Dark Souls 3 Review

Lets be frank reviewing a game from the Souls series is mighty tough. These games have a pedigree to rip you apart at every turn and have you screaming at the controller wondering why I am so addicted to these games. So is Dark Souls 3 a continuation of form from the team at FromSoftware or is Dark Souls 3 starting to show the series weaknesses in a new light.  Here is my review of Dark Souls 3.

Dark Souls 3 arrives about a year after the critically acclaimed Bloodborne on PlayStation 4. The game drew players from the soul’s series and beyond and catapulted the genre further into the mainstream. Is this a game type every gamer should experience? With adjustments to speed, movement and combat Bloodborne made this form of gaming more accessible. Many put this down to the fact it was a PlayStation exclusive and a new IP in many ways all be it Dark Souls in a different skin. So the game had to do something to drawn newcomers and noobs in. I was one of those noobs!

I had watched this series grow from the outside never feeling equipped or willing to give the game the patience it so desires. Bloodborne changed that for me, it had an alluring appeal I still can’t quite put my finger on it. In many ways I still felt ill equipped to play the game and it certainly demanded a huge amount of time and that’s without adding in the excessive farming I did to gain some souls. So here we are with Dark Souls 3 and the learnings from Bloodborne are easily apparent. Movement is quicker meaning you can get from place to place with a fair bit of ease. This in turn makes combat a lot faster than the experience previous dark souls games delivered. This is a great addition however if your after a challenge many purist souls players may feel this takes away many of the games harder nuance’s to deal with. Respawning after death and having to fight your way back to where you dropped your souls is a big part of the game, the faster movement actually impacts this as for many of the areas can be simply ran past if your stamina is up to the task.

This running past enemies is something I found myself doing as the maps opened up and the game became less linear. However having to refight enemies is a key pillar of Dark Souls games. Learning the movements, attacks and defence techniques for each enemy as well as their patrol patterns is what makes this game a patient execution of skill. Rather than being forced to learn I was given the option to run away not very challenging that. However if you want the patient build up and the opportunity to garner new souls the game will let you do that. There is certainly a lot to be said for having a casual stroll around the undead villages and picking up a trinket or two.

“It’s a marathon not a sprint and many games could learn from how Souls tackles pacing in modern games.”

For newcomers to the Dark Souls series there certainly feels like a little bit of and holding is present. Its not much but enough to make you feel in control and not over awed by the challenge ahead. To do this the initial area of the game is very linear it’s really obvious where you need to go and the enemy’s placement and capabilities help you find your feet with whatever character you choose. I say easy but this is Souls level easy, there is a guy next to the shrine in the first area that will quickly have you thinking more than striking out to find that weakness. It’s this sense of accomplishment that keeps me hooked and soldiering on. It’s a marathon not a sprint and many games could learn from how Souls tackles pacing in modern games.

So I still have this one overriding pain point with Souls games in general and Dark Souls still hasn’t done anything to alleviate it. There is no direction. Yes this game is all about discovery and that was certainly one of the series pillars but there are elements that Dark souls could introduce and it wouldn’t take away from that experience. A simply refined indicator of where you need to go would be much appreciated. You will notice as the worlds get larger and areas more open to exploration that trial and error becomes more a frustration than an experience. The game has a set logic and it wants you to follow it and not doing so will cause you pain at some stage. There’s one part of the game this really annoyed me and reminded me of the subtle frustrations this series has. Exploring an area had me bombarded by what felt like mortar fire from afar. All of which could have been avoided if I had spoken to a giant atop of a tower before hand. It’s just needless difficulty and at times feels like an excuse to populate the world with NPC’s.

There is a ton of them as well, so if you don’t know squat about the series and the covenants that inhabit the world you will be utterly lost and confused as there is no backstory or “oh by the way this bloke is such and such from, he/ she is…”  Thankfully this doesn’t distract too much from the gameplay but it’s a frustration that can ruin an experience. Not knowing whether to attack an NPC or not can become a tricky choice as the game has no way of indicating what consequences such an action would have. Sticking with the convoluted nature of the game the mechanics around co-op and PVP just elude me entirely. The game is almost full of its own self-importance and the idea of sticking a button on the menu that simply offers the words “invite to game” seems below FromSoftware for whatever reason. I’m not against exploring and figuring things out but I reckon for many gamers this aspect of the game will be completely lost or they are going to get one hell of a shock when a red protagonist starts taking more than a few heavy swings at you.

Get it right and understand its limitations then Dark Souls can offer up a solid multiplayer experience. You can tackle bosses as a team and help clear out areas together. Its great for when you know you have a dark souls pro on your friends list you want to call in. Limitations exist here and don’t expect to be able to boost each boos as you encounter it. You can only summon a co-op partner to tackle a boss once you have beaten it for the first time.

” I expected a much tougher experience”

Boss fights are epic in Dark Souls 3 and these really are the showpiece events of the series and this game is no different. The design and graphical work that has gone in to the bosses as well as the varying mechanics is perfection. What has me worried about this though is the regularity of the bosses. I feel there’s almost too many and finding them doesn’t take too long. On top of that the bosses are not as tough as you may expect. They are still tough but the general premise of get behind them and swing seems to do the job here. It could be that so soon after Bloodborne the knack is still there or perhaps Bloodborne had tougher boss fights. I’m not sure but I expected a much tougher experience and the first four boss fights were straight forward for Dark Souls 3 with bosses very much regurgitating many of the old boss mechanics. Don’t let that put you off though as for me it made the game more enjoyable I actually enjoyed it a bit more on average a couple of deaths per boss and then a win was a happy medium for me and the reward as always for taking down a boss is one of the sweetest feelings in gaming. Dark souls 3 is still tough as nails I’m just perhaps becoming more attuned to its ways.

It would be utterly stupid of me to mention the wonderful art and character design of the boss fights without giving a nod to the world you are given to explore. The environments are simply breath-taking, the colour pallet is varied and each area has its own distinct look and feel. Something much welcomed after the dark and dingy Bloodborne. The backdrops you encounter at various points will have you taking screenshots regularly. It’s something that I really noticed about this game compared to previous ones in the series. The draw distance and visual fidelity of the world is just magnificent and up close Dark Souls 3’s first encounter on Current Gen consoles doesn’t disappoint in any regard. With this game reviewed on Xbox One and utilising the Bloodborne engine for the first time many wondered if the game could perform as well on the Xbox compared to what performance the PS4 had with Bloodborne. Happily I haven’t encountered any performance issues on the Xbox One and the only thing of note for me was the frame rate slow down when you roll into barrels and crates. During combat roll is perfect so I can only assume that the Xbox has an issues with the particle effects crushing crates has. Cut scenes are rendered in engine and those performed well also. In terms of audio the game has no issues and coupling those boss fights with some atmospheric music is a great way to immerse the experience further. Audio plays more than just a musical sideshow here as the enemy movements  and unique sounds each has are key to knowing what lies round that corner, this game is best played on headphones for me and don’t attempt a party chat whilst you’re playing as it’s just going to pull you out of the experience.

For me Dark Souls 3 is a triumph in design, graphics and character design. Its labyrinth worlds beg you to explore them further and the reward the game delivers hasn’t got old with the series. I am as much in love with the souls series now as I ever have been and the addiction to it is getting greater each day. It has made me go back and play Bloodborne again, it’s making me a better player and I love it. If you have watched this title from afar thinking it is not for you then Dark Souls 3 may now be the perfect balance for newcomers and old to get you into the action.

Dark souls 3 was reviewed on Xbox one with a copy supplied by Xbox.