Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Soulslike games are renowned for their challenging gameplay and distinctive design. To examine player reception of this genre, 993,932 user reviews of 21 Soulslike video games were collected from the Steam platform, of which 418,483 were tagged as English and analyzed. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was applied to identify and compare thematic patterns across positive and negative reviews. The resulting topics were grouped into five categories: aesthetics, gameplay mechanics, feelings, bugs/issues, and miscellaneous. Positive reviews emphasized aesthetics and atmosphere, whereas negative reviews focused on gameplay mechanics and technical issues. Notably, emotional tone differed significantly between review types. Overall, these results may benefit game developers refining design elements, researchers investigating player experience, and critics analyzing the reception of Soulslike games. Furthermore, the study provides a basis for understanding player perspectives in Soulslike games and establishes a foundation for comparative research with newer titles such as Elden Ring.
Source: Computers
Author: Tibor Guzsvinecz
Institution: University of Pannonia
Language: English
Topic: Digital Games and Media
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W4413308398