Dark Souls III

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4553 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,853 out of 4553
  2. Mixed: 281 out of 4553
  3. Negative: 419 out of 4553
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  1. ChikatiloZ
    Apr 15, 2016
    0
    -Plays with keyboard and mouse, gets popups on screen yellow Y, red B, green A, blue X, backflippers.
    -Has to go into the menu to find corresponding K+M key.
    -Can't rebind keys. -Finds out 1/3 of the games functions aren't accessible for PC gamers because there simply isn't a key to do some moves and there's no way to rebind keys. -Returns game Third game in the series, third time    -Plays with keyboard and mouse, gets popups on screen yellow Y, red B, green A, blue X, backflippers.
    -Has to go into the menu to find corresponding K+M key.
    -Can't rebind keys.
    -Finds out 1/3 of the games functions aren't accessible for PC gamers because there simply isn't a key to do some moves and there's no way to rebind keys.
    -Returns game

    Third game in the series, third time they troll pc gamers.    … Expand
  2. FadingHope
    Apr 19, 2016
    1
    Stay away from this trash IF you like complex, deep, elaborate combat. From start to finish, this game boils down to mashing two buttons: hit and roll. That's what you gonna be doing. It's the most dull, repetitive, shallow game I've ever played. The only redeeming feature is the graphics and the atmosphere, but when a game that's all about fighting fails dismally when it comes to theStay away from this trash IF you like complex, deep, elaborate combat. From start to finish, this game boils down to mashing two buttons: hit and roll. That's what you gonna be doing. It's the most dull, repetitive, shallow game I've ever played. The only redeeming feature is the graphics and the atmosphere, but when a game that's all about fighting fails dismally when it comes to the combat system, there's no saving grace. Don't get misled by all those 10's disgorged by fanboys, they're only playing it to prove how amazingly pro and superior they are to 'casuals'. If you look at any gameplay, you will see within 10 seconds EVERYTHING that games has to offer - a roll and a hit. That's all there's to it. Some of the enemies are gonna be bigger, some of the weapons are gonna be more rusty. But in the end this 60 dollar 'masterpiece' can be summarised in three words: roll and hit. 1/10. For graphics.… Expand
  3. Avadon
    Apr 12, 2016
    3
    The game is in a disastrous state for me. Running on 4790k, 16g ram, gtx980. The framerate is high, but suffers from occasional weird spikes that really impact the gameplay. But that's nothing compared to the constant crashing. The game crashed 4 times for me in 90 minutes. I refunded because I don't trust FROM with fixing their games in a timely manner. When Dark Souls 1 was firstThe game is in a disastrous state for me. Running on 4790k, 16g ram, gtx980. The framerate is high, but suffers from occasional weird spikes that really impact the gameplay. But that's nothing compared to the constant crashing. The game crashed 4 times for me in 90 minutes. I refunded because I don't trust FROM with fixing their games in a timely manner. When Dark Souls 1 was first released on PS3, the target locking was completely broken. It took them like 3 months to fix it, and it really ruined the experience. It took them so long to fix something that basic and important. Let's not even mention the weapon degradation nonsense in DS2 for PC, which they only bothered with when they had to deal with it for the PS4 version. I just don't trust them.

    The game itself looks great from my limited experience, but I recommend you wait and keep an eye on patch announcements and the Steam forums before you buy it. As for the score, I can't give a game that crashes every 20 minutes anything higher than 3. Will revisit it if/when they fix the game and update the review.    … Expand
  4. EvilTerrorizer
    Apr 12, 2016
    0
    Unplayable on PC with mouse+keyboard... got refund. Graphics are nowhere close to screenshots and I'm playing on highest settings. So yeah great adverts, but you won't be stealing my money.
  5. Rukh
    Apr 13, 2016
    0
    Currently this game is in a BUYER BEWARE state. You might get a great game, you may pay for nothing playable. Until they fix it, I can't recommend anyone buy it on PC.
  6. Zajcew
    Apr 12, 2016
    0
    The game keeps crashing non stop. It crashes on bonfires, outside of bonfires, it just crashes at random places. Had 5 crashes in less then 5 hours. Plenty of people with the same problem. Do not buy.
  7. kidcash764
    Apr 12, 2016
    4
    If you like dying over 20 times to figure out a boss fight fight pattern then I guess this game or any Dark Souls game is for you.

    Normal common gamers need not apply to this game.
  8. WAnchor
    Apr 12, 2016
    1
    The worst PC release of all time. End of.

    If you thought Arkham Knight and Just Cause 3 had shaky launches and abysmal support; you haven;t seen nothing yet. The game is made purely for consoles, hence the game has NO keyboard bindings in the menu - it's all Xbox controller buttons which shows how lazy the developers were right off the bat as they can't even get the most simplest thing    The worst PC release of all time. End of.

    If you thought Arkham Knight and Just Cause 3 had shaky launches and abysmal support; you haven;t seen nothing yet. The game is made purely for consoles, hence the game has NO keyboard bindings in the menu - it's all Xbox controller buttons which shows how lazy the developers were right off the bat as they can't even get the most simplest thing right. 'Press any button' at the start screen requires you to actually click on the icon as no keys work also. Just embarrassing.

    The game itself runs appallingly on my system that exceeds the recommended specs. I get frame drops south of 10fps, the game frequently crashes and the amount of stuttering is a joke. In terms of gameplay from what I've played; it's worse than the first two games with an even more intolerable camera and wayward controls. The combat is sloppy and all the environments look the same. Whether you play 5 hours or 50; it's just the same over and over and when the game runs the way it does; it's not even worth the hassle.

    People like TotalBiscuit and companies like PC Gamer will continue to patronise users who don't have a $5,000 PC saying it's an amazing port and they experience no issues at all. For most mainstream users, this game is the pinnacle of why AAA PC gaming is dead and for everyone who splashes out on GTX 980 cards; the only games worth playing are indie titles. If you're going to get this game; get it on PS4 if you have one and if not; don't even bother.

    Worst game of 2016 so far.    … Expand
  9. Exfan
    Apr 12, 2016
    2
    Played plenty of Dark Souls games. Best of those seemed to be Dark Souls 1 because level design and lack of stupid punishment system that was implemented in DS2. Luckily DS3 seems to be lot like DS1 in game design. Now after getting my testing DS3 i am happy to go back playing DS1.
    I would buy this game at discount. Game has terrible framerate issues game is mostly of the time unplayable    Played plenty of Dark Souls games. Best of those seemed to be Dark Souls 1 because level design and lack of stupid punishment system that was implemented in DS2. Luckily DS3 seems to be lot like DS1 in game design. Now after getting my testing DS3 i am happy to go back playing DS1.
    I would buy this game at discount. Game has terrible framerate issues game is mostly of the time unplayable because of this. Safest choice is to wait about 6 months and perhaps it gets better optimized due patching or you get game at decent price.
    At this moment game is not worth any hard earned money that you have earned. Seems to be just another example of rushed poorly optimized beta stage game that seems to common practice in gaming industry these days.
    Asking you t buy this game and giving 10/10 is just way of saying "Go full retard" and you all know best advice is "Never,go full retard"    … Expand
  10. Witcher468
    Mar 2, 2021
    0
    Я хотел перенести сохранения со своего старого компьютера на новый, и меня забанили, за такое предательство ставлю игре 0.
  11. xrEngine512
    Mar 9, 2019
    0
    inadequate banning policy. PC contols are a joke. And ban message only shows up if you are playing on english, otherwise you'll have no idea why you can't join your friend. And I even have bought all DLCs for this crap
  12. gssbcvegancat
    Apr 28, 2016
    2
    This is the worst incarnation of a Souls game imaginable. It borrows bosses, and mechanics, from Demon Souls/Dark Souls 1. It doesn't improve on them, in fact it is just the opposite. A great example is the "poise" system from DS1. Poise is in this game, but only in name. It appears on armor, and even in item abilities, however it has no effect on the game. This means that any fastThis is the worst incarnation of a Souls game imaginable. It borrows bosses, and mechanics, from Demon Souls/Dark Souls 1. It doesn't improve on them, in fact it is just the opposite. A great example is the "poise" system from DS1. Poise is in this game, but only in name. It appears on armor, and even in item abilities, however it has no effect on the game. This means that any fast attacking enemy can stun lock the player to death, completely negating your armor.

    The poise issue only further shows another fault in the game. Enemies have been changed from previous games. Fast attacking enemies no longer have stamina, instead they have an infinite amount of stamina and their attacks are based on a roughly static "attack per second". While this means that one versus one you can easily beat them, it also means that if there are more than one the player has a much higher chance of getting killed. This isn't a case of "getting better", because there is no poise the player will now get stunned as soon as they are hit the first time/or their stamina is drained if they block. If all things were equal it would still be annoying, however enemies in the game do have poise. It is removed from the player, while enemies get full "hyper armor". This means that the player may try to swing that big axe like the npc, but if they get hit they get stunned out of their attack unless it happens in a few frames of hyper armor. Big weapons with wide swing arcs are generally used to kill lots of weak things fast, but that won't work anymore.

    That is just two of the problems with the basic attacks. IF you look at magic you will see other problems. For example scaling in the game is broken. Not in a positive way, but in a completely nonexistent way. Further if you do reach the 50+ area where magic actually starts to deal damage, you will have the exact same outfit as everyone else who is magic. You might ask, why? Fashion souls is the real end game, right? Not when it comes to magic, because in order to be viable you need a specific setup. You need a certain head piece, a certain dagger, your rings etc are all set. There is no variety because of how the system is designed.

    Instead of just making enemies hard, they have coded in artificial forms of increasing the difficulty. FOr example some enemies are coded to have a shield and face you all of the time. If you try to kick the shield then the game lowers the shield and counter attacks. However unlike DS/DS1 in this game you become animation locked far more frequently. An easily observed example is to start running, and then try to turn another direction. In DS your character would simply move, but in DS3 you get locked into a pivot animation. There are no iframes for this, and it counts as a counter hit giving the enemy bonus damage. So if you try to kick the shield the enemy is programmed to drop their shield and counter attack while you are unable to do anything. That isn't about skill, that is the complete opposite of what DS stands for. That is taking the ability to make the play from the player, and instead asking them if they can cheese the system like a speed runner. This can be observed when fighting knights past the dragon barracks also. They have a lock on feature that will lock on and hit you through walls, or invisibility. Despite having never actually observed the player they are capable of buffing then executing an attack on an invisible silenced enemy.

    I could go on, but this game isn't that worth it. It gets good ratings from people that never played the first ones. This is just a pale, pathetic, imitation of far better games. The only reason it's getting 3 stars instead of 2 is because of the clothing options available. They did a better, if still racist, job.    … Expand
  13. nomaddc
    May 5, 2016
    0
    Regulation 1.06 was announced to be released on April 28, and it was to fix some serious Online issues. But in reality it never arrived, but what's even worse - Bandai Namco didn't release any official statement on why Regulations didn't arrive and when they will, as well as there is complete silence on this subject on Dark Souls twitter or in steam news/announcements/community. It'sRegulation 1.06 was announced to be released on April 28, and it was to fix some serious Online issues. But in reality it never arrived, but what's even worse - Bandai Namco didn't release any official statement on why Regulations didn't arrive and when they will, as well as there is complete silence on this subject on Dark Souls twitter or in steam news/announcements/community. It's already May 6, and official Dark Souls channels are behaving like if nothing happened at all. Patch did arrive on consoles though, but not PC.

    That and the fact that game is still laggy on high-end rigs, drops frames, has gameplay issues (try look up "Poise Dark Souls 3" or "Darkmoon blades wait time PC") that need to be addressed, really ambiguous patch notes in past (instead of being precise on what was fixed or changed, they just roll with "graphics were adjusted" or "Long sword damage was tuned". And that's not touching biggest part - combat. Many unique weapons from previous games made it, but their movesets are now complete garbage, there are about 2 variation of moveset across whole weapon classes, many unique and cool movesets are gone, the final boss soul weapon is absolutely disappointing as it is pretty much a reskin of very basic weapon that can be obtained rather early in the game with minor change (weapon art, which is also extremely disappointing). Overall weapons are bland and boring, Twinblade weapon class is gone, some categories have only 3 weapons (while in previous games it was more, and weapons were more unique).

    Because of all this my score is 0/10. Once we get some official statement on Regulation 1.06 (and apology to Dark Souls community), Blue Sentinels and Darkmoon blades covenants fixed, and at least get rid of random fps drops on hi-end PCs - I will reconsider this score. Until then - here it is.    … Expand
  14. Fiffo
    Aug 18, 2016
    2
    The game is a real time-waster. Even the daily quests in WoW are more fun than this! Running from the checkpoint to your dying place over and over again is what you will do mostly here. Checkpoints are usually far from one another and if you are cautious and prefer to take the shortest way, you can miss a lot of content. A lot of the fights in the game, including boss fights do not offerThe game is a real time-waster. Even the daily quests in WoW are more fun than this! Running from the checkpoint to your dying place over and over again is what you will do mostly here. Checkpoints are usually far from one another and if you are cautious and prefer to take the shortest way, you can miss a lot of content. A lot of the fights in the game, including boss fights do not offer anything different and there is very little room for tactics - mostly always it's "hit first and roll out, or take a hit and you won't make it to the next checkpoint". One of my worst spent money.… Expand
  15. MrMe43
    May 11, 2016
    4
    I have been playing Dark Souls since the original (never really got into demon souls) and I truly did enjoy the first two games in the Dark Souls franchise. I cant really find anything wrong with PVE, although it seems easier than the others, but the PVP is where the game is severely lacking. The biggest issue is the lack of poise alongside the insane stability of great shields . I don'tI have been playing Dark Souls since the original (never really got into demon souls) and I truly did enjoy the first two games in the Dark Souls franchise. I cant really find anything wrong with PVE, although it seems easier than the others, but the PVP is where the game is severely lacking. The biggest issue is the lack of poise alongside the insane stability of great shields . I don't know when they are going to fix this but currently pose does nothing, one hit from any weapon and you will stagger no matter the armor or rings. The result of this is the spamming of straight swords with great shields and full heavy armor. It takes the fun out of PVP. Unless you do the same, these scrubs will stun lock you from one lucky hit and sit behind a shield until they start spamming 10 swings at a time again. I can win matches if I pull out a straight sword, but I believe it just ruins what made this amazing co-op, PVP system so great to begin with. I don't know why they did this but I am very disappointed. The PVE, while extremely fun and somewhat challenging (the first couple times), can only be amusing for a certain amount of time before it becomes mundane. If you are not a fan of PVP or don't aim for it, Dark Souls 3 is a extremely worthwhile buy, but the multiplayer is extremely biased towards one play style and it is exponentially more frustrating than single player. And some might not find this a problem and will just stick with the same spam style to keep pace with the rest of the masses, but if you are looking for a diverse group of players to challenge you online, you will be extremely disappointed until they fix this system. My score is harsh only to show my frustration.… Expand
  16. TsukasaHiiragi
    May 11, 2016
    2
    Bugs, cut content - horrible community and the PC version suffers from a MAJOR hacker problem. Exactly, I could write a huge review here and mirror what all the other people have said - its not going to matter much because there are far too many fanboi posts or employee posts boosting positives.

    My personal problem with the DS series as a whole, is the game isn't difficult - its    Bugs, cut content - horrible community and the PC version suffers from a MAJOR hacker problem. Exactly, I could write a huge review here and mirror what all the other people have said - its not going to matter much because there are far too many fanboi posts or employee posts boosting positives.

    My personal problem with the DS series as a whole, is the game isn't difficult - its cheap, there is a difference. If your going to make a game thats brutally unfair, then the physics and execution of the game needs to be perfect and none of the DS series has managed that so far.

    If you want a perfectly structured review, then read Dhelio's review since that more or less is spot on.    … Expand
  17. Sky-Moondrift
    Dec 24, 2016
    1
    Yet another disgustingly shabby console port by FS.

    - Resolution capped at 1080p - Hideously bad textures (playstation 2 lvl bad) - Fugly 2D backdrops resembling that of a SNES game. - Forced mouse acceleration - Input prompts and UI are for XBOX not PC. - Extremely bad character models - Console UI - No UI scaling - Does in no way improve upon the first DS game both technically    Yet another disgustingly shabby console port by FS.

    - Resolution capped at 1080p
    - Hideously bad textures (playstation 2 lvl bad)
    - Fugly 2D backdrops resembling that of a SNES game.
    - Forced mouse acceleration
    - Input prompts and UI are for XBOX not PC.
    - Extremely bad character models
    - Console UI
    - No UI scaling
    - Does in no way improve upon the first DS game both technically or aesthetically.

    + I got a Refund

    The game itself could be good, I don't know, I spent my first hour trying to comprehend how terrible this port is and looking for ways to fix it.

    But don't let all that bother you, it hasn't in the past right? Just keep throwing your money on the ever growing fire that's ruining the potential greatness of this franchise and PC games in general.

    Why make a good game when you can spend no effort on insulting and blatantly lazy console ports that casuals (people with no standards or expectations) gobble up and worship anyway. This right here is the reason 95% of games these days are trash.

    Stick it up your A-hole From.

    Copy/Paste of my Steam review.    … Expand
  18. TheBasicReviews
    Jan 27, 2022
    0
    Story: No story/100
    Gameplay: Very bad/100
    Graphics: Mediocre at best/100 Music/Soundtrack: ?/100 Main Character(s): ?/100 Side Characters: 20/100 Regular Enemies: 0/100 Bosses/Boss fights: I have no idea, i died 86 times on first boss and gave up/100 World/Level Design: 0/100 Playability (Bugs and optimization after patches): 70/100 Would I Play It Again?: No, i rather give up    Story: No story/100
    Gameplay: Very bad/100
    Graphics: Mediocre at best/100
    Music/Soundtrack: ?/100
    Main Character(s): ?/100
    Side Characters: 20/100
    Regular Enemies: 0/100
    Bosses/Boss fights: I have no idea, i died 86 times on first boss and gave up/100
    World/Level Design: 0/100
    Playability (Bugs and optimization after patches): 70/100
    Would I Play It Again?: No, i rather give up gaming than play this game again
    Where Does It Rank In My Top 500 Video Games of All Time List?: Doesn't fit into Top 500

    Rating: 0/100    … Expand
  19. evarr
    Nov 21, 2017
    2
    So, no poise, dead pvp.
    A lot of copy-past, even dark souls 2 was better.
    And lastly, no humanity, you can't do fair heal fights in dark souls 3.
    Dark Souls 1 so much better.
  20. kalikinalex
    May 17, 2021
    1
    Дырка соски 3 или как нам продают одну и ту же игру в 4 раз
    Знаете, игровая индустрия меняется:
    - появляются новые технологии, новые механики; - изменяется жанр в серии какой-нибудь игры, например postal был изометрическим шутером, а стал шутером от 1 лица с открытым миром, с черным юмором и т.д. Разработчики учитывают ошибки с прошлых частей серии, как было например с zombie army. НО    Дырка соски 3 или как нам продают одну и ту же игру в 4 раз
    Знаете, игровая индустрия меняется:
    - появляются новые технологии, новые механики;
    - изменяется жанр в серии какой-нибудь игры, например postal был изометрическим шутером, а стал шутером от 1 лица с открытым миром, с черным юмором и т.д. Разработчики учитывают ошибки с прошлых частей серии, как было например с zombie army.
    НО ВСЁ ЭТО НЕ ОТНОСИТСЯ К DARK SOULS™ III, а спросите почему?

    Всё тот же геймплей с минимум изменений. Враги всё также умирают статично, а когда падают, у них включается рэгдолл. Боссы и мобы всё также ударяют сквозь стены и столбы. Всё такое же лаганое пвп, когда ударяешь врага, слышится даже звук, что ты его ударил, но урон cyka не засчитался. Некоторые летающие твари также вылетают за карту и умирают там(хотя это маленький плюс). Всё те же подсказки с кнопками от xbox, а не от клавиатуры. В игре нет steam cloud судя по отзывам. Представляете в игре нет steam cloud, так и еще нет иконок кнопок для клавиатуры. А самое главное - эти узкоглазые твари-унтерменши продают этот вонючий кaл за 2000 РУБЛЕЙ!!!
    Из нового только то, что некоторые мобы дерутся друг с другом, у всех боссов появляется 2 стадия, а самое главное - кровь наконец-то остается на земле, а то в прошлых частях этого даже не было!!!
    Также хочется сказать про пвп и античит. Почему Я обычный игрок должен дополнительно устанавливать пользовательский античит, так как в игре уже есть античит, но хреновый. Почему я должен надеяться, что ко мне не зайдет конченный опущенный пидopac с читами и не наспамит мне с другом в инвентарь мечей Повелителей бурь +20, которые нельзя удалить. Почему в игре нельзя отключить пвп, чтобы нормально пройти с другом игру, без присоединяющихся к нам красных yeбkoв.

    Подведем итог:
    DARK SOULS™ III - игра в которой ничего кардинально не изменилось и ничего нового не добавилось.
    DARK SOULS™ III - это слитые 509 рублей в унитаз за делюкс версию.
    DARK SOULS™ III - это игра, с которой не нужно брать пример другим разработчикам.
    DARK SOULS™ III - это когда ты рад, что наконец-то удалил со своего ПК эту пapaшу.
    DARK SOULS™ III - это мусор, который не стоит вашего внимания.

    Спасибо за внимание, я думаю вы это учтете.    … Expand
  21. jueben
    Dec 3, 2021
    0
    **** as game lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
  22. Adijazz1706
    May 12, 2016
    0
    Too many bugs and useless stats. Poise is useless, Vitality is a dump stat, there is no reason to wear heavy armor, rolls cost very little stamina, estus chugging is instantaneous making it impossible to punish, straight swords are way better than anything else, str swords and rapiers have phantom range , Estoc Turtling is the best strat because of insta-stagger. It also relies too much onToo many bugs and useless stats. Poise is useless, Vitality is a dump stat, there is no reason to wear heavy armor, rolls cost very little stamina, estus chugging is instantaneous making it impossible to punish, straight swords are way better than anything else, str swords and rapiers have phantom range , Estoc Turtling is the best strat because of insta-stagger. It also relies too much on throwbacks to DS1, whole areas and many enemies are from DS1. There are also stupid gimmicky and mob bosses including one who has skeleton wheels as a mob. A disappointing game all in all.… Expand
  23. Bernkastel12
    May 12, 2016
    0
    Quite easily one of the worst games i have ever played and thats a shame since i expected more from it.Probably the worst thing in this game is its abysmal combat system,the enemies in this game came straight from Bloodborne with 35 hit combos and mach 45 speed. Which would be fine if the main character was faster just like Bloodborne but nope he moves,dodges, and attacks like a turtleQuite easily one of the worst games i have ever played and thats a shame since i expected more from it.Probably the worst thing in this game is its abysmal combat system,the enemies in this game came straight from Bloodborne with 35 hit combos and mach 45 speed. Which would be fine if the main character was faster just like Bloodborne but nope he moves,dodges, and attacks like a turtle with its legs chopped off.Poise is also nonexistent and the enemies do ridiculous amounts of damage even by the standards of the souls series no matter which armor you wear or how much vigor you have making tank builds impossible.Same with stamina which gets annihilated by the crazy combos of the enemies unless you have a greatshield (and even that wont help you sometimes) People hated how Dark souls 2 handled difficulty by spamming enemies even though Dark souls 3 does the same thing and even worse since fighting at least 2-3 enemies at the same time is the norm in early areas and 4-5 in later.Optimization is also bad with fps drops,stuttering,and crashes even on high end rigs.There are many more problems (like the unbalanced sorcery,faith builds,pvp) but overall this is a poor excuse of a souls game unlike the fantastic Dark souls 1 which handled difficulty way better,fortunately those things can be worked out with patches but the chance of From doing it is very low.… Expand
  24. Dhelio
    May 11, 2016
    4
    People are giving this game incredible votes only because of its legacy; but it is far from perfect.

    DK3 suffers problems that its predecessors didn't have, nor does any game with a decent development time behind. Poise is a deactivated stat, which influences nothing (as confirmed to me by Bandai Namco technical assitance), causing you to get staggered by any enemy, even if you're    People are giving this game incredible votes only because of its legacy; but it is far from perfect.

    DK3 suffers problems that its predecessors didn't have, nor does any game with a decent development time behind.

    Poise is a deactivated stat, which influences nothing (as confirmed to me by Bandai Namco technical assitance), causing you to get staggered by any enemy, even if you're wearing heavy armor, thus making heavy armor useless. This bug is even more unbearable given how every enemy is relentless in attacking you, making stunlock deaths the norm just because the enemy (be that a player or a mob) managed to connect a single hit.

    Combat is also heavily influeced by Bloodborne, focusing in fast attacks and dodging and flashy movesets...while you wear armor. Yeah, you can see for yourself why this is **** DK3 combat is way faster than DK1. And that is really not what DK is about.

    Late game level design is also terrible. There are whole shortcuts that are never used, because once you've unlocked them there is no enemy to defeat, just bonfires. And the bonfires themselves are placed really badly, with multiple occurences of bonfires distant just a room from each other.

    Whole areas consist in just a single room filled to the brim with enemies, without shortcuts nor buildup to the boss (Profaned Capital, Consumed King's Garden and a late game level I don't feel like spoiling). And the enemy placement and variety PLUMMETS in the second half, with occurences of invisible enemies that are placed there only to corner you in a blind spot (that is so consistent with the game design THAT IT ONLY **** HAPPENS ONCE).

    It has now been discovered, as I write, that phantom range in straight swords are rapiers is a thing, making them SIGNIFICANTLY longer that Ultra Great Swords and Great Swords which, given the increased speed and damage of straight swords, makes using them the only viable options for PvP and make the life everyone that does PvE with any weapon other than straight swords significantly harder.

    The bosses themselves don't follow the same rules, with some who have attacks that are literally instakills (Dancer and Lothric in particular), so fast that players barely have time to dodge .

    Performance is also an issue, with early areas that run smooth as butter and lategame areas that have unbearable FPS drops when looking at distant geometry.

    Input delay is also a problem, with multiple times I've died because the game thought that rolling after I've pressed the button more than 3 seconds Before was a good idea.
    --------------------

    Dark Souls 3 is not a perfect game. As it stands, it is not even a good game. Between bugs, cut content and rushed features, DK3 is a relevant step back from its predecessors, and not a masterpieces it should rightfully be. Maybe DLCs will fix that, maybe not. But as it stands, the only thing DK3 does right is atmosphere and music.    … Expand
  25. servo
    May 15, 2016
    2
    This game was made out of Bloodborn , so they didn't have to spend much resources on a new game, you can see how stats/combat work similar to Bloodborn and not Dark Souls. This is just a cash grab and nothing else.
  26. Lizarino
    Oct 16, 2020
    0
    The worst console port I've ever seen

    - Clunky controls and combat. Controls on a keyboard don't even work half the time
    - Terrible graphics
    - Bad UI which is also broken, It shows you controller icons when using a keyboard and mouse, why? Lazy programming.
  27. defive
    Apr 26, 2016
    4
    Mechanically, probably the worst Souls game so far -

    1. Combat is speeded up to the point of being silly 2. The removal of poise means that people wearing the heaviest armor can be stunlocked by low level mobs wielding broken swords 3. Terrible balancing of weapons meaning that straight swords are by far and away the best weapons 4. Magic in general is awful, particularly due to the    Mechanically, probably the worst Souls game so far -

    1. Combat is speeded up to the point of being silly
    2. The removal of poise means that people wearing the heaviest armor can be stunlocked by low level mobs wielding broken swords
    3. Terrible balancing of weapons meaning that straight swords are by far and away the best weapons
    4. Magic in general is awful, particularly due to the increased closing speed of mobs - total lack of balance

    Dark Souls 2 was a better game by far.    … Expand
  28. psylife
    May 1, 2016
    4
    Despite the plethora of enemies and bosses on offer, this is a highly repetitive experience. Incredibly, you are not allowed to restart a boss fight, instead, the game will force you to run back from the last checkpoint over and over in a mind numbing cycle of frustration and despair ; This is a seldom seen time waster in games. This pathetic design choice is most likely there toDespite the plethora of enemies and bosses on offer, this is a highly repetitive experience. Incredibly, you are not allowed to restart a boss fight, instead, the game will force you to run back from the last checkpoint over and over in a mind numbing cycle of frustration and despair ; This is a seldom seen time waster in games. This pathetic design choice is most likely there to artificially extend the game-play time. About 50% OF THE GAME-PLAY TIME had me run back to the boss fight location so as to get a shot at the actual challenge ; THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION, you will fight bosses as much as you will run back to them. This design choice alone has me resent the developer profoundly. Past the built-in time wasters, the game is surprisingly not that challenging and the whole design structure encourages you to use exploits in conjunction with Exp grinds. The combat has plenty of nuance, yet it all comes down to rolling, slashing and dying until the end credits. The plethora of enemies on offer are fantastic to look at (as are the worlds), but ultimately fail to add a satisfying level of variety to the combat, as I said, this is very much a one note experience, roll, slash until you reach the end. Dark souls is fundamentally and structurally not a good game, and should be severely reprimanded for some of its design choices. There is something clearly addictive and the world design, lore and detailed visuals must be commended for there exceptional quality. The frame rate is all over the place and bugs abound. Unless you are a nerd with literally no life, or you simply can't resist the lore and visuals, I advise you stay away ; What is good and exceptional about this game cannot be reached other than through the sadistic prism of frustration and a massive amount of time waste. You've been warned.… Expand
  29. PutCashIn
    Apr 28, 2016
    3
    Having been pleasantly surprised with the console port of Dark Souls 2, I am amazed at the incredible lack of foresight and early game decisions made for Dark Souls 3.

    There is a boss character in the TUTORIAL area, almost making Deprived characters impossible to play, especially on PC, with the as ever present in a Dark Souls game amazingly bad camera aiming and lack of any meaningful    Having been pleasantly surprised with the console port of Dark Souls 2, I am amazed at the incredible lack of foresight and early game decisions made for Dark Souls 3.

    There is a boss character in the TUTORIAL area, almost making Deprived characters impossible to play, especially on PC, with the as ever present in a Dark Souls game amazingly bad camera aiming and lack of any meaningful block and parry.

    In Dark Souls 2 you could start deprived, find a dagger, make your way to the Hub, level up, invest in your character and actually do some ROLE PLAYING GAME gaming.

    In Dark Souls 3, you are essentially forced into one of the Character builds given at the start of the game. Zero emotional investment, utterly immersion breaking.

    It is horrible, all the bugs and frame rate issues aside, who in their right mind removes the 'blank' character class from a RPG with a supposedly classless levelling system. By placing a boss, in the TUTORIAL area.

    Whomever was a play tester for this game needs to be black listed for gross incompetency.    … Expand
  30. Vandinroth
    Apr 24, 2016
    2
    What a horrid console port. Game doesn't support 21:9 out of the box. The combat is clunky and it feels like you are fighting the animations and the time of them more than you are the enemy. Couple this with the clunky movement and that's the reason for most of the games perceived difficulty. It felt more like I had to fire off an animation in the general direction and hope itWhat a horrid console port. Game doesn't support 21:9 out of the box. The combat is clunky and it feels like you are fighting the animations and the time of them more than you are the enemy. Couple this with the clunky movement and that's the reason for most of the games perceived difficulty. It felt more like I had to fire off an animation in the general direction and hope it completed and I could move before the enemy did. The combat is more of a whack a mole than anything. Graphics are a huge mixed bag, you can obviously tell it was a console port. The skybox is laughably bad. The stand around monsters made me think I was playing everquest again with all the static camps.

    I wanted to like this game as most modern games are far too easy, but the clunky combat, ridiculous story, and static game just made me uninstall and refund after about 2 hours.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Best PC Game of 2016
4
#4 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
14
#14 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 56 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 56
  3. Negative: 0 out of 56
  1. Easy Allies
    Dec 1, 2016
    90
    Despite an inconsistent frame rate once again hindering the console versions, Dark Souls III is still an undeniable success. Before playing, we felt ready to say goodbye to the series, looking forward to whatever From Software gave us next. Yet after finishing, it's hard not wanting more. Few companies can craft a world so completely enthralling. Whether you've played every entry, started with Bloodborne, or are brand new, this is a game you should absolutely make time for.
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  2. CD-Action
    Jun 29, 2016
    85
    Everything about Dark Souls III is great, but it fails to push the series forward. Bloodborne and both previous Souls squash it in terms of ambition. DkS3 is like a compilation album by your favorite band – you enjoy listening to it because you love these songs despite having heard them so many times before, but there’s no room for even a tiniest surprise. [06/2016, p.34]
  3. Riot Pixels
    Jun 6, 2016
    82
    It seems that From Software has finally realized that bad game design decisions were a poor addition to an already uncompromising game, and fixed them, while keeping the same level of ruthlessness.
    Read full review
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