Dark Souls Meets Nintendogs In Surprising New Soulslike On Steam

Published Aug 30, 2026, 10:01 AM EDT Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Soulslike games like Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, and Lies of P aren’t lighthearted games in the slightest, with adorable critters and moments of levity barely punctuating how brutal or depressing they are. Meanwhile, beloved Soulslike games like Another Crab’s Treasure lean into lightheartedness fully and leverage humor as part of their unique charm. Soulslike games’ character designs set the bar quite high for every other video game subgenre, as it’s usually expected that NPCs will be bizarrely intriguing and bosses will be gruesomely epic. The newest Soulslike game to come crawling out of the woodwork is clearly inspired by Dark Souls, but specifically one boss who maybe has one of the saddest stories in any FromSoftware games. As per its Steam store page, Parry Frames’ Stray Dog: nobody cares is a Soulslike game that essentially has you playing as Dark Souls’ Great Grey Wolf Sif. Indeed, the meat and potatoes of it is that you play as Stray Dog: nobody cares’ cute, titular wolf—described as being “scorned by all as useless roadside trash,” sadly—and battle enemies with a sword gripped in your jaws. Based on the gameplay shown thus far, it looks as much like a tried-and-true Soulslike as any action game that wears inspirations from FromSoftware games on its sleeve. Stray Dog: nobody cares seems like it’s most comparable to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s deflect-heavy gameplay, as well, showcasing a rich mix of such influences. Stray Dog: nobody cares looks gorgeous, with visuals that are arguably indistinguishable from Elden Ring, Elden Ring Nightreign, and The Duskbloods’ visuals. Where its mettle will be tested most as a Soulslike game is in regard to how well Stray Dog: nobody cares’ bosses are designed, and how well the unnamed hound’s combat is balanced around them, much less any regular enemies players come across. What little buzz that’s been amassed for Stray Dog: nobody cares has fans colloquially referring to it as “Bark Souls” or “Dog Souls” and looking forward to playing a Soulslike game as a dog. There are plenty of fascinating FromSoftware NPCs who are animals or creatures of some sort, yet Sif is undoubtedly the most iconic dog character in any Soulslike game, be it a Dark Souls game or not. Of course, this indie Soulslike game’s playable stray dog may have even more in common with Elden Ring’s Red Wolf of Radagon due to the stylish attacks and animations that players will wield. An actual plot is usually secondary to world-building and lore in Dark Souls games, and, depending on how much narrative content there is to mine in Stray Dog: nobody cares, it’ll be fun to see how this dog protagonist’s story compares to Sif’s whenever the game is eventually released. Brand Valve Original Release Date September 12, 2003 Developed by Valve and released in 2003, Steam is a popular video game distribution service originally used by the company to provide updates for Valve games. In 2005, Steam expanded to distribute third-party titles. Steam users can not only browse games for purchase, but they can also post reviews and upload self-made content.