Late at night while I’m trying hard to get my brain to shut down so I can sleep (if I wasn’t employed my awake hours would probably be something like 11 AM to 3 AM; I’m most awake and alert after the sun sets) I often turn to YouTube and specifically videos that don’t make me think too much, like “Top upcoming games!” videos. Last night was no different and I watched this video:

These are the kinds of games I used to really enjoy, but as I was watching the video I kept muttering “Souls-like, souls-like, souls-like” under my breath. I do NOT like games with a high reflex difficulty level. My eyes are old, I have arthritis in my hands, and my time is limited compared to the number of games that look worth playing.

To be fair I’m making the assumption that most of these will be souls-likes but that does seem to be the trend these days. The only action-heavy games that feel safe are the ones from Sony or Microsoft; those companies cast the widest possible net so I feel safe buying a PS5 Spiderman or God of War game or on the MS side, a Gears of War game (well, that’s more a shooter but you get the idea).

I keep waiting for the “souls-like” fad to fade away, as gaming trends tend to do, but so far I’ve seen no sign of it. I guess this is what the gaming audience wants. Elden Ring sure sold well.

I do get the appeal and now I’m going to compare souls-like with a gacha game. When I’m playing Neverness to Everness or Wuthering Waves and I’m in a fight and pulling off parries and critical dodges and in doing so biting off huge chunks of an enemy’s health, it is SO satisfying. But it puzzles me that these gacha games can give me that experience without making the games hair-pullingly difficult, and this whole other genre of games seems unable or unwilling to make their products approachable for the widest possible audience.

For now, I’ll let go of my love of action games. I mean I still haven’t played Spiderman 2 or God of War: Ragnorak, so they’ll keep me busy for a while. But someone give me a shout if and when developers of hack and slash games go back to making titles all gamers can enjoy.

And yes, for this post I added a new “sour grapes” tag to the blog. 🙂

[ Featured image is from Bloodborne since it’s about the only souls-like I’ve played for any significant amount of time.]