General News - Soulsbourne is a Subgenre

OnlySP writes about Soulsbourne, which was a buzzword, and now is becoming a Subgenre.

For Soulsborne to be classified as a subgenre, it must maintain specific qualities that are found within its shared titles. While many characteristics can be used to describe a Soulsborne game, three stand out as primary factors: higher than average difficulty, severe death penalties, and, most importantly, stamina-based combat.

Stamina-based combat remains an important aspect of a Soulsborne title because, without it, the game loses its soul. In the absence of stamina-based combat, boss fights become less frightening at first glance, and enemy encounters lose all of the tension that is built up from the outnumbering of the player. A Soulsborne game should strive for greatness within this factor, as it is the defining feature that sets it apart from other genres.

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Barf I'm going to need a bucket as I hate Dark Soul clones.

Ah, so apparently Soulsbourne is not a fishing village in England.

Not really a genre, but who cares, really

I cannot believe Soulsborne caught on instead of Dark Demon Blood.

Originally Posted by Rahdulan
I cannot believe Soulsborne caught on instead of Dark Demon Blood.

I was thinking more along the lines of Repetitive Death Simulator.

Hmm….stamina based combat and higher than normal difficulty I can see as being traits of a "soulsbourne" game (I prefer soulslike myself). But I disagree about high death penalty. When you die in souls you just respawn at your last checkpoint, keeping every item you've picked up. The only thing you lose are the unspent souls you've accumulated, but even those you can pick back up when you get back to your death spot. Honestly I'd say the penalty for death is lower than traditional RPGs where when you die your dead and have to reload, losing all progress since your last save.

Originally Posted by fadedc
Hmm….stamina based combat and higher than normal difficulty I can see as being traits of a "soulsbourne" game (I prefer soulslike myself). But I disagree about high death penalty. When you die in souls you just respawn at your last checkpoint, keeping every item you've picked up. The only thing you lose are the unspent souls you've accumulated, but even those you can pick back up when you get back to your death spot. Honestly I'd say the penalty for death is lower than traditional RPGs where when you die your dead and have to reload, losing all progress since your last save.

I guess it depends how long ago you last saved.

I was playing that Daughters of Ash mod recently and one of the first new rings you find gives you 50% more souls but if you die your souls pile will be empty. That coupled with the bonfires being moved and reduced in number actually does make it pretty difficult.

I stopped playing it because he kept bringing out patches every day so I thought I'd wait for them to settle down. It was extremely hard, though!

Originally Posted by Rahdulan
I cannot believe Soulsborne caught on instead of Dark Demon Blood.

Not all of it is bloodrelated.
Anyway, just like I could put "roguelike" on Steam not to show me ever a product that has such tag, generally accepting "soulslike" or whatever else would be much appreciated so I can add it to my Steam ignorelist.

It is a subgenre of Brainsdead?