Dark Souls 3 Review (PC)

excellent
key review info
  • Game: Dark Souls 3
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
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Dark Souls 3 Pyro moves

Dark Souls 3 is the video game that finally convinced me to care less about dying in a video game and let me to finally attain a very Zen state that allows me to play for the enjoyment offered by the mechanics rather than to simply chase progression and new story elements.

I got to that place after dying on yet another boss that I brought down to 10 percent health just because I was a little too brazen in my approach and really wanted to get that last strike in at the worst possible moment.

And I exploded with joy when the same dumb insistence of killing a powerful enemy quickly rather than waiting for a good moment to counterstrike when he is open was rewarded, and I managed to get to a bonfire with only a little bit of red in my health bar, safe and ready to move forward once more with increased confidence.

Dark Souls 3 was created by From Software and published by Bandai Namco and can also be played on the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony, with the international launch date set for April 12.

Story

Dark Souls 3 continues the series' tradition of almost frustrating vagueness, throwing the player into a world that's filled with narrative elements but never delivers extensive exposition and offers limited details about the characters or the overall aims of the protagonist.

The fate of the universe of the franchise is linked to the defeat of the Lords of Cinder and as players move through the huge environments and face bosses and regular enemies they will learn scraps of extra information that they can piece together to create a clearer image about this seemingly dying world that's filled with monsters and characters on the edge of madness.

There are plenty of callbacks to the earlier installments, and some fans will be a little disappointed to see that From Software has boosted the linear nature of the experience, especially during the first few hours of the game.

The world opens up later, and there's a bigger focus on superb boss encounters and on unique moments created by the interaction between the player's approach, the choices he has made on his path and the powers and routines of his enemies.

Gameplay

Dark Souls 3 has taken the mechanics that From Software has been perfecting for the past few years and has pushed them as close to perfection as possible, creating a combat system that can deliver very stiff challenges while giving players options when it comes to tactical approach.

The game is not easy by any measure, but characters are a little bit faster and more responsive, making it easier to pull off evasions, especially against the most powerful of bosses, although using a shield to absorb blows and then deliver a riposte is also a valid strategy.

Light and heavy attacks are in the mix, but now weapons come with attached special moves that can be used when the player dual wields or picks up his preferred implement of destruction with one hand, opening up new ways to take down the guard of enemies or deal with lesser ones quickly.

These moves and classic magic use up a new resource bar called FP, and a new Ashen version of the Estus Flask is added to Dark Souls 3 to charge it, with players able to decide which balance between health and FP restoration works best for their strategy.

Souls are still the upgrade currency for the main character and gamers will have to carefully plan their route and movement to make sure that if they die, they can recoup their stash before pushing up a little further.

During battles normal and special attacks can be combined with rolls, parries, use of spells and faith to increase the chances of survival against both mobs of normal enemies, which coordinate well and often surprise with their own special moves, and the powerful bosses.

Death is a constant companion in Dark Souls 3 but each new failure is a chance to think about what can be changed and tweaked to improve performance, from modifying equipment to trying out a new overall set of tactics.

It's easy to have a good plan and execute it for a while, but changes in boss behavior or the appearance of a new enemy type or a certain kind of bottleneck often lead to moments when players need to fly by the seat of their pants and improvise wildly to get out alive.

I spend the most time with a Knight and Pyromancer, and they have very different play styles, with the other offered classes adding even more variety.

I prefer to stay as defensive as possible to avoid surprises when moving through the environments, but From Software often throws curveballs that force gamers to adapt quickly, and it's often a good idea to switch approaches when death is a too present companion.

The great thing about Dark Souls 3 is that it wants players to become better and is unafraid to punish them if they do not perform up to standard, a tough but also fair taskmaster that rewards players who can progress and explore their multiple deaths to learn the lessons that will keep them alive in the future.

At the moment, there are some crashes associated with some areas of the game and some characters, but the development team has time to deliver another big patch by the time the international launch date rolls around.

Graphics and audio

Dark Souls 3 is an impressive-looking game, especially on a powerful PC that does justice to the design of the world and the ambition of the team at From Software, by guaranteeing a solid frame rate that can sometimes be hard to maintain on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.

The environments, especially as they open up and the player becomes familiar with their nooks and crannies, are beautiful and surprising, and the bosses are both intimating and unique, with some of the most surprising transformations the series has ever delivered.

The game rewards exploration and does a great job of embedding information about the world and small bits of narrative into the environments, and it's actually nice to walk through this destroyed and seemingly hopeless world, built around themes of fire and death, to see how beautiful and magnificent it can be.

Dark Souls 3 beauty
Dark Souls 3 beauty

There are moments when I gave Dark Souls 3 an opening to kill my characters because I was more interested in looking at the universe than in taking down its overly hostile inhabitants, but From Software also uses the look of the opponents to give info about how to create a strategy to take them down.

The inventory and character interface could be a little easier to work with, but on PC the game allows players to eliminate the HUD entirely, which adds a new level of mystery and beauty to the world.

The sound design of Dark Souls 3 adds to the immersion and the feeling of hopelessness that infects the world, and I appreciate the clang of clashing weapon and armor and the way each enemy is expressing his personality through the noises the emits.

Multiplayer

Dark Souls 3 makes it easy for players to communicate with fellow explorers of the world of Lothric via messages, which show up on the ground and can offer both useful info about the world and set up traps for those who are not careful, bloodstains, that show how other gamers tackled the same difficult challenges and phantoms that are real players moving across the same area.

Cooperative play can be used to tackle the toughest of bosses or simply get a companion that makes the dark world of the game seem less lonely, and invasions are also present for those who want to test their skill against other humans.


The Good

  • Superbly balanced combat system
  • A world with layers to explore
  • Great boss designs

The Bad

  • Can become frustrating at times
  • Pre-launch version has some tech issues

Conclusion

Dark Souls 3 is the final game in the franchise according to director Hidetaka Miyazaki, and the game is clearly designed with the previous two installments in mind and with ideas taken from both Bloodborne and Demon's Souls, to create a balanced, accessible and beautiful experience.

Frustration is impossible to avoid entirely, and I had a lot of moments when I was ready to entirely abandon the game or simply wanted to start over with another character and explore new options for progress.

But it only takes a few hours for my brain to return to Dark Souls 3, even if I am not actively playing it, thinking of ways I can tweak my approach to a boss battle or another way that I can use to push forward through a level.

This is a game centered around learning, and even if the teacher can sometimes be punishing in its approach, I like encountering the challenges that From Software has created and then working through them, even if it takes time, tears and frustration, because there's no better feeling than to see a boss falling, cheer and then prepare for the future knowing that the next one will be even harder to deal with.

story 8
gameplay 10
concept 10
graphics 9
audio 9
multiplayer 9
final rating 9.5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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Dark Souls 3 Screenshots (20 Images)

Dark Souls 3 Pyro movesDark Souls 3 spiresDark Souls 3 encounterDark Souls 3 boss arenaDark Souls 3 deadly dance
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