From Bloodborne to Dark Souls III: An Evolution of Combat

FromSoftware showed Dark Souls III behind closed doors at E3 back in June, but that was just a presentation. Watching a Souls game and playing a Souls game are two very different experiences, and I recently had a chance to play the E3 demo. Much of what was covered in our E3 preview holds true of the playable build I spent time with, but actually having the controller in my hands allowed me to gain a feel for the game and how it represents a natural progression for the series.

Although Bloodborne doesn't contain “Souls” anywhere in its title, many fans consider it to be part of the series due to its similarities in mechanics and structure. Thus, it influences the development of Dark Souls III and how FromSoftware approaches it. Bloodborne takes the core combat of the Souls series and increases the speed in such a way that I had a hard time going back to Dark Souls II with the Scholar of the First Sin re-release. The fast pace benefits the combat and helps Bloodborne establish its own identity within the larger framework of the Souls series.

If Dark Souls III were to go back to the slower pace of the previous games, it just wouldn't work because of Bloodborne's strides in that area. Fortunately, Dark Souls III also emphasizes speed and quick thinking a la Bloodborne. It's not quite as fast as FromSoftware's PlayStation 4 debut, but the default speed has clearly been increased. Typically, heavy armor slows players down considerably, but that doesn't seem to be the case in Dark Souls III. Both selectable classes in the demo, the knight and warrior, appeared to wear decent armor and still had the speed of lighter characters.

That speed directly influenced how I played the game. I took far more risks in the demo and didn't rely on my shield as much as I usually do in a Souls game. Instead, I focused on fast rolls and invincibility frames as I dodged knights with huge shields and undead warriors with lengthy spears. It felt great to jump into a Souls game and focus on offense immediately, which counteracts my initial thought when I load up a Souls game for the first time. The comfort of the shield no longer trumps the adrenaline rush of fast combat. I guess I have Bloodborne to thank for that shift in philosophy.

It all culminates in a boss fight with the Dancer of the Frigid Valley, a deceptively large enemy who tries to mimic the quickness of the player. It's a fight in which the character's shield can only do so much for protection. The Dancer has a particularly nasty combo in which she chains together multiple attacks that eat right through the player's shield and stamina. Just a few hits are enough to result in death. Thus, the boss fight reinforces the importance of quick movement and offense. Staying back and waiting to attack isn't a great idea. Instead, I focused on dodging toward the boss and attacking at key moments.

About halfway through the fight the Dancer's patterns change and the intensity of the encounter increases considerably. Somehow she's quicker and more aggressive, but that just means the player must enact a similar strategy. Again, I made sure to dodge forward or to the side so that I could line up a counterattack immediately. Unless she attacks the ground with her blades… that's the player's cue to get the hell out of there. I nearly beat her on my first try, until my monitor accidentally shut off when I was on the verge of victory. Fortunately for me, the second attempt went just as well and I completed the demo in the time allotted.

Other aspects of the demo, such as the decayed beauty of The Wall of Lodoleth or the fire-breathing dragon that wreaks havoc on enemies and players alike, certainly stood out. But my biggest takeaway from Dark Souls III is the way in which the combat still feels fresh and exciting all these years later. A small part of me was a bit wary after the success of Bloodborne. I wondered if another Souls game would be a step backwards with its stronger emphasis on armor and shields. Instead, Dark Souls III feels like a natural evolution of the Souls combat.

Dark Souls III is scheduled to come out in early 2016 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.