I must be a glutton for punishment, right? In the space of a month or so, I have played and reviewed Salt & Sanctuary and now FromSoftware’s Dark Souls III. I’d make some psychologist out there a grade A paper, no doubt!

Born, die. Die, die again. Hollowed, unkindled. Fire and darkness. It’s these themes that encapsulate the world that Hidetaka Miyazaki, the Lord Gywn of the Soulsborne genre, created back in 2011 with the original Dark Souls. Before the Dark, there was the Demon, and I’d be remiss if I were ignorant of the fact that we have Demons Souls as the initial blueprint of the Dark trilogy. However, this is Dark Souls 3; the bookend to the saga that started back in a prison cell back half a decade ago, and it deserves its own corner office.

Now the respects have been paid, let us get down to business.

There are parts of Dark Souls III that I can’t talk about; not because of being asked nicely not to do so, but because if you have any investment in this world at all, then you’ll want to discover the secrets for yourself, and there are plenty to find.

Unlike previous Souls titles, the story and the narrative of the world around you are more accessible out of the gate. Yes, item descriptions cement a lot of the story. Yes, you’ll more than likely need to watch YouTube lore-masters. None of this is to be ashamed off, it’s part of the DNA of Soulsborne titles. Yet, from the moment of your emergence into this world – Lothric this time around, your purpose in this world is clear. Complete crystal. Everything else is pudding. Yummy, painful, rage inducing, dessert. Death by chocolate?

That’s about as much of the story as I want to cover, as I’d be disrespecting the fan base otherwise. Though, please know, that even if you haven’t every played a Dark Souls title before, or never took in any of the lore around you, there is still much reason to look at Dark Souls 3.

My initial feeling on the combat changes in Dark Souls 3, which has turned the dial up to Bloodborne. I loved the idea that I was experiencing combat as if I were within the lines of a Lord Byron poem, yet it felt like I was going to be allowed room to make mistakes. I didn’t want it to be any less punishing than in Lordran or Drangleic. As I progressed through the opening area, I was dispatching enemies with ease. I was scared. I encountered the first boss, a petrified Knight. Upon on triggering the encounter, I reverted to turtle mode; shield up, skirting a path around this imposing figure. Then, he was defeated. It took less than two FP bars to defeat him. FP being what is consumed during spellcasting, or using skills moves of weapons.

Maybe I finally did it, I Git Gud? I started another character, went in full melee. He posed a little more trouble but ultimately didn’t award me with my first death. That award went to gravity!

I ventured onwards, knowing that the game had to pick up in difficulty soon.

It did, just a little bit. I was forced to expend all my Estus flasks, the one of the very few ways to restore health, no life gems in sight. This was versus a dog. Yeah. This hound would give Resident Evil puppies a run for their money.

After several bosses failed to give me my first true death, I came up against the Abyss Watchers. This encounter has to be one of the most unique encounters in Dark Souls. No spoilers here. Just be prepared to be all like – ‘Hrmg. WTF. Oh, noes. Wait. What. DAMN IT’.

I was happy, I’d realised that after several hours of play, the Dark Souls I came to see was here; it had been here all along. FROMSoft had just provided balance to the whole experience, instead of several jumps in difficulty, the game was one huge curve. Well played, well played. From this point on, the curve started to hit ever increasing levels of difficulty. My Pyromancer had to start stacking points in Vitality and Vigor, this enabled me to have the cushion to takes hits and keep going.

The levelling experience in Dark Souls 3 is as much a boss as any of the Mace Wielding Knights. If you make a build for a certain weapon or playstyle, but then want to change it up because you just got THAT sword, you can. It’s a big cost to do so, as you’ll come to see. Levelling up is as you’d expect; hand in souls to a certain NPC, happy days. Yup, that’s correct, no levelling at bonfires. Also, whilst I am handing out bad news to Dark Souls purists, fast travel is open from the start. With each level gained, the requirement to level up is increased. It’s the same ‘Soulsborne’ formula we expect, yet it feels much deeper. At least, for a Pyromancer, as our spells scale off of Int/Faith now. It was a change that I had to learn to love, as I’d spent the previous titles building a walking tank that shot fireballs.

One concern that I did have, having had read about previous to being able to play (and to be fair it’s still around), is how the world would feel scattered, due to the nature of the central hub being disconnected from each preceding and following area. I am happy to say that beyond one example, and a huge mirror moment, the whole world can be traversed without loading screens. Well, there is one more, but that’ll be down to you to find.

Speaking of loading screens. I had to make a conscious decision almost every time I wanted to restock at a bonfire; do I warp back, or do I run back? Hopefully, this can be fixed via a patch down the line. Remember Bloodborne’s epic loading times were fixed, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Alas, the performance woes aren’t limited to loading times. There were moments where I relived the Blighttown nightmare, again and again. There is a location that has already started to be referred to as Blighttown 2.0.

“Theorists are saying that the performance issues are due to low population of online players.”

Performance drops aren’t uncommon in FROMSoft titles, sadly. Bloodborne, still suffers from it today, though it’s more localised now. Dark Souls 3, however, chugs along at the strangest moments – I can be in a narrow corridor with two enemies, nothing fancy, and the game will enter go-slow-mode. I am not Digital Foundry, so I can’t give exact numbers, but my napkin fps math says as low as 20 fps in less than intense areas. When the particle effects hit the fan, it’s cost me an ember or two more than I’d care to say. Thankfully, there are no issues within boss encounters!

My experience with PvP in Dark Souls 3 has been limited so far, as you’d expect. Though, I am pretty sure that I was defeated by our editor’s online nemesis, Greg Miller, on more than one occasion. When I did invade others, the experience was smooth, and there are a lot of options on how to PvP in Dark Souls 3: You can use a Cracked Red Eye Orb, lay down a red Soapstone, or be yanked into the world of a fellow covenant member if they are in trouble. It’s a great experience, truly. Now, when you are invading, be prepared for karma to rain down on you. A few times I thought I was in a 1 Vs. 1 situation, only to then get taken down by a Sunbro rolling off a rooftop and plunging a sword through my spinal cord. Needless to say, controllers may have been placed down, and walks were taken. Often. For every time that happened, there is also a funny moment. You can enter other player’s worlds as an invader AND a supporter, that’s about as spoilerish as I am going to go. If you do this with a certain ring equipped, you can be a right mean bastard.

Lasting appeal. That’s largely the lifeblood of games like Dark Souls, of which there aren’t many. Player versus player, New Game Plus, Fashion Souls, naked runs, and the like are what keeps people playing both Dark Souls 1 and 2.

My experience with PvP in Dark Souls 3 has been limited so far, as you’d expect. Though, I am pretty sure that I was defeated by our editor’s online nemesis, Greg Miller, on more than one occasion. When I did invade others, the experience was smooth, and there are a lot of options on how to PvP in Dark Souls 3: You can use a Cracked Red Eye Orb, lay down a red Soapstone, or be yanked into the world of a fellow covenant member if they are in trouble. It’s a great experience, truly. Now, when you are invading, be prepared for karma to rain down on you. A few times I thought I was in a 1 Vs. 1 situation, only to then get taken down by a Sunbro rolling off a rooftop and plunging a sword through my spinal cord. Needless to say, controllers may have been placed down, and walks were taken. Often. For everytime that happened, there is also a funny moment. You can enter other player’s worlds as an invader AND a supporter, that’s about as spoilerish as I am going to go. If you do this with a certain ring equipped, you can be a right mean bastard.

The other side of the coin is cooperative play. This is pretty much as in previous titles, laydown a soapstone, be summoned. Have a jolly good time. Please, remember that as the player being summoned, your job is to protect the host. If they die, you don’t get jack.

I’ve heard Dark Souls player say that “Dark Souls doesn’t even start until you hit NG+”, and I used to scoff at the notion. With Dark Souls III, at least for myself – my first run through was one giant learning experience. Every room was to be combed for hidden items, illusionary walls, and short cuts. Then, come NG+, I concentrated on the lore experience, knowing what enemies were a threat, and which were going to provide me with the chance to mix things up.

Weapons are abundant, with a large percentage feeling unique. Every weapon has a Skill, a weapon art if you will, this can be from flipping round and laying waste to enemies. Or, it can be buffing yourself for a short duration, allowing you to take a risk and be rewarded. My personal favourite is the Pyromancy glove. It has a small FP cost, packs a heck of a punch and to balance it out, has the range of about 2’.

Inclosing, Dark Souls 3 is the Dark Knight Rises to Batman Begins. It has so many threads that come from Hidetaka Miyazaki’s first Dark Souls title, that it could very be played as a direct continuation. Dark Souls 2, sadly, feels relegated to The Walking Dead: 400 Days status. I am sure there are a lot of ties that I simply didn’t see or read. Yet, the ones I did, I could count on my 19 toes and fingers.

It’s not a perfect game, and I am not sure that Hidetaka Miyazaki or FROMSoft were aiming to make it perfect. Which is weird to say, I know. Dark Souls 3 has a lot going for it, the world is beautiful. It’s connected in ways that would embarrass modern day architects, and I never felt like I was wandering aimlessly; I just had to look around. The world is real, it’s alive, you can see where you started, where you are going next, all from the top of a tower, or out of a window of a nearby castle. The tagline of “If you see it, you can go there” is very well represented in Dark Souls 3.

If the performance issues can be addressed and the lore of Dark Souls 2 brought more into the fold, then this could very well be a contender for GOTY. As it stands, it feels like the perfect follow-up to Dark Souls 1 and nothing else. I played the patched version, 1.02, which is currently labeled as the day one patch.

Score: 8/10

Pros:

It’s the most accessible Soulsborne title to date; difficulty curve is great

In parts, you’ll think you are living poetry in motion

Every refined aspect of the game is welcomed, and fits in well.

Cons:

In parts you’ll think you’ve gone back a generation due to performance problems

Blighttown 2.0

It Feels like Dark Souls 2 is the red-headed stepchild of the trilogy, by seemingly ignoring a lot of the lore established in Scholar.