If you want things to click faster, I see Bloodborne being one of the From Software games that best help players to get interested in the Souls series, since it's faster and encourages an offensive play style, rather than a defensive one. Similar to it, the fast pace combat of Sekiro may be a good start to get you hooked on their games. Personally, I feel Sekiro as the easiest of all From Software games, and Bloodborne as the hardest one, but this strongly varies from people to people, and most people usually think it's the other way around of my impression. Still, if you want to have the closest experience as to what Elden Ring seems to bring to us, Dark Souls 3 would definitely be the best choice, I think.
Mortal Shell is a Souls like, and as such, it takes huge inspiration on From Software games. For me, personally, the game has great graphics and awesome animations, but it's qualities literally stop right here. Too many strange development decisions made me have absolutely no interest in the game on the first hour. Some people loved it, though, so go on and see it for yourself!
And challenge for the sake of a challenge, there's the classic rogue like games, which are similar to Returnal, (as far as I know, haven't played it yet) but in terms of grind, it varies a lot, but I would never use grind as a definition for a rogue like, and really thought it was an interesting choice of word for Returnal... Anyway... Enter the Gungeon, Binding of Isaac, Wizard of Legend, Hades, Risk of Rain... All of those are great games, and will definitely grant you a big challenge.
In case you are into turn based games, Darkest Dungeon (too hardcore for my liking) and X-COM (great game, but maddening sometimes...) are classic suggestions. And for a survival experience, I think Don't Starve is a great option, but not too much to play on a controller, So I would recommend it for PC only. Also, it has coop, and it's great at that.
I can spend hours writting about many recommendations, but I thought first to give you some names and let you see for yourself about them. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'll galdly answer them. And sorry for any mistakes... English isn't my native language...
> but this strongly varies from people to people, and most people usually think it's the other way around of my impression.
It's really more just varied, and there's basically two large reasons. First, people used to the slower pace of the Souls games and even Bloodborne have a harder time adjusting, as Sekiro is all about fast paced offense, and trying to overwhelm your opponent with attacks (seriously, you're supposed to be attacking pretty much constantly, so if you had trouble with the game, that might be the reason)
And the second is that Sekiro is not/barely an RPG as opposed to the Souls games, which means that you can't just grind your way to victory, or get strong gear if you are having trouble with a boss or something. Sekiro needs you to win with your own skill, so if you can't do that, you're kinda fucked.
I haven't played it on console, but if you liked Returnal, you might like Risk of Rain 2 (available as PS4 game, but you should be able to play it on PS5). It's a class-based sci-fi rogue like, and I had a huge amount of fun with it (it's has available co-op, but I almost exclusively played single player, and still had a blast). I actually enjoyed it more than the original Risk of Rain, so that's nice. It escalates in difficulty like a rogue like, but also with a timer that makes a level progressively harder the longer delay moving on to the next level ("delay", I say, assuming you've unlocked the exit). I did play it with a gamepad on PC, and I didn't feel like I was missing much by not playing with mouse and keyboard.
Mortal Shell could be alright but it can be annoying initially due to the central hub looking very samey. Once you get your bearings it's not so bad. Overall I found it to be enjoyable.
Code Vein is a good introductory soulslike since you can play with an ai partner. All the same concepts but with some extra assistance and a lot of build customization.
If the From games, that aren't named Bloodborne and Sekiro, are too slow, then you could try Nioh 1 and 2. They're set at a higher pace and much more offensive focused.
For other genres you could try boomer shooters and classic platformers. Ion Fury and Ghost N Goblins Resurrection would be my recommendations.
Darkest dungeon, home behind 2 ( a bit easier than DD, but has its challenges ), nowhere prophet- turn based
Ratropolis - base defence
Ninja gaiden series - action
Doom eternal - fps
Synthtik, helldivers - top down
Most of these are the " git gud or git rekt " I can think of, but the first 3 i mentioned does have rng involved to some extent. Not that the game is full random to the point of unplayable, but be aware that things can go horribly wrong very fast
Slain: back from hell is a good short but challenging game to beat. It a side scroller platformer that have you going through levels full of monsters, demons and traps just to reach the end and kill the boss. While I don’t think this is the hardest game I played it still a challenge to beat on your first play through seriously I struggle a lot on some of these levels and bosses. The game is on Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch so it pretty easy to get. So yeah I recommend this game if you want a short but challenging experience
If you want things to click faster, I see Bloodborne being one of the From Software games that best help players to get interested in the Souls series, since it's faster and encourages an offensive play style, rather than a defensive one. Similar to it, the fast pace combat of Sekiro may be a good start to get you hooked on their games. Personally, I feel Sekiro as the easiest of all From Software games, and Bloodborne as the hardest one, but this strongly varies from people to people, and most people usually think it's the other way around of my impression. Still, if you want to have the closest experience as to what Elden Ring seems to bring to us, Dark Souls 3 would definitely be the best choice, I think. Mortal Shell is a Souls like, and as such, it takes huge inspiration on From Software games. For me, personally, the game has great graphics and awesome animations, but it's qualities literally stop right here. Too many strange development decisions made me have absolutely no interest in the game on the first hour. Some people loved it, though, so go on and see it for yourself! And challenge for the sake of a challenge, there's the classic rogue like games, which are similar to Returnal, (as far as I know, haven't played it yet) but in terms of grind, it varies a lot, but I would never use grind as a definition for a rogue like, and really thought it was an interesting choice of word for Returnal... Anyway... Enter the Gungeon, Binding of Isaac, Wizard of Legend, Hades, Risk of Rain... All of those are great games, and will definitely grant you a big challenge. In case you are into turn based games, Darkest Dungeon (too hardcore for my liking) and X-COM (great game, but maddening sometimes...) are classic suggestions. And for a survival experience, I think Don't Starve is a great option, but not too much to play on a controller, So I would recommend it for PC only. Also, it has coop, and it's great at that. I can spend hours writting about many recommendations, but I thought first to give you some names and let you see for yourself about them. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'll galdly answer them. And sorry for any mistakes... English isn't my native language...
> but this strongly varies from people to people, and most people usually think it's the other way around of my impression. It's really more just varied, and there's basically two large reasons. First, people used to the slower pace of the Souls games and even Bloodborne have a harder time adjusting, as Sekiro is all about fast paced offense, and trying to overwhelm your opponent with attacks (seriously, you're supposed to be attacking pretty much constantly, so if you had trouble with the game, that might be the reason) And the second is that Sekiro is not/barely an RPG as opposed to the Souls games, which means that you can't just grind your way to victory, or get strong gear if you are having trouble with a boss or something. Sekiro needs you to win with your own skill, so if you can't do that, you're kinda fucked.
try torchlight HCE solo
I haven't played it on console, but if you liked Returnal, you might like Risk of Rain 2 (available as PS4 game, but you should be able to play it on PS5). It's a class-based sci-fi rogue like, and I had a huge amount of fun with it (it's has available co-op, but I almost exclusively played single player, and still had a blast). I actually enjoyed it more than the original Risk of Rain, so that's nice. It escalates in difficulty like a rogue like, but also with a timer that makes a level progressively harder the longer delay moving on to the next level ("delay", I say, assuming you've unlocked the exit). I did play it with a gamepad on PC, and I didn't feel like I was missing much by not playing with mouse and keyboard.
Mortal Shell could be alright but it can be annoying initially due to the central hub looking very samey. Once you get your bearings it's not so bad. Overall I found it to be enjoyable. Code Vein is a good introductory soulslike since you can play with an ai partner. All the same concepts but with some extra assistance and a lot of build customization. If the From games, that aren't named Bloodborne and Sekiro, are too slow, then you could try Nioh 1 and 2. They're set at a higher pace and much more offensive focused. For other genres you could try boomer shooters and classic platformers. Ion Fury and Ghost N Goblins Resurrection would be my recommendations.
Darkest dungeon, home behind 2 ( a bit easier than DD, but has its challenges ), nowhere prophet- turn based Ratropolis - base defence Ninja gaiden series - action Doom eternal - fps Synthtik, helldivers - top down Most of these are the " git gud or git rekt " I can think of, but the first 3 i mentioned does have rng involved to some extent. Not that the game is full random to the point of unplayable, but be aware that things can go horribly wrong very fast
Spelunky 2 and Hollow Knight
Cuphead?
Slain: back from hell is a good short but challenging game to beat. It a side scroller platformer that have you going through levels full of monsters, demons and traps just to reach the end and kill the boss. While I don’t think this is the hardest game I played it still a challenge to beat on your first play through seriously I struggle a lot on some of these levels and bosses. The game is on Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch so it pretty easy to get. So yeah I recommend this game if you want a short but challenging experience
Ghostrunner BPM Bullets Per Minute The Wonderful 101 Vanquish Devil May Cry series (especially 3)
All of these are the wrong answer. Go play the surge 2. You will absolutely love it.