A Soulslike is easier to pick up when its combat is legible, it gives you useful ways to adapt, and getting stuck does not force you to repeat the same challenge indefinitely. Those qualities are different: clear enemy patterns help you learn, alternative routes let you change your approach, and checkpoints affect how costly a failed attempt feels. No single game is objectively easiest for every newcomer.
What “easier to pick up” means
For a first Soulslike, approachability is less about removing challenge than about making it possible to understand and respond to that challenge. Consider three questions: Can you learn from enemy attacks? Can you change what you are doing when progress stalls? How much time or progress does a failed attempt cost?
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Those questions describe different parts of the experience. A game may have flexible character builds but a demanding route through a difficult area. Another may offer readable combat but little freedom to leave a boss and return later. A useful comparison keeps these factors separate rather than assigning every game a single easy-or-hard label.
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Soulslike combat generally asks players to watch enemy movement, choose deliberate attacks, and evade or defend during the right moments. Bandai Namco Europe’s overview of the genre and Elden Ring describes this emphasis on reading behavior and acting during openings. Repeatedly attacking without regard for an opponent’s moves is unlikely to teach you when it is safe to commit.
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For a new player, the practical question is whether the game gives you time and tools to work out what happened: Was an attack too slow? Did you dodge too early? Could blocking, parrying, or waiting for another opening have worked better? The more clearly you can connect an action to its result, the more useful each attempt becomes. This is a learning advantage, not a guarantee that encounters will be forgiving.
Freedom to leave a difficult stretch changes the learning pressure
Elden Ring: choose when to return
Elden Ring’s open world gives players alternatives when a particular challenge becomes a wall: explore elsewhere, develop a character, adjust equipment, and come back later. In a 2022 PlayStation.Blog interview, FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki said he wanted newcomers to feel “unpressured” and able to approach the game at their own pace. He also said players could return to an impasse later rather than keep repeating it.
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That flexibility does not mean the game is less demanding. Miyazaki described the intended loop as studying the game, learning from mistakes, and finding a way forward; the difference is that players have more choice about when and how to tackle a challenge. He said the team did not intentionally lower the difficulty, though it expected the additional options and freedom to help more people finish. That expectation is a developer view, not a measured completion statistic.
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Lies of P: customization is not the same as route freedom
Round8 Studio describes Lies of P’s weapon assembly and Legion Arms as ways to support different combat styles. Players can combine Blades and Handles with distinct capabilities and switch among Legion Arms. That supports experimentation with combat tools, but by itself does not establish that the game is easier, offers more ways around a difficult section, or has more forgiving checkpoints.
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Difficulty settings and challenge-management tools are different
Elden Ring has no conventional easy-mode setting, according to Bandai Namco Europe. Instead, players can manage challenges through options such as player summons, Spirit Ashes, exploration, leveling, equipment, weapon skills, flask upgrades, and consumables. These tools can change the circumstances of a fight without changing the game’s formal difficulty setting.
When choosing a first game, ask which kind of control matters to you. If you want to step away from a boss and grow stronger elsewhere, route freedom may matter most. If you prefer to adjust how you fight, equipment or ability variety may be more important. If you want a traditional difficulty selector, do not assume a Soulslike has one: check the specific game’s settings and mechanics.
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Checkpoints and death penalties need a game-specific comparison
Checkpoints shape the cost of practice: a nearby return point can make another attempt quicker, while a longer route can make each failure more time-consuming. Death penalties also matter, including what resources or progress are lost and whether they can be recovered. These mechanics vary by game, so “Soulslike” is not enough to predict what happens after death.
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Which kind of first Soulslike fits you?
- Choose for route freedom: If being able to explore elsewhere when stuck sounds valuable, Elden Ring’s open-world structure and range of challenge-management tools may suit you. That flexibility still comes with demanding combat.
- Choose for combat experimentation: If you want to try different weapon combinations and support abilities, Lies of P’s weapon assembly and Legion Arms are relevant features. They are evidence of customization, not proof of lower difficulty.
- Choose for retry tolerance: If repeated boss attempts are your main concern, investigate the specific game’s checkpoint locations and death penalties before deciding. The available evidence here does not support a reliable checkpoint ranking.
There is no substantiated newcomer-completion statistic or universal difficulty ranking for these examples. The better first game is the one whose learning style, flexibility, and retry costs match what you find motivating.
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