Written by Victor Sanchez, April 15, 2016, at 10:30 a.m.
Dark Souls 3 was recently released as a triumphant albeit rocky return for the Souls series. The PC version of the game opened with severe bugs for a fair few of the players. However, after the PS4 exclusive Bloodborne and the less well received Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3 is a welcome return to form for the series bringing back a lot of the feeling of the older games in the franchise.
The World
The game is set in the dying world of Lothric. Immediately you start getting nostalgia for Demon’s Souls. The world is far gloomier this time around. With the earlier stages adopting a far more grey and ashen color palette that really meshes well with the theme of this dying world.
Throughout the game you see more evidence that the world is trashed or corrupted with torture equipment and signs of general human shittiness all over the place. The main hub in which you find all NPCs you’ve met and shop keepers is a new, updated Firelink Shrine, which feels tons more like the nexus from Demon’s.
The sound design really helps set the theme of the world as well. Monsters chatter, scream, and make noises that can be heard from far away making you paranoid for oncoming encounters. This really adds to the feeling of dread in the setting. Outside of boss fights, the game is completely music free, allowing all of the terrifying noises to be heard loud and clear.
The levels are large, featuring locales such as corrupted swamps to sprawling frozen cityscapes and feature many branching paths that really reward exploration. Coming back to one of the first areas after hours into the game, I found a whole new area to explore and found more items. I also unlocked a shopkeeper that I would have completely missed otherwise.
Branching paths will loop back into the main area of a stage without you even realizing it or take you far away to have you look back on where you’ve been. Going through an area thoroughly or multiple times is rewarding in the amount of items/characters you can find.
With the new complexity of the levels, enemy ambushes are far more common. But pay close attention and you’ll be prepared. They almost always come from somewhere that makes sense, as opposed to hanging on a ceiling at an impossible height or appearing from thin air (though a larger enemy does do that later).
While each area is complex and huge, the game is mostly linear when it comes to progression, you will following a similar route through the world on every playthrough. The larger levels reward exploration even further. Taking the extra time to look for a shortcut back to the bonfire will save tons of time clearing the level if you die, and you will die.
Most NPC and shopkeepers have some kind of story behind them and depending on how their questlines are done they can come or go from Firelink Shrine at various points in your journey. Finding NPCs in different parts of the world at different times will net you items and more information about why they came to the dying land of Lothric.
Lothric is called a crossroads and the NPCs very much mirror that, with most of them being references to other characters or plotlines from the previous two games. So at times the “side quests” may be a little too familiar.
Combat
If you’re a fan of Souls, not a whole lot of explanation here. Roll to dodge, git gud, all the standard stuff is here. Except for a major change, the addition of weapon skills and the FP (Focus Point) bar.
Spells no longer work on “uses,” and now use up FP, which effectively works as a mana bar, with a new Estus Flask that refills. This build can be more easily customized to use spells more often without having to buy consumable items. If you prefer using melee weapons, a special weapon skill also uses this bar, which can range from special attacks to temporary stat boosts.
This as a new level of variability to weapon choice. These additions add customization but don’t do anything to detract from the rewarding combat system fans of the series have come to love. Dark Souls 3 strikes a strong balance keeping the good while adding a few much needed improvements.
Enemies in this game each fit their areas well and offer unique challenges. The undead humanoids will use items and call on the aid of close by, sleeping enemies. Some levels are built around a singular challenging enemy, which, when killed, makes exploration easier. Boss fights are difficult, unique, and satisfying, which is hardly a surprise at this point.
Dark Souls 3 is a grim challenging experience that is a natural evolution of the series. Fans of the series who haven’t already purchased it should definitely grab while those who haven’t liked it should expect more of the same.
Dark Souls 3 PC buyers beware
As mentioned before, the PC version still has the potential to have game breaking crashes. This is clearly not the case for everyone, but it has happened to a good chunk of the PC community. If this is something you don’t want to deal with maybe you should wait until the game gets patched properly or it goes on sale.
