DARK SOULS™ III

Nice gameplay, very fun. but yes, it is difficult.

Finally played this after never having played it through all these years, and it was extremely fun. Played through it in it's entirety with the Seamless Coop mod (which frankly should've been included in the base game).

Both DS1 and DS2 are flawed masterpieces in their own way. DS3 deviates from this however. It's got an extremely polished gameplay experience with a lot of the idiosyncrasies (both good and bad) no longer being present in the game. This does lead to far fewer moments of frustration and more moments of genuine skill expression but it looses the charm and *soul* the earlier games have. That being said it sill compiles many of the best parts of earlier games. Combat feels fluid and bosses feel challenging but fair, the environments have fantastic atmosphere, and each level has an interconnected feel despite the games more linear design.

I absolutely love this game. It is probably tied with the original title as my favorite in the Souls series. I do miss the interconnected world but the bosses, world design, and nostalgia filled NPC's/enemies just hit me. 83.5 hours on Steam and probably several hundred more hours on the Xbox One where I cut my teeth on it show my love for the game. This game is definitely comfort food in the best way. I can pick it up and dust it off any old time and know I am going to enjoy myself.

Good game, terrible grind. Best played with a friend.

Beautiful, sufficiently hard and very fluent gameplay

Its pretty saucy. Patches is still the sexiest souls character. That glistening bald head of his is like a mirror into my soul.

because of souls games my wife left me and never talks to me because i like souls games and not only that but all my friends left me as well and i now have no friends all of this happen just because i attempted SL1 and broken sword runs. nothing can express my hate for this game because of this one simple fact this game will ruin you as a person (at least i still have my other wife the firekeeper)

Great late game bosses, however I have mixed opinions on the early-mid game... In my opinion I wouldn't recommend this as a first souls game as it might put you off

Beating elden ring DOES NOT make you “all ready” to play ds3, so dont go in expecting roses and rainbows

That aside, this game is amazing, the early game is a little weak but the bosses are impeccable

Easily the strongest entry in the series in both mechanics and storytelling, but hampered by its need to callback and reference the first entry and ignore the second one.

The game exemplifies the design philosophies that Fromsoft had nailed down to a science by this point. The important NPCs all are easily visited in a contained space, the world winds around itself and one area's skybox is another one's terrain, the lore is by turns cryptic and mysterious and grandiose and arch depending on how much the player pays attention, the design is more hideous and twisted while retaining the dignified air of fantasy Europe, and the usual list can continue from there. It's a masterpiece of third-person Action RPGs and a crown jewel of the Souls-like genre. Unfortunately, it is very concerned with reminding you of the other games in its series and often sacrifices new ideas and areas for straight up lifted sections of other games. Characters offer bread crumbs of old names and ideas to pursue their stories. So it begs comparison with the other shining gems of Fromsoft's catalog which shows its minor weak points.

It has much less backtracking than the other two. So while it moves faster and more linearly it still is about the same amount of content. The bosses are greater than ever and the enemy design, when it's not repeating older ones, is strong and interesting for the entire main game. There are some all timer dungeons, but there are several that are basically interesting hallways that I forget about completely before every play-through.

I'm not the biggest fan of the DLCs because they feel like rushed extensions of old concepts that hide their short length with difficulty hikes, but it is nice to see some more old concepts and mysteries revisited. If there's one place the game could use some padding it's near the end.

Overall, strong recommend and if it weren't for Elden Ring I'd consider it the best way to get into the series. However, it's worth revisiting the other two first just so all the references and repeated locations make sense.

This game is genuinely the greatest game of all time. The first time I played this game was when I was 16 and it absolutely changed gaming for me. I tried playing the FF7 remake after this and it just didn't hit, and honestly since my first play through not much has. Everything in this game is great, to its story, the combat, the leveling, the bosses, the MUSIC. To me this is gaming perfected. I played bloodborne after this for the first time and didn't enjoy it as much, but thats nothing against bloodborne. This game is a masterpiece.

If you love the souls like genre and have never played DS3 then you are severely missing out and need to experience the masterpiece of this game.

Only downside was achievement hunting this game, was a super pain. But still enjoyed playing through this game the 4 new game pluses it took me to finish the achievements.

Now I am off to playing the seemless co-op mod and the cinders mod for the continued content of the amazing foundation this game creates.

Thanks Jaren for the 4 years it took you to convince me to play it lol

This is it. This is THE Souls-Game that has perfected the souls-formula. After over 200 hours in Dark Souls 3 as well as Elden Ring I can comfortably say that DS3 has the better gameplay.

In this game, you will experience the peak of boss design. DS3 bosses have something that makes them stand apart from souls bosses of other games. These bosses have been designed in such a way that fighting them is a real challenge while giving the feeling of a fair battle. For example, those bosses may delay their attacks but they give small but significant indicators which signalize when the attack is going to hit. Unlike in Elden Ring, these bosses do not overdo those delayed attacks. They have a healthy amount of such delays. It is quite a refreshing feeling. DS3's bosses also give you the time to punish. They WILL eventually end their attack and thereby give you the chance to hit. That is something that is missing in Elden Ring where sometimes bosses have seemingly endless attacks (Don't understand me wrong, I love the challenge of it but in the end DS3 gives you a much more satisfying feeling fighting the bosses due to the fairness). Moreover, these bosses allow you to use different builds which makes their design even better.
Another crucial aspect of DS3 is that these bosses are UNIQUE. They do not repeat occurring within the game which gives them such a special encounter every time. Comparing it to Elden Ring again, none of the bosses in DS3 is just a reskin of another boss. Each fight feels different and refreshing.
One more aspect that contributes to the uniqueness is the music. - Oh my god, this music is so GOOD. What have they done. I cannot describe how amazing the music is. The boss soundtracks are so distinctive, unmistakable and have all their own character. DS3 truly exceeds in the music design when comparing it to Elden Ring. Elden Ring has also good tracks but they are much more generic which gives them not such a special and unique sensation. On the other hand, DS3's tracks are so fitting within the fight itself and fit even with the lore of the bosses.
Generally, there is not a single bad boss - yes, here and there are some bosses that are not great but overall everyone does not give you a feeling of frustration. However, the good half of the bosses is just PEAK.

The linearity of the levels may be something that is not for everyone appealing. However, in my opinion DS3 has implemented the linear level design greatly. I had never the feeling getting bored due to the linearity. Moreover, the game provides some forks within the roads where you can choose to go first but in the end the path is mostly linear. The levels itself are engaging to explore and go through. They are interesting and the enemies in each level differ, giving a good amount of variety and interest. One aspect of the linearity that most people may overlook is that it gives the game great scaling of difficulty. Hereby, bosses as well as enemies are more perfectly scaled with your current character level, making the bosses even more fair. In contrast, the exploration of Elden Ring really hurt the bosses. While some bosses have been way to overscaled - which forced me to sit many hours on them - , other bosses have been wayyyy to easy due to being overleved which made the boss fights itself much more uninteresting.

Yet, there is one thing that lacks quality. Namely, online pvp. The problem of online pvp is that the delay is so huge which makes fighting almost unpredictable since out of nowhere the opponent may hit you even though your character has been away in a safe distance.

Lastly, I want to mention that Slave Knight Gael is the best boss ever made. It combines all the great features from every boss in the souls series. The fight is so epic with all the things going on - the attacks of Gael, the music in the background, everything is just perfect. No other boss comes even close to the design of this boss. It is worth buying DS3 just to fight Gael.

I LOVE THIS GAME, It's my favorite souls game but I'm going to have to give it a negative review because my experience on PC is terrible. (as you might notice) I only have 3.7 Hours on the game so far heres why. For the entire start of the game everything went smoothly until about 2 hours in when I kept experiencing freezes and stutters. I have a 4090, I should not have a single problem running this game if my old 3060 ran it fine. There seems to be no solution except a group of people saying "deal with it" Not only does the problem show up around 2 hours where I can no longer refund but I also payed $86 for a 2016 game that is unfortunately unplayable for me. I'm leaving the comments open If anyone else has this problem and has a solution for me I'd be happy to finish this game and give it the score it deserves but as It stands It wont be getting recommenced by me.

What a game! I came here after Elden Ring, I've already bought it but never played it.
I just finished the 1st ending, I've killed every boss (mandatory and optional) and WHAT A GAME!
Lore 11/10
Gameplay 10/10
Farming Pale Tongue 2/10
Level design 10/10
Bosses design and move set 10/10

But, even if I died a lot of times (and indeed happened), I never went hollow.
Give this masterpiece a try, and don't you dare go hollow.

Coming to this game as someone who's only other Souls experience was Elden Ring, some of the bosses in this game feel a little bit underwhelming, especially in terms of difficulty (I beat the final boss on my first attempt). That being said, I still got the full Fromsoft experience from this game, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Elden Ring. And don't worry, there are still plenty of difficult bosses in the game.

Difficult, but very good once you get past some petty design decisions. The runback to the bosses is a bit tiresome, but it gets easier as your character gets stronger. Overall excellent single-player exploration based game with an enticing story, rich gameplay, many secrets to discover and really good boss fights. A must-play for any gamer which enjoys RPGs and has the patience, time and effort with very rewarding outcome.

Dark Souls 3 is an unforgettable experience. The locations are very beautiful and the bosses are amazingly designed - each fight turns into a tense test, where a mistake costs lives.
The combat system is fast and responsive, and the choice of weapons and builds gives room for experimentation. The difficulty is high, but it motivates you to learn and become better. Each victory brings genuine satisfaction.
Overall, the game is gorgeous and brought a lot of emotions

very nice but kinda short main game story , i wish it could be 100+ hours, sometimes bosses were very slow and predictable. World is not interconnected like in DS1 which isnt good or bad, just saying. My first dark soul game was DS1 so even tho i played ds3 I could not feel the same ,,fresh,, experience like in Ds1 . But every part of this game is 10/10 and if is this your first DS GAME please dont rush...,just enjoy

While it may not stand as the pinnacle of the series, it certainly does not fall into the realm of the inferior. This game draws closer to the essence of Bloodborne than its earlier counterparts, particularly in its combat mechanics and boss design. However, this shift does not detract from the quality of the bosses. In fact, the encounters found within the two DLC expansions and the latter portion of the game are among the finest offerings available. The caliber of these bosses rivals that of the esteemed Elden Ring, showcasing a remarkable level of craftsmanship.

If you like rpgs and dungeon crawlers then it is perfect, even if you aren't a particular fan of those categories it is such an amazing game. The difficulty really relies on what class you choose to take and how well it suits your play style, you can even challenge yourself to complete it in different ways than what is naturally intended which adds to it in such a cool way, I would 100% say to at least check it out, i'm almost certain that most people would love it or at least like it, but if not the refund option is always available.

This game came into my life at exactly the right moment.

-Thank you Miyazaki

(Notice that the NPCs inside the Cathedral use Light magic, while the Priest employs Curse magic and drops a Twisted Soul. I love the hidden humor.)

very good game, but you have to be good to beat this good game! this game isnt good, its Great. No, It's fantastic! there is no better souls-like game better than this game. git gud and no die. remember, you don't need hp if you dont get hit.

10/10 and a definite must play at least one time. Great level design, music, bosses, and really cool lore/weapons/outfits. It is a hard game, but don't quit because its worth it.

the bosses, atmosphere and level design is all incredible and a big fan of some of the scenery. A shame some story threats of old weren't addressed and best story is behind dlc but awesome ending to incredible trilogy 9/10

If you are emotional like me, this game is for you
the music is unique and the story of the game is full of tragedies of darkness against light. After completing this game, you will feel a sense of lack and to compensate for this feeling you will inevitably play it three more times. After that, a sense of emptiness will overwhelm you and you will go in search of the hidden secrets of this world
(It is recommended that you have enough information about the story of the previous two versions to understand this game better)

A cult ciassic. Fast paced, complex yet streamlined combat that is easy to learn and hard to master,

The most stunning visuals of the series albeit with a quite linear map theres still some minor sequence breaking for the skilled and the daring!

This game has insane replayability value allowing you to play infinte NG cycles for you to create a insane character or just try other builds as the game gets even harder than before.

PVP is great but its a bit dead understandably since the game is getting very old by now. Engaging in co op and summoning is still quite common and makes the game quite fun.

My Favorite Boss-Rush Game

If you are familiar with From Software's souls games, you may know Sekiro has best boss battles this series has to offer (Idk If you even consider Sekiro a souls game.). Why am I talking about Sekiro right now? You see, Sekiro was my first souls game and after playing it, other games like Elden Ring, Demon Souls and Dark Souls Remastered, I felt like something was missing from these games. Dark Souls 3 made me realize it was the unforgetable boss battles what I have been looking for. Of course I am not saying ER or DS don't have any good bosses but Dark Souls 3 is another level If we are talking about boss fights. We will come to this topic later but first, let's dive into other details.

Gameplay and Combat

Since there are hundres of souls games I assume you have played at least one of them. If you didn't, don't worry because combat is so simple. You have light/heavy attacks and you can use dodge roll to avoid attacks. That basically sums it up. Although it may sound simple, you will be addicted to it. There tons of fun builds you can mess around with, timing your attacks and roll times, finding enemies' weak spots etc. These are what makes it addictive. All weapons in the game has unique skills but unfortunately, execution is not as idea sounds. There is high chance that you will find yourself using weapons because you liked the weapon, not its skill. Eventually you will stop using weapon arts. I am glad FS actually fixed this problem in Elden Ring. Combat is faster than previous Dark Souls games. If you have played any Soulsborne game after Dark Souls 2 you will get used to it quickly.

Level Design and Boss Fights

It is a known fact that in terms of level design, Dark Souls 3 is very inferior to first game. While I agree with this, I don't have any problems with linear levels. Nothing comes to my mind when I think about a single bad designed level in DS3. Levels may not be connected to each other which kills the immersion of world. However, after playing hours and hours, it becomes to tiring to explore areas and do backtracking in first game. Dark Souls 3 is more comfortable in that regard.

As I said earlier boss fights are where this game shines. Most of fights aren't perfect, especially during early game. I almost quit this game because I found them so easy and boring (I am not flexing by the way.). Actually I can't remember a single boss that took more than 15 minutes to beat. But in later parts, fights became more engaging. Still easy, yes but yet so fun. Especially in DLCs, I don't want to spoil anything.

Should you get this game?

Answer is yes BUT wait for sale. 60$ is too much for this game. If you are okay with money, don't wait a single sec. One of the best action-rpg on market.

An awesome game. I've played the base game and the first DLC so far. Most bosses are pretty easy. The last 2 bosses of the base game and the last boss of DLC Ashes of Ariandel are a little difficult(1 boss is difficult only because of the camera) but they only took 5 tries each at most. The game is much easier than Sekiro where I spent hours on some of the bosses. Also, I wish the game would let you respec your weapons.

It's very satisfying when you make a successful parry.

One of the best souls game. It's aged perfectly after almost a decade. Praise The Sun! ( 9.5/10 )

aesthetic based hack and slash. not for me. prefer BG3 or even elden ring which is kinda similar. feels like a 3d version of soul calibur which I did not enjoy, (same maker Bandai though I love a lot of their other stuff). A lot of reviews indicate they love it so I think it's just me.

This game is one of the most difficult games I have played so far, but it is also fair and if you try enough then you will be able to beat the game. Also how did I get stuck on the damn tree for that long?

I'm not recommending the game under specific circumstances. The game isn't optimized for PC and using a keyboard and mouse. Mouse sensitivity is wild depending if you're in menus or not. The prompts are written for an Xbox controller button names. This isn't including graphical hiccups or what-not. Pseudo-Souls games like Lords of the Fallen have managed to cater to PC users. I can expect this issue from my old "Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition". But, for Dark Souls 3? I just expected more from FromSoftware.

If you are using a controller, or willing to break Terms to mod fix this game instead of the developers themselves, have a great time! However, I'm not interested in spending the extra cash just for a controller.

its a good game but its sometimes confusing and it's really hard to play and get better at...but i do love a challenge

Game was really fun
I Got 100% Steam achievements and was mostly fun thing to do
Highly recommend getting spare keyboards or controllers though

The perfect souls experience. This game is legendary in every sense of the word. The Bosses are unforgettable, the pacing is perfect and the story is impactful and meaningful in so many ways. Focused and intentionally crafted so that if you use your souls correctly you will always be at the power level you need to be, when you need to be there. It makes leveling effortless so you can just focus on the game play and the boss fights. I rarely cry while experiencing any sort of media let alone a video game, but I will always remember when and where I completed this Masterpiece. This game had a deep message and impactful character writing that is delivered perfectly, while having some of the best game play Fromsoft has ever made.

> launch the game. . .
> fight a boss and get slammed for over 50 times then rage quit.
> launch the game the other day. . .
> farm some souls and level up then get ready for the fight. . .
> get slammed for other 50 times.

Amazing game. If you're new to souls games, this a great starter. I did my first play through after putting 400+ hours into Elden Ring and i fell in love with this game. Playing Elden Ring first definitely made this game easier for me.

As a masterpiece of Souls games,in terms of game play, it's on the higher end of the overall difficulty scale, each enemy and boss has a unique attack pattern.

At the same time, the game's maps are well-designed, hiding a large number of shortcuts and hidden areas, a clever blend of exploration and puzzle elements.

In terms of plot, the game adopts a fragmented narrative approach, where players need to piece together the entire story from item descriptions, NPC dialogues and scene atmospheres. The game builds a grand and dark worldview where the world is facing a crisis where the fire will be extinguished, and the player's choices will determine the fate of the world. This exploration of the meaning of life, destiny and the world adds a strong philosophical color to the game.

Audio-visual performance, the game screen is rich in detail, building, monster modeling fine, excellent light and shadow effects, will be the atmosphere of the best. The sound effects and soundtrack are also very good, the attack sound effects are realistic, the boss battle music is exciting, and the exploration music is mysterious and lonely, which perfectly fits the game scene.

Amazing game, amazing gameplay, music, aesthetic, design, etc. Has some of the best bosses I've played yet, (especially my goat gael) Knowing the games story and hearing the music in the final boss is something you gotta experience yourself.
Best Dark Souls game, one of my favorites.

absolute fav game ever. great lore across the three games, but this one just hits the spot. dove into it and kept going down the rabbit hole for m o n t h s. absolutely love it.

Que jogo de fudido pra platinar ein
Jogaço, basicamente pegaram tudo que podia ser melhorado e colocaram nesse jogo, os boss são mais divertidos, não tem ADP e o teu boneco tem mais i-frame, o level design é muito bom e a trilha sonora é do caralho.
Dito isso, só platinem esse jogo se você amar muito ele, porquê puta que pariu pegar todos os anéis, magias, piromancias e milagres não é nem um pouco divertido, vai se foder proof of a concord kept eu te odeio

Muito bom jogo, 10/10
DS2>DS3

Every time the YOU DIED screen shows up and those mf sfx DIINGGGGGGGG goes off, i am not getting better, I AM JUST REPEATING THE SAME STOOOPID SHYT I DID AND DAMN THAT FEELS AMAZING!

The atmosphere dripping and enthralling me at every turn. The combat has ruined most other games for me, the standard was set too high here and I can't un-experience it. This came out in 2016??

What a game 10/10

hell yeah. had a great first playthrough, claymore for life, a lot more refined than the first two dark souls games and is still worth playing even if you've already played elden ring, the falling death sound being so hilarious helps with the often bullshittery of this games fall damage, although this particual game in the souls series makes leveling a lot more limited, for example I finished elden ring at about 130 and this game at about 90 it makes up for it by making stats do a lot more early on, for example the most important vigor soft cap is 27 with most weapons not having super high stat requirements so its ok, overall great game at least a 9/10

Platinum acquired in 50ish hours
PROS:
-It has the Nameless King, best boss fight in the series so far (I haven't played ER or Sekiro, yet)
-Active playerbase

CONS:
-Covenant grind sucks mad shit (worst one in the series, I have all three of them)
-Most bosses are boring until Pontiff Sulyvahn
-Way too easy, only bosses that are a challenge are Suly, Lothric, Nameless GOAT, then DLC bosses like Midir and Gael
-Quests are way too specific, I saw a reel the other day mocking DS quests, and it lives rent-free in my head ever since (I'm looking at you, Yellowfinger Heysel)

Overall, I rate this game a Skill Issue/Git Gud.

after 44 minutes of playing this game it has changed my life drastically for the better , i now have a loving wife 2 children and no debt . But one major problem has happend i dont have any time left for them since this game is all that i want and will ever need .


So yeah its kinda fun and good soundtrack

The best FromSoftware game there is. Finished it multiple times throughout the years and I could still do it some more. Just amazing, no words can describe this masterpiece.

Really enjoyed this on release. It didn't quite stick the same way something like Dark Souls I did for me, but was a nice return to form after Dark Souls II.