The first Dark Souls was a masterpiece. It made Demon's Souls look like a half-baked tech demo, it featured some of the best level design and gameplay mechanics in the history of the industry and it single-handedly created its own role-playing sub-genre. For fans, it's the standard by which all other action-RPGs are measured.
Dark Souls II, on the other hand, was a major disappointment. It had all of the core features and mechanics of the original game, but none of the character. Playing the game felt like a chore, like it had been made in order to fill a gap in the release schedule. Even with some well-made DLC bolstering its content, Dark Souls II stands out as the black sheep of the series.
Dark Souls III has some pretty big shoes to fill. The spin-off Bloodborne took the series in an interesting direction, but fans are clearly hoping for a return to the classic sword-and-shield antics of the original game.
So, where exactly does Dark Souls III fit in terms of the series? Let's take a closer look:
The Story
Winner: Dark Souls
To be clear, we're not talking about the hardest game in the series - instead, we're looking at which games balanced their difficulty the best. There's a fine line between frustration and giving up, and the Souls games have always been great about toeing that line ... but Dark Souls III ultimately comes out on top.
True, there are a few cheap moments throughout the game, but the experience is so consistently well-designed that the frustration seemingly never overpowers the desire to continue on. The original game was held back by some strange design decisions and poor technical performance - and, while Dark Souls III does feature from some similar troubles throughout its runtime, those moments are far less frequent or frustrating. Long story short: if you die in Dark Souls III, it's probably your fault.
Let's be honest: both the original game and Dark Souls III are amazing games. Dark Souls set the bar for what the genre would become, and Dark Souls III is the finest realization of From Software's design philosophy so far. As far as picking a definitive winner goes? Well, it's hard to argue with the quantity and quality of the content in Dark Souls III - but instead of picking just one of the games from the series, why not play them all?
Except for Dark Souls II. Nobody liked that one. You can skip it.
For more on From Software's latest action-RPG epic, make sure to check out our ever-growing Dark Souls III coverage hub.
