Dark Souls 3 Second Opinion

Serving as the finale of the series, Dark Souls 3 takes the best of the previous two instalments and delivers a sombre and immensely satisfying conclusion to the world-famous trilogy.

“Rise if you would. For that is our curse”

Similarly to the other Dark Souls games, you awaken in a land where the ever-important Flame is fading yet again. However, the flame is getting weaker and it takes more strength to reignite it every time it is rekindled. The ones tasked with giving their strength to light the flame are known as the Lords of Cinder. Yet this time, they have not returned to their thrones, instead choosing to let the flame fade. You are an Unkindled, referred to as “Ashen One” by the Firekeeper. The Unkindled are individuals who tried and failed to link the flame and were in turn burnt to ash, reawakened to bring the Lords to their thrones to link the flame and perpetuate the cycle.

Sticking to the trend of previous titles, the lore of Dark Souls 3 is told in the same way you would guess. In that it is not. Get ready to piece together your own little theories and stories based on item descriptions, NPC dialogue and environmental storytelling. There are many parallels to Dark Souls 1 (which I would recommend playing first because these two games have a good few story links), but one key difference I noticed in Dark Souls 3 was how the world felt. While it is true in the first that the flame is fading, it is the very first flame, and the kingdom of Lordran still has whispers of its past prosperity. The kingdom of Lothric however, feels dead. Dead trees, overgrown swamps, broken down buildings, corrupted cathedrals and crumbling castles- it all feels like the world is long past its golden age. The world is ending, and the Lords of Cinder are letting it end. The world is ending, and it feels like the world has accepted that.

Once again, the nature of the story-telling lends itself to exploration. In Dark Souls 3, I feel like the exploration is the most rewarding it has ever been, partly due to the fact there is no forgettable area. Even though there are less total areas than the first (and the second, but I won’t comment on that as I have not played it), every area feels complete and fleshed out- one of my criticisms from the first game. And even though the colour palette is a little shallow (a lot of browns, greens, purple and yellow), I still think that this game looks great. The aesthetic of the world (that it is collapsing and ending) is very consistently represented all through the game. Every new area leaves me wondering about what was, maybe a hundred years ago while the flame was still burning brightly. I personally love exploring these areas and seeing all the evidence of past lives and settlements, now reduced to near-empty shells of their former selves. One example of this environmental storytelling is the end place of a large pilgrimage. In the first cutscene, the pilgrims are depicted desperately travelling for Lothric and it's never said what happened to them then. Yet, as I explored I found countless pilgrim corpses, all at the edge of a collapsed bridge, all of them longingly looking at where that bridge once led: Lothric. There’s not a word spoken, no signage or any remarks to the hopeless death of these pilgrims. It's beautifully depressing and it's one of the many examples where the environment tells the story for you of the sadness and hopelessness of this dying world.

Another key part I love about this game is its cast of characters. While there are a good couple in the original, there are many more in Dark Souls 3 who I really like. A knight wearing familiar onion-shaped armour, a deserter from the undead legion, a pilgrim finding new purpose in life, a Darkwraith trying to let the flame fade and bring on the Age of Dark, a friendly thief and more fellow Unkindled. All these characters are really memorable with their own agendas and storylines.

Which brings me onto questlines for NPCs. They work the same way as they do in the original, but I feel like these ones are more expansive and even more involved. A quest to fulfill a promise to an old friend, helping a compatriot on their journey with their mute companion to inspiring a dejected deserter into taking up arms once again. The questlines are really fantastic and thoroughly rewarding to complete and they lead to some spectacular and emotional scenes. However they do suffer the same issues from the original in that they can be confusing to follow and sometimes can end early, with very little guidance. Once again, this is for the sake of discovery and exploration but, once again, it can be frustrating to lose out on some experiences and items because you misstepped without knowing.

“This spot here marks our graves, but you may rest here too, if you like”

The fundamental gameplay remains the same as the others as does its difficulty. Dark Souls 3 does have more quality-of-life improvements compared to the first. The upgrading system is much more streamlined, getting rid of many of the large variety of upgrade materials seen in Dark Souls 1. Fast travel between bonfire checkpoints is available from the start, making backtracking so much more convenient. Armour is no longer able to be upgraded, so what you see is what you get which I found a lot easier to keep track of instead of investing yet more materials into improving each piece. It feels like lessons were learned over the past 2 games and have been implemented very well so as not to make a confusing or tedious game.

The level design here remains brilliant. Short cuts and side paths are everywhere. Areas leading to other areas, secret paths, zones and even bosses. Exploration in Dark Souls 3 is as good as it ever was.
Bosses have always been a staple of these games and I am happy to say that I believe the bosses in this game are the best of the trilogy. The quality of the bosses is on average extremely high. Including both DLCs, there are 25 bosses and I disliked three of them. There is a wide variety of them too, from mythical figures back in the age of Lord Gwyn, corrupted deacons in a cathedral dedicated to the worship of the dark, knights of a legion locked in unending fights to death against each other and so much more. The bosses feel so legendary, with the references of their stories and deeds throughout. The final boss too, without spoilers, is an amazing conclusion to the series, as are the many possible endings to the game- each giving a different feeling for what will happen to the world.

Both DLCs are absolutely amazing and definitely worth the purchase. They add even better bosses than the base game, beautiful new areas and the true conclusion (in my opinion) of the Dark Souls series. I will not go into too much detail, but they add a lot of extremely high-quality content that is worth the money and is the easiest recommendation I can make.

Finally, online play is more of the same, with players able to help or invade you with many new covenants to get rewards in.

Verdict

Dark Souls 3 is the culmination of developer From software’s work and lessons learned into one streamlined, emotional, engaging and beautiful game that serves as the perfect finale for the series. With many hours of content and such a high quality too, this game is absolutely perfect for those who are fans of the series or RPGs in general.

Scores

100% score
Graphics- 5 / 5
Multiplayer- 4 / 5
Story- 5 / 5
Originality- 5 / 5

You may like:

Return to the Dark Souls formula
Amazing bosses
Fleshed out areas
Rewarding exploration
Memorable characters
Beautiful environment
Satisfying conclusion to the series
Magnificent DLCs

You may not like:

Slightly shallow colour scheme
Lack of guidance in questlines