We’re still a week from the launch of Dark Souls III, but you’re likely already seeing reviews out there. The embargo situation is incredibly bizarre because of the staggered worldwide release date, and conflicting allowances regarding streaming and written coverage have made the whole thing a confusing mess. What I can say for sure is that as of today, I can share my thoughts on the game.
Unfortunately, we got our review copy a bit later than other outlets, so this won’t be a final, comprehensive review. I’m 15 hours in, level 43, and I’ve defeated over half a dozen bosses, including one of the four main enemies that your journey centers around. And, of course, I’ve died many, many times. For the record, I’m a fairly casual fan of the Souls series. I played through Demon’s Souls years ago, but played less than 10 hours each of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, and skipped Dark Souls II entirely. So what can I say about Dark Souls III?
It’s good. It’s very good. It’s also very much a Souls game. That means that every foot of progress is a tense, cautious affair, requiring absolute composure and careful play no matter how many times you’ve been through an area. No individual moment is especially difficult. Once you learn the tells, you’ll be able to dodge that boss’s attack nine times out of ten. But that tenth time? You’ll get the life crushed out of you in a second. It’s punishing. It’s often frustrating. But after every death, you understand what you can do better next time.
That’s old news to Souls fans, and Dark Souls III evokes all the feelings of triumph and tragedy that have made the series so popular. I’ve shouted obscenities at the screen after a sudden death and thrown my fist in the air after taking down a particularly challenging boss. If you haven’t played a Souls game before, this is as fantastic an introduction as any other, and the game’s sly, bewildering charms have hooked me just as strongly as Demon’s Souls did years ago. If, however, you’ve played a game in this series before and found it not to your liking, then III will certainly not change your mind.
It’s to series fans that the minutiae of Dark Souls III will matter most, and that’s where I’m least qualified to speak, as I don’t know the details of how the mechanics changed from game to game. Here, each wieldable item has a skill associated with it, whether it’s a sword, shield, or casting item. Most shields offer a parry or bash skill, like they would in previous games, but if you choose to put magic or a weapon in your left hand, there’s a far greater variety of options. A waraxe lets you cry out and get a temporary attack-boosting buff. A miracle totem might give you a defensive buff. I briefly tried out a spear with a massive charge attack.
I mostly play these games as a tank, and as such I haven’t delved deeply into skills beyond the existing shield options, but they certainly add new considerations as you build your character and choose your equipment. These skills all consume both stamina–which quickly regenerates, as is par for the Souls course–and focus, which is essentially a mana pool, something the series hasn’t had since Demon’s Souls.
You can now choose to allot your Estus Flask uses between healing and focus restoration. Like Dark Souls II, you can get more uses of the flask by finding shards throughout the game, but now you’re forced to consider how much Estus you want to devote to healing and how much toward focus recovery. You can change that allotment at any time, but it adds a major consideration when you’re tackling certain areas, as a specific skill or certain type of magic might be more important to survival than a healing item.
As always, Estus is restored when you reach bonfires, which act as both checkpoints and fast travel locations. They also feel oddly generous. Make no mistake, here–I have died a lot in this game. But it feels like there’s far less space between checkpoints this time around, and it’s typically only taken me a handful of attempts to locate either the next bonfire or the next boss. There are exceptions, though, as there have certainly been levels that were absolute nightmares, and turning the corner to find the next bonfire has often felt like a divine gift.
Up to this point, the progression has been fairly linear, with the exception of one Y-junction that splits off into multiple paths that each hit dead ends hours down the line. You can only progress once you’ve followed both paths to their conclusion, and the one truly frustrating moment I’ve had so far has been hitting one of those dead ends without even realizing the other path existed. The areas themselves are almost all massively open and loop in on themselves to reveal secret areas and alternate paths, but there tends to be a choke point at each bonfire, and aside from the one branch, the overall progression has been in a mostly straight line.
Those areas look terrific, though they’re mostly still painted in the greys and browns of medieval fantasy. But there are exceptions. You’ll occasionally see massive vistas that are positively breathtaking, and while you’ll spend most of the game walking along fortress stonework, that makes the few forays into more natural environments and some nearly mystical-looking environments stand out all the more. It’s definitely Dark Souls in look and feel, but it pulls in elements of the more surreal fantasy of Demon’s Souls and even some bits of the ornate, post-medieval aesthetic of the early parts of Bloodborne. There’s one level in particular that felt like it might just be the outskirts of Yharnam.
I’ve run into absolutely no technical issues on PC. Granted, my review rig is a beast, with a 980TI, 16GB of RAM, and an i7 4790k. But it’s been a rock-solid experience, with nonstop 60FPS on max settings and zero crashes or freezes. I also briefly tested the game on a lesser machine running a 960 and an i5 2500k (right between the minimum and recommended specs), and while I haven’t tested the game thoroughly enough on this machine to ensure quality performance throughout, the opening areas were holding steady at 50-60FPS even on high.
I’m far from the conclusion of Dark Souls III, so this review won’t end with a number or a final verdict. I can say that the time I’ve had with it so far has been fantastic, and the PC version has been a pleasure to play. It will be up to diehard fans of the Souls series to determine where this one ultimately ranks, but it confidently stands with its predecessors. If you’ve been waiting for this release, you’re about to be well rewarded, and if you’ve never played one of these games before, this is looking like a wonderful way to start. I’ll update this review with my final thoughts before the game’s release on April 12, but until then know that my impression is very, very positive.
