Souls-like games

Blasphemous

Cvstodia's iconography is the hook.

Blasphemous 2

A parry turns a tell into a spark, and the pilgrimage stays on the map you already walked.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Turn-based fights ask for a timed parry, then a chapter you finish in a world that is already fading.

Cuphead

A boss is a song.

Dead Cells

The 2D combat is readable at speed, and the meta unlocks rewrite later runs.

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights

You collect ghosts and spend them as a kit while the ruin stays on the map.

Grounded

Scale is the trailer. The loop is still chop, build, die. Raft is nearest: craft, expand, keep something out.

Hades II

Magical tools and a different family politics. The loop remains: die, talk, alter the next run.

Hollow Knight

Atmosphere does more work than a quest log. The combat is precise enough that clones which only copy the art direction fail in the player's hands.

Rain World

Hibernate before the rain, or the world eats you, while the creatures keep errands of their own.

Rogue Blight

Stock Shock

The Last Humble Bee

The fantasy is small and specific: a bee, a short run and a horde at the edge of the screen.