Interesting! Thanks for letting me know. I think I’m pretty set on Demon’s Souls at this point based on all of the feedback and the unanimous poll. Just think I want to wait for a little price drop—even $10 and I’ll bite. 

Check out Ashen, i really enjoyed it. The end boss is hard but its not a super long game and has some rewarding elements like upgrading your base camp etc.

Its artstyle is also very cool in motion.

Its also cheap.

Play Dark Souls 3. Although you said you dont want to jump into the series, the story is not that relevant so you play it without having played the first two games. Also it feels a lot like bloodborne. It uses the same engine, the assets are very similar and it is very fast. Although you have the shield in the end it is not that relevant like in the first game. DS1 and DS2 will seem slugish after playing bloodborne, but not DS3. It is very fast. Just go for it. Also its easier than Bloodborne (but not as good). After that then play Sekiro.

You can always play Nioh or Vampyr, since you didn't list them =p

I love Souls and BB. Souls is my second favorite franchise in gaming, second only to Zelda. My unpopular opinion is Sekiro is junk and absolutely isn't souls. Sekiro does not character customization (other than basic skill trees), the battles are memorization akin to Punch Out. The game is tedious and just not great. Didn't like it.

Demon Souls is superb.

On a side note, Hades reminds me of souls in some regards.  And the game is just flat out brilliant.  

I can’t wait to play Hades! I’m just waiting for it to come to ps5. Can’t believe it’s taken this long. >;(

Thanks for your opinion on Demon’s Souls and Sekiro. Further affirmation for my decision to go with Demon’s Souls over Sekiro. 

Vampyr is a souls-like? I had no idea. 

Hmm...I remember being intrigued by this leading up to its release, but I think I got turned off by its reviews iirc. Something in the 70s I think? But I may have to look into it again. Thanks!

Ashen 78 on XB1 and 81 on PC. Its a solid Indy take on the Souls series. Up to you, i found it to be a decent experience for me and i don't really enjoy Souls like games. It also offers a Co-op mode.

The gameplay is very souls-like, but at least on normal (recommended difficult) it isn`t as unforgiving as Soul. But the bosses each have their very unique way to go against and ways to break the regular gameplay and make you be very creative (like souls you have stamina bar, mp bar that is blood, and your health, some of the enemies attacks that are very hard to predict despise taking like 1/3 of your health almost zero your blood and stamina making it very hard to react aftewards).