


Despite role-playing as a specific samurai, Nioh provides players with a fair amount of customization options when it comes to weapons and Guardian Spirits. The original Nioh follows William Adams as he goes on a supernatural-laced adventure through the final few years of Feudal Japan.

Both titles are incredible in their own right, and although they are definitely cut from the same cloth, they do have enough differences for them to stand out on their own. While Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is an easy recommendation for fans of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the company's strongest Souls-likes projects are the Nioh games. Team Ninja has been enamored with Souls-likes for the last half a decade, and the developer has produced some of the subgenre's most memorable and hardest games. TOTK is generally a harder game than BOTW, although its fusion system encourages players to experiment with all the tools at their disposal. Although populated with a few settlements, the open-world is still rather desolate. The game takes place in the same iteration of Hyrule, albeit one that is in the process of rebuilding itself. Tears of the Kingdom, BOTW's sequel, is not too far removed from its predecessor. Although the combat in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild isn't nearly as punishing as what's found in Elden Ring, it can still be pretty challenging. Those that enjoyed the freedom to explore The Lands Between will really enjoy making their way through this massive version of Hyrule and the lands surrounding it. Nintendo's epic adventure showcased Hyrule and all of its inhabitants in an entirely expanded way, letting players experience the world of Link and his trials as they see fit. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wasn't responsible for starting the open-world genre, but it really helped to redefine it. The Dark Souls series pioneered the formula found in Elden Ring, meaning players will already be familiar with the idea of resting at particular areas to level their character up, as well as the weapons and armor systems found throughout each game. Players that enjoy the gritty aesthetic of Elden Ring's dungeons, castles, and catacombs, will find themselves right at home. That said, the worlds offered in the Dark Souls saga are just as dark, foreboding, and vastly imaginative as some of The Lands Between. This is perhaps the closest experience to Elden Ring in terms of gameplay and combat, though it's not nearly as open-world as FromSoftware's latest offering. Those that have played Elden Ring but haven't yet been through the Dark Souls series need to put it at the top of their list.
