Dark Souls 3 is the final installment of the series by developers From Software that released in March of 2016. The game offers plenty of options for creative character builds, exploration, and of course, quick ways to death. The first downloadable content (DLC) for the game released in October of 2016, Ashes or Ariandel. The last DLC released in March of 2017, The Ringed City. Keep in mind, this review will only cover the base game, and keep in mind that there are some SPOILERS AHEAD!

STORY

Rising from the grave as a bell tolls in the distance wakes your character from slumber, as you are reborn from the Great Fire. You are the Ashen One, the stereotypical protagonist character that the series loves to change the name for who never truly dies. You are tasked to seek out the four Lords of Cinder and return them to their thrones at the Firelink Shrine, a place extremely reminiscent from the first Souls game. Firelink acts as the Hub world for the player, where you can upgrade weapons with materials you have collected, learn new spells, or gather supplies for next venture out in the game world. Here, you must spend the souls you have collected to level up and be able to face off against more difficult challenges.

As you search for the Lords, you will encounter the creatures of Lordran who want nothing but to kill you, meet characters whose laughs are terrible but will help you along the way (besides Patches, look out for him), and die…a lot.

GAMEPLAY

While Dark Souls 3 is a great sequel to its predecessor Dark Souls 2, it does not directly follow the story from the previous games. The end of the game, however, is the only real link to the first Dark Souls, as you fight the Chosen Undead at the Kiln of the First Flame. There are plenty of builds you can piece together as you find better gear and level up, shaping your character into the playstyle of your own choosing. For my first playthrough, I went with a build that focused on using the Farron Greatsword and the Black Bow of Pharis. As for other builds, the options are almost endless. Mages are the undefined easy mode though.

Bosses are essentially what the Dark Souls series is all about. They are dynamic and challenging in their own way, and will combo the red from your health bar till none of it is left. Using a shield to block their attacks is not enough in many cases, so getting well-acquainted with the roll button will help you in the long run. Having a strategy of learning the bosses’ moves first is suggested here, but some bosses change their tactics after a certain point.

There are tons of stress-inducing messages whenever you get invaded, because in most cases, you can actually be outnumbered two to one. Always be cautious of invaders, and do not trust any player because there are ways to fool one another! Death resets you at the last bonfire (checkpoints) you reached, losing all of your gathered souls, which you level up with, until you recover them from where you died before or you die again in which case they are lost forever to the game. Sprinting to find the next bonfire is also a valid strategy is you want to make some forward progress, and it is a good thing to do if the enemies are scattering you across the floor. Do your best to avoid doing this, as you may find a lot of helpful items at that moment if you explore a little bit. The game does not give you any hints of where to go, aka “holding your hand,” so do your best to get out there and explore!

As for the controls, they are simple and are explained in the tutorial area. Many weapons have a skill that varies on the weapon, as this is the only thing that changes as you change gear.

GRAPHICS

The game is visually stunning, with areas that draw you in with their haunting hallways or moonlit skies that illuminate the area. The framerate is capped at 30, but drops in certain places, generally to mid-20s. This has a greater impact on combat. The Xbox One uses a lower-quality shadow rendering setting, which adds an aliased and “rough” look to character silhouettes. One great thing about Dark Souls is if you see a structure in the distance that you think is background art, you can get to it one way or another, in fact, there is one place in this game that utilizes this method. That, I will not spoil because of how exciting it is when you find it.

SOUND

The music for the bosses is all created in an orchestra. It is epic, it is melancholy, it is amazing. Every boss has their own theme, and it really turns the fights into grandiose kill or be killed scenarios. Whenever something takes damage, either the player or the enemies, it makes the same noise. I personally think that there could have been a variety of sounds here, like hitting someone with armor on makes a metallic noise, and hitting someone without armor, yes people do that quite often, sounds like a clean cut on a body. I could not think of any better way to explain that, but I hope my point gets across. The only different sound is when things made of rock are hit. They made a few different sounds in Dark Souls 2, I do not know why they kept the idea in this game.

REPLAY VALUE

There is a lot of replay value on this game. You can play through as one build then try something new the next time around. Not to mention, having the ability to summon and play with your friends can shake up the standard way to play to have a bit of fun. The game will still be fun if you leave it for a while and come back to it.

OPINION

Dark Souls 3 is a wonderful game in terms of graphics, sounds, and gameplay. The ability to co-op or invade with friends or other players adds another level of fun or challenge to the game. I feel as though it lacks with the framerate however, as in some areas it stutters and drops to mid-20s and can influence the combat. The sounds of hits could have been a little more diverse too.

Overall, I give Dark Souls 3 an 8/10 and the Eyes of a Fire Keeper (I did it my first time through, whoops)!