Dark Souls III Review

Dark Souls III Review

This is a latest installment in the series of RPG and fantasy dark souls games known for their hard difficulty and unforgiving nature. Same as with previous games in the series, Dark Souls III has two extremes: recurring defeat and reward of breaking through it. Dark Souls III is a game that acknowledges the value of perseverance, reinforcing the spots where it broke you, breaking you down before it pulls you back up, preparing you for the next valley just down the road.

The world is a disconnected series of detailed areas–some stretching outward, while some areas stack on top of others, looping around and folding back in complex webs. It’s a proof to the level design that discovering bonfire checkpoint is as important as leveling your character or defeating a difficult boss. In this dangerous world of prisons, swamps and undead villages, every quest is a success.

Returning to Firelink Shrine hub in order to level up your character stats, weapon quality, and the health-imbuing estus flask seems exhausting at first, but as time passes, you will recruit companions that set up camp at your base, and grant useful items throughout your playthrough. Bonfire checkpoints allow you to fast travel throughout Dark Souls III, and returning to Firelink from the surrounding world becomes welcome reprieve.

This ghastly locale has exquisite stories to tell; on the Road of Sacrifices your enemies behave defensively, they only attack once you attack them. A mysterious feeling spread through the game’s dark world, and there is a confidence on display which is often missing from many latest games. Dark Souls III has many secrets, whether you find them or not.

It is really impressive that how Dark Souls III has a sense of balance between guidance and exploration. There is usually more than one path to your objective that you can take through this dark world at any time; to secret dungeons, new areas or new bosses. The level design encourages exploration without losing concentration and focus away from the main goal.

Obstacles and difficulties come in a variety of monstrous forms along the way: giants and feral dogs; suicidal monks and ancient knights. Each enemy is different, and when in groups, they grow stronger, punishing and dynamic, and demand a flexible approach to fight. Dark Souls III is really clever in a way that it plays on your forged sense of comfort; many times in your play through you face death only when you underestimate an enemy you have killed dozens of times before.

There is a specific rhythm to the combat, a particular pattern to every enemy that is only noticeable when you take some time to observe it. Some of your enemies are weak near their sword arm and others are defenseless from behind. Instinct may tell you to evade every attack, but wasting stamina like this, could result in quick death, forcing you to restart the game at the most recent bonfire. Dark Souls III does not just teach you new skills, it also forces you to forget the ones you have already learned.

The combat varies between duels and anxious fights, but it almost manages to keep things fair. You may be underpowered and outnumbered in your combats, but death is usually your fault. Sometimes, however, Dark Souls III breaks that rule. The camera often struggles to adjust in tight corners, and the lock-on mechanism can be unreliable, particularly against more aggressive and mobile enemies. In boss fights that require precision, this unreliable camera becomes the cause of your death.

The enemies play on your expectations and force you to adjust to the situation. One boss fight ditches you against a crowd of pyromancers, instinct tells you to keep distance, but it soon becomes clear that you will need to enter the fight. It tears you out of your comfort zone at a frightening pace.

Despite the novelty and shade of many bosses, however, some has similar move sets. You will feel deja vu in several fights, when enemies display similar moves same as those who came before them. This diminishes the creativity. Most of the enemies feel recycled and feel repetitive.

One conspicuous design misstep involves a boss requiring a certain item to eliminate him. The game is at its best when it rewards growth, and tests your experience. Some boss fights don’t; these fights have very particular solutions, despite the path you have taken to get there. Enemies, and repetitive bosses, fly in against your progress; they repeat patterns you have already learned.

This is also the case with overall level design of the game. Whereas most of Dark Souls III makes use of complex corridors and trap settings, some areas lose design appeal as the game comes to its end. I expected Dark Souls to carry me through creative fights and engaging expeditions as my character reached the peak of his skills, but instead I was disappointed. I had played this game to the end, and aside from two incredible end-game boss fights and a handful of imaginative secret areas, Dark Souls III seemed not to explode, but rather, fade gradually into the mist.

But your growth is respected; it’s that thread that leads to Dark Souls III’s supreme moments. We create our characters and make them stronger, resilient, faster and turning them into fighters. We cannot eliminate the final boss until we defeat every enemy before it, so by the end of the game, we have truly mastered something.

Dark Souls III has unclear plot beneath its gameplay elements; the story is more troubled with tone than exhibition. There are various possible endings to Dark Souls III, and although most are ineffective, they drive home the isolation of the paths we took. The old lords have deserted their posts, and in the hunt to seize them, we tumble down into dark valleys, and climb those striking peaks.