Gaming

Of the ones I've played, Elden Ring. The biggest aid for new players being that if something's too tough, you just go somewhere easier and come back later. The opening area has a boss roaming a field designed to teach you exactly that lesson.

You could try "Another Crab's treasure". It even has accessibility options to make it easier if it's too intimidating.

Elden Ring is the best one for beginners, because if you get stuck at a boss you can just leave that area and go somewhere else. You are very rarely ever "stuck". That is not the case with any of the other Soulsborne games.

In addition, it has spirit summons which make the game significantly easier.

And since it's the newest one AND has a DLC coming out soon, it's also the most played one right now. So finding other players for co-op is easy.

I also consider the bosses, on the whole, to be the easiest of all of the FROM Software games.

Fallen order. You can adjust the difficulty!

Darksouls 1 makes the most sense, it’s where most fans started.

I'de just jump on elden ring. Get some experience before shadow of the eartree comes out.

Honestly, I disliked Souls-like games until I played Hollow Knight (at that point, I tried Dark Souls but didn't get very far). It isn't a Souls-like game (2D Metroidvania), but as it shares some of their themes and elements, after finishing it I was motivated to try Dark Souls again (and ended up doing a full playthrough).

elden ring probably. like you i found souls-style games scary. i think i installed dark souls 3 and quit before getting anywhere but i managed to beat elden ring even though I did initially refund it :D

Start with the one you want to play most. That's the one that will get you hooked. There's so many now if you figure you don't like it you can play another one. The feeling everyone is telling you to chase with starting at demon souls or dark souls 1 isn't as it was back then. I play through them every other year and its fun but the grand reveal on reality has been had and is done. My favorite souls like I have played recently is Hellpoint, it can be janky and doesn't hold your hand at all but I love it.

I'd avoid non-DS1/3/ER souls-likes to start with, because they tend not to have multiplayer.

There's nothing wrong with summoning a friend or stranger to help you get through a difficult bit.

Lies of P is fairly easy in comparison to the FromSoftware souls games but it’s still a lot of fun. Great worldbuilding and some interesting mechanics too

Dark Souls 1. It's not impossible and it has some of the best level design in the genre.

Personally, I'd say Sekiro. You need to be good with timing but the experience is much more streamlined. There's no equipment system so you don't have to worry about finding what's good for you, let alone slogging it through the first however many hours to get whatever items get recommended in Top X lists. Also, I find the movement system is much more to my liking. It feels immediate instead of trying to sprint through a field of porridge. However, if porridge is what you're looking for, Sekiro is a poor pick for you.

Lies of P is also a good pick for having tighter movement and QoL upgrades over Souls games though I dare say a lot of fans will want to drag me across the coals for saying that.

How I did it may not be the best. But damn, did I feel accomplished afterwards.

I went into DS1 without any background. I only looked up things when I was 100 % stuck (I played with the broken short sword for far too long). I definitely used some summons (mainly the NPC ones), but you could also choose not to.

Beating O&S the first time after a week or so of trying was one of the best feelings ever (don't want to spoil anything hence the vagueness).

Elden Ring is definitely more beginner-friendly, but the sheer mechanics you can learn in DS1 will help in all soulsbourne games (maybe not Sekiro).

I have not played Demon souls, so maybe that's a better jumping off point?

Although all soulslikes are a bit difficult Grime would be my suggestion, a 2D platformer. It felt easy enough to me but I mainly enjoyed the aesthetics of it.

I recommend Code Vein. Then just jump into either Elden Ring or DS3.

I say just dive into the real souls games. Like everyone else, I recommend Elden Ring or DS3 (don't worry about skipping the first 2 games, you won't get the story anyway, most people don't lol).

If you insist on trying something to ease you in, I actually recommend Tales of Iron. It's a 2D game but the combat is very souls like in the sense that it's challenging and you have to learn enemy timing and attack patterns.

Blasphemous is not too hard and has a great story. Just don’t go to the mountains first.

Elden Ring! I think they really refined the formula, made it a bit more user friendly (I started with Dark Souls and it wasn't easy to know what to do), and is generally fun to play. Also the open world format means you can just go somewhere else if you're stuck, not just have to bang your head against the same boss over and over. Then you just come back when you're stronger.

Sekiro is not a bad option too, it's a bit more like a regular game than the others. You can pause! Imagine.

I haven't played DS2 or Demon Souls though

If you have a PS4/5, Bloodborne has the most simplified mechanics of the From Software Souls style games.

As the point of soulslikes is to overcome challenge, looking for something beginner friendly or easy is, in my opinion, not the right approach.

Play the fromsoft games in chronological order and skip the numbers entries if you are not interested in the stories.

So: Deamon's souls -> dark souls -> bloodborne -> sekiro -> elden ring

Dark souls 2 wasn't that great and has a lot of issues but it tried new stuff which I respect. Still wouldn't recommend it.

Dark souls 3 was darks souls best of which made it a disappointment for me. You kinda know what will happen next and there wasn't that much mystery because of that.

Not sure if it fits the bill, but it is categorized as a soulslike: Death Door. It's an indie game, chill and cute atmosphere, still challenging but not too punishing. I haven't played much soulslike before but I started this one on Steam Deck and I'm really digging it!