Dark Souls III | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | FromSoftware |
Publisher(s) |
Bandai Namco Entertainment
|
Director(s) |
Hidetaka Miyazaki Isamu Okano Yui Tanimura |
Designer(s) | Shigeto Hirai Yuya Kimijima Hiroshi Yoshida Junya Ishizaki |
Programmer(s) | Takeshi Suzuki |
Composer(s) | Yuka Kitamura Motoi Sakuraba |
Series | Souls |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Aggregate score | |
---|---|
Aggregator | Score |
Metacritic | PC: 89/100 PS4: 89/100 XONE: 87/100 |
Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
Destructoid | 8.5/10 |
Famitsu | 38/40 |
Game Informer | 9.25/10 |
Game Revolution | |
GameSpot | 8/10 |
GamesRadar | |
IGN | 9.5/10 |
PC Gamer (UK) | 94/100 |
Polygon | 7/10 |
The Daily Telegraph | |
The Guardian |
Dark Souls III is an action role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The fourth entry in the Souls series,Dark Souls III was released in Japan in March 2016, and worldwide in April 2016.
Dark Souls III was critically and commercially successful, with critics calling the game a worthy and fitting conclusion to the series. The game became Bandai Namco's fastest selling game in their history, selling over three million copies worldwide two months after release.
Dark Souls III is an action role-playing game played in a third-person perspective, similar to previous games in the series. According to lead director and series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game's gameplay design followed "closely from Dark Souls II". Players are equipped with a variety of weapons to fight against enemies, such as bows, throwable projectiles, and swords. Shields can act as secondary weapons but they are mainly used to deflect enemies' attacks and protect the player from suffering damage. Each weapon has two basic types of attacks, one being a standard attack, and the other being slightly more powerful that can be charged up, similar to FromSoftware's previous game, Bloodborne. In addition, attacks can be evaded through dodge-rolling. Bonfires, which serve as checkpoints, return from previous installments. Ashes, according to Miyazaki, play an important role in the game. Magic is featured in the game, with a returning magic system from Demon's Souls, now known as "focus points" (FP). When performing spells, the players' focus points are consumed. There are two separate types of Estus Flasks in the game, which can be allotted to fit a players' particular play style. One of them refills hit points like previous games in the series, while another, newly introduced in Dark Souls III, refills focus points. Combat and movements were made faster and more fluid in Dark Souls III, with several players' movements, such as backstepping and swinging heavy weapons, able to be performed more rapidly, allowing players to deal more damage in a short period of time.