Dark Souls III is a 2016 action role-playing game created by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. The game is the third and final part of the Dark Souls series and follows a warrior who has lost their power as they try to stop the end of the world. Players control the character from a third-person view and can use different weapons, armor, magic, and items to fight enemies. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the series’ creator, directed the game after others helped develop Dark Souls II.
Dark Souls III received positive reviews from critics and sold many copies. It sold over three million copies in its first two months and more than 10 million by 2020. Two additional content packs, Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City, were released for download. A special version of the game called Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition, which includes the main game and both expansions, was released in April 2017.
Gameplay
Dark Souls III is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. According to lead director and series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game's gameplay design is similar to Dark Souls II. Players use different weapons, such as bows, throwable items, magic tools, and swords, to fight enemies. Shields can be used as secondary weapons but are mainly for blocking attacks and protecting the player. Each weapon has two basic attack types: one is a regular attack, and the other is a stronger attack that can be charged, similar to the game Bloodborne. Players can avoid attacks by rolling to dodge. Bonfires, which act as checkpoints, return from earlier games in the series. Ashes are an important part of the game, as explained by Miyazaki. Magic is included in the game, with a system from Demon's Souls called "focus points" (FP). When using spells or weapon skills, players use focus points. There are two types of Estus Flasks in the game, which can be customized to fit a player's style. One flask restores health, as in previous games, while the other restores focus points, a new feature. Combat and movement are faster and smoother than in Dark Souls II. Some player movements are quicker, allowing more damage to be dealt in less time.
New combat features in Dark Souls III include weapon and shield "Skills," which are special abilities that vary by weapon and cost focus points. The game includes more role-playing elements, with an improved character builder and better weapons offering more strategy options. The game has fewer maps than Dark Souls II, but the maps are larger and more detailed, encouraging exploration. The adaptability stat from Dark Souls II was removed, and other stats were adjusted along with the introduction of a luck stat. The game includes multiplayer features, like earlier games in the series.
Plot
In Lothric, a bell rings to show that the First Flame, which keeps the Age of Fire alive, is dying. The Age of Fire can be extended by linking the fire, a ritual where great lords and heroes give up their souls to reignite the First Flame. However, Prince Lothric, chosen to perform this task, left his duty and watched the flame fade from a distance. The bell signals the arrival of the Age of Dark, which brings undead—cursed beings who return to life after death. The bell also calls back previous Lords of Cinder (heroes who linked the flame before) to try linking the fire again. Most of these Lords refuse their duty, but one remains. At the same time, Sulyvahn, a sorcerer from the Painted World of Ariandel, falsely claims the title of Pontiff and takes control of Irithyll of the Boreal Valley and Anor Londo as a ruler.
The Ashen One, an undead who failed to become a Lord of Cinder and is called an Unkindled, rises to complete the task. They must return Prince Lothric and the defiant Lords of Cinder to their thrones in Firelink Shrine. These Lords include the Abyss Watchers, a group of warriors who joined their souls together to protect the land from the Abyss; Yhorm the Giant, who gave his life to save a nation conquered by his ancestor; and Aldrich, who became a Lord of Cinder through strength, even though he craved both humans and gods. Prince Lothric was chosen to link the First Flame but refused his duty and let the fire fade.
Once the Ashen One restores Lothric and the Lords of Cinder to their thrones by defeating them and placing their cinders on the thrones, they travel to the ruins of the Kiln of the First Flame. There, they meet the Soul of Cinder, a combination of all previous Lords of Cinder and the final protector of the First Flame. After defeating the Soul of Cinder, the player’s choices throughout the story decide the fate of the First Flame.
Ashes of Ariandel introduces a new area, the Painted World of Ariandel. When the Ashen One reaches the Cathedral of the Deep in the base game, they meet Gael, a wandering knight who asks them to enter the Painted World and fulfill a prophecy to bring "Fire for Ariandel." Inhabitants of this world either beg the Ashen One to burn the Painted World as the prophecy demands or let it decay slowly. A painter girl tells the Ashen One about "Uncle" Gael’s promise to find dyes to paint a new world. When the player chooses to proceed, Sister Friede, the world’s self-appointed guardian, reacts with coldness. When the player tries to enter the inner sanctum, Sister Friede and Father Ariandel fight them as a boss. After defeating them, the Painted World is set on fire. The painter thanks the player for showing her flame and waits for the end of Gael’s duty, which will give her something to use for painting a new world for humanity.
In The Ringed City, the Ashen One begins their journey to an area called "The Dreg Heap," where ruined kingdoms from different times are piled together as the world ends. From the Dreg Heap, after fighting through the ruins of Lothric Castle, the Ashen One meets Lapp, an amnesiac knight who cannot remember his past. Throughout the Dreg Heap, messages from Gael from Ashes of Ariandel guide the player. The Ashen One travels through the remnants of Earthen Peak, an area from Dark Souls II, before fighting the last demon, the Demon Prince, in the base of an Archtree that holds ruins of Firelink Shrine from Dark Souls. After winning, the player reaches the Ringed City, an ancient city of Pygmies, the ancestors of humanity, which has fallen into the Abyss. After defeating the Guardian of the Church of Filianore, the player awakens Princess Filianore, the daughter of Lord Gwyn, who was sent to the Ringed City as a peace offering between Gwyn and the Pygmy Lords. This leads them to a wasteland of ash. There, the Ashen One meets Gael, who has started killing and eating the Pygmy Lords to gain the blood of the Dark Soul for the painter girl in Ariandel to use as paint. After consuming the Dark Soul, Gael becomes fully corrupted and demands the Ashen One give him their share of the power. Gael is finally defeated, allowing the Ashen One to take his blood, which still contains the Dark Soul. The Ashen One gives the Blood of the Dark Soul to the painter in Ariandel, who uses it to paint a new world for humanity, which she describes as a "cold, dark, and very gentle place."
Development
The game started being made in mid-2013, before Dark Souls II came out. Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura handled its development, not Hidetaka Miyazaki, who created the series. The game was made at the same time as Bloodborne, but two separate teams worked on them. Miyazaki returned to direct Dark Souls III. Isamu Okano and Yui Tanimura, who directed Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor and Dark Souls II, were assistant directors for the game. Although Miyazaki first thought the series might not have many sequels, he later said the game would not be the last in the series. Instead, it marked a turning point for the franchise and the studio, as it was the final project by FromSoftware before Miyazaki became the company’s president. The game’s gameplay was first shown at Gamescom 2015 in August.
Miyazaki said Bloodborne’s limitations made him want to return to the Dark Souls series. The game’s level design was created to act like another enemy players must face. However, like earlier Souls games, Dark Souls III tells its story in an unclear way. Players can learn the storyline through conversations with non-player characters (NPCs), art design, and item descriptions. Miyazaki said there is no official or unique story. His goal was to avoid forcing his own viewpoint, encouraging players to discover and understand the plot and world on their own. Improvements to archery, especially draw speed, were inspired by Legolas from The Lord of the Rings franchise. The game’s visual design focuses on “withered beauty,” with ember and ash appearing throughout the world. The original score was mainly written by Yuka Kitamura, who also composed for Dark Souls II and Bloodborne. Additional music was written by Motoi Sakuraba, with one boss theme each by Tsukasa Saitoh and Nobuyoshi Suzuki.
Dark Souls III was released in Japan for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 24, 2016, and worldwide, including a Windows version, on April 12, 2016. A stress test, where players chosen by Bandai Namco could test the game’s online features before release, was available for three days in October 2015. The game had three special editions for purchase, costing more than the base game. Players who pre-ordered the game received the Apocalypse Edition, which included a special case and the game’s original soundtrack. The Collector’s Edition had physical items like the Red Knight figurine, an artbook, a new map, and special packaging. The Prestige Edition included everything in the Collector’s Edition plus an additional Lord of Cinder resin figurine, which can pair with the Red Knight figurine.
The game’s first downloadable content (DLC) expansion, Ashes of Ariandel, was released on October 24, 2016. The second and final DLC, The Ringed City, was released on March 28, 2017. Both DLCs added new locations, bosses, armor, and weapons to the game. A complete version with the base game and both DLCs, called Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition, was released on April 21, 2017.
Reception
Dark Souls III received mostly positive reviews from Metacritic, with praise for the game's visuals and the way players fight. Reviewers said the game felt similar to Bloodborne, which has faster gameplay.
Chloi Rad from IGN gave the game a 9.5 out of 10, saying it would be a good ending if it were the last game in the series. Rich Stanton from Eurogamer called it "essential" and "fabulous," saying it was a fitting end to the Dark Souls series. Steven Strom from Ars Technica noted the game still had the smooth style of the series and some of the best boss fights in any Souls game. Simon Parkin from The Guardian gave it 5 out of 5 stars, saying it was more polished than earlier games in the series, even though it lacked the originality of the first Dark Souls.
Some critics pointed out problems with the game's technical performance, map design, and how Bandai Namco handled its release in Western countries. Polygon gave it a 7 out of 10, saying the game lacked surprises and had design issues in areas like world building and pacing. A later patch, released on April 9, fixed some of these technical problems.
The first downloadable content (DLC) expansion, Ashes of Ariandel, received mostly positive reviews. Brendan Graeber from IGN liked the new PvP arena, enemies, and bosses but said the DLC was too short. Polygon also called the content "great" but agreed it was too brief.
The 2022 release of Elden Ring increased interest in Dark Souls III. Eurogamer later described Dark Souls III as a refined example of FromSoftware's work, but said it showed the limits of the "Soulsborne formula."
In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version sold over 200,000 copies in its first two weeks. It became the fastest-selling game published by Bandai Namco Entertainment America and held the record for the fastest-selling Bandai Namco game until Elden Ring surpassed it in 2022.
On May 10, 2016, Bandai Namco announced that Dark Souls III had shipped 3 million copies worldwide: 500,000 in Japan and Asia, 1.5 million in North America, and 1 million in Europe. It was also the best-selling software in North America during its release month. By May 2020, the game had sold over 10 million copies.