“Dark Souls” is a franchise well known for its crazy difficulty, so much so that this difficulty comes to mind whenever a new game is released and considered too hard or too unfair. The series was made by FromSoftware, a Japanese company that is recognized for creating unique yet difficult games, and “Dark Souls III” is no different.

“Dark Souls III” was, and still is, one of the most carefully crafted, beautifully bleak games ever made.

The artistic style of the game is very ashen and dark like a cold, cloudy day in the spring, perfect for the setting — a dying world. The player character is not a hero who plans to fix everything, but an undead who was resurrected to help feed the First Flame, a fire that keeps the world alive. “Dark Souls” does not make any significance out of the player character, instead, using their namelessness as a tool to show that you are not a special or chosen hero in this world — more so just someone who is getting through this world through pure luck and skill alone. All that remains in this world are the very few areas with any semblance of life left, and the undead who wander aimlessly to light the first flame over and over again, and turn their bodies into kindling for the flames to survive off of.

“Dark Souls III” doesn’t tell its story by giving you a straightforward, narrated story. Instead, its story is told through item descriptions, short cutscenes, boss fights, music, and the environments you are put into. Everywhere you go in “Dark Souls” is like stepping into a painting, and though the world always has a sad undertone to it, it doesn’t mean that “Dark Souls” is creatively bankrupt. Every location is new and unique. The frozen landscapes are blinding and hostile, and the high walls and towers of the many castles are daunting, yet void of life. Exploration is rewarded thoroughly and shows that the world is bigger than just the story of the main character.

Besides the world being beautiful, the level of detail in every enemy
and boss is higher than in any other game in the series thus far. Each boss is visually daunting, delightfully colored, and well-detailed like their own art piece. Every enemy fits their location and provides a bit of life to a bleak world — even if that life is an enemy.

The combat in this game is the perfected version of a combat system that FromSoft has been trying to master ever since the original “Dark Souls” was released in 2011. Customization is such a heavily incentivized thing that no two playthroughs are exactly alike, and most people will have a different experience with the game just depending on what weapon they choose. The speed of enemies is much more aggressive and dangerous than in previous series. Instead of the game being a cycle of dodging and then counterattacking, the player is met with challenges that require them to use not only the space around them but the tools the player is given to navigate the many puzzles that “Dark Souls III” has to offer. Every boss fight challenges you to recognize the movement patterns and dodge windows for each attack. Though the game does have its rare moments where an attack seems to come out of nowhere or a fight feels clunky, these events do not dampen the experience in any way.

“Dark Souls III” is heavily polished in almost every aspect and holds up as a mechanically challenging, yet fair game, even today. This game is a confident conclusion to a beloved series and cements itself as the last in a series in the most satisfying way possible — leaving behind a tale of tragedy and triumph told ever so subtly. “Dark Souls III” is a world you live in, instead of just playing through it, and that level of immersion speaks more words than any book ever could.