10 Soulslikes Games That Reward Exploration

There are tons of games out there that have attempted to find their place in the Soulslike genre. Honestly, plenty have succeeded in terms of combat and character progression, but many have forgotten one of the most important aspects: exploration. Having rewarding exploration can be the defining factor between a good Soulslike and a great one.

Luckily, there are a good number of Soulslikes out there that do a phenomenal job at exploration and encouraging players to go off the main path. Whether you want to explore to collect necessary items for upgrading, discover hidden bosses, or find interesting side quests, there is a Soulslike game for you.

If you are looking for a rewarding journey in this fantastic genre, we have tons of options for you here. Here are 10 Soulslikes games that reward exploration and a curious player who isn't afraid to take a break from the main story.

10 Ashen

Explore Side Journeys

Exploration is extremely important in Ashen due to the game’s brutal difficulty. If you don’t take the time to explore the world, then you will have a significantly tougher time taking down the game’s main bosses. The reason this is true is that exploring will lead to finding crafting materials, better gear, talismans, and upgrades.

However, the absolute most important reason to explore Ashen is that it will lead to side quests that grant health and stamina boosts, making your character more efficient in literally everything they do in the game. Skipping over exploration and the game’s side content is not only highly frowned-upon, but it could ruin the experience as a whole.

9 Kristala

Cat Souls

One of the more recent Soulslikes to hit the market is Kristala, which has just exited early access into its full release. While not the most extraordinary Soulslike out there, Kristala does enough things right to make it fit right at home in the genre. For example, its exploration is rewarding, especially in its levels that have a more open-world approach.

Exploring the world of Kristala will lead players to find useful gear, abilities, and upgrades that directly affect their efficiency in combat. Additionally, if you take the time to explore, you will find shortcuts that make navigating the open zones much more manageable than before. Also, the ambiance and music of the world are just beautiful, so engaging in exploration is relaxing.

8 Code Vein II

Discover Essential Upgrades

The original Code Vein was a mixed bag for Soulslike fans, and the same can be said for its sequel. However, while the first one was mostly linear, Code Vein 2 took a step further and added a massive open world to explore. While not all of the open world is worth checking out, a lot of it is due to the rewards you can find.

If you take the time to explore the world in Code Vein 2, you will find upgrades that allow you to increase the number of times you can heal, resources that can be used to increase the level of your weapons, and even vendors that sell rare items that can be found elsewhere. In other words, if you want to become as strong as possible in Code Vein 2, you must explore its world.

7 Remnant 2

A Randomized World

Remnant 2 is not only a unique Soulslike due to being a third-person shooter, but it’s also unique due to its implementation of Roguelike elements. Since it uses a Roguelike structure, each run can feel different, leading to different rooms, undiscovered bosses, hidden characters with side quests, and more.

Each time you load into a run, the rooms are mixed up, and you never know what you will encounter that time around. This layout encourages players to search every branching room, as it could possibly lead to a valuable upgrade for your build, weapons that will become your favorite, and a long-branching side quest that deepens the game’s lore.

6 Bleak Faith: Forsaken

Beautiful Art Direction

Bleak Faith: Forsaken offers a series of large environments throughout the game, each having its own secrets to discover and items to acquire. Similar to most of the games mentioned here, the items and formidable foes that you find while exploring not only look cool and are genuinely interesting, but are essential for character growth and making the overall experience easier.

The greatest part of Bleak Faith: Forsaken is the superb art design and the overall feel of the world, making exploration even more rewarding as you get to discover beautiful areas that are some of the best that you will find in the genre. If you love exploring and diving deep into the world, don't look past this game, as it offers environments such as forests, deserts, and ruins, all of which have a decent amount of lore.

5 Dark Souls Remastered

An Interconnected World of Secrets

Out of all the Dark Souls games, the original Dark Souls offers the most interconnected world, overlapping itself and almost acting like a labyrinth. Exploring the map is worthwhile, as it can open secret shortcuts back to the Undead Asylum, the home base of the game, and can lead to stronger weapons and spells for your build.

Dark Souls also does a great job at hiding its NPCs in secret corners of the map, all of whom offer interesting stories with deep lore. One of the coolest parts of exploration in Dark Souls is the illusory walls, fake walls that can be opened by striking them with your sword. Finding these types of walls just creates a huge sense of satisfaction, so it’s definitely worth seeking them out.

4 Lords of The Fallen

A Hunt for the Best Weapons

The original Lords of the Fallen, released in 2014, was mediocre to say the least. It was a valiant effort to make a Soulslike, but it didn’t offer the sense of discovery that the genre is known for. However, its reboot, Lords of the Fallen (2023), did a much better job at rewarding exploration and encouraging the player to focus on side content.

While exploring in Lords of the Fallen, you can expect to find some of the most powerful spells in the game, weapons that can fit into an endgame build, and, of course, the opportunity to earn a ton of XP to level up your character. Exploration is also required to earn a couple of the game's endings, of which there are a total of three available.

3 Hollow Knight: Silksong

2D Exploration

The first Hollow Knight did a phenomenal job at putting the Soulslike formula in a 2D format and proved that Team Cherry was a developer to watch. Its sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, took the IP even further by making the map bigger, filled with more secrets to discover and reasons to go off the beaten path.

As you explore the map of Hollow Knight: Silksong, you will encounter many NPCs that offer side quests that lead to valuable rewards, hidden locations that offer Crests to upgrade your character’s moveset, and even necessary items that let you upgrade your Needle for higher attack power. It’s encouraged to go off the beaten path in order to have a better chance against the game’s main bosses.

2 Nioh 3

A Step in the Right Direction

While the first two Nioh games had some exploration, the third installment took it a step further by adding an open world. Nioh 3 is the closest to Elden Ring we have got in the genre, offering a world filled with optional content, valuable rewards that make your character stronger, and NPCs that have genuinely interesting stories.

It’s one thing to add an open world to simply make a game feel bigger in scope, but it’s another thing to make the open world actually worthwhile to explore, and Nioh 3 absolutely nails it in that department. In fact, it’s actually encouraged to explore in Nioh 3, as it leads to an easier main story experience due to the upgrades and XP you earn in your travels.

1 Elden Ring

The Best Exploration of All Soulslikes

There’s no question that Elden Ring is the magnum opus for the genre, offering the biggest world, deepest lore, and incredible build variety that adds replay value. The greatest aspect of Elden Ring is its massive open world, where most of its content is optional and worthwhile, rewarding players who venture off the beaten path.

Exploration will have players finding rare weapons, new spells to try out, secret bosses with valuable rewards, and lore drops that will give the player a better understanding of the story and world of Elden Ring. While the main story of Elden Ring will only take players around 40 hours to complete, exploring every nook and cranny of its world will easily take 100 to 150 hours.