Dark Souls III: 'Masterful' game presents 'punishing' challenge

Dark Souls III is the final chapter of the popular FromSoftware series – and many critics believe it is also the best.

Metro says the game is "exceptionally well crafted and supremely entertaining", with its "exquisitely detailed" graphics "the best yet seen", while The Daily Telegraph says it "ties all the iconic conventions that the series is known for in grand fashion".

Several reviewers wrote admiringly of the difficulty of Dark Souls III, with Game Informer finding it "masterful and challenging" and Wired[4] calling it "brutally hard", the reviewer saying his "hands shook" and "breath stopped" when he eventually won.

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At Gamespot Mike Mahardy says players will experience "periods of doubt, followed by great reward" and concludes: "The journey may be rocky, but there's a throne waiting at the end."

Putting Dark Souls III into context, PlayStation Lifestyle enjoys how "punishingly hard" it is in an "era of hand-holding that masochists will appreciate".

The game "sports a wonderful environment full of colour, suffering, death, and a small amount of hope", it adds, but this is no quick thrill and fans can "expect to sink several dozen, if not hundreds, of hours" into it.

Push Square's Damien McFerran points out that Dark Souls II disappointed many, only heightening the pressure on its successor. But with its "more fluid" movement and "moments of wonder" including "gorgeous vistas", this is a "triumph of the imagination.

It is a view shared by Erik Kain of Forbes, who says he "felt none of the pangs of doubt and disappointment I felt playing the previous game in the franchise".

Dark Souls III is set to be the final chapter in the saga and Destructoid says it is, fittingly, "just as much of a love letter to fans as it is a culmination of the series".

It will be released on 12 April for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.