Originally published June 2016

You knew that it was coming. Any excuse I could possibly have to mention this game series, I'm going to take it. Now that a new game in the franchise is out, and I can play it, time to talk at length about Dark Souls III.

Dark Souls III right up front has given me a better first impression than its immediate predecessor. I've already discussed how I found Dark Souls II to be rather underwhelming and how it was likely an unfinished game, which was only further exemplified by how the game was given a revival with its re-release that added new content and mechanics to the game. Dark Souls II felt rushed. And while Dark Souls III has had its fair share of terrible bugs that have been poorly handled by its developer and publisher, it has still left the impression of a more complete project than last time. Amazing what happens when a developer is given sufficient time to complete their games, isn't it?

Introduction

Right off the bat, Dark Souls III hooked me in with an introductory cinematic that instilled me with hope for the game to come. Much like the original game, this intro video tells you about the legendary heroes you have to face at some point, building up the hype and tension from the start. This was something that was sorely lacking in Dark Souls II opening movie. I'm not saying that the game's opening video has to have this touch to it, but providing the player with a goal or expectation early on is not a bad thing. DSII just told you that you were undead and had to leave home, so all the stuff you saw in the opening video really had no impact on the game you were about to play. It could have been removed entirely and made no change to the overall experience.

Dark Souls III, however, gives you lore about how the world has changed over time, gives you characters whom you will encounter, and gives you hints as to what the ultimate goal of the main character is. Then, it thrusts you into a tutorial area that seemed to make sense as to where it was and how it might be related to the rest of the world, more so than any Dark Souls game before. All the tutorial levels have felt very secluded in the past, like the distant asylum that required a giant crow to pick you up for some reason, or the hollowed-out tree training grounds of the undead, hidden in the side of a mountain somewhere. This time, you're so undead, you're crawling out of your own grave, in a graveyard quarry filled with tombstones to the point that they are piled on top of each other against the mountainside. At the top of this mountain is a gothic city that is likely your final destination. Already, the game is setting itself up to close a loop at some point. If it keeps with the usual Dark Souls tradition of showing you places you'll eventually visit, you'll be able to make your way there to learn who may have cast you down in a coffin to the desolate graveyard and why.

Before you do though, you'll have to explore, and it takes very little time for the game to give you an awe-inspiring moment of endless expansion. As soon as you leave the graveyard, you are already overlooking an endless range of mountains with some ruins in the distance. On your way to those ruins, you encounter the first boss of the game. This boss sufficiently set the stage for my expectations of the game. The boss has a name, he has a purpose as defined by the item you pull from his chest, and he has a particular trait that takes shape midway through the match.

This trait seems to be a recurring sickness that has infected other enemies throughout the game and it leaves me giddy with morbid excitement. There is some sort of underlying darkness that has spread throughout the world of Dark Souls like a virus and it makes me wonder where the developers are going to take it. Certain enemies, that may have been mild in their overall threat level suddenly become frightening powerhouses capable of annihilating you in record time because of this illness. I haven't gotten far enough to see where this goes, and if there is some story element to why the various enemies you're facing are becoming "blessed" with this transformative disease, but it definitely has forced a bit of caution to my play style in anticipation for these types of encounters.

World Design

Perhaps the moment in the early stream of Dark Souls III I was watching that made me realize that I needed to play this game right away was when they first entered the city of Lothric, a city filled with Gothic architecture and spiked cathedral towers, perpetually bathed in the golden glow of sunset. The "wow" moments that were distinctly missing from Dark Souls II are on full display here. There is an immediate sense of awe when you first leave the tutorial zone and the game continues to throw those spectacle views at you as you progress.

Another return to form for the design is in how the game feels more connected. The original Dark Souls was a game that surprised many, as paths through different areas led back to one another and made the world a little more cohesive. Dark Souls II took the Demon's Souls approach and separated everything into different branching paths that all connected at the hub area, Mejula. There's nothing inherently wrong with that method of mapping out the world, but it loses the advantage of feeling more connected and seeing how the different areas may coexist in the world.

For example, in the original Dark Souls, you could see the tops of some trees in the Undead Burg, but as you traveled down into Blighttown where the sewer of the Burg ran off, you saw how big, tall, and thick the trees were. If you made it further down through the center of a Great Hollow tree, to the base where you came to Ash Lake, you could see an endless array of these massive trees shooting out of the water in this weird mysterious realm, seemingly holding up the world above. Yet, this is not the last you'll see of these eternal redwoods. If you make it to Lost Izalyth, you'll finally encounter the many tree roots branched throughout the ruins that sit upon fire and lava. The presence of these connecting background details in the different areas, in addition to the fact that you can often see another zone from particular vantage points, help create a sense of interconnectivity, as well as an unspoken lore about the land that helps make things more interesting.

Dark Souls III seems to be utilizing the same sort of techniques so far. For one thing, once you've beaten the first real boss of the game and down the path through the undead village, you can still see the city from which you came. You can also see the swamp below, which you'll eventually visit. If you manage to make your way out of the swamp to another vantage point, you can look back at the townships you left behind. There was only one particular path in Dark Souls II that felt that way, so it's nice to see that, thus far, III is already utilizing that brilliant map design to create a connective and cohesive world.

One other thing I've noticed is the commitment to the theme of death in the background. You wake up in a graveyard surrounded by tombstones. As you progress through the game, there are still countless more graves you pass, marked with other objects like swords, crosses, etc. Every area, so far, has been loaded with graves, which has a similar effect to the massive trees by indicating that this is all part of the same world. When everywhere you go might as well be a graveyard, it adds a theme and tone that help tie things together.

Combat Changes

The main thing that I think Dark Souls II did better than its predecessor was combat. There was way more variety to your character's combat capabilities than ever before. There was a huge encyclopedia of weapons that could then be combined in dual-wielding techniques when your character's stats were high enough. There was also a wider range of movement allowed and the combat speed respectively increased. It wasn't long before I had a ton of weaponry at my disposal to branch out in my combat preferences and I started to master the movement methods of the game.

Dark Souls III's movement and combat are mostly similar to the improvements made in DSII. The combat is just as fast-paced, the movement as precise, and the weapon variety is... sort of there. Everything feels very Dark Souls II. If you prefer the fast-paced aggressive combat of DSII to the slower, more methodical combat of the first DS, then you'll fit right in here.

The biggest new addition they made to the combat is the inclusion of special moves for weapons when held with both hands. Every weapon has some special ability now that, while holding with both hands, you can initiate with what would normally be the parry button. In the past, this button was usually just another block for when you held the weapon with two hands, so it finally feels like they've given the button a purpose beyond using it to parry attacks with a shield. There is quite a variety of these special abilities too. There's certainly overlap, but what you can do with the abilities can certainly improve your chances when encountering enemies. The abilities can be a stance that allows you to chain special attacks, a warcry that boosts attack damage, or even a special combo strike.

The added variety in the special abilities makes up for the somewhat reduced variety in weapons. I'm still quite early in the game, but I've encountered fewer weapons and loot than I recall in previous installments. It's not really much of a detriment to the game since it still gives you a good set of weapons early on to try out. Considering how I've heard from several friends that the game is shorter than the rest, this gap will hopefully be filled quickly as I progress further.

Fan-Service

The Souls games have always had some referential touches to them in regards to the previous games that From Software has developed. Patches is a recurring character type, for example, who was present in some of From Software's other games. They've also had certain enemies or special characters reappear in some form or another. Sometimes it's something as simple as an item description. Sometimes it’s an actual conversation with a spiritual successor of that character, or even the armor and weapons of those characters that you can wear. Still, each game felt like they kept that sort of referential material to a minimum. It seemed like they wanted to use it all as more of a nod to previous games, rather than making the stories of each game so closely tied to one another with the same armor, weapons, and items. There was always plenty of brand-new content each time.

The same cannot be said for Dark Souls III, however. The very plot is tied to stories of the previous games, which is fine, but there are a lot of recycled assets and character types present here. They've even brought back kingdoms that were supposed to be long gone and provided a character from that land who behaves and looks very similar to a character from the first Dark Souls. It's really a minor complaint since I love the series so much. I don't mind seeing a lot of the gear from the previous games (mostly the first one) represented here in some form or another, but when I've seen so many assets recycled already, I have a feeling the unique significance of those items and characters may be lost by their frequent reappearances here. It's like a mixture of pointless fan service and corner-cutting. It's not a huge detriment to the experience, and if they can justify how I keep finding equipment that's supposed to be thousands of years old and long since lost, in really exposed and obvious places, then more power to them. The thing that concerns me, is whether they're trying to tell a new story, or tying up loose ends from the other games, even though there was no need to ever tie those up.

Speculation

So far, Dark Souls III has made some good first impressions. Its predecessor started off on a bad foot, but eventually turned it around enough for me to enjoy the game as a whole. I'm hoping that this entry doesn't go in the opposite direction, ending in disappointment. As of right now, I'm hopeful that it will maintain the creative momentum it has to the end and bring about the fitting end that every game critic seems to be saying it is.