DARK SOULS III Review – PC

Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to fight you again. With hand drawn and flask at hand. I trudge forward only to come to my end. Okay so that’s not how the song actually goes but the sentiment is pretty accurate as I took my first steps into Lothric with the newly released Dark Souls III for PC. This newest installment to the series puts the player into the shoes of a Nameless to seek out the Four Lords of Cinder and destroy them so you return their ashes and restore the cycle.

There is always something to be said about sequels and well the Dark Souls series is no different. While I did enjoy Dark Souls II, the series was a bit more accessible to newcomers. FromSoftware however doesn’t rest in merely putting out another game with the same basic concept and controls. Bloodborne was a change of pace that I enjoyed as well but was not as embraced by some of my Souls loving friends. Dark Souls III however takes things back to the beginning while still bringing along some other improvements to the series.

In all reality Dark Souls III really is the direct successor to the first game as you’ll see the return of a lot of familiar faces and names in some form or another. Yes, even the duplicitous NPC makes a return. Though not everything made a return this time around like adaptability which isn’t something I greatly miss has been removed. Among other things this stat was geared towards your ability to roll/dodge enemy attacks but was done in such a way that rewarded armor-laden players but nerfed light armor builds which is my preferred play style.

Character movement and control are a big part of Dark Souls III so as a player that prefers maneuverability over defense, I applauded the decision to have one hard limit for equipment loads at 70%. The previous game had three tiers but here anything under that threshold will have faster dodges. The less you have equipped on your character will however gain you an increased distance on your roll. This added with the return of the omnidirectional roll makes getting out of tight situations a bit easier with either a keyboard/mouse or controller setup. Dark Souls III also supports the Steam Controller which works decently depending on the configuration you choose.

Personally, I found a 360 or XB1 controller to be more favorable in my playthrough for navigation and fighting alike. This being said due to my return trips ad nauseam to the first boss arena as I got really tired of fighting the same 5 enemies between the bonfire and the fog gate just to make that rut a little deeper until I finally ended the first of many walking roadblocks. If Dark Souls II instilled anything positive in me, it was the power of skillfully rolling past entire sections of enemies to get to the next safe area.

The world of Lothric to say the very least is a stunning one filled with beautiful views showcasing the paths behind and those yet to be travelled. FromSoftware continues to make full use of draw distances to showcase this new and beautiful, yet haunting world which is something that I’ve always admired about the series. Compared to the complexity of Bloodborne and even Dark Souls II, Lothric has a much more nature path progression when going from one place to another. That doesn’t mean that the world lacks intricacy as each area in the world (without spoiling location names) has its own self-contained complexity with hidden secrets found by only the most dogged of explorers. Like most Souls games this is also how you piece together the narrative of the story beyond the usually pretty vague yet quite beautiful opening video. I can say with certainty that you are going to visit some form of the standard dungeons, swamps and other equal opportunity death traps that the series is known for in your quest to lay the Cinder Lords to rest.

Dark Souls III does contain a wonderful amount of weapons to wield including some great ones like the first katana Uchigatana. I actually favored the Sellsword Twinblades as I favor a more rogue build. I actually went with the Mercenary class for my initial run as the actual rogue build “Thief” doesn’t offer much in the way of strong damage unless you’re proficient in getting behind your enemies quick. The Mercenary build actually comes with these weapons as part as the class starter set but can be obtained in the world itself. You do get a shield with this build, and it is useful, but Sellsword really shines when dual wielded as your attacks favor the speed of dagger with the power of a traditional sword. You can get in a lot of quick hits often disorienting your foe before having to evade.

Dark Souls III also brings new features to the series such as weapons arts that are a huge addition to the series. There is also a new resource bar that ties into special weapon arts and for all you spellcasters out there. Weapon arts open up new much more powerful moves based on the weapon being used and are triggered in different ways like entering a stance. As I found out this makes using shields with a weapon an interesting experiment. Some shields in Lothric allow a standard parry move, as you would expect with most traditional RPGs, but Dark Souls III is far from traditional. Much like the series as a whole, some shields lack the ability to parry but will allow you to use one handed weapon arts. There is a lot of experimentation that you’ll want to try to find which suits you best. For those that adapt to weapons arts it’s important to note that there is a brand-new type of flask used specifically for regaining Focus Points when you need them the most so balancing between both is another choice to make.

One of the most interesting elements to be reinforced in Dark Souls III is that boss fights will now be a lot more interesting as I learned early on in my run. The moment the first boss morphed into this huge monster of black mass after I got his health down to a certain point, I about crapped myself. This mechanic is not foreign to me, but I just didn’t expect to see it here in a Souls series quite like this. To be honest most RPGs including the Souls series have a transformation or heat-up mechanic sprinkled throughout their games, but Dark Souls III takes things a lot farther as EVERY boss in the game features one. This is a great way to keep Dark Souls players on their toes and bring a new level of tense gameplay to the series.

Dark Souls III isn’t without its issues as cameras still sometimes get in your way at the worst possible time especially when you’re near the borders of a boss arena or other tight locations. I’ve died more than a few times this way personally. The other issue I ran into was a few game crashes including the one that everyone of PC has suffered from the most. Bonfires! While a there are some workarounds this is something that I encountered myself so just a bit of forewarning for you folks. Setting your lighting quality to the low setting for the time being until this issue is resolved does seem to fix this but it’s a huge problem for us PC players – yet another reason to loath using bonfires. Just Great!

While I still regard the first Dark Souls as one of the hardest and enjoyable games I’ve played, Dark Souls III holds the new standard for me. It brings back much of what I loved about the original, but it’s included elements from Dark Souls II and Bloodborne as well as the brand-new element such as weapon arts really had this newest entry even more enjoyable. Even after each painful and often stupid death (on my part), I kept coming back for more even despite the issues. If you love the Dark Souls series or if this is your very first look into the series, Dark Souls III for PC is a must play.

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Author: Jason Flick
Started my gaming life with a NES and copy of Mario at a young age. Since then I've found a love for all gaming things dealing with adventure, roleplaying and first person shooters across all systems, handhelds and PC. Joined up with Game Chronicles years ago to write about the games I love to play.

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