Best Upcoming Soulslike Games to Look Forward To

Best Upcoming Soulslike Games: Release Windows, Platforms, and What Sets Each Apart

The strongest bets for the best upcoming soulslike games are Elden Ring: Nightreign (co-op roguelike spin-off, already launched in 2025 and still receiving content), Hollow Knight: Silksong-adjacent 2D soulslikes, Lies of P: Overture DLC, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Black Myth: Zhong Kui (announced follow-up to Black Myth: Wukong), and The First Berserker: Khazan post-launch content — plus a handful of unconfirmed titles such as FromSoftware’s next original IP. Because most publishers announce windows rather than locked dates, the safest way to plan is by release window band, not by a single day.

Below, titles are organized by expected window, platform, and the combat or exploration feature that actually distinguishes them. Where a date is not confirmed by the publisher, it is explicitly flagged.

Quick Comparison of Announced and Expected Soulslikes

Note the pattern: the “upcoming” section of the market is dominated by post-launch content for games that shipped in 2025, plus two or three genuinely unshipped titles. That distinction matters when you’re deciding whether to buy now or wait.

Released 2025, Still Evolving Through 2026

Elden Ring: Nightreign — best for co-op groups

Per Bandai Namco’s official announcements, Nightreign is a standalone co-op experience rather than a story sequel: three players, one shrinking map, and a hard three-day (in-game) run timer. The trade-off is obvious — solo players get a compromised experience, and the roguelike run structure replaces Elden Ring’s open-ended exploration with repetition. If you have two committed friends, it’s the most “soulslike” thing releasing new content in 2026. If you don’t, skip it.

Lies of P: Overture — best for players who want a tighter, linear campaign

Overture extends Lies of P’s Belle Époque puppet world with new areas and weapons. Lies of P’s defining mechanic remains the weapon-assembly system — you combine a blade and a handle to create hybrid movesets — and the puppet-string dodge that pulls you backward. According to the developer’s patch notes, balance changes have narrowed the parry window slightly on higher difficulties. The trade-off: it’s DLC, so you need the base game, and its difficulty spike assumes you’ve finished the campaign.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers — best for players who want a non-Western history setting

Set in late Ming-dynasty China, Wuchang ties combat to a “Feather” resource that builds and decays, effectively giving you a temporary second health-and-damage state. That single mechanic changes how you pace fights compared to a standard stamina bar. The trade-off is performance: early 2025 builds drew criticism for frame pacing on base consoles, and while patches improved it, lower-end hardware still isn’t ideal.

The First Berserker: Khazan — best for parry purists

Khazan leans harder into duel-style, stamina-read combat than almost anything else in the genre. If you liked Sekiro’s posture system more than Dark Souls’ roll-and-punish loop, this is your pick. The trade-off is narrower build variety — it’s a more authored, less experimental RPG.

Announced but Undated: Plan for 2026–2027

Black Myth: Zhong Kui

Following Black Myth: Wukong’s success, Game Science announced a new title centered on Zhong Kui, the mythological demon queller. No release date has been confirmed by the studio. Expect the same action-RPG combat DNA with a different mythological framework. Treat any 2026 date you see online as speculation.

FromSoftware’s next original IP

FromSoftware has confirmed an original project in development beyond its existing franchises. No title, platform list, or window is public. Historically the studio’s reveals come with short lead times — sometimes under a year from trailer to launch.

How to Decide Which One to Actually Buy

The genre’s real cost isn’t the box price — it’s hours. Use this sizing logic:

• You have a regular 3-person group: Nightreign’s run-based structure converts a 30-minute session into meaningful progress. A traditional soulslike won’t, because you can’t easily pause mid-boss with friends. Pick co-op-first titles.
• You play solo, 5–10 hours a week: a 40–60 hour linear campaign (Lies of P, Khazan) finishes in roughly 6–9 weeks. An open-world entry (Elden Ring base game, Wuchang) runs 80–120 hours — closer to 3–5 months. Budget accordingly.
• You’re new to the genre: start with the shortest, most linear option. Every additional hour of open-world freedom is another hour you can get lost and bounce off. Linear campaigns teach parry/dodge timing faster because they gate content behind skill checks.
• You’re on a tight budget: DLC and post-launch updates for 2025 titles are the cheapest way to get new soulslike content — typically $10–20 versus $50–70 for a new game.

A worked cost-per-hour example

Say you pay $50 for a linear soulslike and finish it in 45 hours with one replay: that’s about $1.11 per hour. Pay $70 for an open-world soulslike and put in 110 hours: roughly $0.64 per hour. The open-world game looks “cheaper” per hour, but only if you actually finish it. If you drop it at hour 12, your effective cost is $5.83 per hour — worse than almost any other entertainment. The honest calculation is cost divided by hours you’ll realistically play, not hours the game contains.

What Wears Out First in a Soulslike (and Why It Matters to Buyers)

Unlike hardware, games don’t degrade — but your relationship to them does, in predictable ways. The first thing to go is usually build variety tolerance: players respec away from their first build around the 60% mark, which is why titles with cheap or free respecs (Lies of P, Wuchang) stay enjoyable longer. Second is boss-pattern patience: if a title leans on long, multi-phase fights, fatigue sets in faster. Third is performance: a game that stutters on your hardware will wear you down before its content does, which is a real reason to check current patch status before buying rather than trusting launch reviews.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best upcoming soulslike games in 2026?

The most credible picks are post-launch content for Elden Ring: Nightreign, Lies of P: Overture, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and The First Berserker: Khazan, plus announced-but-undated titles like Black Myth: Zhong Kui and FromSoftware’s next original IP. “Upcoming” in this genre now means ongoing updates as much as brand-new releases.

Has Black Myth: Zhong Kui got a release date?

No. Game Science has announced the project but has not confirmed a release window, platform list, or pricing. Any specific date circulating online should be treated as unverified until the studio publishes it.

Which upcoming soulslike is best for co-op?

Elden Ring: Nightreign is built around three-player co-op from the ground up, with a shared map and a timed run structure. Most other soulslikes in this window are single-player campaigns with optional summoned help, which plays very differently.

Are these games harder than Dark Souls?

Difficulty varies more by design philosophy than by genre label. Khazan emphasizes precise parries with tight timing windows, which many players find harder than Dark Souls’ forgiving roll. Lies of P’s parry timing is comparably strict. Wuchang’s resource-decay mechanic adds pressure but also gives you more outs. None of these are objectively “harder” — they just punish different mistakes.

Should I buy now or wait for a sale or a complete edition?

If you’re buying a 2025 title, waiting usually pays: complete editions bundling base game plus DLC typically land 20–40% below buying separately, and patches will have fixed launch-era performance issues. If you’re buying an undated 2026–2027 announcement, there’s nothing to wait for yet — no pre-order has meaningful value when no date exists.

Do I need to play the previous game first?

For DLC like Lies of P: Overture, yes — it assumes campaign completion and endgame builds. For standalone titles like Nightreign, Khazan, or Wuchang, no prior game is required; each is its own story. For announced sequels such as Black Myth: Zhong Kui, expect a self-contained narrative with shared combat DNA rather than a direct continuation.