Since the launch of Demon’s Souls in 2009, developer From Software has made great strides to make a name for itself. Dark Souls and Elden Ring, as well as Bloodborne and Sekiro, are now household names. At a glance, Dark Souls might look like another role-playing game. But dig deeper, and you’ll discover an experience unlike any other in gaming.

Dark Souls pits you against insurmountable obstacles. It expects you to fail, learn from your errors, and perform better next time. The odds are never in your favor, and you’re expected to enjoy the grind. Thankfully, the triumph over these challenges is always exceptionally satisfying.

A From Software developed Souls game is yet to make its way to your favorite Android tablet. But that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on this experience entirely. In this list, we’ll round up the best Dark Souls games on Android, along with their distinguishing features.

1 Dark Raider

Clearly boasting an inspiration or two from the Souls series, Dark Raider is an isometric role-playing game. Dark Raider presents you with a choice of several heroes, and each offers a different play style. Are you a warrior, capable of dishing out large amounts of damage, or a mage who prefers to stay at a distance while casting powerful spells?

Regardless of who you play as, you’ll come up against uneven odds, such as a total of 23 bosses that tower well above you. The game adds a layer of challenge with its randomly generated levels. Every time you die in battle, the level and enemy placement are generated anew.

2 Animus: Revenant

Certainly an ambitious title, Animus: Revenant places you in an isometric 3D world on a linear adventure to save the world. The Dark Souls influence is felt almost immediately with the introduction of the combat, which serves its purpose well, encouraging a multitude of battle approaches such as parrying, backstabs, blocking, and attacking with different weapons.

The game is not a hack-and-slash, and that is made very clear by the slow movement and disarming camera angle. The combat is centered around slow and methodical attacks, no running straight through this one.

Graphically, the game isn’t stunning, but lower resolution can result in a superior frame rate. This is something that the original Dark Souls actually did. Just make sure you bring a beefy device; this is a demanding game.

3 Revenant Knight

As it turns out, a good Dark Souls game doesn’t require and extensive team of developers. In fact, Revenant Knight has been spearheaded by a single person, and is no less impressive than other games on the list.

Revenant Knight looks and feels like a true Souls game, but it does stand out from the crowd. This is mostly due to the fact that it relies solely on the skill of the player to drive progression. There’s no leveling up, and your success or failure is determined by your ability to master the mechanics.

Do you have what it takes to beat the game’s 14 bosses?

4 Ronin: the last Samurai

Our first Samurai-themed entry, Ronin: the last Samurai places you in control of a katana-wielding warrior facing down multiple foes in level-based waves. The combat feels very Sekiro-inspired, with much emphasis placed on the aggressive yet cautious approach to fighting.

Said combat uses touch controls to strike, block, parry, and activate special attacks, all of which respond very well and look gorgeous alongside the game’s art style. The movement mechanics aren’t great; your character moves extremely slowly around the arena, giving archers plenty of time for target practice. A simple game, but still a great time for fans of Nioh and Sekiro.

5 Pascal’s Wager

If you were asked to watch gameplay footage of Pascal’s Wager, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for an actual From Software game. That’s how accurately it follows the formula laid out by Dark Souls games.

Everything, from characters and setting to combat and challenge, draws inspiration from the Souls genre. Pascal’s Wager gives you the choice of four distinct characters. Depending on your play style, your journey through the perilous world of Solas will be different to that of others.

Every nook could lead to a potential secret, and your progress could be swiftly halted by a challenging boss battle. Sure, it costs $6.99, but the constant flurry of updates and DLC, means that it’s worth every cent.

6 Way of Retribution

This is an interesting one, Way of Retribution takes the format of a 3D Souls-like, placing you into areas full of enemies with a boss to kill, but translates that to an MMORPG-style game, aesthetically evoking Neverwinter. Multiple starting classes can be selected at the beginning, all of which have different specializations for combat.

Said combat works as expected, you lock onto enemies and tap the icons for certain attacks. The big difference with this game is you can’t just face the boss whenever you want; you must first complete several objectives within the level, imitating the quest linearity seen in the best MMORPG’s. A strange kind of Souls-like, but certainly a unique blending of ideas that makes for an interesting experience. It’s a quick download, so take a look.

7 Watcher Chronicles

Watcher Chronicles wastes no time establishing itself as a 2D Souls-like, spawning you in a dungeon with a sword and the armor on your back. The gameplay is similar to Blasphemous, only with a cleaner art style and less harrowing visual design. The combat is smooth, allowing for dodge rolling, blocking, and ranged combat to help you out in a jam.

While the cartoony art style can be a little unflattering here and there, it very quickly ramps up and reveals some truly exceptional enemy design, so Watcher Chronicles nails the fundamentals. The difficulty is well-balanced, the weapons feel satisfying, the bosses are cool, and the game actively encourages you to experiment with different play styles, as the best RPGs do.

8 Grimvalor

Oddly similar to the previous entry, Grimvalor is a 2D Souls-like hack-and-slash with a focus on platforming and evasive combat. One big difference is Grimvalor pulls the camera way back, providing increased visibility of your surroundings, which is good news given the focus on precision platforming. You are given a double jump and a weirdly powerful dash for level traversal, which flows nicely with the combat.

Enemies telegraph their attacks fairly obviously, but not so much as to make things easy. The difficulty has a reasonable curve, with the basics being thoroughly tutorialized and hammered in before any kind of real challenge reveals itself. While aggressively linear and visually drab at times, Grimvalor plays nicely and makes you feel appropriately badass.

Find your gaming worth in the best Souls-like titles on Android

As mentioned above, if you crave a true Dark Souls game on Android, your best bet is Pascal’s Wager. But don’t let that deter you from titles like Dark Raider and Revenant Knight. Both of these games stay true to the concepts established by From Software’s iconic series.

Having said that, is there a title that we missed? Feel free to tell us about your favorite Dark Souls game in the comments below.