Dark Souls III is a passion project for Hidetaka Miyazaki, who is once again serving as the creative director of the next entry. In a behind-closed-doors hands-off presentation, I learn that Dark Souls III more of an evolution of the previous Souls than a re-thread.
The E3 demo introduced the barren but dangerous world where The Lord of Cinder must overcome. The Wall of Lodeleth stage presented was a real hallmark of DirectX 11 at work, with attention to detail given towards its faded sun and decaying environment. Miyazaki precautioned that the demo is a work in progress and previous demonstrations had unforseen deaths but eagerly trudged on.
Our first encounter saw the new feature, a ready stance, in full effect. With a long sword, players hold a striking pose and enact a quick sweeping upward strike or a lunge that penetrates an enemy’s defense. Returning enemies like the Knight make an reappearance in a resounding fashion. With weapons like the rapid fire shortbow, which Miyazaki quips of being “just like Legolas” and a dual-weilding schimitar at the player’s disposal, the combat appears to pick up the pace as Dark Souls III throws crowds of enemy encounters. A spin attack move was shown off to leverage crowd control in these seemingly impossible situations. Of course, there are other ways to approach a situation as a firebomb was dropped on to an unsuspecting enemy below.
As for game design, Dark Souls III refines the overly cumbersome, weighty elements from its predecessors and incorporate a more fluid combat experience in to the mix. When asked about incorporating any gameplay elements, such as the on-the-fly weapon switching from Bloodborne, Miyazaki jokingly declined to comment as “Sony would not be pleased.” However, did mention three weapon slots available.
Our time with the hands-off demonstration came to an end with the series trademark boss fight encounter, The Dancer of the Frigid Valley, a towering concumbine. Her erratic flaming sword attacks and curved movement patterns present an interesting challenge for new and returning players alike.
Dark Souls III is slated for release in early 2016 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
