A brand new 2026 soulslike game has hit Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam, earning praise from nearly everyone who has played the game. It’s worth noting that this new soulslike game, Stonemachia, is an indie title, so success understandably looks different from the major AAA Soulslike games on the market. That said, earning an Overwhelming Positive review on Steam is always noteworthy.
For those unfamiliar, Steam’s review scale takes into account the percentage of positive versus negative reviews, as well as the scale of them. Stonemachia launched to 97% Very Positive Reviews, but it would need to maintain consistent reviews (and 300 more on top of that) to hit Overwhelmingly Positive. Since launch, it has blown through the required number and has earned its overall 95% Overwhelmingly Positive reviews after 800+ reviews by players. Given that some indie games struggle to hit 10, 50, or 100 reviews, this score is more reflective of Stonemachia‘s quality than some review score aggregates for other games.
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Stonemachia is a 10/10 Hit Soulslike Game on Steam
Check Out Stonemachia on Steam
Stonemachia is a soulslike game from indie developer Crossfall Games that blends chess-inspired mechanics and an Italian Renaissance aesthetic. Players control Zefiro, a pawn who can transform into different chess pieces, each offering unique combat abilities and playstyles. Set in Medhelan, a land ravaged by the “Plague of Angels,” the game combines parry-focused combat, exploration, and boss battles with a surreal story inspired by religious imagery, local folklore, and Dante’s Inferno. Overall, while there is another soulslike game inspired by Italy’s history, Stonemachia goes in a completely different direction and is one of the most unique soulslike games on Steam.
Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.
Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.
Easy (15s)Medium (10s)Hard (5s)Permadeath (5s)
Despite its super indie size, Stonemachia has earned praise for its art direction, soundtrack, and take on the soulslike formula. What really matters, of course, is the gameplay. Many online reviews compare its combat favorably to Dark Souls and Sekiro, praising its parry system, boss encounters, and world design. Community discussions frequently highlight how the game exceeds expectations for a small indie project, with some players even calling it one of the best soulslike games they’ve played in years. Even a 10/10 is not perfect, of course, with some fans citing occasional bugs and performance issues as its worst issues. Even so, most reviewers view those “flaws” as minor compared to the game’s ambition, originality, and value at its budget price point.
Again, success looks very different in an indie game versus a AAA game. Stonemachia has achieved an incredible review score, even if 800 reviews is “low” (not in the indie world), and its player count is respectable. At its height, it had nearly 500 players, had held 100+ at some peaks, and had 76 players as of this writing. That’s not going to blow the minds of folks obsessed with, say, ARC Raiders‘ player count, but for a small-scale game, that’s a sizeable success.
Fans of soulslike games have been eating well in recent years, and the genre clearly isn’t slowing down. Soulslike progenitor studio FromSoftware has more games than The Duskbloods in the works, for example, and plenty of games take inspiration from the genre. But hopefully, Stonemachia is a lesson in looking beyond AAA games for something truly unique.
