Dark Souls III (PS4) Review

The End of Fire.

 Dark Souls III is the fourth and supposed final installment in developer FromSoftware's legendary Souls series. Packing a new setting, dense locations, and of course tough and deadly enemies, Dark Souls III strives to be the best entry in the challenging series, and it brutally does so. 

STORY- Set in the gloomy kingdom of Lothric,  we follow "The Ashen One" who must stop the coming of the Age of Dark, which give rise to undead beings. The Ashen One must journey to reunite the four lords of cinder, who abandoned their duty to keep the Age of Fire in check. They include the conqueror, Yhorm the Giant; a group of mysterious warriors called the Abyss Warriors; man and god devouter, Aldrich; and finally, heir to the Lothric kingdom, Prince Lothric. Along their journey, The Ashen One will meet and possibly combat a colorful cast of characters. Also, they'll meet some pretty gruesome and deadly enemies along the way.

Get ready for some serious hack-and-slash action.

GAMEPLAY- Dark Souls III is a third-person action-adventure game with a heavy emphasis on exploration- literally. If you played a Souls game before, them you'll immediately feel at home. You have your regular and strong attacks, dodge-rolling, Estus Flasks, and shields to protect you from damage. Bonfires, which are checkpoints that can teleport you back to the hub area, make a retun. Those who are fresh from Bloodborne's dodging mechanics will need to re-learn and adapt to Dark Souls III's heavy shield-based combat. While often billed as a hardcore and brutal series, you'll be able to defend yourself with an array of weapons, shields, and items. While your starting equipment may be lacking in some areas, you'll come across better loot as you progress in the game. Like its predecessors, Dark Souls III has RPGs elements such as leveling up. By spending souls, the game's currency, at the shrine's Fire Keeper, you'll be able to increase your core attributes such as health, stamina, strength, dexterity, which will be essential in order to survive the game's long 50+ hour journey.  

 When out exploring the game's deadly locales, you'll come across a variety of deadly enemies and traps looking to see to your death. If you're careless, you might end-up getting killed have all your souls lost- well only if return to the spot where you were previously killed and claim it. However, if you're killed along the way, you will lose them permanently. This creates a risk-and-reward feel, which adds to the game's core gameplay. Knowing all this, you must take care and be cautious of an enemy, hiding at a corner, waiting to flank you.

Dark Souls III has some nice areas,
waiting to be explored.

 Every Souls game is famous for its tough boss fights, and Dark Souls III is no different. There are over 19 bosses, including the four Lords of Cinder, waiting to be slain. Obviously that won't be an easy task since most of them, especially the likes of Aldrich, Devourer of Gods and Pontiff Sulyvahn, both of which can be incredibly difficult but ultimately rewarding. You'll notice that some boss fights will have two stages to them similar to Bloodborne, in which the boss will have access to new attacks. If you're having trouble and would like the assistance then by using "Embers", you can summon a fellow Ashen One to help with either fighting a boss or exploring an area. You can also summon other players to battle with them competitively. While it does detract from the game's sense of achievement, I had lots of fun joining other players to beat bosses. Even when outnumbering the boss, they won't go down without putting up a tough fight.

PRESENTATION- Dark Souls III is a good-looking game on the PS4 and Xbox One. Environments are vast and well-detailed as well as the character and enemy designs. Running at a decent 30 frames per-second, the frame-rate can take a dive however when going against a group of enemies and in some boss fights. The voice acting is pretty nice with some good performances. Probably the best aspect of the presentation has to be the soundtrack. It's full of grand, intense tracks that nails the despondent atmosphere of the game.

Dark Souls III's sense of scale is incredible.

OVERALL- FromSoftware does it again with Dark Souls III. It's by far among the best in the series and a worthy conclusion to the endearing series. The story is full of intrigue and the challenging gameplay is fun as it has ever been. Additionally, the presentation is top-notch as well with great locations and soundtrack. If it's really the last Souls entry then it's safe to say it ended on a good note.