The number of souls-like games is rapidly increasing on Steam — study
The analytical company VG Insights released a study on souls-likes on Steam. They examined all the games with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag, released on the platform from January 2015 to October 2025.
Elden Ring
Important: Steam tags cannot be completely equated to genres. They can be set not only by developers but also by users. Games can have up to 20 tags.
Below are the main findings of the study.
- Over the past ten years, the number of new games with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag in Steam has been increasing annually.
- In 2024, 371 such games were released on Steam, which is 41.2 times more than in 2015.
- However, among the new releases of 2025, only 207 games have the tag. Thus, the record of 2024 might not be surpassed this year.
The number of releases with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag on Steam from 2014-2025
- Until 2022, at least half of the souls-like new releases on Steam were published by AA game publishers. Then the balance shifted towards AAA publishers, who now release on average two-thirds of the games with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag.
Breakdown of games with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag by AA and AAA publishers on Steam
- The most active creators of souls-likes are in the Asia-Pacific countries. In 2024, developers from this region created 60% of the new releases, and in the incomplete year of 2025, they accounted for 80% of the new releases.
Breakdown of games with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag on Steam by developer country of origin
- These games are also primarily purchased by residents of the Asia-Pacific region. In 2024, they accounted for 81% of the copies sold throughout the year, and in 2025, this figure rose to 97%.
Breakdown of sales of games with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag on Steam by country
- 47% of the total audience for the top 20 games consisted of gamers from China. The second-largest share was from gamers in the USA at 23%. They are followed by gamers from Germany (5%), Russia (5%), and Canada (4%).
- Black Myth: Wukong is the best-selling souls-like of the last decade on Steam. According to analysts, by mid-October 2025, it was purchased 20.3 million times.
- Also included in the top 5 best-selling games on Steam with the "similar to Dark Souls" tag from 2015-2025 were Elden Ring (15.6 million copies), Monster Hunter: World (13 million copies), Dark Souls 3 (9.1 million copies), and Hades (8.4 million copies).