Controversial opinion, but I’d probably pick Dark Souls 1. It’s the one I’m most disinterested to play. DS2 is the outsider and has earned its accolades via that alone, plus it’s the most experimental DS game, which is cool. DS3 has fun world building and good combat, or rather my preferred speed, so it beats DS1 in that regard too. DS1 wasn’t particularly fun to play for me in comparison.
The others are one-ofs and have all brought something truly unique to their catalogue, culminating in ER which is arguably, next to DS1 maybe, the most influential Soulslike in existence.
What’s your take?
I’m thinking of giving Soulstice a go , partly because I was reminded I already have it when looking at the humble bundles (the one it was in just expired yesterday). It looks a little jank, but pretty alright.
I agree with your sentiment about DS1 and I think it hasn’t aged as well as the others (which is why it deserves a remake, ahem Bed of Chaos), but I would probably choose Fromsoft’s game METAL WOLF CHAOS XD because it looks like a bad Armored Core (I’d still try it though).