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Spotlight on Dark Souls III

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A magnificent, high-stakes finale to a legendary trilogy. Dark Souls III combines FromSoftware's tightest action combat and theatrical boss fights with a beautifully bleak, melancholic world that rewards relentless patience.

Dark Souls III is a punishing, atmospheric action-RPG that serves as the mechanical and thematic culmination of FromSoftware's legendary dark-fantasy trilogy. Set in the decaying, dying kingdom of Lothric, gameplay is built on high-friction real-time combat that requires meticulous stamina management, spacing, and learning enemy attack patterns. You wield a massive variety of weapons (greatswords, whips, twin-daggers) which are enhanced by 'Weapon Arts'—unique combat stances and active skills that add dynamic options to every fight. Progression is unguided and challenging: you fight through interconnected ruins (like the snowy Irithyll of the Boreal Valley or the swampy Road of Sacrifices) to defeat powerful Lords of Cinder. Boss encounters are exceptionally fast and theatrical, requiring precise dodge-rolling and parrying. It also features FromSoftware's unique asynchronous multiplayer, allowing players to leave advice notes, summon phantom allies for bosses, or invade other players' worlds as hostile phantoms. Perfectly optimized on modern platforms, running at a locked 60fps.

Strengths

  • Phenomenal, theatrical boss battles
  • Extremely fluid and tight action combat
  • Deep build and Weapon Art variety

Caveats

  • Zone progression is somewhat linear
  • Early-game swamp zone is frustrating

Context

Released in 2016 by Bandai Namco, directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. It became the fastest-selling game in Bandai Namco's history, swept action-RPG awards, and remains widely celebrated as having some of the absolute best and most memorable boss encounters in gaming history.

About

Storyline

This profile combines game metadata, platform information, tags, and collection references to help players decide whether it belongs in their backlog.

Details

IGDB Rating 87
Metacritic 89
Released March 24, 2016
Developer FromSoftware
Publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment, FromSoftware

Platforms

PC (Microsoft Windows)PlayStation 4Xbox One

Tags

Classification CheckpointDB

Soulslike

Genres

Role-playing (RPG) Adventure

Gameplay

Action Fantasy Single player Multiplayer Co-operative Third person

Keywords

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Game Length

Main 31h
Extra 48.5h
100% 100.5h

Appears In Collections