[1] The game was critically panned for its shallow gameplay, with reviewers expressing dismay that it was not a more fleshed-out idea due to the strong source material of the Dark Souls series.

The player, controlling a random adventurer, can use melee attacks and spells to defeat enemies in their way.

Calling it "better left in the digital trash bin", he praised the control system as responsive, but remarked that every other aspect of the game was poorly done, with "no nuance".

[3] Thomas Ella of Hardcore Gamer compared the game negatively to other tie-ins like Fallout Shelter, saying that the idea could be good if executed well, but that it was instead a "soulless cash-in".

He also called the game "antithetical" to the Souls formula, since the main series games punish players for blindly running into danger, while Slashy Souls emphasizes it, and does not bother to duplicate core mechanics of the series, such as the "corpse run", in which players attempt to retrieve their Bloodstain.