Soulslike for Beginners: A Practical 5-Step Guide to Surviving Your First Souls Game

Soulslike games have a reputation for being hard. The reputation is accurate but misleading. The games are not hard in the way bullet-hell shooters or fighting games are hard. They are hard in the way a difficult crossword is hard: the difficulty is a puzzle to be solved, and once you see the pattern, the game clicks.

This is a practical 5-step guide to surviving your first Souls game. It assumes no prior experience with the genre and no particular skill at action games. Follow it and you will be playing Elden Ring with confidence within a weekend.

Step 1: Pick the right first game

This is the most important step and the one most advice gets wrong. The “right” first Souls game is not the one you hear about most.

My recommendation: Elden Ring, on a normal-class character, with a shield. The open world means that when a boss is frustrating, you walk away and explore somewhere else. The game is designed for first-timers.

Step 2: Pick a starting class you can live with

The class you pick in the first 30 minutes of Elden Ring is not what you will be playing for the next 100 hours. Almost everything can be respec’d, levelled, or re-learned. Pick the class whose starting equipment looks good, and do not worry about it.

Two classes are particularly friendly to beginners:

• Vagabond: high health, high strength, starts with a heavy sword and a shield. Tankier than average.
• Confessor: starts with a small shield and a magic spell. Lets you add ranged damage early, which makes the early game easier.

Avoid Wretch for your first run. The extra starting freedom is not useful until you know the systems.

Step 3: Learn to die

You will die. A lot. In the first hour, you will die more than you have died in any recent game. This is the design.

The single most important thing to learn is that death is information. Every death tells you:

• What the enemy’s attack pattern is
• What range they hit at
• What the timing of their follow-up is
• What the safe windows are to attack

The first time you meet a knight in Elden Ring, you will die. The second time, you will die but last 30 seconds longer. The third time, you will recognise his wind-up. The fifth time, you will kill him. The game is teaching you to read the choreography.

Do not get frustrated by dying. Get curious about the cause. What did they do just before they killed you? When could you have rolled? When could you have hit them instead?

Step 4: Use a shield (for now)

Shields are not the "easy mode" of Souls games. They are an honest tool. A medium shield, raised at the right time, blocks almost every attack in the early game. The cost is stamina: each block costs stamina, and when your stamina runs out, you are vulnerable.

The rhythm of shield-and-attack is simple:

1. Approach the enemy.
2. Raise the shield (L1).
3. Wait for the enemy to start an attack.
4. Block (keep the shield up).
5. When the enemy finishes their combo, attack once or twice.
6. Repeat.

Once you are comfortable with the rhythm, the game starts to teach you the more advanced moves: parrying, rolling, jumping attacks. But shield-and-attack is the foundation.

Step 5: Treat your first hours as a tutorial

The first 5–10 hours of any Souls game are a tutorial disguised as exploration. You will learn:

• How to read attack animations
• How stamina works
• What each weapon class feels like
• How the level design leads you forward (you almost never need a map)
• How to recognise safe rooms (bonfires / Sites of Grace are checkpoints and respawn points)
• That dying is not a setback; it is a tool

The game is teaching you to play it. By the time you reach the first major boss, you will have the skills. Use them.

The two things no one tells beginners

Summons are not cheating

Elden Ring lets you summon NPC spirits or other players for most boss fights. This is not a casual mode. It is a deliberate design choice to make the game more accessible without making it easier for experienced players. Use them. A boss you beat with a summon is a boss you beat.

You are not supposed to fight everything

The open world of Elden Ring has enemies far above your level. They are there to be seen, not fought. If you walk into an area and everything kills you in one hit, walk away. Come back in 20 hours when you are stronger. The game will still be there.

Common mistakes to avoid

1. Trying to fight every enemy. Some enemies are better to run past. Some are better to ignore.
2. Levelling the wrong stat. A common beginner mistake is to level Strength because you found a big sword. The stat that matters is the one that scales your current weapon. Check the weapon’s scaling letter (S/A/B/C/D) — that tells you which stat it scales from.
3. Not using items. The crafting materials you pick up are useful. The FP flasks you are ignoring are useful. The status-effect items you are hoarding are useful. Use them.
4. Quitting at the first hard boss. Every Souls boss has a strategy. The first time you fight them, you die. The second time, you see the pattern. The third time, you win.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to “get good” at Souls games?

A few hours of focused play. The skills transfer between games. If you learn Elden Ring, Dark Souls III is the same game with different scenery.

Should I look up a beginner’s guide online?

After your first 5–10 hours, yes. Before that, no. The early game is the tutorial. Let it teach you.

What is the difference between a shield and parrying?

A shield blocks the attack and costs stamina. A parry deflects the attack at the exact moment it lands, costing very little stamina and opening the enemy for a critical hit. Parrying is much harder. Learn shield first, parry later.

What if I just don’t like the game?

That is fine. The games are not for everyone. If you gave it 5 hours and bounced, play something else. There are 30 years of games that are not Souls-likes.

The bottom line

Soulslike games are the most rewarding games of the last 20 years for players willing to learn them. Pick Elden Ring. Pick a shield. Die a lot. Get curious about why. Within a weekend, you will be a Souls player.