Dark Souls 3 may or may not be the game you’re looking for after playing the PlayStation exclusive and spiritual successor to the Souls series, Bloodborne. I was recently invited to the game’s network test beta, experiencing its combat system and visuals and the first revealed boss, the Dancer of the Frigid Valley.
The combat feels like an uneven mix between Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Movement feels faster than earlier games in the series but sluggish in comparison to Bloodborne’s fluid animation. Players can use their shield to block enemy attacks, throw items at enemies and parry an incoming attack; but can now dodge as well as roll. While dodging adds a sense of fluidity, the game still feels slow. Swinging an axe or halberd is fittingly drawn-out but enemy movements still look awkward and mechanic. From Software is no doubt aware of this, designing a part of the demo area to exploit the stillness of enemy movement. At one point, a dragon landed on a tower and breathed fire on a low floored area before repeating the action above. In this instance, the player must time their movement to avoid the flames and run to the next group of enemies; this scenario reminded me of the dragon guarding a bridge in the original Dark Souls.
There were four playable classes in the game demo (the wandering knight, northern warrior, herald of white and the academy assassin). I spent my time playing as the academy assassin, equipped with a spear, buckler and staff. I found myself using my spells more than anything, since there is a designated mana bar for casting magic, instead of a limit on how many times I could cast a specific spell before needing to rest at a bonfire. Dark Souls 3 also introduces esteem flasks that replenish your mana; and embers which act as humanities granting you the ability to summon other warriors while increasing your maximum health. I also found several tombstones that the player can pray to, including one of the Lord of Cinder; I wasn’t entirely sure what praying did but it will no doubt be explained near the game’s release
The boss of the demo area, the Dancer of the Frigid Valley, was grotesque and fast. The introductory scene of the boss fight showed the long limbed creature drop down from the ceiling covered in ragged cloth. The entire fight felt like it could’ve been in the upcoming Bloodborne expansion with the boss room being a gothic cathedral that you enter by pushing a giant mechanical door. The boss fight itself was marvellous as the long-legged skeleton leaps, spins and jumps around the cathedral room; wielding a fire enchanted scimitar and another blade halfway through the fight. As expected of From Software, the boss’ theme is spectacularly operatic and coarse.
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I cannot waitttt! Best game series ever