Dark Souls III

 PlayStation 4
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 5171 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,678 out of 5171
  2. Mixed: 199 out of 5171
  3. Negative: 294 out of 5171
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  1. Chowda
    Sep 6, 2016
    4
    Another fantastic Dark Souls game....I can now forgive them for that piece of trash they call Dark Souls II....I wish I was playing it right now instead of typing this..........Praise the Sun!

    However....after finishing the game multiple times....I am deducting six points for the way FROM sets up their NPC story lines.....complete garbage. Really.....you expect me to backtrack    Another fantastic Dark Souls game....I can now forgive them for that piece of trash they call Dark Souls II....I wish I was playing it right now instead of typing this..........Praise the Sun!

    However....after finishing the game multiple times....I am deducting six points for the way FROM sets up their NPC story lines.....complete garbage.

    Really.....you expect me to backtrack through an area that has multiple shortcuts right beside the bonfire?
    Really....Even though a character says the same thing over and over you expect me to talk to him after each boss?
    Really....I can end a quest line line just by turning left instead of right?
    Really.....you expect me to warp back to the bonfire and go back to the same spot to trigger certain events?
    Really....I can end a quest-line if I don't talk to someone before I beat a boss?

    Horrible quest design.    … Expand
  2. hobbes138
    May 28, 2016
    4
    The last in the series and the most disappointing. Sure, it's pretty, there's lore, and a whole bunch of familiar garbage, but overall it's a big step down. In its current state I see it as nothing more than a glorified money grab and I highly doubt they will bother fixing anything properly. Instead we get vague patch notes and messaging like "working as intended" when it is clearlyThe last in the series and the most disappointing. Sure, it's pretty, there's lore, and a whole bunch of familiar garbage, but overall it's a big step down. In its current state I see it as nothing more than a glorified money grab and I highly doubt they will bother fixing anything properly. Instead we get vague patch notes and messaging like "working as intended" when it is clearly broken. Broken collision detection, broken covenants that almost never auto-summon, etc. etc. etc. You can tell Miyazaki's heart was not in this, but his wallet had a huge hard-on.… Expand
  3. Aelvir
    May 27, 2017
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game's only redeeming qualities as of late is the lore standpoint of the game. But gameplay-wise, it falls flat. Almost all weapons are pure clones of the basic weapon of their respective class. Pure and prime example for the straightswords is that they're all clones of the Longsword. The only SS with a unique moveset is the Dark Sword. The game has every single BK gear from Ds1. But the Silver Knights do not. Only their armor set, Greatbow, and their Shield. While their GB indeed holds up perfectly, the shield sadly, is by far useless. All of its dmg reduc is reduced to below avrg and the fact that the shield has low lightn reduc now is a complete joke. It's the Silver Knights. Who slayed dragons, as per the intro to DS1. So they SHOULD've AT LEAST moderately high lightning reduc. To top that off, the SK SS and SK Spear, are not droppable at all nor are in the game's code. The SKSS was easily the strongest SS in ds1 (the only one that came close was Balder Sidesword, but still a bit lower in AR than SKSS) The worst part about the sword not being in the game is that the Ringed City is LITTERED with SK statues. And even has Ledo, A SILVER KNIGHT. But you can only get his hammer, not even his armor set. Not even LEDO is wearing it. He's only wearing the normal SK set. They just retracted his set and left it in the game's code, because..reasons? (There's even a small room with a corpse in front of a Silver Knight Sword statue. But it's only an ember) All it takes is a sinple patch to put it in. It's not really all that hard, FromSoft. And in terms of its gameplay. The gameplay itself isn't all that terrible. It's alot better than Dark Souls 2 put out, but the R1 attacks of every weapon are borderline broken. It's true that they wanted to make it more faster-paced, but they did it in the worst way they could have done. Weapons' R1 attacks are so fast that almost all other attacks are rendered useless, even in PVP. Why use an R2 that has a slight delay to it, when you can do a quick hit and abuse it endlessly to win? Take for instance the GSs and UGSs. These are generally slow weapons. But they have pretty quick R1 strings, especially by Dark Souls standards. Bloodborne did fast-paced gameplay right. Your attacks have a wind-up, but you can dodge and maneuver just as quick as your enemies can attack. But DS3 is a little bit the same but replace the wind-up with little to no wind-up at all. Originally, you are meant to COMMIT to your attacks and if you spammed attacks, you bit the dust for it. But this is no longer the case. The patches are also a problem. More recently, the Sunlight SS was changed from having B STR and DEX scaling to C STR and DEX and a B in Faith. It became OP in AR, yes, but at least it was stronger than the Broadsword. But then they patched THAT and reduced the STR&DEX to D. Now it's again weaker than the Broadsword&Longsword, as if you have both at +10 and put to Ref they are both miles stronger than the Sunl SS. So, SOLAIRE's Sword is miles weaker than common soldier swords. Its added Faith scaling is stupid, as it was never a Faith weapon to begin with.It had the same scaling & stats as the broadsword in DS1 (C in STR&DEX). Now, look at Astora SS. A very good weapon from ds1. It's useless now. It has D STR&DEX scaling at +1–+10. Which after the Abyss Watchers, becomes completely weak for the rest of the game(it becomes the 2nd weakest SS in the game),especially if you put it into Ref. (which doesn't change its scaling at all, still stays D in STR&DEX). The problem they made with it is removing its faith scaling, it even has a 14 faith req! What they should've done was not change the scaling Sunl. SS had, have ASS be a Twinkling Titanite weapon and have D STR&DEX,B FAITH). From has been constantly nerfing unique, great weapons and buffing broken weapons from the RC dlc. like the PairedGSs for example. The weapon itself was already broken. It's slightly weaker than BKGS and has an L1 chain that is super slow but somehow stunlocks you. And not even a fully-charged R2 of the Black Knight Greatsword and Black Knight Greataxe, nor even the Dragonslayer Greataxe's L2 knocks them out of it; it gives them infinite poise, and has yet to be fixed. Such attention and patches were never done with the other games. Why now? Sin doesn't exist. Yes, you can pray to velka for absolution and dissolution. But no matter what you do, it seems to always tell you that you have not sinned. It only de-aggros NPCs, that's it. The worst problem with Sin in the game is that it doens't exist! You can kill any NPC and go to Velka. Nope, no sin. But, this game has Darkmoons. Well, that's the next problem. They are downright REDUCED TO BLUE SENTINEL CLONES, and the only purpose of the Blue Sentinels is that you have access to getting Proofs EARLY. Who to choose between the two boils down to merely personal-preference. There isn't even a BlueEyeOrb.Darkmoons are left with waiting for months just to even get summoned… Expand
  4. multiwalrus
    Apr 27, 2016
    4
    I am a big fan of the series, starting with Demon Souls. Unfortunately, unless you choose the right character build at the beginning, and get very lucky, the first boss, who comes in the first 5 minutes, will wipe the floor with you, with cheats. If you played Bloodborne, this first boss IS Father Gascione, except this time there is nothing to get him stuck on so that you can cheat-killI am a big fan of the series, starting with Demon Souls. Unfortunately, unless you choose the right character build at the beginning, and get very lucky, the first boss, who comes in the first 5 minutes, will wipe the floor with you, with cheats. If you played Bloodborne, this first boss IS Father Gascione, except this time there is nothing to get him stuck on so that you can cheat-kill him (which was necessary to play the rest of the game). There is no learning curve like before- it is just straight up impossibly frustrating.

    The most disappointing part though is the world design, which was so excellent in previous games, and the real reason that I enjoyed them. The world here is very bland in comparison to the surprises of the series before. The terrain is mostly corridors made up of two similar colors, and it really gets tedious walking around in game environments that look the same, and fail to give you a sense of reward for daring to venture further and creaking, bloody and battered, to the next bonfire. If that wasn't bad enough, the game is MUCH more linear than the ones before it. At maximum, any given time, there are two paths to travel, and one of them is a very short branch. It is clear that From Software just wanted to have done with the series, as this was the least imaginative entry.

    The PVP combat and AI is however the best in any of the games by far. Some of the game's enemies- you would swear that they are a player because of the things they will try to pull on you.

    It is painful for me to give this game a bad score because I was awaiting it eagerly. Wait until the game price drops, then play this if you are a fan... it is not as polished and well designed as the others before it.    … Expand
  5. NeKO-ALoNZo
    Apr 14, 2016
    4
    No existe una gran mejora del 2 al 3, de echo en realidad presenta muchas cosas malas que no se veían en la entrega pasada, ademas de que es muy importante mencionar que en la cuestión gráfica se mira mal a estas alturas ya no debe de usar un motor gráfico tan viejo, pero algo mas importante aun que sufre de caída de fps que se vuelve molesto al estar jugando. En fin una lastima que soloNo existe una gran mejora del 2 al 3, de echo en realidad presenta muchas cosas malas que no se veían en la entrega pasada, ademas de que es muy importante mencionar que en la cuestión gráfica se mira mal a estas alturas ya no debe de usar un motor gráfico tan viejo, pero algo mas importante aun que sufre de caída de fps que se vuelve molesto al estar jugando. En fin una lastima que solo saquen una versión 2.1 de un juego cuando pudieron haber realizado una obra de arte en esta siguiente generación… Expand
  6. doug_quaid
    Apr 15, 2016
    4
    Ok, I realize the reviews here are a wall of 10's, but I have to put my honest opinion here. First off I'm coming directly from Bloodborne, which I beat four times/loved, and haven't played any of the previous Souls games, so I'm going to be biased - for anyone else coming straight from Bloodborne, beware!

    I just don't like the feel of the combat mechanics in Dark Souls 3. Bloodborne    Ok, I realize the reviews here are a wall of 10's, but I have to put my honest opinion here. First off I'm coming directly from Bloodborne, which I beat four times/loved, and haven't played any of the previous Souls games, so I'm going to be biased - for anyone else coming straight from Bloodborne, beware!

    I just don't like the feel of the combat mechanics in Dark Souls 3. Bloodborne was lightning fast, free-flowing, elegant, extremely responsive, almost Street Fighter level controls, combos and counters. Dark Souls feels like you're moving through molasses, fighting the controls (and camera) every step of the way. In Bloodborne with some finesse and dodging you can take on a room full of enemies, In Dark Souls you have to pull one at a time, even 2-3 guys is generally being cornered/death. Bloodborne encourages lightning-fast reaction times and pushing forward with aggression when you're wounded, Dark Souls rewards a slow, heavy armor, plodding, hiding behind a shield/turtling style.

    Lastly the art style - Bloodborne was an incredibly rich, detailed, nuanced, eerie, Lovecraftian nightmare, while Dark Souls seems to embrace this generic Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones type fantasy environment with an undead vibe. Crumbling towers, dungeons, dragons, evil forest, swamps, check, check. I'm just not digging the art style, and it feels like a huge step backwards from Bloodborne quality and detail-wise.

    I gave up and returned the game after about 15 hours and 6-7 bosses. I just can't hack it, it's just not that fun. Every death in Bloodborne felt like it was teaching me patterns and making me improve - every death in this game feels annoying because you were fighting the controls instead of the boss.

    Sorry guys! I know I'm a dissenting opinion in a wall of perfect 10 reviews here and everyone seems to just love it, but I'm not just not feeling it. Here's to hoping Bloodborne 2 is being developed next!    … Expand
  7. Aronsockabish
    Apr 28, 2016
    4
    Please do not buy this game, this is the worst game I have ever played it is not hard or challenging it's a lying cheating game the bosses just one hit kill you no matter how much health you have the only good thing about this stupid lying cheating unrewarding game is the way it looks the artwork is great love the way it looks. This game is not hard there is no skill required it is not forPlease do not buy this game, this is the worst game I have ever played it is not hard or challenging it's a lying cheating game the bosses just one hit kill you no matter how much health you have the only good thing about this stupid lying cheating unrewarding game is the way it looks the artwork is great love the way it looks. This game is not hard there is no skill required it is not for hardcore gamers it is for retards, do not buy this game for $60 do not buy it for $30 don't buy it at all and if your friend gives it to you for free return it and put the money towards a good game. Heres every fight in the game: roll swing get hit and knocked on the ground enemy swings 18 times without getting tired while youre on the ground and can't get up, then you die. This game is for hipsters it's the cool thing to do oh my god you beat dark souls 3 wow you must be a real gamer get the **** out of here I was done learning enemies attacks and dying in one hit in the late 80s, and you'll roll or you will be behind them and they still hit you as an example I was fighting the dancer I was 20 feet behid her she grabs the opposite direction and I get grabbed by her and one hitted. Please please do not buy this, don't buy any of the new games just save up for doom or something I hope they do not ruin that game all of the new games just aren't worth it anymore.… Expand
  8. prophetld
    Jul 3, 2016
    4
    Lol at anybody giving this trash more than 6/10. Read the forums. This game fails hard as a Souls game and as a huge Souls fan, I'm honestly disgusted by it. You will burn out of this game after 300-500 hours because the pvp is complete garbage and so is the co-op. Worst Souls game by far and you have to be some kind of idiot to not think so. Just read the posts on reddit. People areLol at anybody giving this trash more than 6/10. Read the forums. This game fails hard as a Souls game and as a huge Souls fan, I'm honestly disgusted by it. You will burn out of this game after 300-500 hours because the pvp is complete garbage and so is the co-op. Worst Souls game by far and you have to be some kind of idiot to not think so. Just read the posts on reddit. People are really down on this game for very good reasons. It's an epic fail that's only good for solo pve. You won't still be playing it after 300-500 hours. Trust me.… Expand
  9. EpiCabbage
    May 15, 2016
    4
    PVP is broken and unusable because of it, the game is generally pretty buggy as well. In terms of enemies they seem very recycled and unoriginal. Though the may have unique designs every fight is either getting under the big guy or behind the fast guy. It gets old. The game is addictive but offers very little in exchange. Not to mention I had to look up everything online because thePVP is broken and unusable because of it, the game is generally pretty buggy as well. In terms of enemies they seem very recycled and unoriginal. Though the may have unique designs every fight is either getting under the big guy or behind the fast guy. It gets old. The game is addictive but offers very little in exchange. Not to mention I had to look up everything online because the 'hints' aren't helpful to people on computers, meaning i had to learn every control over the course of several hours. Not helping vs. not explaining. The game chucks you in and expects you to know everything, then, once you do, you realize how basic the game is. Also, magic is very, very stupid. I am yet to find a magic attack that is not either OP or **** but then again, how would I know. The PVP is so garbage. Overall, addictive, reused bosses, and bad PVP.… Expand
  10. res0nancer
    Jul 26, 2023
    4
    Будучи ещё студентом дорожившим каждой копейкой пришлось пройти игру в коопе, не смотря на то, что игра АБСОЛЮТНО не понравилась и для было удивлением, когда один из моих товарищей с удовольствием её перепроходил и вкатывался раз за разом. Bloodborne и Elden Ring намного легче зашли в свое время.Будучи ещё студентом дорожившим каждой копейкой пришлось пройти игру в коопе, не смотря на то, что игра АБСОЛЮТНО не понравилась и для было удивлением, когда один из моих товарищей с удовольствием её перепроходил и вкатывался раз за разом. Bloodborne и Elden Ring намного легче зашли в свое время.
  11. Alve087
    Mar 24, 2023
    4
    Buen juego, la verdad. Es una copia un poco triste de Elden ring, pero bueno. Esta bien divertido, excepto por el pequeño detalle de perder la cordura muriendo durante horas y horas para pasarte UN jefe. Por lo demás un juego aceptable
  12. psylife
    May 1, 2016
    3
    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
  13. nosebeagle
    Jun 22, 2016
    3
    I tried Dark Souls a ways back and found it, repetitive for lack of a better word and sort of slow. A game based on grinding, not that there is anything wrong with that as many games are based on that technique. Anyway, have not played the series, but decided to try DS3. It looks nice, but is pretty much the same clunky and repetitive combat as DS1, I became bored with it quickly.I tried Dark Souls a ways back and found it, repetitive for lack of a better word and sort of slow. A game based on grinding, not that there is anything wrong with that as many games are based on that technique. Anyway, have not played the series, but decided to try DS3. It looks nice, but is pretty much the same clunky and repetitive combat as DS1, I became bored with it quickly. There are so many games available with fluid combat and much better AI than the DS games. I didn't think it was very difficult, just repetitive and boring.… Expand
  14. Steven105
    Jun 19, 2017
    3
    At the release of dark souls 3 i gave this game a 10 because i was being a blind fanboy , this is by far the worst game in the franchise it has been terribly dumbed down for casuals , the bosses are too easy the game is too short and what really destroys this game is the god awful pvp ...I cant fathom why fromsoft wanted to encourage every player to be a darksword spamming scrub , and dontAt the release of dark souls 3 i gave this game a 10 because i was being a blind fanboy , this is by far the worst game in the franchise it has been terribly dumbed down for casuals , the bosses are too easy the game is too short and what really destroys this game is the god awful pvp ...I cant fathom why fromsoft wanted to encourage every player to be a darksword spamming scrub , and dont even get me started on how broken the hitboxes are , you will be hit from 4 feet away from another player who isnt even within range from you . I went back to dark souls 1 and tested out the hitboxes in pvp and to my surprise the hitboxes were actually accurate i wasnt getting hit by wepons that were out of range , so my question is, why is an outdated ps3 2011 dark souls 1 able to have better pvp hitboxes than a 2016 ps4 dark souls 3? It just baffles me. Also there is an extreme lack of build diversity , all you will see is players using greatswords, straight swords and dark sword and the fact that fromsoft rehashed everything from dark souls 1 just shows there wasnt much thought put into this game they reused patches , siegmeyer , darkmoon covenant ( which still does not work even after they patched it btw) sunbros covenant , dragon covenant , anor londo , almost every weapon and armor from dark souls 1 and 2 . If you want to play this be my guest , no doubt you will enjoy it at first but once you beat the game numerous times and spend alot of time in pvp you will start to realize that this is just an attempt at making a dark souls 1 clone , i am glad this is the last game in the series for now , this should have never been developed .… Expand
  15. DKR
    Oct 22, 2020
    3
    I loved, loved, LOVED DS1. After several ragequits, something about it settled into my heart as a flawed masterpiece....eventually. No matter my hatred for its excessively punishing respawns, DS1 had a great charm to it from its lore, fantasy world, and OUTSTANDING level design. It was dark, somber, but somehow, beautiful, like its ending theme song (youtube Nameless Song ost). Seriously,I loved, loved, LOVED DS1. After several ragequits, something about it settled into my heart as a flawed masterpiece....eventually. No matter my hatred for its excessively punishing respawns, DS1 had a great charm to it from its lore, fantasy world, and OUTSTANDING level design. It was dark, somber, but somehow, beautiful, like its ending theme song (youtube Nameless Song ost). Seriously, this team has some amazing imagination.

    It earned the name "genre-defining".

    DS3 had big shoes to fill, and missed it. The one thing that immediately turned me off was the input delay. C'mon, folks: it's 2020, this shouldn't be an issue anymore. From swinging your weapon, to casting a spell, to most unforgivable of all: DODGE ROLLING. When you press O to dodge, there's a .5s delay until you roll. That alone broke the game for me and made it unplayable. In DS1, my style THRIVED off of wearing minimal gear, but out-maneuvering my target. The enemy attacks are sometimes super fast, so it rewarded reflexive dodging. I could beat most bosses naked! DS3, you wear heavy equipment in every slot, bc nothing else is viable. There's also no 3 levels to movement speed. You're either under-weight, or overweight. There's also some research that suggests leaving a single slot open largely increases the damage you take.

    The death system also feels dated. Dying, respawning, and running to where you were gets obnoxiously tedious. Combine that with the numerous OHK's plastering the world or losing your precious currency AGAIN, and you often feel more like you're running on a treadmill. 75% of your game time will be fighting the same enemies over the same stretch of land again and again and again and again bc your roll delays, you're stunlocked, and back to spawn. Worse yet is this punishes you for exploring. Why wander off the path just to be OHK then lose everything? Eventually, you'll just run straight for bonfires bc the combat isn't fun anymore.

    What's supposed to make this better is summoning others into coop, but they STILL haven't fixed another issue: invasions. Look, if I want to fight a no-life 16 yr old thats spend 1,000 hours perfecting his toon's stats, gear, spells, and every cheap kill on the map, I would say so, but I don't. I want to play COOP: THAT MEANS ME, WITH ONE PERSON ON MY TEAM, VS THE GAME. There's no option to tell these no-lifers to f*** off and LET ME PLAY THE GAME. Once you're invaded, you might as well just turn off your console, bc you won't have a prayer against the no-lifers. Even if you've done all you can to empower your toon, the invader is at least 5x stronger than you in every way, and has about 30 hp potions to your 5 or so. Even if you DO get the upper hand with some outplays, they'll just roll, roll, roll, roll, drink a pot to full hp, then come back, rinse and repeat as necessary until they exhaust all your options. WORST OF ALL, all these ppl do with their lives is sit here, afk in a video game, waiting to invade someone, so you'll find that same kid again and again and again until you burn out your resource used to summon help. Don't EVEN get me started on how buggy, laggy, and sloppy the pvp is, which means even pvp is....you guessed it: a huge waste of time.

    Another beef I have is how DS3 is sooo cryptic, that unless you have the wiki open next to you, you're going to miss 90% of the content. Getting NPC's to join you is waaaay too complicated, the weapon upgrade system isn't explained, the backstabs system is WHOOOOOOO wtffffffff? NOTHING is explained to you. AT. ALL. You have to do so much research, it feels more like school homework. So much time is wasted researching and reading. The game is way too meaty with you chewing and chewing and chewing, through meaty layer after meaty layer of research, respawning, dying, getting invaded, researching, dying, (ofc most of those deaths being the controls or glitches) and never ever getting anywhere. Before you know it, you've spent 10hrs dying, researching, and fighting off an invader b4 you've even seen the 2nd boss, not enjoy a moment of it, and eventually conclude: you'd rather be playing something else.

    DS3 is nothing but a huge, empty, waste of time.

    If you have absolutely nothing to do, if you are obsessively competitive, unemployed, or if you can't function w/o bragging and mocking someone, if you get off on tormenting ppl that can't defend themselves and cuss you out, or any of the above, this is your game. I'll leave you with a conversation I had with a DS fanboy that couldn't let criticism of his golden cow go unshamed:

    "I have np with the game. You're just bad. Gid gud. I got all the achievements."

    "I got a job."    … Expand
  16. Nefastus
    Jul 4, 2016
    3
    Sadly Dark Souls 3 didn't live up the hype. The PvE experience is overall shallow (the story is the weakest of all 3 games, there is also a TON of fan service) and has close to no replay value. The PvP is vastly inferior to Dark Souls 2 PvP. It passes a strong feeling of a fast cash in for the producer.

    I recomend dark souls 2 instead (or dark souls 1 even).
  17. Hairyapelips
    Jul 3, 2016
    3
    Don't fall for the hype, this game is terrible. I've played through Bloodborne and I enjoy a decent challenge, but there is none to be found here, at least not in the form of a boss.

    The camera, painfully sluggish controls and trivial combat is what you'll be fighting here when you're not coping with boredom. Everything that goes into a good action game, e.g. clever level design and    Don't fall for the hype, this game is terrible. I've played through Bloodborne and I enjoy a decent challenge, but there is none to be found here, at least not in the form of a boss.

    The camera, painfully sluggish controls and trivial combat is what you'll be fighting here when you're not coping with boredom. Everything that goes into a good action game, e.g. clever level design and responsive, engaging combat has been replaced with high HP mobs that kill you in two hits and tedious paths through hordes of mobs.

    There is legitimately no difficulty in this game. There are either gimmicks that allow you to kill the boss in a few hits, or the ability to summon players/npcs to basically kill the boss for you with minimal effort (that's what they call hardcore nowadays?). The game becomes so tedious that it eventually becomes a chore to play.

    To sort of offset this they have added a lot of checkpoints (called bonfires in the darksouls universe), but it does not save you from having to rely on R1 spamming and dodging to deal with the trivial AI.

    The game is basically two buttons and nothing more. If you ever try anything fancy the game punishes you with awkwardly long animations that leave you open to attacks, which usually kill you immediately. Roll. Slash. Roll. That's it. Even blocking is deterred by the ridiculous amount of stamina damage (with a fully upgraded shield with high stability, determining how much stamina damage you take..) you take, meaning if you block you will be left with no room to do anything vs. a big mob/boss.

    This game is also bug ridden, has awful performance and AI that allows itself to be exploited. Some of the bosses will get stuck in terrain, fall of to their doom, or simply stop chasing and content themselves with a nice snooze inside a pillar.

    The only saving graces of this game are:

    Character customization. You have a decent array of builds to choose from along with a couple weapons..... which should be more, but aren't, since most weapons are not viable due to their long animations that get you killed.

    Sound. The music is actually quite decent. Not that I would ever buy the soundtrack, but it is nice at times.

    Amount of content... sort of. If you are good at Souls games you will probably get at least a good 15-20+ hours out of depending on if you are willing to play the NG+ (you get to play the game over again if you beat it, for those of you who don't know Souls games). The problem is that most of this content is boring, linear and the same old crap you've seen a thousand times before. The levels, especially when compared to its predecessors, are BORING. You don't have much choice where to go, or how to progress. Exploration is a necessity, but is done in the most obvious and tedious fashion (e.g. tons of mobs you have to fight 1v1).

    Graphics... sort of. They are mediocre and ironically not as good as Bloodbornes (or Destinys, but Destiny is in a class of its own).

    Due to the aforementioned I gave it 2 extra points; were it not for the fluff like music and appearance, this would rate among the worst action games I have ever played in being nearly 40 years on this planet given how many resources were at their disposal.

    This game is the call of duty of third action adventure games and should be avoided like the plague.

    If you want a good souls experience that is up to snuff with other modern action games, try Bloodborne. It is a better version of this game in every single aspect, but be ready for real difficulty.

    Stay far away from this game and don't give the developers a cent for this piece of crap. It is a disgrace to the gaming industry and I regret having given them anything for it.    … Expand
  18. MachineMan1992
    Jul 13, 2017
    3
    All the faults of the Souls series are on full HD display; **** controls, overpowered enemies, smashed in half PvP, and bullcrap enemy placement are all accounted for. At least now the main narrative has a far more straightforward goal to keep the player on the straight and narrow, but the series trademark obfuscation is in no danger of leaving.

    These games are hard because you die    All the faults of the Souls series are on full HD display; **** controls, overpowered enemies, smashed in half PvP, and bullcrap enemy placement are all accounted for. At least now the main narrative has a far more straightforward goal to keep the player on the straight and narrow, but the series trademark obfuscation is in no danger of leaving.

    These games are hard because you die quickly. It's the most lazy and cheap way to make a game hard. Don't bother with any of these games, just play a tighter controlling RGP at max difficulty to get a similar experience.    … Expand
  19. MrStewpidity
    Sep 28, 2017
    3
    I don't get the hype. This was just a frustrating hack-and-slash with a boring story. The only reason people play this game is for bragging rights on how they played a game that makes you wan to break your controller.
  20. lsdionysus
    Feb 16, 2018
    3
    terrible game. controls/movement is not intuitive and clunky, resulting in a poor user experience. games with similar mechanics, like Shadow of War, are significantly more fluid with better camera angles.

    i paid $5 for this game (used) and i feel like i got ripped off.
  21. sdwillie
    Apr 24, 2016
    2
    Of the Souls games, i scored this one the highest, but the others gpt zeroes because of design decisions. like online play being opt out (and a complete pain to do) or a starting gift that FROM happily admitted was trolling. This game earned its 2 by sucking. Inconsistent response to the controller,horribly dumbed down and worst of all, ***really, really easy***. FROM seems to haveOf the Souls games, i scored this one the highest, but the others gpt zeroes because of design decisions. like online play being opt out (and a complete pain to do) or a starting gift that FROM happily admitted was trolling. This game earned its 2 by sucking. Inconsistent response to the controller,horribly dumbed down and worst of all, ***really, really easy***. FROM seems to have embraced everything that sucked about video games in the late 80's through the 90's and into the naughties-crappy cameras, clipping, inconsistent framerates, random commands executing, etc. If this is the last Souls game thank you FROMSoftware. Thank you for stopping.… Expand
  22. night4
    Apr 16, 2016
    2
    Basically unplayable on the PC.

    It's pretty bad when Skyrim did a better job of porting to the PC.

    The controls are terrible and the game tells you to hit controller buttons even if you're not using a controller.
  23. Skalick06
    Jul 22, 2021
    2
    Gutted and dumbed down compared to the other two games, and not very much original lore. Just overall very disappointing.
  24. Zaakk
    Jan 7, 2021
    2
    Отвратное управление и 0 обучения. Управление ориентировано на геймпад и даже если у вас его нет будет в обучении показывать кнопки именно геймпада. Переназначить кнопки клавиатуры можно не все. Просто кривой порт игры в котором разработчики поленились сделать элементарные вещиОтвратное управление и 0 обучения. Управление ориентировано на геймпад и даже если у вас его нет будет в обучении показывать кнопки именно геймпада. Переназначить кнопки клавиатуры можно не все. Просто кривой порт игры в котором разработчики поленились сделать элементарные вещи
  25. socialist6
    Feb 5, 2021
    1
    I am absolutely stunned at the reviews this game gets.
    Do they hire a bunch of people to praise the game?
    It is by far the worst game i have spent more than just a short amount of time on. No jumping, grapping, climbing, extremely limited movement in general, linear, horrible bugs where you can hit through walls and yes the player as well, impossible to sever limbs, extremely    I am absolutely stunned at the reviews this game gets.
    Do they hire a bunch of people to praise the game?

    It is by far the worst game i have spent more than just a short amount of time on.

    No jumping, grapping, climbing, extremely limited movement in general, linear, horrible bugs where you can hit through walls and yes the player as well, impossible to sever limbs, extremely strange hitbox you take damage when you obviously did not get hit, extremely strange physics when trying to get down from a roof or something to a lower spot (75% of the body can be in the air :D!), sounds like a sword when you have a club, ... and so much more ****

    The blocking system is okay, and the movement of the monsters, before interaction, looks nice enough.
    That is it ... this game is an absolute disaster, the ratings MUST have been paid for!    … Expand
  26. SpawnCap
    Apr 14, 2016
    1
    Not worth all of the praise it receives. Any other game series would be ridiculed for putting out the same exact game over and over I don't see why this game isn't. It is the SAME EXACT game as all the other Souls games. Assassin's Creed games are more different from each other than the differences between the Souls games. Demon Souls and Bloodborne were the only titles that were newNot worth all of the praise it receives. Any other game series would be ridiculed for putting out the same exact game over and over I don't see why this game isn't. It is the SAME EXACT game as all the other Souls games. Assassin's Creed games are more different from each other than the differences between the Souls games. Demon Souls and Bloodborne were the only titles that were new and different. Go play Dark Souls if you want to play all three Dark Souls games because when you have played one you have essentially played all three.… Expand
  27. tekkenman
    Aug 16, 2016
    1
    Just plain bad. Not a fan of this type of game so you'll either hate it or love it. Too monotonous, DOOM, Uncharted 4, Dragon Age are much better fantasy games for fans of the genre.
  28. AeonCOR
    Apr 20, 2016
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. For context I'm about 4&1/2 hours in, but have now given up due to feeling like I fight the interface more than the bosses.

    The camera needs constant baby sitting, on top of a FOV so bad I noticed it in a 3rd person game. The camera lock on is little help, as you can't lock on at any kind of range and up close you need to target them dead center, taking the time to do so getting you hurt.

    The tutorial is basically non existent, If you haven't played DS1 or DS2, prepare to turn to wikis and videos to learn how to run, jump and counter attack.
    I played a bad class for the first boss, so tried killing the crystal lizard first for a different better weapon or something, all I got was some "wonderful" upgrade material I couldn't use.

    Putting aside the camera, the combat feels really unresponsive for some reason. I can't pin it down exactly, but you constantly feel so slow compared to the enemies.
    Also counter attacking/shielding is often an exercise of repetition, as alot of enemy telegraphs slow down and speed up unnaturally(like they were wielding weightless weapons), meaning paying attention to them is not enough and you just have to memorize them.

    For such a punishing game, I also felt like after every death I would have to wait an eternity to get control back, between the death screen and long loads, you just feel like time is wasting you could be using to try again(and I'm on an SSD!)

    I will say though, it does look fantastic, and the world physics are great. I do love seeing the carnage of boxes, chairs, and mooks left over from a tussle with a boss. Not to mention me just getting covered in the blood of my enemies.

    Overall, I can't recommend it unless you have 100% DS1 & DS2 and just need more.    … Expand
  29. Raffo10
    May 12, 2016
    1
    After playing this game for about 5 hours, I can safely say that it is nowhere near as good as Bloodborne in my opinion - the graphics are not good, the story not as gripping and the general combat mechanics are poor!
  30. ibra11
    Sep 7, 2020
    1
    worst dark souls by far, although is has the best graphics but that is because of the fact that it’s the newest.
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Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PS4 Game of 2016
4
#4 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
14
#14 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 69
  3. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jun 13, 2016
    90
    Dark Souls III rarely innovates, but it experiments within the Souls parameters to grotesque and glorious effect. Another Game of The Year contender, then. [June 2016, p.81]
  2. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    May 18, 2016
    90
    Dark Souls III is all-consuming, it’ll drive you up the wall, and the sense of accomplishment you’ll get when everything clicks and you go on to finish that final boss... well, it’s simply beyond compare [June 2016, p70]
  3. Games Master UK
    May 18, 2016
    95
    The best Dark Souls game to pick up right now, and a fitting finale for the series. [May 2016, p.58]
See all critic reviews »