Dark Souls 3

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Much of what I saw at the preview event was the same old Dark Souls that fans of the first know and love. The level demonstrated was called Wall of Lodoleth, a crumbling stone fortress similar to the first game’s Undead Parish. Cobbled bridges, basements, and walkways both vast and dangerously narrow made up the interwoven environment. From the bonfire at the start to the boss room at the end, you got the sense that paths branched and overlapped; that there was more to the level than might immediately be apparent.

“Areas are interconnected just like in the first Dark Souls,” said Miyazaki. “Having an interconnected map is my favorite.”

Enemies encountered during the demo ranged from hostile undeads to unrelenting knights with greatshields and spears. Some of these emaciated undeads came in the form of hostiles, while others kneeled and prayed at the faded sun above. A dragon even made an appearance, swooping in to blow fire at a horde of undead below. The most mysterious enemy was a seemingly normal hollow among a praying group up on a roof, who without warning transformed into some kind of horrible tar-like creature that devastated all surrounding enemies and eventually the player.

The boss at the end was called Dancer of the Frigid Valley, a huge, spindly, dancer-like creature that moved like smoke from a candle; a graceful but unpredictable rhythm. It reminded me a bit of Voldo from Soul Calibur, but instead of claws it wielded a long, narrow fire sword that set the boss room aflame with every swing. Loading

According to Miyazaki, bosses have multiple stages where their movesets change, but our demonstrator didn’t make it to the second level of the fight.

Despite getting slaughtered by the boss, the person demoing the game for us did get lots of melee combat in with Lodoleth’s lesser enemies. It’s hard to say how the combat feels without actually getting a chance to play, but your options are mostly the same. The sword and shield combo is back, but you can still two-hand weapons as well. I saw the player, wielding a longsword, parry and riposte an enemy, backstab another, and stun opponents that were blocking. During the course of the demo, he also found and used a Greatsword, a long and short bow, and a set of dual-wielded blades called Legion Scimitars. Also, good old firebombs.

The newest combat feature is called the Ready Stance, which allows players to utilize devastating special abilities, like a powerful slash attack or an upward thrust that sends enemies flying into the air. These were special moves beyond the simple strong attacks you could do in other Souls games. It seemed more similar to the charge attacks in Bloodborne. Loading

Miyazaki noted that “improved player controls” make moving around during combat more “intuitive.” And for those who hated Bloodborne’s dodge-stepping, Dark Souls 3 features the usual dodge-rolling of other Souls games.

Besides the Ready Stance, another new feature were small gravestones. When standing near one, you can press the action button to “offer flame,” which illuminates the gravestone in a blue light. After lighting it up, an epitaph on the tomb read: “Grave of nameless retainer. Raised his sword for the Lord of Cinder.”

This isn’t a huge feature of the game, according to Miyazaki, who explained how they can be used as landmarks, torches, or simply a way to learn bits of lore. They’ll be hidden throughout the game for the player to find.

As far as lore goes, Miyazaki was silent. When I asked whether the game was set in Lordran, Drangleic, or another kingdom altogether, Miyazaki simply said, “Dark Souls 3 shares the same world with Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 2.”

He also kept quiet when asked about the giant, faceless knight at the end of the trailer, who Miyazaki referred to as the Lord of Cinder. Is it Gwyn? Is it the player character from the first Dark Souls? No comment yet. E3 2015: Dark Souls III 10 IMAGES

Several things about Dark Souls 3 are still secrets. The team didn’t have much to reveal yet about multiplayer, only that it exists and there will be summon signs and matchmaking. There was no word on the rumored sacrifice mechanic, but Miyazaki did reference it and promise more info in “later days.”

What I did see, though, was amazing. Everything about the game’s visuals and atmosphere, from the looming environments, to the droning ambient sounds in the background, to the design of enemies, levels, weapons, and armor just screamed Dark Souls 1.

Miyazaki described the visual style they were going for as a kind of “withered beauty.” There was a moment in the demo that captured this perfectly. The player stood before the corpse of a dead dragon and watched as particles of dust and ash were swept off its body by the wind, illuminated in the rays of dying sunlight above.

I’ve always loved the first Dark Souls for the ease with which it can convey such a grand sense of despair, both in its tragic sights and sounds like the aforementioned dragon, but also in its impossibly winding world and the unrelenting dangers that lurk there.

Part of that love, though, comes in mastering the game’s systems, learning its world like a second home, and uncovering the story of what took place there. That will all have to be discussed at a later time, when the Dark Souls 3 team has more to reveal and a hands-on demo for us to check out.

Dark Souls 3 will launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in early 2016.

Chloi Rad is a Staff Writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @_chloi