Dark Souls 3 was my first souls title but when this came out in 2018, I was so hooked from the start. Being able to experience a souls title without the help from anyone or looking up zero guides made the experience a lot more memorable. Exploring Lordran with so much joy and learning lore more about the souls universe from where it truly started . From series staples like the jolly cooperation Solaire, to the back Knight Lautrec and Siegmeyer snoozing in front on sen's fortress. The game has many flaws like Lost Izalith and tedious item drops but even with the that I pushed to the 100%. The game holds up well for its challenging and stood the test of time among the rest FromSofts titles. I love dark souls to death and it would be a game I wish I could replay for the first time all over

I adore how the narrative is contextualized through your role as someone who perseveres in the face of the unforgiving nature of not only the setting but its mechanics. The player's will to engage with the game being used this way is so cool and the lengths the game goes to respect each players varying degrees of investment is amazing. You can get lost forever uncovering new details and peeling back the near infinite layers to lordran and it's history. Its masterful world design combined with its strict traversal limitations creates an intimacy with your surroundings that makes each moment of discovery just as magical as beating a tough boss. Locations are visually striking and rich with details that tell stories all their own and that level of intentionality can be found all over the place. Gameplay wise, most levels are outstanding and the estus flask fail state goes a long way into making them work as well as they do, along with the great enemy placement. I really like the choose your own difficulty element kindling adds to the system, and it just furthers how this game is obsessed with letting you meet it on your own terms. Progression is perfectly paced with a great escalation of difficulty through building knowledge and subtly teaching players lessons. Bosses are mostly very good and I appreciate the variety baked into each encounter, with things like the rooms informing your strategy, positioning based openings, tail weapons it all goes a long way in making each encounter distinct. The stamina based combat system is deceptively simple and lowkey genius especially with how deliberate your forced to be with your kit in this game. A lot has been said about fromsoft's hands-off approach to building player knowledge and what strikes me most about it is how it intuitively creates so many moments of discovery. The undefined nature of its systems allows players to further shape the experience to their liking, which directly ties into how your individual experience informs which ending you pick. For a game all about struggling in the face of pointlessness, it's amazing how much of the game design reflects how personal an endeavor that is.

Dark Souls isn't a perfect game; the second half feels rushed. But the first blind playthrough until Anor Londo is something that I never felt before. It's a 3D Metroidvania mixed with an Action RPG, absolute generational masterpiece, one of the GOATs. It's so deep and good that it hurts. I played it during the looong nights of isolation times of COVID, and this game taught me that I could never stop fighting against depression and the real-life demons. If I raised the white flag, I would turn hollow, but I didn't dare to do it...