Do keep in mind that this list only includes games that are natively available on PS5- no PS4 titles that are only playable on PS5 via backward compatibility won’t be featured. No, no Bloodborne, either.

#15. HADES

Roguelites love to push back against the player, and Hades does that quite effectively. Obviously, there’s a lot of RNG involved, with the upgrades that you unlock across the length of any given run having a significant impact on how things pan out for you, but ultimately, this is a game that isn’t afraid to throw some real challenge your way.

Foamstars is a new 4v4 party shooter from Square Enix featuring three PvP modes and multiple playable characters. It’s drawn comparisons to Nintendo’s Splatoon but received positive impressions from its last open beta. Single-player and co-op content is included, and there are plans for at least a year of post-launch support.

Rollerdrome combines pro rollerskating with third-person shooter mechanics as players compete in a futuristic death game. Along with PS4, PS5 and PC, it’s also available for Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass.

Steelrising is Spiders’ latest action RPG, with players controlling an automation named Aegis as she battles maniacal robots in an alternate history version of the French Revolution. Though not quite comparable to Lies of P, it’s a solid Souls-like title. Check out our review here for more details.

Lords of the Fallen 2023 

There have been a number of souslikes that have simply copy pasted ideas from FromSoftware’s games but 2023’s Lords of the Fallen is different. Set in a dark fantasy world, it features an interesting mechanic where you can essentially switch between two versions of the same world to unlock new pathways and interesting secrets. Add to that some solid combat and Lords of the Fallen 2023 becomes a great choice for anyone looking for a fresh Soulslike. 

The DLC becomes available after completing the “Bastille” level in the base game. Players will receive a new main quest to investigate Hôpital Saint Louis and Comte de Cagliostro, who serves as an agent of King Louis XVI (aka the bad guy). As you venture to the hospital, there will be new Mesmer-based foes, modified versions of previous enemies, and a new boss.

Two new characters also await, and there are five new weapons and some costumes to unlock. New side quests have also been added in previous levels, providing an incentive to revisit them.

A new patch has also been released, which brings fixes for Achievements, an exploit for generating infinite Anima Essence, and more. See below for more details:

Changelog – DLC: Cagliostro’s Secrets

Fixed issues with the Achievements:

• Blacksmith can now be unlocked in NG+ provided you possess and haven’t sold your lvl 5 weapons, and the Batons and Wheels are now taken into account for its completion, as intended initially.、
• The use of the Oil Burette during its tutorial (before you jump over the first wall when beginning the game) is no longer accounted for and will no longer prevents unlocking the Completionist Achievement, as intended initially.
• Fixed an issue with the dialogues with certain PNJ for the Friend of People Achievement. The speech bubble now appears properly and you can complete the quests accordingly.

Fixed an issue that could generate infinite Anima Essence.

Fixed an issue during the character customization scene in a new NG+ run in which closing the game would break the quest progression.

Available after completing the “Bastille” level, the DLC adds a new main quest centred on Comte de Cagliostro, an agent of King Louis XVI. It takes the player to a new level in Hôpital Saint Louis, where new Mesmer-based enemies await. Five new weapons, costumes, modified versions of existing enemies, two new characters, and a new boss await.

Some new side quests that involve revisiting existing levels will also be added. Non-DLC owners can probably expect a patch with various fixes and improvements to launch. The last major update added New Game Plus, which features exclusive weapons and adjusted game balance. For more details, head here. You can also check out our review for the base game here.

Fortunately, there are new weapons and a new outfit to discover, so New Game Plus has some benefits. If one has finished the game, their save automatically converts to New Game Plus, and a new option for the mode appears in the main menu.

Other features of this patch include fixes for the infinite item glitch and various Achievements. Assist mode also won’t prevent players from earning Achievements. If you’ve fulfilled the conditions for any of them, then they’ll retroactively unlock. Interestingly, the game balance has also been tweaked. Bosses gain increased damage, armor and resistances, while the damage, loot quantity and shop quantity of Grenades have been reduced.

Check out the full patch notes below for more details. Steelrising is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. You can check out our review for the base game here.

New Game Plus

This patch adds New Game Plus to Steelrising! It allows you to play the game again on a higher difficulty level while keeping your character’s progress (level, weapons, upgrades etc.).

There’s also new content to discover in New Game Plus:

• Exclusive weapons to use;
• A full exclusive outfit to discover;
• Exclusive enemy variations (new skins, weapons and movesets) to fight.

All you need to do to enjoy the new content is to reach the end of the game. Once you have done so, your save will be automatically able to be converted to a NG+ save (and yes, should you already be at the end of the game, it will do so automatically as well), and a new option in the menu called “New Game Plus” will appear. Safe travel in the heart of Paris!

Fixes and Improvements

We also took the time to investigate and fix some reported issues, as well as provide improvements to other areas:

• Fixed the endurance issue while using the Gaia’s Claws special move.
• Fixed the infinite item glitch.

Fixed some Achievement issues:

• Fixed the “Stabiliser” Achievement.
• “Fashion Victim” can now be obtained.

Using the Assist mode won’t prevent you from unlocking Achievements anymore, and they will be credited retroactively, should you have met the necessary conditions to do so.

• Fixed various issues related to sidequests.
• Fixed and improved the cinematics and NPC dialogues.
• Fixed and improved various audio issues.
• Improved Aegis running animation.
• Improvements to the lighting in the game.
• Other various fixes and improvements.

The patch will also bring some balance changes within the main game for weapons, items, and mobs, mainly:

• Increased damage, resistances and armor for Bosses.
• Reduced damage, loot quantity and shop quantity for Grenades.
• Reduced loot quantity on mobs for Alchemical Ammunitions.
• Reduced loot quantity on mobs for Life Potions.
• Reduced damage for the following weapons: Charleville 1789 Shield Musket, Charybdis Fan.

If you’ve played through Steelrising and are hungry for more, you’re in luck, because Spiders has announced that a New Game Plus mode is being added to the game with an update on September 29. The mode will allow players to carry over weapons, levels, gear, and upgrades from a finished save into a new one, where you’ll also be faced with tougher enemies and challenges.

On top of that, the update will also bring content that will be exclusive to New Game Plus, including a new outfit, weapons, enemy variations (complete with new skins, weapons, and movesets), and some balancing changes and fixes for the base experience.

In our review of the Steelrising, we awarded it a score of 8/10, saying, “Steelrising is a solid Soulslike with familiar design and mechanics, but its alternate history clockpunk French Revolution setting is what makes the game shine. Spiders’ latest is a game that deserves your attention.” Read the full review through here.

Steelrising is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, the game takes an alternate history approach to its world, where King Louis XVI’s automaton army is running rampant across Paris. Players take on the role of the Aegis, an automaton herself, who shoulders the responsibility of ending the threat and bringing the revolution to an end.

Steelrising has enjoyed solid critical reception for its launch, with critics praising the action RPG for its unique setting, solid combat and progression mechanics, and its implementation of familiar Soulslike mechanics. To highlight some of that praise, publisher Nacon has released an accolades trailer for the game. Check it out below.

In our own review of the game, we awarded it a score of 8/10, saying, “Steelrising is a solid Soulslike with familiar design and mechanics, but its alternate history clockpunk French Revolution setting is what makes the game shine. Spiders’ latest is a game that deserves your attention.” Read the full review through here.

Steelrising is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Spiders’ next project is GreedFall 2: The Dying World, which is due out for PC and consoles sometime in 2024.

Steelrising is, of course, a very different game from Spiders’ previous title. The Soulslike action RPG is inspired heavily by Bloodborne and other games of its like. Set in an alternate history French Revolution where a despotic King Louis XVI is ruling France with an iron grip, and an army of automatons. You play as Aegis, an automaton yourself who’s not under the king’s control, and are tasked with restoring order and peace to Paris.

In our review of Steelrising, we awarded the game a score of 8/10, saying, “Steelrising is a solid Soulslike with well-implement and familiar design and mechanics, but its alternate history clockpunk French Revolution setting is what makes the game shine. Spiders’ latest is a game that deserves your attention.” Read the full review through here.

Steelrising is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Developer Spiders confirmed earlier this year that it’s also working on its next game, GreedFall 2: The Dying World, which is due out for PC and consoles sometime in 2024.

Interestingly, Steelrising makes absolutely no attempts to hide just how heavily inspired it is by a very particular subgenre of games. Bloodborne in particular is clearly a big influence, but at its core, Steelrising is a classic Soulslike. Combat is challenging and demands that you pay attention to enemy movements and attack patterns while dodging and dealing out methodical attacks, as well as managing a stamina meter. Exploration is encouraged, with levels designed as winding and mazy paths that frequently loop around and connect with each other through shortcuts. Checkpoints called Vestals can be found and activated at several spots, and here, you can upgrade your stats and weapons and buy new items and gear using resources and a currency called Anima Essence. Every time you die, you lose all the Anima Essence you have on you, unless you can return to the spot of your death and retrieve it, providing you don’t die again before that.

"If you were to give an elevator pitch for Steelrising, you’d call it Bloodborne set in an alternate history French Revolution, where the eldritch monstrosities have been replaced by mechanical beasts and automatons. Yes, it’s as strange as it sounds, and yes, it’s as refreshingly unique as it sounds."

It’s a formula that’s become very familiar. Popularized by FromSoftware with its Souls titles, the subgenre has been lifted and used with different tweaks and changes by a large number of games over the years, and Steelrising very much falls in that category. But while on paper it might seem like it lacks in originality, that never feels like an issue that holds the game back for some crucial reasons.

The first is that though it lacks in innovative gameplay mechanics, the game’s setting and the veneer that it wraps around its familiar framework feel wholly unique. If you were to give an elevator pitch for Steelrising, you’d call it Bloodborne set in an alternate history French Revolution, where the eldritch monstrosities have been replaced by mechanical beasts and automatons. Yes, it’s as strange as it sounds, and yes, it’s as refreshingly unique as it sounds.

You play as Aegis, an automaton bodyguard who seems to be the only machine left in all of Paris that isn’t doing the bidding of the despotic Clockwork King, who seems to have lost his mind lately and is ruling the city with a cruel iron grip. While I didn’t feel too strongly about the actual story in Steelrising for the most part, from the very second, I was enamoured by its clockpunk setting and its weirdly distorted take on the French Revolution. Steelrising has a much more overt and direct storytelling style than Soulslikes tend to have, and that part I wasn’t necessarily too invested in- but simply existing moment to moment in that world and seeing how well the game brings its unique vision to life was a pleasure.

Like Bloodborne’s Yharnam, Paris is completely deserted, barring the mechanical foes lying in your path, but as opposed to FromSoftware’s dreary gothic horror city, Steelrising’s world can be much brighter, much more lush, much more verdant. The game does a solid job of portraying the opulence of some parts of the city and the rural aesthetic of others, so that while it’s always clear that it’s drawing heavy inspiration from other places, it still somehow manages to create an aesthetic that’s its very own.

Another crucial factor that helps Steelrising make up for most issues one might have with its purported unoriginality is that, unlike a number of Soulslikes that have failed on this front, Spiders’ action RPG doesn’t stumble in its implementation of the ideas that it liberally borrows. On top of that, it has enough tweaks and small innovations of its own that give its gameplay some interesting flavour, especially where combat is concerned.

"The game does a solid job of portraying the opulence of some parts of the city and the rural aesthetic of others, so that while it’s always clear that it’s drawing heavy inspiration from other places, it still somehow manages to create an aesthetic that’s its very own."

Steelrising’s combat is very aggressive, in that though you will definitely be punished for going in all guns blazing without paying attention to your enemies, it encourages you to be on the front foot as much as possible nonetheless. It’s a fine balance between being methodical and being aggressive. Mechanics like staggering foes play into that- keep up a barrage of attacks on an enemy, and they’ll enter a stagger state, opening them up to a high damage critical attack. Similarly, while Steelrising’s equivalent of a stamina meter is, of course, something you always need to keep an eye on, an active reload-style mechanic lets you instantly refill your stamina meter, thus allowing you to continue your frantic flurries of attacks and dodges.

Similarly, the game uses its clockpunk setting to incredible effect where enemy designs are concerned. From snakes with swords for arms that breathe fire to bipedal foes that wield everything from swords and spears to flails and hammers, enemy design in Steelrising is as inventive as it is varied. Each enemy type comes with unique attack and movement patterns, bringing different threats and ways to be exploited, and dealing with each of them is always a blast, especially as they get increasingly elaborate and more challenging. The Aegis herself is lithe and swift, and comes with a suite of movement options that include jumping and dodging, all of which is crucial to use in combat. Animations for the Aegis and for all enemies in Steelrising are impressive and do an excellent job of adhering to the mechanical aesthetic of the game.

Meanwhile, the Aegis can also use many different kinds of weapons, including fanned blades that can turn into a shield, dual swords that dole out fast attacks, halberds that are slow but powerful, long-range guns that deal elemental damage, and much more, with each weapon type having several unique variations as well. Every weapon type comes with a different play style and a unique special move, which means combat sports a surprising level of variety. What’s even more impressive, especially given how different the weapon types feel from each other, is that nearly every weapon I tried out felt enjoyable to use.

Progression in Steelrising is equally engaging. Being an automaton, the Aegis can swap parts of her bodies and upgrade herself in a number of ways. You can increase various stats using Anima Essense, of course, but you can also unlock and upgrade module slots, which let you equip perks that give special benefits, like having faster stamina cooldowns. Weapons themselves can also be upgraded, while you also acquire different tools throughout the game that can be used to access previously inaccessible areas.

"From snakes with swords for arms that breathe fire to bipedal foes that wield everything from swords and spears to flails and hammers, enemy design in Steelrising is as inventive as it is varied."

Exploration and level design is another area where Steelrising impresses without necessarily surprising in any meaningful way. From shortcuts and checkpoints to fairly large levels that loop in and around themselves, the formula used here is very familiar by now, and it’s not one that Steelrising deviates from too heavily. There is something to be said about the expanded focus on verticality at times, but for the most part, where the game’s exploration and design ethos is concerned, you’ll be treading familiar yet engaging territory. Steelrising follows the rulebook pretty closely here, but it does so with steady hands.

Of course, unlike the games that have directly inspired it, this isn’t a large-scale AAA production, and Steelrising’s lower budget does rear its head at times. Movement, for instance, can feel a little clunky at times, from how animations flow into each other to how finnicky the platforming can often feel (though some might argue that the latter is something of a genre staple). The game also has a few technical issues here and there. One time I got stuck in the environment’s geometry whilst in the middle of a fight and could only get free when an enemy knocked me with a massive damage-dealing strike. Meanwhile, the font of text on the notes you find in the world makes it almost impossible to read them- though at least you can head into the menu and read them in your inventory. They aren’t major issues, of course, but the game does exhibit a bit of a lack of polish sometimes.

That doesn’t mean this isn’t a good looking game though- not by any means. Steelrising might not be a technical marvel, but it still looks great. The art design in particular has to be commended, not only for how imaginative and varied the enemy designs are (which I discussed earlier), but also for how well it envisions and brings to life the game’s warped version of a Paris caught in the grips of a French Revolution fought by machines.

Another thing that Steelrising does deserve plaudits for, however, is how it handles difficulty. By default and at its core, this is a fairly challenging game, as Soulslikes tend to be. That said, the game also features an Assist Mode, which lets you tweak the experience’s difficulty in a number of ways to suit how you want to play, from letting you keep your Anima Essence after you die to reducing damage or improving stamina regeneration by varying degrees, while these options can also be access, tweaked, or altogether turned off at anytime. Long has the debate about difficulty raged around Soulslikes, and I personally think that Steelrising approaches it really well. Unlike so many others of its ilk, this is a game that those who’re normally intimidated by Soulslikes could easily get into- while genre veterans can simply ignore the options entirely and go about their business as usual.

"Steelrising might not be a technical marvel, but it still looks great. The art design in particular has to be commended, not only for how imaginative and varied the enemy designs are (which I discussed earlier), but also for how well it envisions and brings to life the game’s warped version of a Paris caught in the grips of a French Revolution fought by machines."

Steelrising is yet another solid effort by Spiders. The French studio has been growing in stature and building a steady reputation with its efforts, and its fair to say that with its latest release, the developer has kept that upward trajectory going. A solid Soulslike that executes upon the core tenets of its genre in impressive fashion, Steelrising is also a game that impresses and engrosses with its unique, bizarre world. Viva la revolución indeed.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.