5:06AM

QCF: Dark Souls III

idetaka Miyazaki’s saga of “Souls” titles has left quite an impact upon the benchmark of action games, and the expectations held of its caliber—it’s almost inspired its own sort of sub-genre of gaming. With inspired contemporaries even garnering a modicum of success, it’s no wonder that Dark Souls III was announced so quickly, coming hot off the heels of From Software’s collaboration with Sony on the PS4 exclusive, Bloodborne.

Being as this is technically the fifth go-around, one has to think upon whether or not so many entries might potentially dilute the charm that make these games so exciting, and risk the danger of recycling familiar the same dynamics under a simple fresh coat of paint.

You’d be half right, but mostly wrong (don’t make me explain the math on that one, just read what I have to say) because while the familiarity of the venture is slightly fatiguing, the rush that the gameplay is famous for delivering is ever potent. Not to worry though; Dark Souls III has plenty of new features to really give this sequel the kick in you the ass that you wanted from it from the get go, and the adrenaline keeps freshness rolling from start to finish to boot.

The “Souls” franchise has always implemented a subtle air of socializing with other players to the main dynamics of its gameplay, but never before has it felt more integral to the odds of your success within the macabre thriller then it does with Dark Souls III. Invading is nothing new to the franchise, at some point within the more recent titles, your veritable party of demon slayin’ could be crashed at any moment by a zealous player who wants to do nothing more than stop you dead in your tracks—it was an excellent way to gauge your combat prowess while simultaneously being encouraged to be a prick to someone else. The new spin here though is that you can not only invade players, but summon other players who’re currently playing online at any given moment, and invite them in on the rush of being a prick with you to some hapless chump.

While these instances can certainly be annoying when you’re on the receiving end of the ambush, they exchange between becoming the hunter, and the hunted is varied enough, and the intensity it fosters at certain points definitely does a great job of clearing your palate from time to time from the points where Dark Souls is being Dark Souls, and slaughtering the ever-living shit out of you at a certain juncture.

These proverbial medieval “drive-bys” can be triggered by a number of circumstances, the main one being what sort of covenant you join, the game’s term for its factions. By swearing your allegiance to certain covenants that you’ll encounter, certain conditions will covertly activate, offering a number of different advantages, and disadvantages involved with their membership.

Blue Sentinels for example are a covenant specifically engineered around congress with your fellow Blue Sentinel peers, magically teleporting within the different games of one another to invade enemy games, then once successful, but should that invader belong to the Blades of The Darkmoon covenant, you’ll be at a statistical disadvantage with a debuff to to your skills. You guys may have through that I was being cheeky with all the dumb gang warfare references, but that’s very much the vibe with the system, and the Pokémon-esque “rock-paper-scissors” system adds a depth to the system that makes the experimentation feel pretty rewarding.

Triumphantly defeating targets can earn a Proof of Concord item that can be turned in to the NPC captain of the Blue Sentinels to rank-up, rewarding you in some story capacity with extra narrative content, and the it’s easily one of the most engaging aspects to what is otherwise a very familiar romp.

The cooperative summoning mechanic from Bloodborne somewhat returns in this iteration in the form of a consumable item called Ember; it’s just one of many factors that define the significance of its use, and what it means to the experience of the game. Whenever an ember item is activated, it will allow for the visibility of summoning signs that can be left behind from other players, and summoning them works very similar to the way it did in Yarnham; allowing for the relief of friendly numbers to join in on your crusade against a particularly troublesome area or boss—being lit with embers also makes it much, much easier for your to get invaded, so it isn’t without its drawbacks.

The other two big benefits from igniting this power-up is the increase to your Maximum HP count, and attack strength—an upgrade that lasts as long as you’re alive. While the item can be purchased for a fairly high number of souls, players will be able to encounter them in the world of Dark Souls III, and the tactility they add to the ebb and flow of combat. Taking the time to factor in components like the increase of invasion encounters against the useful upgrade to your strength and health is a quandary that will often plague your progress in Dark Souls III from the beginning of the adventure to the very end—and the it’ll only get harder as you progress further.

And that’s the big theme here; where the joy of Dark Souls III is at its finest. This new entry successfully adds a whole new cerebral layer of strategy to the engagingly frenetic combat engine of Bloodborne, and manages to make the experience of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Action series feel fresh again.

While the argument upon whether or not the gameplay’s infamous difficulty has been scaled back as a concession to make the experience more accessible to new players still hangs in the air, there’s no denying how engaging this new romp is. The amount of fun that stems from interacting with other players beyond that of a cryptic message that’s been scrawled upon the ground, and it’s just as good as Bloodborne, only it doesn’t go back to the well as much as you’d expect—and that’s a good thing. 

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