After 30+ hours, life-threatening melee, and enough character deaths to make GRRM concerned, I’ve come to a conclusion about Dark Souls III… but just like the game, this isn’t going to be easy. Typically my first question for reviewing a Game or Movie is “What new ideas do they bring to the table?”. Plenty, thankfully. However, the game seems to have the intent less towards reinventing the wheel of misfortune like its Victorian brother, and more to bring the gems of previous Souls into one complete experience - ideally the best of both worlds. While I believe it likely won’t hold the same influence that either Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls or Bloodborne had, the overall gameplay experience and a greater intrigue for its story seemed more enjoyable than other souls games.

Dark Souls is a game of Life & Death, and it’s key to get the combat right. For me, this is the best they’ve done in that department. Let’s talk about monsters. While originally identified for Slow & Deliberate movesets, many enemies both large and small in DS3 have Bloodborne-esque speediness to their actions and is a welcome addition. I do have a couple issues with some of these enemy designs in earlier sections, as they seem more like palette swaps of enemies in previous games and the tactics feel like old hat. However, there are some enemy styles which I’ve only seen in DS3: The hatted imps require tactics besides running like a ninny, as their speed makes them simply too difficult to outrun; Their tendency of showing up in groups is almost reminiscent of SC’s Zerglings. My personal favorite(or least favorite) altered my character in a way that I can’t recall seeing in a game before.

So the bosses. It’s focus on challenge in “readability” seems almost exclusive to Dark Souls III. The Dancer boss is the most extreme case, moving anywhere between Call of Duty Slo-Mo to Super-Wacky-High-Speed-Blender gone horribly Awry. The subtle movements harken as early as Artorias’ unconventional fighting techniques, which required astute observation with little time to react. Even straightforward bosses can have move sets that *appear* to be done, but come with a reverse swing or second wind. If they can’t make the bosses harder in damage-dealing sense, perhaps they’ll make them harder to understand. Concordantly, Phases and solutions to boss encounters hold distinct conditions which test both Multi-Tasking ability, Crowd Control, and a tougher decisions on who among you is the greatest threat. Very good.



As for other under-the-hood changes, weaponry is more balanced than its ancestors. The BB mantra on keeping damage dealt(sans the upgrades) as more of a change in weapon style than a DPS war, it seems like a no-brainer in a game that tends to value tactical skill over statistical figures. Weapon arts are spiffy. Hardly necessary to beat the game, but allow some clever tricks by either closing the gaps, adding buffs, or doing more spectacular moves a la Boss Weapons . If the combat ain’t broke, affix it?

5 Lords, 5 Thrones. The premise is simple, The Story is not - one of the first big DS3 encounters makes that clear enough, and there‘s plenty of events outside the lords which initially leave more questions than answers. Narrative Ambiguity remains a staple with the series, but the focus on story is more apparent in contrast. Besides NPC Dialogue/Item Descriptions, it’s mostly done through a combination of the Lords & Other Bosses via cinematics/dialogue, and specific encounters through the game I.e. Questing. While we won’t be empathizing with a Walking Tree Monster anytime soon, the motives of the LoC and other major characters bring a stronger sense of interest and diversity in its antagonists that wasn’t quite as present in earlier games, where Lore might not hold as much fascination for the player in that department.

As the game benches so heavily on the earlier tropes of Souls, this may prove polarizing for its audience. People new to the series won’t be bothered, but veterans may feel it hits too close to home. Because it works so heavily as what’s both a direct and spiritual successor in terms of those core tenets, it hurts the chances of standing out as its own property. I will say though that the homages to its dark heritage(Character/Level designs item usage, etc) are pretty astounding. Some are obvious, while others may not be clear until another play through(or not at all).



It’s odd that in the field of quests, my original impression of the quest lines were underwhelming…only to realize I’d missed them completely. Of the Souls games, this holds one of the largest roster of quest lines to date and one of the most unique quest ideas I‘ve seen in some time. While it’s best to avoid spoilers on specifics, I’ll add that having several of them operate in pairs makes for better variance in quest design, though the interactions between them are hardly existent - it would‘ve been a great addition, but it’s a minor complaint.

So there’s an elephant in the room, and it’s name is Framerate Issues. I’d have been fine with Dumbo, but whatever. The answer: It’s there, but barely. At least during my runs of the game, it was present for a fraction of the game and typically in lone spots, and has yet to interfere with the combat. The issues were a slight annoyance, but by no means a deal-breaker. Blighttown, lol. If that sort of thing rustles your demons, get the PC Version. As for its visual presence, the engine is about the same as Bloodborne but unsurprisingly leans more towards the stylizations of Dark/Demon. One of the harder-to-find locales uses a background special effect I’ve never seen implemented so well, creating an ominous sensation that marks one of my favorites memories of the game. I still think there’s a bit of cost with some of these sections, though. Catacombs of Carthus feels like it was pulled straight from the Chalice Dungeons, the few enjoyable parts being that which was *around* it. Conversely, there’s a spot roughly halfway that took my breath away, followed by my life while being chased down by a spooky monster thing. Even with the caveats on repeat enemies early in the game, I’ve still seen many hostile NPCs that visually defy description. Not unless you count “Giant hairy naked hand thing” an accurate portrayal.

Listened to the soundtrack a handful of times, and can confidently say it’s one of my favorites. Unlike DS1, the battle music is enjoyable both in and out of combat, and comes with some twists to the classic souls stylings. You'll notice early in This track that there’s a greater usage of low-pitch sustained strings, I believe even Bloodborne never tried that. While leitmotifs are present for events of the parallel persuasion, more foreign tracks like this feel like a nice divergence from the norm of Drums-And-Choirs Dark Fantasy. My Favorite Track, just saying. There’s also something about Iudex Gundyr’s vocalizing that’s more meditative than threatening, though that’s hardly a complaint. What makes this soundtrack great is that it’s the jack of all trades, but they’ve mastered enough over the years to build off that as a foundation for the new…

…So, here we are. The last paragraph where everything comes into full view…Yet I’ve already laid out the cards for this deck. What’s left? If it’s classification you’re looking for(and someone’s going to kill me for the comparison, but) it feels like the Force Awakens of the Souls Series - the main difference being one has opened a door for a new generation; The other serves as both an Ode and Farewell to a franchise that helped defy the label of “Mindless Hack and Slash”. I’ll give it a 3. The three isn’t out of anything, I just like the number. If you’re looking for a rating out of 10, my instinct says 9. For those unaware, or are otherwise virginal to Souls games, Number 3’s an ideal pick to the world of Dark Souls. For people who’ve seen some or all of the series, I’d still put in a strong recommend for it - it’s a great way to cap off the series and get one last thrill before the fire fades for good.