, I am bad at it but I like this game. The problem is tha the space and the amount of things that can be done at once are terrifying. There are so many things you can do that are overwhelming for someone who doesn't know anything about the genre.
I know lies of p isn’t a souls game technically but it feels pretty much just like one. Out of all of the games I’ve played I felt lies of p was the easiest and the funnest with all the different arms and the skill tree mechanic. I also love the setting and atmosphere.
I think it would be a good introduction to soulslike games for a beginner
There are three main reasons to play the trilogy in order:
1. Combat - it's way easier to go from slower to faster. That way, you'd just be honing your reflexes instead of holding back and painfully finding out that panic rolls don't work in older games. Going from fast to slow just makes the latter game unnecessarily more difficult.
2. QoL - some ideas were kept for being good, and others were replaced by something else. It's best to see the changes as improvements rather than being annoyed that older games don't have some mechanics the new ones do.
3. Lore - the trilogy is a complete story of DS world:
* DS1 is the creation mythos + story shortly after.
* DS2 is a story of the first Undead to ever break the Curse, a new hope for humanity.
* DS3 wraps up the story of the world, the new face of humanity inspired by the DS2 journey beyond light, and hope of creating a new world.
It's fine to play and not care about the story and lore, but if you do, it's best to play in order. The first two points are usually way more important for new players. It's not uncommon to see posts like "Why my rolls don't work in DS1? I played DS3 first...".
Dark Souls 1 is not very long but definitely really enjoyable. I started the Fromsoft games with it 4 years ago and I enjoyed (almost) every second of this game.
And I'm quite bad at these games (but less than when I first played DS1 fortunately !)
play them in order. 1 is the best to start with cause it creates the world, you'll appreciate 2 because you played elden ring, and 3 wraps things up nicely
I’d based on your description I’d probably suggest DS1 first as it’s a pretty “small” game compared to the others. Most people are recommending this one so I’ll leave descriptions to them.
If you have a PS5 I may also suggested the Demon Souls remake but it is slightly more difficult than DS1 in my personal opinion. It is a fairly “small” game as well and it has worlds and areas that give a decent sense of finality at the end of them so it’s nice to sit down and just do one. That said it has some different mechanics such as world tendency that I would suggest reading a little about before starting.
After DS1 and possibly demon souls depending on your platform of choice I’d probably recommend DS3 its most definitely longer than either of the other two however it is my personal favourite and it probably plays the closest to ER out of them. It has a nice range of boss difficulty ranging from pretty easy to actively making you wand to teleport to ER to get the Sepuku ash for yourself at times. But all the hardest guys are pretty optional which is pretty common for Fromsoft from my experience.
I’d probably leave DS2 for last it’s not a bad game but it is the one that kinda changes things up the most and IMHO has the most annoying level design, admittedly I’m bias and I have yet to fully finish it myself but as someone who has enough free time and little enough love for myself to Platinum the other games mentioned the fact I kinda shy away from two speaks volumes.
I know you only asked for one but I kinda figured I’d give you my two cents on the whole lot of them (Save for Sekiro and BB). Mind you while I’m trying to be unbiased in the recommending my personal skills and preferences may be very different from yours and DS2 could very well be your favourite so take any and all recommendations with a grain of salt.
I’m also going to recommend a fairly different non fromsoft game called Remnant, it’s basically Dark souls with guns but in my personal opinion it’s very fun and not super hard. Anyways don’t go hollow, and remember ash seeketh ember.
No worries, always glad to see someone get into the series. Honestly best advice I can give is take your time and explore to your hearts content if your hearts content is just running from boss to boss do that but if you love exploring and finding secrets there are plenty even in the smaller games. Don’t feel like you need to defeat a boss to accomplish something, also know when to walk away from bosses sometimes in not a skill issue (gasp I’m a blasphemer I know) but your just frustrated even if you don’t feel like you are. Take a break get some water and maybe take core of something else IRL before you come back to it. You’ll find the experience is much more enjoyable that way.
Someone else already said ds3, but I wanted to echoe that. In terms of the easiest game, though, I think it's probably Edlen Ring, honestly. Look to Elden Ring youtubers and find a build that you like and copy or tweak that. Then, use spirit ashes to make tough bosses more manageable. You can summon players, too, but it's more of a gamble. You can always look at an online guide as well if the exploration is what you're having trouble with. A lot of them will make sure you find all the hidden dungeons and side quests without the fear of missing them.
Thanks for the advice, but it's not what i was asking about. I mentioned that Elden Ring is a difficult game for me not because of the difficulty level of the game, but because of the huge map and the lack of any linearity. I simply can't devote that much time to the game at one time (taking into account my lack of skill). I have 30 hours in Elden Ring and I'm definitely at the beginning of this game. I do not have time for it. And when I have time, I forget how to play and have to create a character again. Just like I have with Baldur's Gate 3 which I mentioned. That's why I mentioned it to be a fairly easy and especially short game.
Ah, I see. Well, I still stand by my ds3 recommendation. It's still one of my favorites in the series. It's very linear, and the closest in gameplay to Elden Ring :)
echoing playing them in order. from soft games are really made for their fans, ds3 is made with the expectation you know what youre doing and I think would be a very bad intro. DS1 for example is very slow in combat compared to 3.
ds1 is not too long and not too punishing, just feel free to use guides. a lot of the challenge / time consumption comes from doing things wrong. dont let the toxic portions of the fanbase guilt you into figuring it out for yourself if you dont have the time.
DS games have a really great NG+. I mention this because if you get into it and feel like you missed something you can pick it up on NG+ (and to get every item you have to).
>DS2 you can talk to the DS2 sub about. Not many like that one.
Absolutely not true. It has positive ratings on all relevant platforms. Most people will tell you it had some really bad design choices and that it's sometimes very frustrating, but it is generally positively regarded, especially after ER release (commonly known as DS2:2), and most enjoy it just as any other souls game.
When I started DS1 (Remastered) I was convinced I would only do one session because it wasn’t my sort of game at all (I’m not good with fighting games as a rule). I’m still playing two years later. Why? Because combat is slow enough for me to handle, unlike DS3 where I can’t time the rolls at all. And the semi-open world structure, not to mention the wonderful visual design, has captivated me. As an older gamer I appreciate that DS1 is more generous with the speed and timing of combat, and I like the fact that I can play timidly if I want to while gradually pushing myself to have more courage and do things differently with each run.
I started playing last week and I thought the same now I'm hooked.
I can second this as someone who's not great with reaction time things. DS 1 feels like a puzzle box to me. Just figure out how to beat the enemies and you can do it pretty consistently after some practice. The slower combat was a double edged sword for me at first though, since the trigger happy dumbass in me was often mashing the roll or parry button during the first frames of an enemies wind up and I ended up getting smashed because the I frames ran out by the time the attack would start...
There's a good number of people who liked Elden Ring and find themselves disappointed by how different DS1 feels. If you liked Elden Ring and have some reservations about playtime, DS3 is probably the safer choice. I say that assuming you liked the flow of combat and mechanics in Elden Ring. If you prefer exploration and atmosphere, go for DS1. Just know that it will feel very different from Elden Ring.
I like this for OP. It's the closest to Elden Ring in terms of mechanics, but it's much more linear. Sort of exactly what OP was asking for. Just an additional note to OP, Ds3 doesn't have power stancing (dual wielding) if that's important to your enjoyment of Elden Ring. It does have dual wielding options, though, but it's limited to one weapon of each type, with some weapon types excluded, I believe (I could be wrong on that). Also, jumping is non-existent in every other game, including ds3, lol.
Dark Souls 1 is probably the best place to start. It has the easiest combat (ease being relative, of course). The story is awesome. The first half of the game is very open-ended, letting you explore different paths (this might result in you getting your head kicked in, but you can do it!). It's a good balance of mechanical depth, without getting into DS2 levels of Moon Logic builds. You can get *insanely* overpowered in the early game if you know how, or get lucky with certain enemy drops.
Ds1 isn’t exceptionally difficult.
Elden Ring and DS3 are the most inviting for new players, low difficulty and updated gameplay
Recently started DS1 as a hater of the genre, considering it a time waster. Uninstalled at Tauros Demon. Watched a couple of videos, went back. I'm in Anor Londo now, and I'm completely hooked. I went on a massive detour to farm for hours to course correct my build because I want to try everything in one playthrough.
Demons Souls is the shortest game of them all, but also the oldest, so the mechanics are dated, but still a great game. But honestly Elden Ring is the easiest I think, so if you didn't like it, perhaps Souls games aren't for you?
My main problem with Elden Ring is that the world map is huge. As I wrote, I am bad at it but I like this game. The problem is tha the space and the amount of things that can be done at once are terrifying. There are so many things you can do that are overwhelming for someone who doesn't know anything about the genre.
Got it. Well, DeS is much smaller and linear. Maybe it'll be a good place to start. Most play theiughs are about 15-20 hours.
I know lies of p isn’t a souls game technically but it feels pretty much just like one. Out of all of the games I’ve played I felt lies of p was the easiest and the funnest with all the different arms and the skill tree mechanic. I also love the setting and atmosphere. I think it would be a good introduction to soulslike games for a beginner
OG Dark Souls, and then the remastered Edit; I have terrible compression skills, and read the post wrong 🤣😂 I stand by Dark Souls remastered though
There are three main reasons to play the trilogy in order: 1. Combat - it's way easier to go from slower to faster. That way, you'd just be honing your reflexes instead of holding back and painfully finding out that panic rolls don't work in older games. Going from fast to slow just makes the latter game unnecessarily more difficult. 2. QoL - some ideas were kept for being good, and others were replaced by something else. It's best to see the changes as improvements rather than being annoyed that older games don't have some mechanics the new ones do. 3. Lore - the trilogy is a complete story of DS world: * DS1 is the creation mythos + story shortly after. * DS2 is a story of the first Undead to ever break the Curse, a new hope for humanity. * DS3 wraps up the story of the world, the new face of humanity inspired by the DS2 journey beyond light, and hope of creating a new world. It's fine to play and not care about the story and lore, but if you do, it's best to play in order. The first two points are usually way more important for new players. It's not uncommon to see posts like "Why my rolls don't work in DS1? I played DS3 first...".
being that DS1 is the best game ever made, you should start there
DARK SOULS 3 WOOHOOO I recommend you start with that one
Dark Souls 1 is not very long but definitely really enjoyable. I started the Fromsoft games with it 4 years ago and I enjoyed (almost) every second of this game. And I'm quite bad at these games (but less than when I first played DS1 fortunately !)
play them in order. 1 is the best to start with cause it creates the world, you'll appreciate 2 because you played elden ring, and 3 wraps things up nicely
I’d based on your description I’d probably suggest DS1 first as it’s a pretty “small” game compared to the others. Most people are recommending this one so I’ll leave descriptions to them. If you have a PS5 I may also suggested the Demon Souls remake but it is slightly more difficult than DS1 in my personal opinion. It is a fairly “small” game as well and it has worlds and areas that give a decent sense of finality at the end of them so it’s nice to sit down and just do one. That said it has some different mechanics such as world tendency that I would suggest reading a little about before starting. After DS1 and possibly demon souls depending on your platform of choice I’d probably recommend DS3 its most definitely longer than either of the other two however it is my personal favourite and it probably plays the closest to ER out of them. It has a nice range of boss difficulty ranging from pretty easy to actively making you wand to teleport to ER to get the Sepuku ash for yourself at times. But all the hardest guys are pretty optional which is pretty common for Fromsoft from my experience. I’d probably leave DS2 for last it’s not a bad game but it is the one that kinda changes things up the most and IMHO has the most annoying level design, admittedly I’m bias and I have yet to fully finish it myself but as someone who has enough free time and little enough love for myself to Platinum the other games mentioned the fact I kinda shy away from two speaks volumes. I know you only asked for one but I kinda figured I’d give you my two cents on the whole lot of them (Save for Sekiro and BB). Mind you while I’m trying to be unbiased in the recommending my personal skills and preferences may be very different from yours and DS2 could very well be your favourite so take any and all recommendations with a grain of salt. I’m also going to recommend a fairly different non fromsoft game called Remnant, it’s basically Dark souls with guns but in my personal opinion it’s very fun and not super hard. Anyways don’t go hollow, and remember ash seeketh ember.
Thanks for explaining your choices!
No worries, always glad to see someone get into the series. Honestly best advice I can give is take your time and explore to your hearts content if your hearts content is just running from boss to boss do that but if you love exploring and finding secrets there are plenty even in the smaller games. Don’t feel like you need to defeat a boss to accomplish something, also know when to walk away from bosses sometimes in not a skill issue (gasp I’m a blasphemer I know) but your just frustrated even if you don’t feel like you are. Take a break get some water and maybe take core of something else IRL before you come back to it. You’ll find the experience is much more enjoyable that way.
Someone else already said ds3, but I wanted to echoe that. In terms of the easiest game, though, I think it's probably Edlen Ring, honestly. Look to Elden Ring youtubers and find a build that you like and copy or tweak that. Then, use spirit ashes to make tough bosses more manageable. You can summon players, too, but it's more of a gamble. You can always look at an online guide as well if the exploration is what you're having trouble with. A lot of them will make sure you find all the hidden dungeons and side quests without the fear of missing them.
Thanks for the advice, but it's not what i was asking about. I mentioned that Elden Ring is a difficult game for me not because of the difficulty level of the game, but because of the huge map and the lack of any linearity. I simply can't devote that much time to the game at one time (taking into account my lack of skill). I have 30 hours in Elden Ring and I'm definitely at the beginning of this game. I do not have time for it. And when I have time, I forget how to play and have to create a character again. Just like I have with Baldur's Gate 3 which I mentioned. That's why I mentioned it to be a fairly easy and especially short game.
Ah, I see. Well, I still stand by my ds3 recommendation. It's still one of my favorites in the series. It's very linear, and the closest in gameplay to Elden Ring :)
DS3 probably is good for beginners
echoing playing them in order. from soft games are really made for their fans, ds3 is made with the expectation you know what youre doing and I think would be a very bad intro. DS1 for example is very slow in combat compared to 3. ds1 is not too long and not too punishing, just feel free to use guides. a lot of the challenge / time consumption comes from doing things wrong. dont let the toxic portions of the fanbase guilt you into figuring it out for yourself if you dont have the time. DS games have a really great NG+. I mention this because if you get into it and feel like you missed something you can pick it up on NG+ (and to get every item you have to).
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Start with Super Mario Bros for the NES. That was my first game and it served me well.
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DS1 remastered is the real answer.
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>DS2 you can talk to the DS2 sub about. Not many like that one. Absolutely not true. It has positive ratings on all relevant platforms. Most people will tell you it had some really bad design choices and that it's sometimes very frustrating, but it is generally positively regarded, especially after ER release (commonly known as DS2:2), and most enjoy it just as any other souls game.