The Soul of Soulslike

The action genre’s relationship with difficulty has been complicated.

In their earliest stages, action games were often unreasonably demanding, but this was not always by design. These difficulty spikes and trial-and-error sequences were a result of trailblazing developers figuring out the best practices for requiring precision from players while remaining fair.

During the advent of cinematic storytelling in gaming, many action titles offered more leniency in favor of delivering a compelling narrative that a large portion of the audience could easily experience. As a result, beating many action titles during the late ’90s and through the mid-2010s felt more like a formality than a challenge to conquer. Subsequently, games like Ninja Gaiden and Super Meat Boy delivered the kinds of white-knuckled experiences challenge-driven players craved. However, the action genre reached a major milestone in 2009, as a brutally tough, seemingly obscure game out of Japan emerged as a fan favorite and went on to become one of the most influential video games of all time.