Dark Souls III Review

From From Soft With Love:

Hype is a dangerous thing. The Souls series has, in my opinion, gone from strength to strength since Demon Souls, the franchise’s first title. With developer From Software now putting out annual releases, fans have been anxious to see if the team can maintain their staple quality and attention to detail. Somehow – I really don’t know how – they have done it again with Dark Souls III.

Story:

Dark Souls III marks the return of Hidetaka Miyazaki as director after his absence during Dark Souls II (he was busy making Bloodborne). It’s a homecoming many have called ‘triumphant’, but I really liked the second Dark Souls, and didn’t feel Miyazaki’s absence hurt the proceedings in any noticeable way. Regardless, his guiding hand is felt again in this, the third (and supposedly last) Dark Souls title.

The story has a tighter focus, there are a hundred nods to the original Dark Souls and the exploration has more of the cyclical feel that previous entries have enjoyed.

You play not as the ‘Chosen Undead’ we’ve become accustomed to, but as ‘The Ashen One’, an undead who is tasked with taking down the Lords of Cinder (Souls III’s big bads). These are beings who have linked the fire in ages past and become corrupt, and we’ve run into them a couple of times during the series. Our player characters have even had the chance to become one themselves, so it’s a neat idea to focus on them, and allows the team to really dig Souls’ rich history and big names.

As always, a lot of Dark Souls III’s story is told in the margins: within item descriptions, loading screens and by wistful asides from the rare NPC we run into. It’s there if you want it – and it’s deep and engrossing if you allow yourself to be consumed by it – but if you’re here solely to test your mettle it’s out of the way for you to happily ignore. It’s a fantastic balance that I haven’t seen aped by other developers, but a direction more should take notes from.

Gameplay:

The Dark Souls series has, at this point, a pretty solid foundation in place. Its formula of punishing but fair combat and awe-inspiring exploration is a heady mix for those willing to brave it. Whilst Dark Souls II and Bloodborne mixed things up considerably and gave each iteration a unique stamp, this third outing seems a lot more reserved. In many ways this adventure feels stripped back to the basics of Dark Souls 1, and it rarely surprised me. This isn’t a terrible thing – the original Dark Souls remains to this day my favourite game of all time – but Dark Souls III ends up feeling like a (admittedly massive) expansion pack rather than its own thing.

Weapon skills are a new introduction – special moves unique to each weapon that can turn the tide of a battle in your favour when used right – but they were often a gimmick I didn’t see a use for during standard play. Indeed, some of the best shields in the game don’t even allow you to use them, so aside from a couple of satisfying crowd-clearing moments I didn’t find a way to work them into my repertoire. The fact that there are so many weapons available throughout the game also turned me off. A large number of these will largely be useless, especially to seasoned players who have already picked out favourites from past games.

Bloodborne was criticized for having too few weapons, and this was a problem I never understood. Instead of having five different types of shortswords, for example, they had one very cool model with a transformation that gave the weapon more versatility. The same went for every weapon type, and it worked beautifully – not only to streamline an unnecessarily bloated list but it also encouraged experimentation, knowing that the only axe you had was the best. Dark Souls III didn’t encourage me to experiment in the same way, and I ended up sticking to a familiar set up I was used to. This isn’t DS3’s problem so much as it is my own, but it’s sad to see Miyazaki and co. leaving behind twists on the formula that worked so well.

It’s in its pacing that Dark Souls III truly shines. Exploring the numerous fetid locales the title threw at me I was surprised by just how satisfyingly everything fit together. There were quiet and tense stretches of time where I would explore, find items and advance ever carefully into each new terrifying area, interspersed with teeth-clenching fights and the occasional big surprise from the environment I dare not spoil here. Best of all, every time I began feeling ready for a boss fight one would usually present itself – a fog door in the distance or an unusually (seemingly) empty grove beckoning me into another edge-of-my-seat battle.