Soulsborne

A specific genre created by FromSoftware, originally in "Demon's Souls." The key foundation of a Soulsborne is that you accrue experience through killing enemies, but if you die at any point, you then drop all held/unspent experience, you must then return and retrieve that experience before dying another time or lose it permanently (barring items that grant a reprieve). The games tend to be of high difficulty, punctuated by often arduous boss fights. Interchangeable with the word "Soulslike."

Over time some have began to mistake this to mean specifically and only FromSoftware's games, but much like "Metroidvania "refers to copycats of Metroid and Castlevania, "Soulsborne" refers to copycats of Souls/Bloodborne. While not incorrect to refer to the From games as Soulsborne, it is not exclusive.

Person 1: "What's the difference between Soulslike and Soulsborne?"
Person 2: "Personal preference, they mean the same thing. Like "football" and "soccer."

by Mike the Meme August 17, 2021

Soulsborne

A specific genre/series developed from the concept of an RPG. It is developed by fromsoftware within their majority circle of games. These games primarily prove to be challenging but fair throughout your playthrough of them and can be very re-playable and time consuming as it is a heavy content type of game with many expertised level design areas as fromsoftware usually delivers. It will mostly contain a story that isnt always told explicitly but very interesting once looked into.

Person 1: What's the difference between Soulsborne and Souls like?
Person 2: Soulsborne games are developed by fromsoftware while Souls Like games are developed by other devolopers who find inspiration from this genre/series

by Are ya here? July 21, 2021