Dark Souls III is great, which is why I slapped down a 9 at the end of our Dark Souls 3 review, but it’s demonstrably not for everyone. If you like your games simple, easy to digest, and enjoyable on short spurts, then there’s a good chance you’ll bounce off all of From Software’s RPGs pretty quickly. But what if you don’t care for challenging games?
As a series Dark Souls is notorious for its difficulty, and while this third adventure starts off at a more comforting level of challenge, it eventually ramps up to new levels of controller-smashing intensity. But don’t let that put you off.
Okay, so we’ve established that Dark Souls III is a bastard-hard game, but it’s also a game that wants to be completed. Despite every cruel trick that it will fling your way – and there are a lot of them, from ambushes and traps to seemingly harmless creatures that can transform into efficient killing machines – there’s always something you can do to make your time in Lothric just a little bit easier.
You also need to be open to changing your attitude toward death. It’s not failure, not really. You’re meant to die, it’s an essential part of the game, and with every death comes the opportunity to learn something new or experiment with a new tactic, weapon or item. Solutions aren’t always clear the first time you face a new enemy, and that’s why you need to be ok with sacrificing yourself. When you come back, you’ll be bolstered by experience.
If you find yourself hitting a brick wall every time you come up against a particular, fast enemy, then maybe you should stop trying to dodge their attack and instead bring out a shield. Wait for an opening and then strike, instead of attempting to roll around them. Or maybe try to take them out before they get to you, with a bow, or magic, or even a firebomb. You’ll quickly find your inventory overflowing with gear and bombs and magical items that can be applied to weapons – so why not use them?
That’s the funny thing about Dark Souls III: the game is absolutely laden with things designed to help you, whether it’s notes from fellow players or the multitude of usually easy to spot loot littered all over the place. All you really need to do is explore, and that’s one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. The world itself is fascinating and gorgeous; it’s somewhere that you’ll want to wander around, and simply by doing that, you’ll find shortcuts and solutions, making seemingly impossible situations suddenly easy.