Dark Souls III

Fantastic game and a worthy sequel. Nothing new or radically different, mind you (except a mana bar), just more of the same, excellent quality gameplay in different yet somehow familiar settings. Visually it resembles the first game more than the second one, in my opinion, but at the same time it’s got its own bleached-film style. My only complaints so far are that I seem to get stuck on terrain a lot and sometimes the camera is more wonky than I’d like.

If you’re someone who hasn’t played any Souls games before and you’re wanting to start with III, be aware that this game does not pull any punches. It is much more like I than II, in other words. I encountered the first boss about 25 minutes into the game, at the end of an extremely sparse tutorial area, leaving you very little space to practice before getting thrown right into the fire. There is also a very tough monster in the tutorial area. Practice your blocking, dodging, and stamina management. :)

Dark Souls II is a friendlier introduction to the series, in my opinion. It at least gives you some time to learn the controls before throwing you up against the bosses. (I can’t really recommend the PC version of the original Dark Souls because it’s a pain to get it running. Whereas you can install and play II right out of the box.)

P.S. The Knight starts with a 100% physical block shield!!! That’s a huge improvement over DS2. :)