5/5 ★ – Pixelguy9's review of Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition.

After my first playthrough of Elden Ring, needless to say, I wanted more FromSoftware. I initially wanted to play through the Dark Souls games in release order, but after playing Dark Souls: Remastered for a couple of hours, I made the decision to skip forward in the library of Dark Souls games to something a little more familiar, and I'm so glad I played Dark Souls III when I did. Dark Souls III proved to be one of my favourite experiences with a game, providing me with a whole new perfectly crafted world to explore, new characters to meet, while also introducing me to my favourite bosses of all time. Dark Souls III is probably the easiest game in the series to get into for a fan of Elden Ring, as the gameplay is almost identical, minus features like jumping, crafting, summoning, and guard counters (something that really should be in every FromSoftware game going forward). The lack of these features surprisingly wasn't a problem for me, and if anything, made the experience feel more grounded; as if the fat was cut, leaving only the best of the Souls-like experience. Dark Souls III doesn't feature as much side content as later FromSoftware games like Elden Ring, but the quests it has are all extremely solid. The quests, for the most part, are very cryptic and will definitely require a guide if you intend to do any on your first playthrough. Dark Souls III continues the FromSoftware staple of an endearing cast of characters, most of which have their own side-quests rewarding the player with special items and emotional moments. Greirat and Siegward especially stand out, with both quests ending tragically, but providing a memorable journey for anyone who accompanies them throughout their journeys. Some quests even influence the end of the game, with Anri of Astora in particular offering a unique ending. If there was one aspect in which Dark Souls III excelled most in, it would be with it's boss fights. Unlike later FromSoftware games which featured a significant number of filler bosses, Dark Souls III features absolute banger after banger, with only a handful of underwhelming or bad fights; such as the Curse-Rotted Greatwood, Deacons of the Deep, and the Ancient Wyvern. Dark Souls III instead offers some of the most well crafted fights in any game I've ever played, with the biggest highlights for me including Iudex and Champion Gundyr, the Abyss Watchers, Pontiff Sulyvahn, Dragonslayer Armour, the Nameless King, and the Soul of Cinder. All the bosses feel fast, but fair, remain well paced, and lack many of the BS attacks that began to appear following this game. Dark Souls III also contains some of the best areas in any game I've played. The following are my thoughts regarding what I consider to be the game's best areas. This game's version of Firelink Shrine, while unfortunately completely separated from the rest of the world, is a well made hub area, with easy to access merchants and locations. The High Wall of Lothric is a great first area, with lots of locked doors, challenging early-game enemies, and lots of great secrets to find. The Cathedral of the Deep is a fun place to explore, with falling from highs being a constant problem to manage. Irithyll of the Boreal Valley is perhaps the game's most visually striking area, the gorgeous blue really setting the city apart from the rest of the game. The return to Anor Londo, although brief, is an unforgettable experience. Lothric Castle is a pretty fun time so long as you run past the big knights with swords that can two-shot you. The Grand Archives is another area that masterfully uses elevation to it's advantage, and in hindsight, likely inspired the Shadow Keep from Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, one of my favourite legacy dungeons in that game. And finally, the Untended Graves is a great area, flipping the familiar into something else entirely, hinting at major themes later explored in The Ringed City. With all the positive stuff out of the way, some of Dark Souls III's areas do fall a little short of the greatness other areas achieve. The Undead Settlement is not necessarily a bad area, but is rather underwhelming following the grand spectacle of the High Wall of Lothric, the Catacombs of Carthus are just sorta underwhelming, and worse, a little boring; yet another tomb filled with skeletons, how original. The Smouldering Lake is interesting visually, but there really isn't much to the area outside of disabling the ballista and dying to the giant worm thing. Finally, the Irithyll Dungeon is straight-up terrible, and every second I stay there, the more I want to pull my hair out. Dark Souls III continues the Dark Souls trend of ambiguous storytelling, while also making many of its themes, particularly those in relation to the cycle of light and dark, more easily accessible. Once again, I'm not familiar enough with the game's lore to comment on the story too much, so once again, I'll let Vaati do his thing. Dark Souls III is home to the best soundtrack in the Dark Souls series. Every track feels so epic and impactful, with very few songs that I don't enjoy listening to. I highly recommend listening to the soundtrack, especially if you are a fan of orchestral choir music. Highlights for me include the main theme, Vordt of the Boreal Valley (specifically the second phase), Pontiff Sulyvahn, Dragonslayer Armour, Nameless King, Abyss Watchers, Lorian, Elder Prince and Lothric, Younger Prince, Spear of the Church, Darkeater Midir, Slave Knight Gael, and Epilogue. One thing that I need to mention is how the final boss theme reveals so much about the game's lore. The first phase of Soul of Cinder has the boss switching between multiple movesets, all the while the soundtrack is building and building to this amazing climax. The Soul of Cinder in this stage represents every being that has linked the fire previously, using their techniques to fight you. But upon the defeat of the first phase, the Soul of Cinder will unleash the power of the first to link the fire; Gywn. The orchestra fades away, and you are left with Gywn's tragic piano accompanying the boss, who now wields his moveset. It is the perfect end to the fight, telling the game's story though just a couple of notes. Finally, Dark Souls III offers some of best FromSoftware DLC we've ever seen. Ashes of Ariandel, the first expansion, although short, makes up for it with it's final boss and visuals. Set against the backdrop of a beautiful snowy landscape, Ashes of Ariandel feels like a natural extension of the base game, something that not all DLC's achieve as naturally as this. Sister Friede, the final boss of the expansion is one of the most difficult bosses I've ever fought, boasting not one, not two, but three separate health bars across three distinct phases. The satisfaction that came with my first victory over her is one that I've rarely felt, even when playing other FromSoftware titles. But where Dark Souls III's DLC doesn't hit it's peak just yet. The Ringed City is some of the best content made by FromSoftware, containing some of the most visually appealing environments the game has to offer, but also three of my favourite Dark Souls bosses. The Demon Prince starts as a duo fight against two large demons, but the second one to die will revive with a moveset that will depend on which one fell second. This mechanic is not only super unique, but adds some replayability to the fight that most bosses lack. Darkeater Midir was once considered FromSoftware's best dragon fight until Bayle the Dread came along, and it's easy to see why. Midir doesn't suffer from many of the problems plaguing previous fights against similar foes. The moveset is well timed, the hitboxes accurate, and the camera is more stable then you would expect. Combine this with an amazing arena, boss design, and music, and you have yourself a truely memorable fight. However, before the final, and best boss of the DLC, we need to talk about one of the worst fights in any Dark Souls game; Halflight, Spear of the Church. This fight is literally just a PVP encounter against multiple NPCs with annoying weapons. The only redeeming factor of this fight is the music, which is pretty great. Finally, we come to what is perhaps my favourite boss of all time; Slave Knight Gael. Slave Knight Gael does everything perfectly; a perfect arena, perfect music, perfect moveset, perfect story, perfect visuals, perfect difficulty, I cannot stress enough just how good this fight is, a clash between two insignificant specks of ash at the end of the world. The perfect way to close out the Ringed City DLC, and Dark Souls III as a whole. Dark Souls III was a perfect game for me to go to after Elden Ring, and there are parts of my first playthrough that I will never forget. Dark Souls III isn't my favourite game of all time, but there is nothing that will ever be able to remove it from its place within my top ten.